There has been no topic more discussed and debated by Cubans in recent days, particularly on social media, than the allegations of sexual abuse against singer-songwriter Fernando Bécquer. A report published on the independent magazine El Estornudo on December 8 has been the trigger for what many already describe as the Cuban #MeToo and almost a week later it continues to generate repercussions.
The stories of five women and their traumatic experiences with Bécquer make up the aforementioned text, which directly questions the singer-songwriter living on the island and implicated several people around him, who apparently knew of his alleged abuses and predatory practices, carried out with impunity for — at least — almost two decades.
The publication has raised a wave of controversies, and has already had various ramifications both on this particular plot and on sexual harassment and gender-based violence in Cuba. These issues, which were already being strongly problematized by sectors of Cuban civil society and the government, have gained pressing visibility on the networks, especially Facebook and Twitter, where many women have mobilized to give new testimonies of sexual abuse, through spontaneous activism woven with the tags #YoSíLesCreo, #YoSíTeCreo, and #MeToo, among others.
In addition, there has been no shortage of those who have unconditionally supported Bécquer — who has denied the accusations — or have given him the benefit of the doubt and the presumption of innocence. And neither those who have distanced themselves from him, have acknowledged having had prior news about his alleged abuse and have publicly apologized to his victims.
All of this occurs against the backdrop of the drafting and debate of the new Family Code, which must be taken to popular consultation next year for its final approval and in which the issue of violence, together with equal rights, the plurality and necessary inclusivity in family fabric, is a central section of the proposal.
Also, the entry into force of a government strategy for the prevention and attention to gender-based violence and violence in the family setting in Cuba, approved by the Council of Ministers last June, as a step that continues in the wake of the National Program for the Advancement of Women, approved in March by Presidential Decree.
Reactions to the “Bécquer case”
In the midst of the controversies over the El Estornudo report and its aftermath on the networks and other unofficial media, many public figures and ordinary people have positioned themselves on these events and gender-based violence in a general sense. And, as it is not difficult to verify, most of the comments and publications in this regard have offered their support to the victims, have spoken out against this scourge and have called for greater social and state commitment to confront it.
Among the reactions to the accusations against Fernando Bécquer, artists such as Haydée Milanés, Eme Alfonso and Rita del Prado have publicly expressed solidarity with the complainants:
There has been no topic more discussed and debated by Cubans in recent days, particularly on social media, than the allegations of sexual abuse against singer-songwriter Fernando Bécquer. A report published on the independent magazine El Estornudo on December 8 has been the trigger for what many already describe as the Cuban #MeToo and almost a week later it continues to generate repercussions.
The stories of five women and their traumatic experiences with Bécquer make up the aforementioned text, which directly questions the singer-songwriter living on the island and implicated several people around him, who apparently knew of his alleged abuses and predatory practices, carried out with impunity for — at least — almost two decades.
The publication has raised a wave of controversies, and has already had various ramifications both on this particular plot and on sexual harassment and gender-based violence in Cuba. These issues, which were already being strongly problematized by sectors of Cuban civil society and the government, have gained a pressing visibility on the networks, especially Facebook and Twitter, where many women have mobilized to give new testimonies of sexual abuse, through a spontaneous activism woven with the tags #YoSíLesCreo, # oSíTeCreo, and #MeToo, among others.
In addition, there has been no shortage of those who have unconditionally supported Bécquer — who has denied the accusations — or have given him the benefit of the doubt and the presumption of innocence. And neither those who have distanced themselves from him, have acknowledged having had prior news about his alleged abuse and have publicly apologized to his victims.
All of this occurs against the backdrop of the drafting and debate of the new Family Code, which must be taken to popular consultation next year for its final approval and in which the issue of violence, together with equal rights, the plurality and necessary inclusivity in family fabric, is a central section of the proposal.
Also, the entry into force of a government strategy for the prevention and attention to gender-based violence and violence in the family setting in Cuba, approved by the Council of Ministers last June, as a step that continues in the wake of the National Program for the Advancement of Women, approved in March by Presidential Decree.
Reactions to the “Bécquer case”
In the midst of the controversies over the El Estornudo report and its aftermath on the networks and other unofficial media, many public figures and ordinary people have positioned themselves on these events and gender-based violence in a general sense. And, as it is not difficult to verify, most of the comments and publications in this regard have offered their support to the victims, have spoken out against this scourge and have called for greater social and state commitment to confront it.
Among the reactions to the accusations against Fernando Bécquer, artists such as Haydée Milanés, Eme Alfonso and Rita del Prado have publicly expressed solidarity with the complainants:
Other personalities from the artistic, communication and private sectors on the island have made public personal stories of sexual harassment suffered during childhood, adolescence and adulthood, such as Thais Lisset, CEO of Píxel Cubano, and communicator Amelia Flores:
(1) Estos últimos acontecimientos destaparon un cajón que tenía cerrado y bien guardado en lo más profundo de mis recuerdos
Abro hilo contándoles mi experiencia con algo más o menos parecido— Thais Liset (@thais_liset) December 9, 2021
https://twitter.com/petitepandita/status/1469056902839603200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1469056902839603200%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fyositecreo-repercusiones-ramificaciones-y-contextos-del-caso-becquer%2F
Voices such as that of journalist Ania Terrero, from the Cubadebate digital website, have also been raised in the official Cuban press. She addressed what happened on her Facebook wall, through a post in which she called attention to the minimization of the causes presented by the complainants.
In addition, she criticized those who have shielded themselves in their political positions to defend themselves and condemned the opportunism underlying these behaviors. Likewise, she asked that alliances and networks be generated for the common search for solutions to the problem of gender-based violence in Cuba:
In parallel, some men have publicly shown their solidarity with Bécquer’s alleged victims and have acknowledged their complicity and silence in the face of the events. Their testimonies, in more than one case, seek to go beyond the facts themselves to reflect on the male position and on a society with a marked patriarchal character in the face of events of this nature.
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On the other hand, the multi-award-winning Cuban writer Elaine Vilar Madruga, who after El Estornudo’s publication had referred on her Facebook profile that during adolescence she had been a victim of Bécquer, declared that she had presented a formal complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Cuba, with support and guidance from the Gender and Feminism Commission of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC). In an interview with the Alma Mater magazine, published this Monday, Elaine said that she would only give details about her case in the field of investigation, which is already underway.
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“I have already reported my case to the Attorney General’s Office. Let’s see what apologies there are now. I don’t want them. Legal process and justice. #niunbécquermás,” Elaine commented in a post made by Cuban actor Jorge Ferdecaz on his personal Facebook profile.
The Cuban Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), an organization with official backing on the island — and whose president, Teresa Amarelle, is part of the Council of State and the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) — took sides by showing solidarity with Elaine and the other victims of sexual assault and harassment who have made the legal complaints.
In this regard, the FMC declared on its page on the Facebook platform that “guiding and accompanying women in each process has been a priority for the women’s organization.” Hours later, the organization deleted this first post and published a new statement, this time with a more official tone that does not directly address the case of Elaine Vilar and, instead, emphasizes the “will” of the island’s government to “protect people against any manifestation of violence”:
For its part, the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) of Cuba, directed by Mariela Castro Espín, had already issued a statement in which it repudiated all forms of gender-based violence. In its statement, the entity that organizes the days against homophobia and transphobia on the island every year, urged all victims to file complaints “following the legally established procedures” for this.
https://twitter.com/CenesexCuba/status/1469871289573810177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1469871289573810177%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Foncubanews.com%2Fcuba%2Fyositecreo-repercusiones-ramificaciones-y-contextos-del-caso-becquer%2F
Background and legal contexts
Feminist alliances of Cuban civil society had requested from the Cuban Parliament in 2019 a Comprehensive Law against Gender-based Violence, which collected a total of 40 signatures. At the time, the signatories did not get an affirmative response from the National Assembly and their request was not accepted. Consequently, the proposal was not included in the legislative schedule for that year, as Cuban feminist academician and one of the signatories of the Request, Ailynn Torres Santana, has referred in her OnCuba column: Sin filtro.
Request for Comprehensive Law against gender-based violence in Cuba
However, in the context of mobilization for the cases of Bécquer’s harassment, on December 9, the aforementioned “Comprehensive strategy for the prevention of and attention to gender-based violence and in the family setting” was published in the Gaceta Oficial of the Republic of Cuba. In its Article 1, the Strategy includes the objective of “guaranteeing a comprehensive and integrated response for the prevention of and effective attention to gender-based violence and violence in the family setting, due to its importance and priority to generate an articulated and coordinated intra- and intersectoral response to the complaints related to this problem.”
In addition to this strategy, the recognition of gender-based violence in the 2019 Constitution, as well as the existence of channels and policies for reporting and supporting victims of gender-based violence have pluralized the Cuban legal and social framework in recent times. This is demonstrated by non-exclusively state structures such as the lines of psychological support, telephone assistance and legal advice for victims of gender-based violence, the FMC’s own counseling, the Femicide Observatory, an initiative of the #YoSíTeCreo group, and the announced Gender Observatory.
But even so, specialists and feminists such as Alina Herrera Fuentes have reiterated the need for civil society, especially women victims of violence and abuse, to participate directly in the design and discussion of ongoing initiatives, especially those of the state, regarding which a certain “institutional shielding” continues to prevail. Likewise, state support for the victims and the guarantee of safe spaces for them continue to be urgent in the current Cuban context, according to Herrera.
More than five women and an aggressor: the puzzle of gender-based violence in Cuba
Complaints, testimonies and digital contexts
The testimonies present in the report that gave rise to the debate on the Bécquer case, as well as the subsequent accounts of abuse shared on the networks, have been essential for victims of sexual harassment and gender-based violence in Cuba to gain awareness about the need to create support networks and make their experiences visible.
However, organizations such as the Latin American and Caribbean Women’s News Service (SEMLAC) underline the importance of these complaint processes generated in digital networks transcending the virtual environment towards the corresponding legal structures. Although, undoubtedly, digital media contribute greatly to educating, making the debate visible and supporting victims of gender-based and sexual violence, their status as public or semi-public spaces also subjects victims of harassment to other types of lynching and persecutions. Nor do they directly or formally involve the state structures responsible for managing the conflict, prosecuting, educating and legislating.
In this regard, the Cuban complainant and writer Elaine Vilar said in an interview with Alma Mater magazine: “I think there is a legal duty, today, to transcend the news, to transcend the stir of the networks and this Pandora’s box that has been opened around the specific case; it is a duty to bring these facts to justice so that it is meted by all the people who for more than 10 years, almost 20 from what I am seeing in some of the testimonies, have suffered excesses from this man.”
The public complaint in the networks and the formal processes of legal complaint are fundamental then, both for the State and its structures to nurture and implement mechanisms that channel the conflict in a manner consistent with the legal guidelines that frame the gender problem in Cuba today, as well as for Cuban society to seek alternative channels for itself to process the problem. The repercussions and ramifications of this story should be far from over.
