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Cuba legalizes same-sex marriage in historic vote
By Sheri Walsh
Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Cuba has voted overwhelmingly to legalize same-sex marriage, with nearly three-quarters of all eligible voters turning out for Sunday's national referendum as the island nation prepared for Hurricane Ian.
The referendum, which overhauls Cuba's family code, includes greater protections for women, children and the elderly, while allowing LGBTQ couples to marry and adopt children. The new code also allows surrogate pregnancies, gives greater rights to grandparents and provides measures against gender violence.
As of Monday morning, more than 66% of those who voted, or 3,936,790, approved the referendum with 33%, or 1,959,090, opposing it, according to Cuba's National Electoral Council.
"Love is now the law," Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel tweeted after the landslide vote on Monday.
Love, good grief!
"It is paying off a debt with several generations of Cuban men and women, whose family projects have been waiting for this law for years," he said. "As of today, we will be a better nation."
The next day Hurricane Ian just missed Havana and knocked the power out to everyone in Cuba leaving the entire island in the dark Tuesday night. It's Friday, and they are still in the dark and not very happy about it. Do you think there was a message there that was completely missed?
Many LGBTQ people have faced discrimination in Cuba, even though homosexuality was legalized on the communist-run island in 1979.
Cuba considered similar legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in 2018, but the government abandoned plans for a referendum over fears of anti-gay backlash.
Leading up to Sunday's vote, the measure faced opposition from lawmakers and organizations outside the government, including the growing evangelical movement.
"I think about 95% of Christians disapprove, but it's not just Christians. There are communists who are not in agreement, materialistic people not in agreement," evangelical pastor Yoel Serrano told CNN. "A lot of people who believe in different things that don't agree with the changes they want to make with the new family code."
Mariela Castro, director of the National Center for Sex Education and a promoter of rights for same-sex couples, was a major supporter of the referendum legalizing same-sex marriage. She is the daughter of former President Raul Castro and the niece of his brother, the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Cubans protest in Havana for 2nd night over lack of power
By ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ
Friday, Sep 30th, 2022
People protest asking for the restoration of electrical service after four days of blackout due to the devastation of Hurricane Ian in Bacuranao, Cuba, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
HAVANA (AP) — Groups of Cubans protested Friday night in the streets of Havana for a second night, decrying delays in fully restoring electricity three days after Hurricane Ian knocked out power across the island.
A foreign monitoring group reported that Cuba’s internet service shut down for the second time in two days, saying it appeared to be unrelated to problems from the storm but rather an attempt to keep information about the demonstrations from spreading.
Associated Press journalists saw people demonstrating in at least five spots in the city or on its outskirts, including the Barreras and La Gallega districts where residents blocked streets with burning tires and garbage.
Masiel Pereira, a housewife, said that “the only thing I ask is that they restore the current for my children.”
A neighbor, Yunior Velásquez, lamented that “all the food is about to be lost” because there was no power for refrigerators.
On Thursday night, people protested at two points in the city’s Cerro neighborhood. That area was mostly calm Friday with the power back on, although people were out on the important Villa Blanca Avenue chanting “We want light!” while banging pots with spoons. Police blocked access to the street, but there were no confrontations.
The country of 11 million people was plunged into darkness Tuesday night, a few hours after Ian roared over western Cuba and triggered problems in the power system that eventually cascaded over the whole island.
Power was restored in some parts of the country the next day, but other areas were left without service, including in the capital.
The government did not say what percentage of the overall population remained without electricity Friday, but electrical authorities said only 10% of Havana’s 2 million people had power as of late Thursday.
Internet and cellphone service also were out Thursday. Internet service returned Friday morning, at least in some areas, but in the evening it was interrupted again, groups monitoring access to the internet reported.
Alp Toker, director of London-based Netblocks, said the blackout in internet service on Thursday and Friday appeared different from an internet outage that occurred soon after Ian hit.
“Internet service has been interrupted once again in Cuba, at about the same time as yesterday (Thursday),” Toker said in an email to AP on Friday night. “The timing of the outages provides another indication that these are a measure to suppress coverage of the protests.”
Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik Inc., a network intelligence company, earlier described Thursday’s event as a “total internet blackout.”
Repeated blackouts on Cuba’s already fragile electric grid were among the causes of the island’s largest social protests in decades in July 2021. Thousands of people, weary of power failures and shortages of goods exacerbated by the pandemic and U.S. sanctions, turned out in cities across the island to vent their anger and some also lashed out at the government. Hundreds were arrested and prosecuted, prompting harsh criticism of the administration of President Miguel Diaz-Canel.
Experts said the total blackout showed the vulnerability of Cuba’s power grid and warned that it will require time and sources — things the country doesn’t have — to fix the problem.
Cuba’s power grid “was already in a critical and immunocompromised state as a result of the deterioration of the thermoelectric plants. The patient is now on life support,” said Jorge Piñon, director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy’s Latin America and Caribbean program at the University of Texas.
Cuba has 13 power generation plants, eight of which are traditional thermoelectric plants, and five floating power plants rented from Turkey since 2019. There is also a group of small plants distributed throughout the country since an energy reform in 2006.
But the plants are poorly maintained, a phenomenon the government attributed to the lack of funds and U.S. sanctions. Complications in obtaining fuel is also a problem.
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Storm Ian: Protests as Cuba capital Havana remains in darkness
Saturday morning, 1 Oct 22
BBC
Protests have taken place on the streets of Havana, Cuba's capital city, after Hurricane Ian knocked out power to the entire country on 27 September.
Only parts of the city have had the lights turned back on, inspiring residents to take to darkened streets in protest at the government's response.
Outside of the capital, much of the island is also still without power, as work crews attempt to repair electricity poles that were damaged in the storm.
Do you think they yet see the connection between the declaration of same-sex marriage, and gay couples being able to adopt children, and the fact that most of the island has been in darkness ever since? Do you see the connection?
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