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Literature: Iberian-American prize for a Cuban writer

By Sara Más

Cuba's Polina Martínez' Skizein (Decalogue of Year Zero) has been awarded the 2008 Julio Córtazar Iberian-American Short-Story Prize.

Over 300 works from 18 countries had been submitted to the contest. Made up of Argentina's Liliana Heer and Cuba's César López and Alberto Guerra, the jury decided to grant mentions to Patricia Jiménez' La diabla en París (She-devil in Paris) and Anisley Negrín's Isla a mediodía (Island at noon), from Cuba, and Carlos A. Costa's Un lunes cualquiera (Any Monday) and Oliverio Coelho's Sun-Woo, from Argentina.

Based on Nietzche's idea about the human race, Martínez develops a formula of mystery that is madness to her. Skizein is divided into 10 sections where reality does not weight down imagination. The short-story deals with cultural elements that are closely interrelated and have a bearing on the main characters.

The fact that Martínez deals with current issues does not limit her skill, imagination and grace in any way, the jury's report indicated.

I dedicate this prize especially to the 1970s generation, she said at the awards ceremony.

Born in the eastern province of Camagüey, Martínez has written a couple of poem books: Gotas de fuego (Drops of fire) in 2004 and Tao del azar (Tau cross of chance) in 2005.

She graduated from the 4th Course on Narrative Techniques organized by the Onelio J. Cardoso Literary Training Center, and was granted a scholarship by the Hermanos Saíz Association (local organization of young artists).

She was given the Cuban Gazette Short-Story Prize in 2006, and her works have been published in Cuba and abroad.

Established by writer Ugné Karvelis, wife of Argentinean writer Julio Córtazar (1914-1984), the contest is sponsored by the Cuban Book Institute, Casa de Las Américas, and ALIAS Foundation.

The awards ceremony was held parallel to an International Congress on Machado de Assis and Latin America, last August 27, in Havana.

Speaking at the event, Cuban intellectual Roberto Fernández Retamar, president of Casa de Las Américas, highlighted Córtazar's bonds of affection for the regional institution.

Oppressive love

By Dixie Edith / Photo: Carmona

Overprotection and paternalistic attitudes are often seen in Cuban families and can become forms of violence. Ofelia Villanueva (78) decided to go live with her daughter last year.

"I put up with her only for a couple of months", she told SEMlac.

A textile worker and household head for over 30 years, Villanueva became a widow when she was 47 and has not married again. "I realized that my independence and decision-making power had suddenly vanished" she added.

"My daughter and granddaughter love me so much that they do not allow me to move. I could not go downstairs because I could fall down and have my hip broken. As they go to work every day, I felt all on my own. I always have some neighbor with me at home", she stressed.

Spanish psychologist Ana Martos defines such an experience as unsuspected abuse. This form of psychological violence is so subtle and elaborate that it is often concealed. Most abusers disguise it as a form of protection, care and good intentions or wishes, she indicated. Martos wrote a book along these lines, entitled I can not stand it any longer: The 1000 faces of psychological abuse.

Overprotection does not make it possible for people to act in an autonomous manner. They are deprived of their freedom and are forced to live in an artificial environment, she emphasized.

On the opposite side, there are people who want to make senior citizens feel useful and actually overwhelm them with helping demands. Many young people do not allow them to go out or let them alone, she remarked.

According to Webster's Dictionary, paternalism is a system under which an authority treats those under its control in a fatherly way, especially in regulating their conduct and supplying their needs.

The list of victims of such attitudes includes older people, women, children and teenagers.

Parents, for example, adopt a paternalistic conduct when they tell their children who to go out with or what university specialty to take. "A similar attitude is that of a husband who does not allow his wife to go out at night", Adriana Cruz told SEMlac.

She is currently being trained as a psychologist at a local university and endured this situation herself. "When I finished senior high, I wanted to become a schoolteacher, but my father had other plans in mind. He even told me that he would throw me out of the house if I did not obey him", she recalled. "I do not want to see you ruin your life" he said to her.

"Came to understand that this is a form of abuse only after I began studying psychology", she commented.

Dr. Patricia Arés, head of the Family Study Group at the University of Havana's School of Psychology, indicated that child rearing in Cuba often involves an authority that is either domineering or overprotective.

"These two conducts are forms of psychological or emotional violence frequently seen in local households", she added.

The Group and the Psychological and Sociological Research Center conducted a research work on family violence in Cuba in 2006. It showed that psychological violence includes shouts, threats, humiliations, offenses, blackmail, discredit, prohibitions, intimidation and impositions.

Carried out in Havana, Matanzas , Villa Clara and Santiago de Cuba provinces, the research involved 564 people (366 women and 198 men). Over 86 percent of respondents believed that children should unconditionally obey their parents.

Such a finding is in keeping with a patriarchal, authoritarian education that promotes violent attitudes.

Mariela Almenares, Isabel Louro and María Ortiz are all masters in Health Psychology and hold the view that these acts do not leave any immediate visible marks, but they do have long-term consequences.

The victims eventually become demoralized and fail to appreciate their abilities and undertake personal projects.

Tropical storm Fay

By Raquel Sierra

Fay went through the western province of Matanzas on August 18. Nobody got killed, but associated rains damaged around 500 houses.

Floods in Falcón, a village in the central province of Villa Clara, hit 23 houses. The water carried away clothes, supplies, pets and household appliances, local government reports indicated.

The water started to come in at 6.00 a.m. and reached the roof just one hour later, a 70-year-old resident said.

Miriam Sarduy urged her neighbors to run to a nearby hill to save their lives. A truck tire pulled with a rope had to be used to take some people out, while some others had to be rescued by a salvage team, she added.

Senior citizens in the area do not recall a river overflow as serious as this one. Over 200 houses were totally covered by water. There were 200 millimeters of rainfall in four hours.

José Rubiera, head of the National Institute of Meteorology's Weather Forecast Center, had anticipated that Fay would bring abundant rain and cause flood in low-lying coastal areas.

Press reports indicated on August 19 that Villa Clara and Sancti Spíritus had benefited from storm-associated rains.

Local authorities said that Fay victims had not been left unprotected. Power supply was re-established within 48 hours, and building materials started to arrive in stricken areas shortly after the event.

Cuban Vice-president Carlos Lage visited the affected provinces on August 18 and told local media representatives that that the central government was in a position to solve storm-caused problems right away.

Fay damaged crops, roads, telephone-communication networks and house roofs, but overall losses were not as significant as on previous occasions, he added.

Evacuees have already returned to their homes, and transportation and other services are back to normal, a Civil Defense report stressed.

For the first time ever, the term rationality was used in evacuation plans. The central government asked to evacuate only those whose lives could be at risk due to potential floods or collapses.

The island, which has an internationally recognized disaster prevention system, was hit by two tropical storms last year, including Noel which destroyed 3,500 houses, railways, roads and growing fields, and made it necessary to evacuate 30,000 people. Around 630,000 people were evacuated before hurricane Dean hit.

Fay killed 54 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and another two in Jamaica.

After leaving Cuba, it headed for Florida and caused heavy rains, a report by the U.S. National Hurricane Center indicated.

Six tropical storms, including two hurricanes, have so far developed in the region in the current season (June 1 - November 30).

When nights become days

By Raquel Sierra / Photo: Raquel Sierra

Miralys Beaujardin, a resident in the special municipality of the Isle of Youth, watches her son Alexander with pride. He is a six-year-old, extremely-white-skin, red-haired, thin and very active boy who likes playing with the ball, just like any other child of his age. He is different, however.

When Miralys took him to the backyard five days after he was born for his first sunbath, she realized something was wrong. Although he was exposed to the sun for a few minutes only, there were ulcers and scars all over his face shortly afterwards.

"I did not know what was happening to him and the doctors gave me no diagnosis. When he was three years old, he was referred to a specialized institution in Havana for genetic and oncological studies. He was diagnosed with Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP)", she told SEMlac.

This changed our lives. "We have another two boys aged 15 and four, but only Alexander suffers from it, she added. At the beginning, they did not understand why we had to keep doors and windows closed. They have got used to that because Alexander's health is at stake", she recalled.

"is a hereditary disease that renders it impossible for the human body to redress the damage caused by ultraviolet radiation, indicated Pilar M. Acuña", member of the National Technical Advisory Group on XP.

Published by the Electronic Journal of Medical Science in the central province of Cienfuegos , an article entitled XP: a case presentation indicated that the disease affects all races and the two sexes.

It is considered a risk factor for skin melanoma, which appears mostly in white people, on the back in men and on legs in women.

"Sun exposure can cause skin atrophy and some types of cancer, including basal carcinoma and invasive melanoma", she stressed.

"XP demands special care and protection from ultraviolet radiation", she added.

"Out of 11.2 million inhabitants in the island, 57 are XP sufferers, aged six to 28, including 21 children whose ages range from six to 11. The disease is incurable, but is not contagious," she emphasized.

"These patients require an antioxidant-rich diet that includes cheese, liver, oil and vitamin E. They have to use sun protectors and hydrating creams", she commented.

A national screening program was undertaken in 2005, when a few cases were detected in the central province of Villa Clara. Most XP sufferers live in this area. They are all treated by a multidisciplinary team made up of oncologists, dermatologists, ophthalmologists, psychologists and other specialists.

"Psychological care should be provided to patients and relatives because the disease makes it necessary to introduce a radical change in family life", she noted.

"Alexander became extremely shy and tried to hide from other people at the beginning. He thought he was handicapped. He is currently living a normal life, fortunately. He plays with other kids at night and a schoolteacher comes here every day. He is not a sad boy", Miralys stressed.

"He gets up at around 1.00 p.m. He loves reciting and dancing, and is very keen on math and computer science, she added.

The local authorities provided our family with a comfortable house, a TV set and a VCR. He loves watching television and video films", she stressed.

"He hopes there will soon be a cure for his condition", she remarked. "I gave up my work to look after the family. My husband is my right hand", she said.

Different teenagers

Yaslín M. Rodríguez is 12 years old and likes dancing. As she can not go out during the day, her parents and friends usually organize parties at home.

She does not like to talk about her condition, but told SEMlac that she gets up early to do some house chores and take her classes. It was really difficult at the beginning, but I have got used to it, she added. She is the only person who has been diagnosed with XP in Havana.

Dianelis Guerra (14) lives in Santa Rita, a village in the eastern province of Granma. She was diagnosed when she was 11.

"I used to protect her from the sun using some cloth or an umbrella. She went to school and participated in all activities, but has never been to a river or the beach. Her skin is extremely sensitive", recalled her mother Leticia Moreno.

"She spent a month crying in her bedroom when she was first told about her condition. She has got used to it. We organized a party when she turned 15 earlier this month", she said.

"Adult patients who decide to marry have genetics advisory services available. We conduct in-depth studies of couples to determine whether or not they can have children", Acuña indicated.

"A young woman who is an XP sufferer married a healthy man and had a boy who has not developed the disease so far", she added.

"The incidence rate stands at one every 100,000 inhabitants in Japan and one every one million in the United States", she commented.

"We provide free screening tests, diagnosis and treatment to all patients in Cuba, she noted. They are given 21 food products on a monthly basis", she stressed.

"Surgical procedures have been available to those who have suffered from severe skin lesions", she indicated.

Oncologist Jesús de los Santos said that diagnosis is confirmed and treatment is first provided at the National Genetics Center in Havana.

"We apply state-of-the-art technology for this purpose and bring patients from any province. One cc of a reagent used for diagnosis costs around 10,000 dollars in the international market", he told media representatives.

"XP sufferers come for consultation twice a year and have cultural, recreational and sports activities organized for them on a regular basis", he added.

"They attended some of these activities last month. They skated and shared with artists and clowns at a rather unusual time", he concluded.

MSM vulnerability to HIV/AIDS

By Dixie Edith

The Cuban STI/HIV/AIDS Prevention Project for Men having Sex with Men (MSM) currently involves 1,400 volunteers and 124 working groups all over the country.

There were 5,237 HIV-positive people in the island by early July 2008. Out of this total, 84.8 percent were men, including 3,929 MSM (88.5 percent of the overall number of infected men).

Around 51 percent of them live in four provinces (Havana, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín and Pinar del Río), according to a Survey on HIV/AIDS Infection Prevention Indicators that was conducted by the National Office of Statistics' Population and Development Study Center.

The survey defined MSM as men who have had sex with men at least once in a lifetime.

They account for 4.6 percent of the local men aged 12 to 49 and for 5.1 percent of the sexually active men. They are 33 years old on average, and most of them (66.2 percent) are white.

They are highly educated: 56.6 percent have completed intermediate education and nine percent are university graduates.

Raúl Regueiro, MSM Project Coordinator at the National Prevention Center for STIs/HIV/AIDS, told local media representatives that the term MSM arises out of an epidemiological need.

"It is related to sexual behavior rather than orientation (heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual)", he added.

"More than half of the HIV-infected Cubans are MSM; they usually have a low risk perception", he stressed.

Luis González, a 32-year-old resident in Havana, was frightened to death when he was told that the doctor had diagnosed his sexual partner in the last couple of years (a 44-year-old professional) as HIV-positive.

The results of González' tests, however, were negative because they had always had safe sex.

"People usually use condom when they have sex with strangers or are involved in an affair. This is a mistake because an infected person can be asymptomatic for over 10 years", he told SEMlac.

The survey also showed that there had been a significant increase in the number of men who came out of the closet in the 2000-2007 period. Around five percent of sexually active men in Cuba admit that they have had sex with other men.

The number of stable homosexual relations has grown, especially in big cities, while social acceptance has moved from 37.7 percent of the overall population in 2005 to 75.4 percent in 2007, the survey revealed. As many MSM are bisexual, they can infect women as well.

The Cuban MSM Project was undertaken in August 2000 under a national program that had been adopted by the Ministry of Public Health and has been supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Although the local legislation contains no homophobic regulations, many people reject homosexuals.

Latin culture is male-chauvinistic, extols heterosexual values, and ridicules homosexuality. These factors made it difficult for the Project to make headway at the beginning.

Around 42 percent of survey respondents still discriminate against MSM.

"We have conducted information campaigns seeking to promote condom use and acceptance of sexual diversity. It has been proven that MSM are better equipped to have safe sex when they have good communication with their families and other social institutions", Regueiro emphasized.

Although there are now media messages related to HIV/AIDS prevention and control, the general population is not fully aware of how important protection is, said Aniuska Cardoso, an advisor to the Information and Advertising Department at the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television.

"We have managed to change MSM behavior in the last eight years. The idea of protecting health is closely associated with the defense of individual sexual rights. We have sought to fight HIV/AIDS from a comprehensive and multisectorial perspective", Regueiro indicated.

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

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