A New Families Code in Cuba: Interview with Lidia Romero Moreno | February 25, 2022
Dear Friends,
This week we interview Lidia Romero Moreno, LGBTQI+ activist and women’s rights defender in Cuba, about her thoughts on Cuba’s new proposed Family Code, its popular referendum process, and its potential impact on LGBTQI+ Cubans. Read the interview below, or click here. The interview is available in Spanish here.
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Yesterday, Cuba reported 626 COVID-19 cases. There are currently 2,586 total active cases of COVID-19 on the island. The total number of cases since March of 2020 is 1,068,148 and the total number of deaths since March of 2020 is 8,494. Approximately 89.1 percent of the population is fully vaccinated (not including the booster). In response to the Omicron variant, Cuba has reintroduced some restrictions on international travelers. For a graph of case numbers since March 2020, see here. For a detailed breakdown of all COVID-19 data, visit this website.
This week, in Cuba news…
U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS
Russia Ally Cuba Slams US Over Ukraine Crisis, Urges Diplomacy; Cuba Backs Russia On Ukraine But Stays Silent On Invasion
Cuba criticized U.S. actions surrounding NATO expansion, while defending Russia’s right to “self-defense” and calling for a diplomatic and peaceful resolution, Reuters reports. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry (MINREX) alleged that the U.S.’s calls for NATO expansion are both a threat to international peace and to Russian national security, which, according to a statement by MINREX, gives Russia a legitimate right to defend itself. The statement also called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict and for the preservation of international peace. While the statement did not specifically mention or endorse Russian advances into Ukrainian territory unlike those of Cuban allies Venezuela and Nicaragua, it did accuse the U.S. of aggravating the crisis by provoking and threatening Russia through “the progressive expansion of NATO towards the borders of the Russian Federation.” Cuba’s statement notably avoids criticizing NATO members while still offering support to Russia, likely because, according to Professor William LeoGrande, a professor of government at American University and expert on U.S.-Cuba relations, Cuba “tried to balance [its stance that Great Powers have no right to use force against small powers in order to maintain a sphere of influence] with the realpolitik importance of its relationship both with Russia and the E.U.” Most of NATO’s European members are also members of the European Union, which is an important trading partner for Cuba.
Following multiple meetings between top Cuban and Russian officials in Havana earlier this week, MINREX reaffirmed its solidarity with Russia amidst current tensions with the U.S. over Ukraine and NATO expansion, and expressed its support for Russia in the face of “the constant campaigns of disinformation and propaganda war" by the United States. Cuba’s Minister of Foreign Relations, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, echoed criticisms against the U.S. for targeting Russia with a “propaganda war” and sanctions, before expressing Cuba’s opposition to NATO expansion. For more information on relations between Cuba and Russia, visit the “Cuba’s Foreign Relations” section below.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced on Wednesday that tens of thousands of Cubans who entered the U.S. seeking asylum between January 12, 2017 and November 17, 2021 could obtain their legal permanent residency, Univision reports. The measure, as clarified by the USCIS notice, specifically benefits Cubans, “who were denied adjustment of immigration status under the Cuban Adjustment Act.” January 12, 2017 marks the day that the “wet foot, dry foot” policy ended under President Obama. Before January 2017, under the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, Cuban migrants who reached U.S. soil and were detained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) were released with Form I-94 (a parole card) which, under the Cuban Adjustment Act, would allow them to apply for permanent residency status (a green card) a year and a day later. Since the “wet foot, dry foot” policy ended in January 2017, Cuban migrants who entered the U.S. have not been given a parole card after being released. The new settlement reached on Wednesday comes in response to a class action lawsuit initiated in 2020. Lawyers representing plaintiffs in the case estimate that the beneficiaries of this ruling could exceed 50,000 migrants. The Cuban Adjustment Act was enacted in November 1966, under President Lyndon B. Johnson, to allow Cubans who had been in the U.S. since 1959 to obtain permanent legal resident status.
Returned Cuban Migrants Total 695 So Far In 2022 (Spanish); Coast Guard Repatriates 28 Cubans To Cuba
In 2022 alone, 695 Cubans have been repatriated following interdictions made by the U.S., the Bahamas, and Mexico, El Nuevo Herald reports. According to a report from Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior (MININT), 333 people have been sent by the United States, 326 from Mexico and 36 from the Bahamas. Most recently, on February 19, 46 Cuban migrants were deported from Mexico in compliance with migratory accords between Mexico and Cuba. In addition to the over 300 Cuban migrants who have been deported from Mexico, another 143 remain under state custody in Mexico, and 277 elected to leave through safe-returns between February 17 and 20. This week, the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) reported repatriating 28 Cuban migrants attempting to migrate to the U.S. across the Florida Straits. So far in fiscal year 2022, which began October 1, 2021, 800 Cuban migrants have been interdicted at sea, which is more than 95 percent of interdictions from the previous fiscal year. In fiscal year 2021, the Coast Guard interdicted 838 Cuban migrants, compared to 49 Cuban migrants in fiscal year 2020 and 313 interdictions in fiscal year 2019.
On the U.S.-Mexico border, similar patterns of increasing migration have taken place. The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) reported a sharp increase in Cubans at the U.S.-Mexico border between August 2021 and December 2021 alone, with 862 Cuban migrants in August and 7,893 Cuban migrants in December. According to CBP, more than 39,000 Cuban migrants attempted to reach the U.S. in fiscal year 2021. The majority of those migrants attempted entrance through the U.S.’s southern border with Mexico. In the previous fiscal year, there were significantly less Cuban migrants reported, with numbers reaching only around 14,000.
IN CUBA
Fears Grow For Cuban Artist 7 Months After Arrest
After seven months of detention in a high-security prison, Cuban artivist (artist and activist), and dissident, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, remains out of communication with his family who worries for his health, France 24 reports. Mr. Otero, a member of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), is currently being held at the Guanajay maximum-security prison after being arrested on July 11 for attempting to join demonstrations that day, and faces charges of assault, contempt of the authorities, and resisting police. Cuba’s government has accused his activism as being “political revolt funded by the U.S.” According to his partner, Claudia Genlui, Mr. Otero has been offered his freedom in exchange for exile multiple times, but refuses because his work is motivated by “the freedom of Cuba.” Since the last time Ms. Genlui spoke with Mr. Otero on January 18, he has started a hunger strike, which he has done before. This month, Ms. Genlui received a phone call from another inmate’s relative who stated that Mr. Otero, “was not doing well, that he has lost a lot of weight, that he has almost no strength left to walk and that he hardly speaks.” In a statement to the Havana bureau of the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the U.S. State Department said, “We are extremely concerned that Cuban authorities have unjustly made an example of Otero Alcántara.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, also tweeted, “Seven months after peacefully standing up for human rights and fundamental freedoms, [Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara] awaits a trial that never seems to come.”
As we previously reported, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara went on a hunger strike in September 2021 and April 2021 in protest of state surveillance and restrictions on freedom of expression in Cuba after Cuban authorities allegedly damaged and stole Mr. Otero’s artwork during a police raid. Amnesty International declared Mr. Otero a “prisoner of conscience” in May and Time Magazine named Mr. Otero as one of the most influential people of 2021. The activist has been protesting against Decree 349, a policy aimed at censoring artistic expression on the island, since 2018 with the founding of MSI. Since then, Mr. Otero has experienced multiple encounters with state security, including arrests in late February 2020 and November 2020 and high levels of state surveillance.
Cuba Reinstates Credentials of Journalists with Spanish News Agency EFE
The credentials of three journalists from the Spanish newswire EFE were reinstated on Monday, three months after being revoked by Cuba’s authorities, Reuters reports. Following a meeting in Havana on Monday between senior officials from Cuba’s International Press Center (CPI) and an EFE delegation, according to CPI, the credentials of all EFE correspondents in Havana were returned and EFE’s chief correspondent in Havana will be granted a visa in the coming days so that he can resume his duties.
Cuba’s government withdrew credentials from five of EFE’s team in Cuba ahead of the demonstrations scheduled for November 15, before quickly reinstating the credentials of two of the team members. EFE was down to only two staff members with credentials on the island prior to this week’s announcement, despite having seven team members in Havana as of mid-2021. Cuba’s authorities also previously withheld a visa for an EFE team member in July 2021. In January 2022, EFE’s President, Gabriela Cañas, shared that the incidents caused the news agency to reevaluate its presence on the island over concerns about its ability to practice journalism freely. Foreign journalists must receive credentials from Cuba’s government in order to work in the country.
Cuban Tourism Industry Flounders as Sunseekers Look Elsewhere
Last month, Cuba saw 80 percent fewer tourists than they did in January of 2021, raising concerns for the future of the tourism industry, which is a significant source of income for the island, Reuters reports. Cuba’s goal of receiving 2.5 million visitors this year, if achieved, is expected to help grow the economy by 4 percent. As of January 2022, the island had only received 84,000 visitors.
Foreign travel to Cuba has been hampered as the island faces economic difficulties, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and has at times tightened restrictions on foreign travel to mitigate the spread of the pandemic. Cuba has also faced a sharp decline in U.S. travelers to the island due to tightened restrictions on U.S. travel to Cuba from the Trump administration that ended people-to-people educational travel and cruise travel restricted flights to Havana only, and prohibited U.S. citizens from staying at most state-owned hotels.
Until November 2021, Cuba’s borders were largely closed due to COVID-19 as the rest of the Caribbean saw a recovery of 63 percent of visitors according to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Experts and Cuban tourism operators say Cuba will struggle to recover economically from the damage incurred over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CUBA’S FOREIGN RELATIONS
Russia Postpones Cuba Debt Payments Amid Warming Relations; Cuba To Deepen Ties With Russia As Ukraine Tensions Mount
On Tuesday, Russia granted Cuba an extension on debt payments worth $2.3 billion until 2027, Reuters reports. The Russian Duma, the country’s lower house of Parliament, ratified the extension after Cuba had reportedly stopped making installments on the loans in early 2020. Russia provided Cuba with the loans between 2006 and 2019 to underwrite investments in power generation, metals, and transportation infrastructure, as well as for the supply of goods necessary to develop the Cuban economy. Under the new agreement, Cuba must complete the last installment by December 17, 2027. In addition to its debt to Russia, the island also defaulted on payments to the Paris Club, an informal group of officials from major creditor countries, in 2021. In 2020 failed to meet the payment expectations agreed upon in a 2015 agreement with the Paris Club, while barely meeting payment obligations in 2019. Cuba negotiated with the Paris Club in June 2021 to address the unfulfilled payments and received an extension for future installments. In 2018, Cuba defaulted commercial creditors in the London Club of commercial banks, which held $1.4 billion worth of Cuban debt.
Russia’s Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, visited Cuba on Wednesday to meet with the country’s parliament and leadership, and to enhance interparliamentary cooperation and communication. During the visit, Mr. Volodin also spoke about the current tensions with the U.S. over Ukraine, accusing U.S. sanctions on both Russia and Cuba of being an act of suppression. According to Mr. Volodin, “[The U.S. doesn’t] want to see a strong Russia, they don't want Russia to be self-sufficient, and the same for Cuba, they don't want to see a free people, they don't want to see an independent country.” The trip by the Russian Chairman follows a series of visits by top Russian officials last week, including a visit by Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Yury Borisov, to discuss trade and economic cooperation. As Reuters reported, top Cuban and Russian officials met in Havana to discuss multilateral issues and announced plans to deepen ties between the two countries in “all spheres,” including transportation, energy, industry, and banking. Following the official visits between Russian and Cuban officials, Cuba’s Foreign Ministry (MINREX) reaffirmed its solidarity with Russia and its commitment to expanding bilateral collaboration.
Russia and Cuba have drawn particularly close over the past month as tensions continue to rise between the U.S. and Russia, and as Russia floated the idea of placing a military presence in Cuba or Venezuela. In January, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel discussed strategic coordination in the technical military sphere and a desire to strengthen bilateral ties. During a phone conversation in January, the presidents also discussed a strategic partnership on the global arena. Both countries have become closer allies since tensions between the U.S. and Cuba reignited during the Trump administration.
Cubans Protest in Havana as Costa Rica Tightens Visa Requirements
Costa Rica announced on Monday that Cubans are now required to obtain transit visas in order to pass through the country, sparking protests in front of Costa Rica’s embassy in Havana, Reuters reports. According to Reuters, of the approximately 200 Cubans gathered in front of the embassy, the majority had already purchased plane tickets to Nicaragua with a layover in Costa Rica when they were alerted of the new visa requirement. All of the Cubans interviewed by Reuters stated they were traveling to Nicaragua for tourism or for shopping. In order to obtain a Costa Rican transit visa, applicants must provide criminal records spanning ten years and prove “economic solvency,” leading many to criticize the transit visa requirement as being excessive and inaccessible for the majority of Cubans.
Costa Rica’s announcement comes as many countries in Latin America are considering introducing additional visa restrictions for Cubans in efforts to reduce the flow of Cuban migrants in the region. Colombia announced last week that it would “temporarily suspend” its processing of transit visa applications for Cuban citizens due to the high volume of cases. On the same day as Colombia’s announcement, the Panamanian airline Copa Airlines announced that it was temporarily suspending the sale of tickets from Havana to Nicaragua. However, Panama’s National Migration Service announced on Monday that it would not require transit visas for Cubans “for the time being.” For more information on travel requirements for Cubans traveling throughout the region, visit here.
In November, Nicaragua announced that Cubans will no longer need visas to travel to and enter Nicaragua. The favorable relaxation of visa requirements has increased demand for flights between Havana and Costa Rica and subsequently tripled the cost of plane tickets to as much as $3,500. Many of the flights between Cuba and Nicaragua include multiple stops in neighboring countries. While officials in Nicaragua stated that the policy is intended to promote commercial exchange, tourism, and humanitarian family relations, there has been speculation that this change will increase the number of Cubans migrating toward the United States’ southern border. Some experts have noted that in the context of the social unrest on the island, an easier route through Nicaragua could act as a way for the government to release some of the political pressure.
Mexico Will Grant Humanitarian Visa To Two Cuban Journalists (Spanish)
After being allegedly expelled from Cuba, barred from entering Nicaragua, and granted refuge in El Salvador, two Cuban journalists, Hector Valdéz and Esteban Rodríguez, reporters for independent news website ADN Cuba, received humanitarian visas from Mexico, EFE reports. Citing persecution and expulsion by Cuba’s government, the journalists, who are affiliated with the San Isidro Movement, asked Central American governments to offer them asylum in January. The journalists attempted to board a connecting flight from San Salvador, El Salvador to Managua, Nicaragua, in January, but were prohibited from doing so by Nicaraguan authorities. Mr. Valdéz and Mr. Rodríguez were later admitted into El Salvador and received humanitarian assistance, accommodation, and food, while their migratory situation was being resolved. A few days later, Salvadoran immigration officials reported that the journalist's migratory process was closed due to “abandonment,” as their whereabouts were unknown. According to Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM), the two reporters entered Mexico irregularly a few weeks ago and have been granted humanitarian visas as their requests for refugee status are processed.
CDA INTERVIEW WITH LIDIA MORENO ROMERO ON CUBA’S NEW FAMILY CODE DRAFT
Lidia Romero Moreno, LGBTQI+ activist and defender of women’s rights in Cuba, shares her thoughts on Cuba’s new proposed Family Code, its popular referendum process, and its potential impact on LGBTQI+ Cubans.
What are the most positive aspects of the Family Code proposal compared to the current code? What is it missing? If approved, what impact will the new Family Code have for the LGBTQI+ community?
I consider its definition crucial as a Code of affections, which is built from respect for difference and the visibility of historically neglected groups in the family order. The change from Family Code to Families Code is announcing the new Code’s inclusive, plural, and democratic character. It proposes a range of options and alternatives to mediate family conflicts, which allows it to break with the models of patriarchy.
From the legal point of view, the Code responds to the new principles of family law in direct dialogue with international human rights treaties. I am referring to the protection of families; the protection of marriage; the protection of the most vulnerable; the principle of equality between spouses and children; the principle of protection of the most vulnerable by including the principle of the best interests of children, girls and adolescents, and the least favored person within the marriage relationship. Finally, the autonomy of the will and minimum intervention of the State. When you read the project, you soon realize that it interprets [international human rights treaties] with depth, expands on their content, and establishes new standards. Therefore, it can become an international benchmark.
[The new Code] recognizes gender equality and the rights of women; the rights of girls, boys and adolescents; the various forms of kinship and their responsibility for care; the rights of grandfathers, grandmothers, the elderly, and people with disabilities; marriage and de facto union regardless of the sexual orientation and gender identity of the person; prohibits child marriage, establishing a minimum age of 18 years for adolescents to enter into marriage, and prohibits exceptional authorization of child marriage by legal guardians; allows solidarity gestation (surrogate motherhood); and condemns family violence. It replaces the concept of parental authority with that of parental responsibility and introduces new content such as co-responsibility and positive parenting, among others.
You have mentioned in previous interviews that there is still a lot of work to do to offer the LGBTQI+ community social protection and representation in Cuban society. Do you think that the possible legalization of same-sex marriage at an institutional level would help combat social discrimination against the LGBTQI+ community in Cuba?
Yes, especially from the symbolic and patrimonial perspective. The roots of discrimination do not go away with the stroke of a pen. Opposition to same-sex marriage, which is very evident on social media, shows a healthy patriarchal system. It is understandable, it is a very well structured system and historically reinforced by medicine, religion, education, and law. To think that expanding rights is to take them away from those who have always enjoyed them, that institutions such as marriage will lose value if it is allowed between people of the same sex, to argue about the impossibility of procreating when many heterosexual couples decide not to do so, to advocate maintaining the term of parental authority instead of parental responsibility, are examples of intolerant conceptions of how family relationships are configured today in Cuba and the world.
The Code project is not innovating, it is protecting relationships that already exist, that are characteristic of the development of society. Therefore, the arguments above do not hold up because they are based on devaluing non-heteronormative relationships; they go against the recognition of equality and dignity of people.
They have to change not only the laws, both those that are in the legislative schedule and those that must necessarily be incorporated, and the institutions must do it because they design public policies.
If education does not break its inertia, we will achieve little, because without education there is no possible right. The school reproduces discriminatory behaviors of other social spaces. The academic studies developed in Cuba show how the prejudices that enter into the intellectual formation are repeated and frequently reinforce stereotypes.
The possibility of moving forward in this direction is frozen. In February 2021, the Ministry of Education approved Resolution 16, which approves the comprehensive Sexuality Education Program with a Focus on Gender and Sexual and Reproductive Rights in the National Education System. In September, in an embarrassing and laughable argument, the Ministry announced its postponement "because the tense economic situation presents in the national territory, did not make it possible to guarantee the production of textbooks, plans and programs, methodological orientations and workbooks for the generalization of the Third Improvement of the National Education System or other educational programs.” Days before, several religious denominations developed a campaign that included letters to the government. They threatened to not take their daughters and sons to school if it was implemented.
This confirms that the rights of LGBTQI+ people, although they have constitutional status, will have a long struggle and many obstacles for their realization in development laws.
The discussion of rights for the LGBTQI+ community has primarily focused on marriage. What other important issues for the LGBTQI+ community should take priority or are of greater concern to LGBTQI+ Cubans?
[The conversation] has focused, socially and institutionally, on marriage between people of the same gender due to the relevance of Article 68 [which would have opened the door for same sex marriage but ended up being removed] during the popular consultation process of the current Constitution. Activism has been calling for all rights for all people for years. We are aware of the equal importance of all human rights. And that the progress of one makes possible that of all. That is why our campaigns have a plural look, so that no one is left behind. It is also perceived that way because the opposition is so strong that it constantly forces us to have to defend the right to love ourselves. Although currently anti-rights campaigns have shifted their focus to parental custody and parental responsibility.
The Penal Code will be approved in April, and we have scarcely had the time to study it. The project proposed by the Supreme Court, rule in its Article 388.1, refers to the crime against the right to equality and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, among other suspect classes (a class of individuals that have been historically subjected to discrimination) that generally accompany discriminatory acts. This, [Article 388.1], has been one of the crimes proposed by LGBQTI+ activism [for inclusion in the Penal Code].
We are concerned about the criminalization of activism that is projected in articles 143, 274.1 and 275.1. The first prohibits any type of support from "... non-governmental organizations, international institutions, associative forms or any natural or legal person of the country or of a foreign State (...) with the purpose of financing activities against the State and its constitutional order, incurs a sanction of deprivation of liberty from four to ten years.”
Article 274.1 sanctions the promoters, organizers or directors of an association not authorized to be constituted and its associates or affiliates. 275.1 to those who participate in meetings or demonstrations and their organizers. A complex context is designed, especially when approved before the Law for the Protection of Constitutional Rights and the Law of Associative forms, both planned for this year.
The Public Health Law must take into account the research results on inequalities, gaps, and inequities for access to health services. The Civil Registry Law and its regulations must include the possibility of changing one’s name and the gender marker by administrative means. The current law opens the possibility of the latter once genital reassignment surgery is accessed. Finally, a special law for trans people would make it possible to protect their guarantees for the free development of personality.
Many members of the LGBTQI+ community have complained that their rights should not be determined through popular referendum and should instead be guaranteed. How do you think the determination of updated rights for the LGBTQI+ community through popular referendum will shape the outcome?
If the “No” is approved, the current one would be unconstitutional. Firstly, it would go against constitutional principles such as progressivity. This Code establishes limits to the legislative body and indicates that under no circumstances can there be setbacks in the recognition of rights. That is, they are constitutionally obliged to expand the legislative catalog. Likewise, it would be against the principle of equality and non-discrimination that cuts across the law of laws. Specific sectors are confident that the “Yes” will win— I prefer to remain cautious.
If you could communicate one message to the Cuban people who are not part of the Queer community, what would you say, especially regarding the Family Code?
I invite all people with good intentions to study the project. [I hope] that they maintain their alertness in the face of anti-rights campaigns. Comparing the current Code with the one we are discussing could be an interesting exercise in citizenship. It is beautiful, transgressive and regulates realities and necessities that have cost and still cost lives. The Cuban State, like others, is not giving anything away. A better Cuba is built by wrenching rights away from the patriarchy.
*This interview was originally conducted in Spanish. In the original version, Lidia Moreno used the term “gender” in discussion of the proposed changes to marriage law, but in order to adhere to English language norms we have elected to translate "same-gender marriage" as "same-sex marriage." Access the interview in Spanish here.
RECOMMENDED READINGS & VIEWINGS
Criminalization Of Protest: The First 20 Protesters Of 11J Convicted Of Sedition (Spanish), El Toque Jurídico, El Toque
This article shares the legal justifications given for the charges against the first 20 Cubans charged with sedition for their involvement in the July 11 demonstrations last week along with a detailed sequence of events for that day. The article lists all the specific sentences of the 20 individuals, who are all from Holguín, and discusses the evidence used in the courts. Additionally, the article also discusses the charge of “sedition,” which, according to data collected from groups Cubalex and Justicia11J, 168 of demonstrators were accused of and is one of the most serious charges in the current Penal Code.
What is Not Being Said About the Popular Consultation on the Families Code (Spanish), El Toque Jurídico
This article reviews the outcomes of some of the most recent popular consultations to get a better idea of how the results from the popular consultation on the Families Code may be used by Cuba’s electoral authorities. Namely, the article reviews the popular consultation in 2008 on the Social Security Law, in 2011 on the Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy, and in 2013 on the Work Code, among others.
The Youngest Victims of “Havana Syndrome”, Brit McCandless Farmer, Michael Rey, and Oriana Zill De Granados, CBS News
In this episode of 60 Minutes, several families and individuals come forward as victims of the unexplained health incidents that impacted U.S. personnel and recount their experiences with the incidents and subsequent symptoms.
Where is the Cuban Government’s Response to Anamely Ramos’ Displacement (Spanish), El Toque Jurídico
This article explains the possible legal justifications for Cuban activist and art professor Anamely Ramos’ denial of reentry into Cuba last week. It also cites Article 24.1 of Decree Law 302/2012, which does establish that any person who organizes or participates in, “hostile actions against. . . the Cuban State,” is inadmissible.
El Fotuto: Parental Responsibility and Controversies in Social Media (Spanish), La Potajera, Spotify
This episode is part of a new segment of the podcast, La Potajera, which is a podcast developed by independent Cuban media source Tremenda Nota dedicated to discussing common questions regarding the LGBTQ+ community, feminism, and racism in Cuba. This particular episode focuses on social media controversies that have surfaced in response to the new proposed Families Code. Many Cubans have asked on social media that civilians not support the proposed Code as it would reaffirm Cuba’s government and would give legal precedent for Cuba’s government to revoke custody of a dissident's children. The hosts of El Fotuto explain why they disagree with these perspectives. La Potajera has also recently released El Fotuto segments on Sexual Aggression and on Homophobia in Sports.
SOS Cuba: A Moment of Unity (Spanish), Jorge de Armas, Periodismo del Barrio
This podcast reports how various individuals support groups organized over the past year to gather medications and other donations to support COVID-19 patients and other patients who could not find their medications due to shortages exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Cuba. It also explained the difficulties of delivering these donations due to travel restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More Hotels, More Tourists? (Spanish), Dr. C Juan Triana Cordoví, OnCuba News
This article analyzes the changes that the COVID-19 pandemic poses for the tourism industry in Cuba and whether it is more beneficial to continue expanding hotels on the island or to take this time to consolidate them and improve their quality.
More Imported State-Run Businesses, More Obstacles for the Private Sector (Spanish), El Toque
This article recounts the coverage of El Toque’s latest podcast episode on El Enjambre, with a focus on the various recommendations Cuban economists have been making to help the country’s economy recover. Namely, they recommend eliminating state intermediaries for import and export by private companies and the elimination of stores that sell necessary items for MLC.
EVENTS
Virtual, Cuba’s Pandemic Response: Lessons For Public Health, Pharma & Global, March 1
This discussion, moderated by Dr. Margaret E. Crahan, Senior Research Scholar and Director of the Cuba Program at the Institute for Latin American Studies at Columbia University, will feature Vicente Vérez Bencomo, Director of Cuba’s Finlay Vaccine Institute; Sonia Resik, Head of Cuba’s Pedro Louri Tropical Medicine Institute’s Virology Laboratory; Agustin Lage, advisor to president of BioCubaFarma; and commentary from Gail Reed, executive director of MEDICC REVIEW. The virtual panel discussion will take place from 7:00pm-9:00pm EST. Register for the virtual event here.