Identidades in English No 4, December 2014 | Page 35

to buy a mattress and fan, and the little bit we’ve
received for our social wellbeing is rotting.”
Elena became pregnant while she was studying at
a special school. Bárbara father never acknowledged her, and she needs attention all the time.
They have an informal relationship, and Leonardo Casanova, a delegate from the Peoples’ Assembly, responds to the family’s request for help
by stating, “the owner of the cow is the owner of
the calf.”

some of Latin America’s countries, with doctors,
psychologists and social workers who visit the
most isolated places to find and care for people
with physical or mental disabilities. Cuban TV
airs documentaries that show these professionals
in far corners of Ecuador and Bolivia, visiting and
tending to families. They offer in-home checkups
and medical attention, counseling, and psychological support. They also give them the material
means they need to improve their lives—clothing,
mattresses and wheelchairs, among other
things—free of charge.
A number of cases in the Cuban “world of pain,”
as Catholic terminology puts it, contrast sharply
with the facts above; for example, the case of the
Rodríguez Díaz family. Promoters from the Corriente Martiana organization and other civil society activists who have not been officially
acknowledged [by the government] became

One of the most touted achievements by authorities in Cuba is the care that is given to people with
disabilities. The country’s press, which is controlled by the very same authorities, talks about
positive gains -- but not regarding the handiRodríguez Díaz family kitchen
capped, who live without any
aware of this
help at all from social security.
family and have
On September 17, 2014, the Jureported their
ventud Rebelde newspaper
situation
in
published a report by journalist
print,
digital
Yuniel Labacena Romero,
and video me“Different Children with Equal
dia.
Rights,” which presented the
case of two “moderately reHere is another
tarded adolescents.” Twice a
case that was
week, teacher Felicia Delgado
identified
by
Valladares visits their homes.
the Corriente
She is from the October 8th
Martiana
as
Special Education School in
more evidence
San Cristobal, in the province
of the lows within a sysXiomara Frómeta and her daughter
of Artemisa.
tem that is supposed to
In addition, the Cuban government
protect and care for the disabled. In Alquízar, a
is carrying out the Manuela Espejo Mission in
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