Inicio           Quiénes somos           Corresponsales           Resumen Semanal           Coberturas internacionales           Servicios SEMlac          Archivos           Enlaces

Reforestation efforts

By Raquel Sierra / Foto: Raquel Sierra

According to historians, when Christopher Columbus arrived in Cuba, the country was literally covered by trees. Several centuries later, reforestation efforts are underway.

One fifth of the 11.2-million population lives in Havana, which covers 0.4 percent of overall land area. Such a situation renders these efforts extremely difficult.

Isabel Russó, head of the State Forestry Service in the capital city, said that trees are like children: they need to be looked after depending on their age.

There are 13 square kilometers of landscape area per inhabitant in downtown Havana and 33 square meters per inhabitant on the outskirts. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) considers it acceptable to have 10 square meters per inhabitant, she added.

Forest areas have moved from 4.03 percent of overall surface in 2000 to 5.53 percent in 2008, she indicated.

"However, you walk down the streets of Diez de Octubre (a densely populated neighborhood) and you rarely see a tree", she commented.

"There are very nice parks in some residential districts, but radiance is really uncomfortable in most of them", said Yolanda Armas, a Bachelor of Literature.

"It is contradictory to see people loving garden plants and destroying big trees, except the Ceiba, which is untouched among those hat practice the African religion", she added.

As people in Europe spend most of the year without seeing anything green, they care for trees. We here pay no attention to them, stressed Mayda Anido, a textile-mill technician who was trained in the former Soviet Union.

"There is no space for trees in downtown Havana, while there are beautiful French-style promenades in El Vedado and Miramar districts", explained Pedro Torres, a professor at the National Tourism Training Center (FORMATUR).

Russó emphasized that trees are like green diamonds. "We need to know what species to plant and where", she added. "We are organizing courses for decision-makers and other stakeholders", she announced.

"Most trees in Havana are very old. They are often hollow and demand special management", she remarked.

"The local reforestation plan covers main avenues, roads, parks, porches and areas that are not suitable for crops", she indicated.

"The plan involves neighbors, workplaces, mass organizations, units of the Ministry of Agriculture and community services," she added.

"It does not matter how big or small an area is. We should always try to plant trees because they produce oxygen and absorb dust, noise and even saltpeter", she explained.

"People usually destroy the trees that are useless according to their way of thinking. Nobody would ever try to cut down a mango or avocado tree", said Sonia Peña, a forestry technician.

Current reforestation efforts are being supported by a newly established Forestry Company, which is producing seeds and managing 2,000 forest hectares that had in the past been no-man's land. "Pruning is necessary, but it is not cutting for the sake of cutting", she added.

Valuable experiences

No area was reserved for trees in El Cerro, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Havana. Instead, porches were built to protect pedestrians from the sun.

Empty spaces and areas where old buildings have collapsed are being turned into garbage dumps rather than gardens or parks. The exception to the rule is Old Havana, which has been declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Some individual initiatives have become community projects and seek to redress environmental problems.

Dalia Reyes (61) decided to build a garden across her house, in the only outdoor section of Albear water supply network. Completed in 1893, the system still uses gravity to supply water to many Havana residents.

"I removed the rubble and weeded the area. I bought some young plants and bricks to build a fence", she explained.

"Dalia's garden, as her neighbors call it, has all kinds of roses, bugloss, royal Poinciana, tamarind and many other varieties", she added.

The project has drawn the attention of many people. "We will soon have street lights and sidewalks, and the main street here will be paved," she announced.

Just a few blocks away, Justo Torres has planted a majagua and a palm tree at a square. "I will plant some more and hope my neighbors will join me", he said.

"Wall lizards, bees and hummingbirds are back to this area", he told SEMlac.

On the outskirts of Havana, Elías Martínez built a farm at an old brick factory 35 years ago, when nobody spoke of urban agriculture.

"I planted palm trees, avocado, guava and coffee. All my children were raised there", he recalled.

Putting an end to deforestation

The Cuban government decided to put an end to deforestation in 1959, when forest areas covered only 14 percent of overall surface after several centuries of over-exploitation and mismanagement.

Forest areas now cover 24.5 percent of the territory, and the idea is to plant twice the number of trees that are felled.

Under a world campaign last year, Cuba undertook to plant over 135 million trees, and 136.6 million were actually planted.

An FAO report indicated that Cuba ranks high on the list of Caribbean countries increasing forest areas. The island is planting 67,000 hectares a year and hopes to total 29.3 percent of the territory by 2015, it added.

The Cuban State has given top priority to local watersheds and biodiversity. One of the most successful projects along these lines is that of Cauto River, the longest in the country.

Obel Carrazana, a farmer whose face is full of wrinkles because of the sun, said that local people had always thought the river would never die. "They felled trees and washed all kinds of vehicles there", he added.

"They simply did not know they were damaging it. Scientists came and made them realize that we should all care for the river", he concluded.

Communication: The media and women

By Sara Más

Speaking at the 8th Iberian American Meeting on Gender and Communication, Isabel Moya, editor-in-chief of the Cuban Women's Federation publishing house, highlighted the important role played by the media in promoting equality and de-constructing sexist stereotypes and myths.

She told participants in the event, which was held on May 27-29, in Havana, that the media can be very instrumental in changing traditional gender concepts.

"There should also be political will, appropriate laws and social action to give both men and women the same rights and opportunities in society", she added.

The Meeting was attended by over 100 delegates from Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Costa Rica, Italy, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Brazil, Panama and Cuba.

"Old and new gender paradigms always have an impact on the relationship between individuals and the media", Moya stressed.

Cuban women are actively involved in social life: they make up 44.9 percent of the country's labor force, 66.1 percent of intermediate- and high-level technicians, 35.4 percent of managers and leaders in the state sector, 43 percent of parliament members, and 64 percent of university graduates.

"A deeply rooted patriarchal culture, however, goes against women's development and is particularly seen in couple relations and at home", Moya indicated.

"Traditional and modern concepts are overlapping at an ideological level", she commented.

The media are called upon to promote discussion and change. "The so-called male-centered ideology is reluctant to be replaced with equality, holds back, and metamorphoses professional ideologies, production routines, policy formulation and decision making", she emphasized. She is also the head of the Gender and Communication Chair at the José Martí International Institute of Journalism.

The main topics discussed at the Meeting included the central role played by the media in gender issues, women filmmakers, masculinity in the press, and the approach to gender violence and women's sexuality.

The event is organized every two years by the National Union of Cuban Journalists, the Federation of Cuban Women, and the Cuban Association of Broadcasters.

Participants in a roundtable discussed actions by women movements, journalist organizations and individuals seeking to provide alternative communication products that do not re-produce the patriarchal approach to gender issues.

A different approach to gender issues

By Dixie Edith

Participants in the 8th Iberian American Meeting on Gender and Communication, which was held in late May in Havana, discussed topics such as gender-based alternative messages and women's access to an industry that is dominated by transnational corporations.

"We are no longer the exception to the rule", said Sara Lovera, a Mexican journalist who is a founding member and correspondent of the Latin American and Caribbean Women's News Service (SEMlac).

Speaking at a panel on alternative experiences to man-centered communication, Lovera indicated that this news service had been born out of an Inter Press Service (IPS) project under the umbrella of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. "We are now an independent agency applying a different approach to journalism, away from that of power groups", she stressed.

"We became the first world news service that is provided only by women who are information/communication professionals, she added. We are not a mere resonance box and have gained a lot of experience in media work", she noted.

Lovera, who is also a founding member of the Mexican Women's News Agency (CIMAC) and Doble Jornada supplement, urged to increase women's involvement and representation in international academic institutions and other organizations.

The experiences of Spain's Ameco Press and Cuba's Information Minga (a community-based agency under the umbrella of the Martin Luther King Memorial Center) were also advanced at the event.

Spain's Cristina Pérez said that Ameco Press seeks to promote gender equality, good journalistic practices, and professional training and upgrading.

"We should always speak in first person, include women's issues on political and media agendas, use an inclusive language, and approach gender violence in an appropriate manner", she noted.

She raised the question of objective journalism. "We ask our reporters to be as subjective as they can and try to realize that daily, ordinary events also make news", she added.

Against this background, Isabel Moya, head of the Gender and Communication Chair at the José Martí International Institute of Journalism, indicated that communication schools are currently questioning the old principle of objective journalism and speaking of social responsibility.

Cuba's Idania Trujillo advanced the experience of the Information Minga in voicing the concerns of those who are never heard.

"We are training broadcasters and promoting a participatory, democratic dialogue in the media. It is not an easy task because we have to learn from our own mistakes", she added.

Participants in the Meeting highlighted the need to teach people, especially those who have been historically excluded, to use information to raise their voices and change the world.

A male-dominated film industry

By Sara Más

While digital technology has promoted access by Cuban women to the local film industry, the latter is still being dominated by men.

Such a lack of visibility clearly shows how legitimized disproportion and inequality have been, said Danae C. Diéguez, a professor at the College of Art (ISA)'s Audiovisual Media School.

She made a presentation along these lines at a panel on women filmmakers, at the 8th Iberian American Meeting on Gender and Communication, which was held on May 27-29 in Havana.

"Several Cuban women filmmakers began using video technology for artistic expression and self-realization", she added.

Most of them have got involved in documentary making and just a few have been able to shoot full-length features. Among them was Sara Gómez, who made 14 documentaries and was finishing her first film (De cierta manera / Somehow) when she died at 31, in 1974.

She managed to break away from traditional themes and approaches and deal with the lives of marginal people in the island, stressed Sandra del Valle, a psychologist who has conducted in-depth studies over Gómez' work.

The film tells the story of Yolanda and Mario by interrelating gender, class and race elements. He represents masculinity under transition and a new way of thinking. She is a divorcée who gives priority to professional development over love and is actively involved in social life, very much in keeping with the new women's project in Cuba, Del Valle emphasized. Yolanda often states: I am independent.

Gómez was at the time the only woman director at the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) and the first one to shoot a full-length feature.

There have been many women editors at ICAIC, but this has been in line with the traditional model, Del Valle noted.

They work in editing rooms, a private, closed space that suits stereotypes quite well, said María C. Cumaná, Bachelor of History of Art and general coordinator of the Latin American Film Foundation portal (www.cinelatinoamericano.org).

"Film editing is like sewing, always implementing or completing somebody else's ideas", Diéguez indicated.

"The image of women, as presented by male directors, has been changing over the years, especially after the 1990s", she remarked.

Why have just a few women made films in Cuba? Have they had no stories to tell? Have they had little interest in movie making? Of course not. Sara Gómez, Marisol Trujillo, Mayra Vilasís, Ana Rodríguez and Rebeca Chávez have directed ICAIC documentaries, while Lizette Vila, Belkis Vega and Teresa Ordoqui have worked outside the mainstream.

They have all had to face strong opposition and/or overcome obstacles, but they have endured such a treatment to develop their creative talents.

Most awards at the latest contest of young filmmakers went to women, including Dianelys Hernández and Heidi Hassan, Diéguez announced.

Independent women filmmakers like Adriana F. Castellanos, Hilda E. Vega, Milena Almira, Lianed Marcoleta and Yanelbis González have also been recognized.

"Although many of them are not fully aware of the gender perspective in their works, they have dealt with femininity in their social and cultural contexts," she indicated.

Their stories on women issues are so dramatically powerful and show so much talent that they are finally occupying a position next to their male colleagues.

Cuba: Putting an end to abuse

By Raquel Sierra

After many years of silence, disagreement, forced sex and efforts to improve marital relations and keep the father’s image unharmed before the eyes of the children, this woman said: enough is enough. Her name could well be Martha or Susan, but the truth is that she managed to put an end to violence and do so with the head held high.

Like many other cases, hers was not known and most people thought her family got along just well. Some women look for help, make phone calls, but hang up without saying their names. Many others dare to report their cases to the police, but step back, out of fear. She did not.

"We were married for 26 years. There were good and bad times. We did not live together during the first 18 years because he was working in another province. I spent all that time working and looking after my children," she recalled.

She is now 59. She has her hair and nails done. She dresses elegantly. She is not tall, but slender. Her brown-skinned face shows no wrinkles. Her marks are deep inside her. She is relieved, finally free from abuse.

She met him when she was 19. As he was never at home, she studied and became a schoolteacher. He had only completed sixth grade, but was a skillful electrician. She always wanted him to continue studying so that nobody could look down on him.

"When our children asked any question about politics, I sent them to him. He loved reading and being updated. This was a way of making him participate in family life and give his opinion", she told SEMlac.

When they began living together, she realized how authoritarian he was. He could not see a woman expressing her views or succeeding in any way.

When she developed neuropathy and suffered from muscular pains, he told her: You are useless. On other occasions, he would say: You would be a better person if you were mute.

She endured all kinds of abuse. "I used to look up to the ceiling and wondered: What will happen today? He let me know that he was having love affairs", she added.

Abuse

He always paid great attention to public image. Most people thought we were a happy family, even after we separated and continued living in the same house, she recalled. She is still living in Cárdenas, a municipality in Matanzas province, 100 kilometers east of Havana.

"As he was away and we could not get in touch over the phone, I wrote him letters. I never knew if he ever read them", she indicated.

"When he was at home, he would make me go to the bedroom. I always thought: How can I share my body and soul with a man that is abusing me?"

"One day, he attacked our daughter, a 25-year-old university graduate, because he found her sleeping with her boyfriend. She told me: He hit me just as he hits you. He had never done that to me. This was the straw that broke the camel's back", she told SEMlac.

She stayed by his side for another year, looking after him, preparing the food he liked best and washing his clothes.

"Shortly afterwards, he came upon me in the kitchen and dragged me to the bedroom. He threw me on the bed and against the closet. It is terrible to be beaten up this way. I have been suffering from high blood pressure ever since", she recalled.

"I used to pray for our son not to show up when we were quarreling. I always imagined he would take a knife to defend me from his own father. Why live if he is taken to prison?, I sometimes wondered."

"After we separated, he often tried to infuriate me, but I never uttered an offensive word," she said.

There came a time when he did not speak to our son. I am putting the finger on the sore spot, he told me.

"We women do not report these cases to the police because we love our children and do want to damage them in any way", she commented.

"We could not continue living under the same roof. The house belonged to his workplace, so I had no right over it. I rented a small apartment and joined a construction brigade when I was 47, right after the neuropathy. I sometimes felt I could not resist", she recalled.

You will be dead before the building is completed, her ex anticipated. Her strength saved her. "I had seen my parents work really hard all their lives. When I became weak sifting sand or unloading a truck full of bricks and blocks, I repeated to myself: yes, you can."

One day, he showed up at the house I was renting and told me: I am watching you; I know you are dating someone.

Turning the page

She completed her house five years later. Her daughter got married and her son graduated from university. They sometimes reproached her for having waited so long to get divorced.

It is comforting to see, however, that they could make it up with their father, she said. She started all over again, healed her wounds and felt no fear.

She sought psychological support to leave the darkest chapters of her life behind. She is now helping other women realize they can get out of the violence circle.

"I make no distinction between psychological and physical violence; they are two sides of the same coin. The former causes stress and depression and does not let the body work well. The latter makes everything stagger", she commented.

"I had to work as a laundrywoman and clean houses to feed and dress my children. Their father provided them with no financial support", she recalled.

"Violence develops at home. If the mother or the father is violent, the child will certainly act in such a manner", she said.

"Violence knows no frontier, age, race or educational level. It is an inability to solve problems or conflicts through negotiation", she added.

"Women in Cuba are very lucky. They have access to the labor market and actively participate in social life. We can say no to violence, stop it. We all deserve to be respected", she emphasized.

With her self-esteem really high, she confessed: "When I thought life had nothing else to give me, I met a 63-year-old man. We have been living together for six months and everything is going well."

RECUADRO

The Women's News Service from Latin America and the Caribbean (SEMlac), International News Agency, offers this weekly service.

No reproduction without authorization. Any comment o suggestion please contact us: semlac@redsemlac.net