State and Society
Institutional Abuse Against Children: A Seven-headed Hydra
José Hugo Fernández Cuban Writer and Journalist Resident in United States
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-Posing for a photo Every morning, dozens of children in school uniforms with scarves are taken by their educators to perform physical exercises or simply to play on the Havanan promenade El Prado, while tourists gloat by observing them and triggering their cameras. In fact, the pictures have some beauty, apparently located at a galactic distance from the parade of zombies, jineteras [ prostitutes ], robbers, alcoholics and knifers who wander around that same place in the late hours of the night. We would say that El Prado, as it could be seen in sunlight or through the hazy light of the lampposts, is like a stray electron seeking its atom between opposing orbits. But we shouldn’ t be fooled by the eyes. Neither the marginals are struggling for life without any control, as it seems, nor this picture of schoolchildren is just as touching in its background, where it hides more than it shows. Because without even knowing it, they are fulfilling a task designed and arranged by the political power, the first of an endless propagandistic chain: posing for a photo. El Prado is not a good place for teaching physical education classes, because they are constantly interrupted by passers-by. And it is difficult to accept the excuse that the teachers do not have other places for exercises, since adequate and safe spaces outdoors do not align among the many shortages suffered by the schools around this area. More understandable is that this promenade with a very particular tourist flow is being used as a showcase for the helpful naive people from the international enlightenment to leave recorded in their cameras— with advertising intention— the joy and " enviable freedom " of the environment in which the Cuban new man plays, learns, has fun and grows.
2-To say the motto The large group of children from an elementary school, uniformed and wearing a scarf around their necks, was going in columns along the street to participate in a military review and parade. From time to time, one of the leading adults commanded: " To say the motto: one, two, three...". Then the children shouted in chorus: " Obama, bastard, remember Giron." There are several meanings in Cuba for " bastard ". None is kind and respectful. The term is often used for aggression or disqualification. It ' s an offensive device wherever you see it. And it leads to a violation of the rules for civilized coexistence if it is used as infamy against a public figure without the slightest evidence of being a bastard. The scene was indeed a pitiful one. But that was not all. None of the meanings of bastard is known by the elementary school children. Thus, putting it in their mouths for executing a plan of political manipulation is more
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