Month: November 2019

Detention and "Forced Disappearance" of Activist Nancy Alfaya Reported

The activist was arrested as she was leaving a cafe on Calle J between 25 and 27, in Vedado. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, October 23, 2019 — 24 hours after her arrest, the activist Nancy Alfaya remains in an unknown location, as reported to 14ymedio by the independent journalist Jorge Olivera, who was with her at the time of her arrest.

“We left at 12:30 from our turn on the internet at the United States embassy. We were walking with Iván Hernández Carrillo, we went toward Coppelia, and then we entered a cafe on Calle J between 25 and 27,” says Olivera.

He explains that it was then that a patrol car arrived, and a police officer asked Nancy Alfaya for identification. “She was the objective, they also picked me up but they let me go at Infanta and Carlos III and I was able to hear an official from the political police who was on a motorcycle say to one of the police officers that Nancy was going to the 11th Unit of the PNR of San Miguel del Padron.” continue reading

However, a few hours later, when he called that unit on the phone they told him that she “never arrived.” Olivera later went to the Zanja and Dragones Unit to report the “disappearance” of Alfaya. They looked in the register of arrested but she wasn’t on the list. “It’s a forced disappearance,” he claimed.

The Citizens Committee for Racial Integration (CIR) reported harassment by State Security agents against civil society activists who work for female empowerment. Nancy Alfaya is a coordinator of the CIR’s Network of Women for Equality.

The CIR considered the arrest “state terrorism” and blamed the Confrontation Department of State Security, an organ of the Ministry of the Interior.

Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna, CIR spokesman, warned that “the political violence against the activist has increased in intensity in recent weeks” and condemned “these arbitrary practices,” while demanding “the immediate release of Nancy Alfaya.”

“Nancy Alfaya Hernández’s crime is working for female empowerment, mobilizing speeches on prevention against all forms of violence, demanding from the state public policies that protect women from the political violence in which state agents are the main offenders,” wrote Madrazo Luna on social media.

Translated by: Sheilagh Herrera

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Is Education Free in Cuba? / Cubalex

Cuban schoolchildren during the ceremony where they take on the red scarf. (14ymedio)

Cubalex, 30 September 2019 — Last April 18th, in the city of Guantanamo, pastors Ramón Rigal  and Ayda Expósito received a citation from the municipal tribunal. On that day they started a summary process against them, which ended up with jail sentences of 2 years, and a year and a half, for “actions against the normal development of a minor”.

The Christian leaders, who belonged to the Iglesia de Dios in Cuba, had decided to provide home education to their children Ruth and Joel, aged 13 and 9 respectively. They adopted “the certified methodology of the Hebron College of Guatemala study plan,” according to the Liga Evangelica.

In the legal action against the pastors, the prosecutor indicated that “home education is not permitted in Cuba, because it has a capitalist basis” and that only teachers have the ability to “inculcate socialist values.” continue reading

For their part, the parents expressed their right to decide what type of education thier children should receive, as laid down by Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In spite of the fact that the island is signatory to the Declaration, the country is solely able to conceive of state schools providing secular education.

“Numerous religious groups, including the Catholic church, have repeatedly brought up the lack of options in Cuba in respect of primary and secondary education, especially for parents who do not want their children to be educated in an aggressively atheist curriculum, according to Anna-Lee Stangl, Head of the Christian Solidarity Defence Union.

The Cuban state guarantees a free and accessible education, but does not allow parents or legal tutors to choose other programmes for children. Students may not receive a religious or moral education in accord with family beliefs in study centres.

Individuals are not at liberty to run educational institutions or other options which do not provide a secular programme. Education is the sole prerogative of the state, which imposes on parents the duty of educating their children in moral, ethical and civic values in conformity with life in a socialist country.

More than that, the teaching is based on precepts promoting ethical, moral, civic and patriotic values, including military preparation, which is in conflict with the moral and religious convictions  of some social groups.

Translated by GH