When Learning Turns to Dust
When Learning Turns to DustFor several days I have been coaching my son for his final secondary school exams. I dusted off my notions about quadratic equations, formulas for calculating the area of a pyramid, and factoring. After more than twenty years of not encountering these mathematical complexities, I reconnected neurons to help him prepare and to avoid paying the high price of a tutor. More than once, during these days of study, I was on the verge of giving up, faced with the evidence that numbers are not my forte. But I resisted.??Only when Teo returned from his most difficult test, saying he’d done well, did I feel relieved, as many of his classmates are in danger of repeating a grade. The reason is that in their three years of middle school, these students have seen three different evaluation methods paraded before them. They have also been affected by the lack of preparation of the so-called “emerging teachers” and the long hours of classes taught by television. For two semesters my son’s group has had no teachers in English and computing, and the assigned hour of physical education consists of an hour of running around the schoolyard, unsupervised. The lack of requirements and the bad quality of the education has left us parents trying to put patches over the innumerable gaps in knowledge.Fortunately, Teo’s school is not one of the worst. Although the smell of the bathroom sticks to the walls and clothes, because no one wants to work as a cleaning aid for the miserable wages the job pays, at least there is not as much haphazardness as in other schools in Havana. Nor, and this is a relief, do they sell grades, an ever more common practice in educational institutions. The teachers Teo has had, despite being ill-prepared, are good-natured people whom the community of parents have tried to help. In comparison with the problems that a friend of mine has had with her daughter’s technical school, we could not be happier with the moral environment of our son’s secondary school. According to what my friend tells me, the exchange of sex between the teenagers and the teachers has become a common way to get a good grade. Each test comes with a fee, and few remain unscathed in the face of the tempting offer of a cell phone or a pair of Adidas shoes, in exchange for outstanding grades.I have avoided writing about this thorny issue of the deterioration of the educational system for fear, I confess, that my child would feel the affects of the opinions of his mother. In the three years he has been in junior high, I’ve barely slipped in a couple of criticisms about the state of the school infrastructure, but now I can’t take it any more. They will be the professionals of tomorrow, the doctors who will attend to our bodies in the operating room, the engineers who will build our houses, the artists who will feed our souls with their creations; this terrible educational background puts all of this at risk. We cannot continue to be satisfied with the fact that at least while our children are sitting at a desk they are not roaming the streets at the mercy other risks. Within the walls of the classroom very serious vices can be developed, permanent ethical deformations, and an incubation of mediocrity of alarming proportions. No parent should remain silent about it.”http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/?p=1817
Amnesty International says Cuba stepping up repression of independent media
Amnesty International says Cuba stepping up repression of independent mediaBy: The Associated Press30/06/2010 6:50 AM
MADRID – Amnesty International says Cuba is stepping up repression of independent media as journalists try to report on a country eager for change now that longtime ruler Fidel Castro has been replaced by his brother Raul.
The New York-based human rights group says this year has been particularly bad for independent media, which tried to cover street protests in support of jailed political prisoners, only to be detained or otherwise prevented from doing their jobs.
Amnesty International's deputy director for the Americas, Kerrie Howard, said her organization has seen "a wave" of harassment and arbitrary detention of independent journalists in Cuba.
She spoke Wednesday as the group issued a report on freedom of expression in the Communist-run country.
AI: Laws create fear of expression in Cuba
AI: Laws create fear of expression in CubaPublished: June 30, 2010 at 12:03 PM
HAVANA, June 30 (UPI) — Cuba's legal system has created a climate of fear among journalists, dissidents and activists, Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday.
The report, "Restrictions on Freedom of Expression in Cuba," highlights provisions in Cuba's legal system and government practices that restrict information given to media and have been used to detain and prosecute government critics, the human-rights organization said in a release.
"The laws are so vague that almost any act of dissent can be deemed criminal in some way, making it very difficult for activists to speak out against the government," Kerrie Howard, deputy director for the Americas at Amnesty International, said in the release. "There is an urgent need for reform to make all human rights a reality for all Cubans."
The Cuban government has a virtual lock on media while demanding all journalists join the national journalists' association, controlled by the Communist Party, AI said. Cuban authorities also restrict access to blogs that are openly critical of the government and places restrictions on fundamental freedoms.
Amnesty International also said the Cuban Constitution and its penal code run roughshod over individual rights and freedoms, creating a climate of fear.
Cuban authorities have denied political prisoners exist in the country, but Amnesty International said it knew of at least 53 prisoners of conscience who are jailed for exercising their right to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
Amnesty International calls on the Cuban government to revoke or amend legal provisions unlawfully limiting freedom of expression, stop harassment of dissidents, free all prisoners of conscience, and allow the free flow of ideas and information through the Internet and other media.
"The release of all prisoners of conscience and the end of harassment of dissidents are measures that the Cuban government must take immediately and unconditionally," Howard said. "However, to honor its commitment to human rights, Cuba must also dismantle the repressive machinery built up over decades, and implement the reforms needed to make human rights a reality for all Cubans."
Body of exile slain in Cuba returns to Florida
Posted on Wednesday, 06.30.10Body of exile slain in Cuba returns to FloridaBY ALFONSO CHARDYachardy@ElNuevoHerald.com
The body of a Cuban exile slain on the island two weeks ago has been returned to Miami, and a Naples funeral home will handle funeral services, family members said.
Meanwhile, the woman's injured husband has been ordered to remain in Cuba pending the end of an official investigation in the case, the family said.
The couple, Layda Licet Recio and Rolando Suárez, were attacked and beaten while visiting relatives in Cuba in early May.
Recio died from a blow to the head. Suárez had been hospitalized but was released earlier this week.
“He is better now, but the government in Cuba won't let him come home until the investigation concludes,'' Aurelia Rodríguez, mother of the slain woman, said Wednesday.
Her daughter's body arrived at Miami International Airport and was transported to Muller-Thompson Funeral Chapel in Naples. A viewing was scheduled for Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. and burial is at 11 a.m. Friday at Naples Memorial Gardens.
Recio's family in Florida lives in Lehigh Acres, near Naples.
Recio, 40, and Suárez, 43, were attacked during a birthday party May 7 outside the family home in their hometown of Santiago in eastern Cuba.
Two men armed with iron bars or wooden sticks filled with cement attacked the couple, killing Recio with a blow to the head and seriously injuring Suárez.
The attack did not appear to be random. The perpetrators, both under arrest, were known to the couple or their Santiago relatives, family members said.
“They apparently were from the neighborhood,'' Rodríguez told El Nuevo Herald.
Recio and her husband have three daughters — Lianet, 11; Rina, 12; and Lian, 18. They did not travel to Cuba with their parents but remained behind with family members.
The case drew the attention of the Cuban exile community in South Florida because the couple were among the first travelers from abroad to visit Cuba after the May 1 start of a Cuban government mandatory medical insurance policy for foreign travelers.
At first, Recio's family in Florida complained that the Cuban insurance policy would not cover costs associated with the tragedy. But on Tuesday, Rodríguez said the problem was nearly resolved.
The Cuban government statement said the Cuban insurance service would pay up to $7,000 to return Recio's body and cover costs associated with Suárez's hospital stay and treatment.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/30/1639068/body-of-exile-slain-in-cuba-returns.html
Informar en Cuba puede costar la vida, dicen sus periodistas independientes
Publicado el miércoles, 06.30.10Informar en Cuba puede costar la vida, dicen sus periodistas independientesPor EFEMADRID
El mero hecho de divulgar noticias en Cuba "te puede costar la vida'', afirmó hoy el periodista Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, quien explicó en conversación telefónica desde la isla que, para el régimen castrista, un informador independiente puede ser sinónimo de espía o de terrorista de estado.
Hernández y la también periodista cubana Megaly Otero participaron telefónicamente desde la isla en la presentación en Madrid del informe "Restricciones a la libertad de expresión en Cuba'', que subraya las violaciones de derechos humanos llevadas a cabo por el Gobierno de La Habana en ese ámbito.
El informe fue presentado en la sede de Amnistía en Madrid por el director en España de esta organización, Esteban Beltrán, y la directora adjunta para América del Secretariado Internacional de AI, Kerrie Howard.
Según subrayó Beltrán, doce de los presos de conciencia encarcelados en Cuba son periodistas.
''La primera y mayor dificultad para el ejercicio del periodismo independiente en Cuba es no poseer el derecho legal a existir'', pues "en este país sólo es permisible el oficialismo'', ratificó Yosvani Anzardo Hernández, director del periódico digital ''Candonga'' y corresponsal del sitio web de noticias "Payo Libre'', con sede en Miami.
Aquel que busca información "corre el riesgo de ser acusado de espionaje'', de ''peligrosidad social'', de atacar al Estado o de infringir cualquier otra ley, añadió.
''Cualquier información está catalogada dentro de la esfera de la seguridad nacional'', dijo Hernández, quien manifestó sus sospechas de que la conversación telefónica de hoy pudiera estar siendo grabada por los servicios de seguridad cubanos.
Este periodista fue detenido en septiembre de 2009 durante trece días y la policía se incautó de sus medios de trabajo y de libros considerados "subversivos'' y peligrosos para la seguridad del estado; su caso es uno de los analizados en el informe que AI difundió hoy.
Las fuerzas de seguridad cubanas amenazaron al periodista con procesarlo penalmente bajo la Ley 88, una normativa aprobada en febrero de 1999 que penaliza con hasta 20 años de cárcel el apoyo directo e indirecto a la política estadounidense sobre Cuba.
Tal norma, conocida por los disidentes como Ley Mordaza, es uno de los instrumentos que utiliza el régimen castrista contra la disidencia y la libertad de expresión, pues establece hasta cinco años de prisión por colaborar con cualquier emisora extranjera de radio y televisión, publicación impresa u otro medio.
La Ley 88 sirvió para condenar a numerosos disidentes durante la represión lanzada por la dictadura castrista en marzo de 2003, considerados por AI como presos de conciencia.
Trabajando como periodista independiente en Cuba "corres continuamente el riesgo de estar en un calabozo'', dijo en la misma conversación telefónica Magaly Otero, directiva de la agencia "Hablemos Press'', fundada el 3 de febrero de 2009.
''Somos acosados, amenazados y reprimidos sólo por haber cruzado la frontera (prohibida) del régimen'', explicó.
Y ese acoso, añadió, también afecta a los familiares, que pueden ser expulsados de los trabajos y los centros de estudio como si se tratara de "una guerra psicológica''.
Otero destacó que las cosas no han mejorado desde que Raúl Castro sustituyera en el poder a su hermano Fidel: "ha habido cambios, pero para peor''.
Estos dos periodistas cubanos se mostraron escépticos sobre las recientes conversaciones de la Iglesia Católica con el régimen castrista que llevaron a la excarcelación de un preso político muy enfermo y al traslado de otros doce a cárceles cercanas a sus provincias de origen.
Aunque la intención de la Iglesia "me parece muy buena'', no va a dar resultados positivos, dijo Hernández, mientras que Otelo subrayó que lo que pretende el Gobierno cubano es "ganar tiempo''.
Los dos periodistas se refirieron a los presos de conciencia en Cuba, que "están en muy malas condiciones'' y "son golpeados y maltratados'', además de no recibir atención médica, afirmó Hernández.
''Es un infierno que ellos están enfrentando'', aseveró.
Se refirieron en concreto al disidente Guillermo Fariñas, en huelga de hambre en prisión desde hace más de cuatro meses y de quien subrayaron su estado de salud "muy delicado''.
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/2010/06/30/755892/informar-en-cuba-puede-costar.html
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