HAVANNA TIMES – Women’s complaints published by the independent media The sneeze In an investigation report entitled Five Sexual Abuse Lawsuits against Fernando Becquer, the #metoo seem to have sounded the alarm in Cuba.
The report collects the testimony of five women who say they were sexually abused by the troubadour years ago. Becquer apparently resorted to religion to recommend cleansing sessions to his victims, which included blowjobs, touch, ejaculations, cunnilingus, and other sexual practices as part of the alleged healing of the girls.
Its prey were young women between the ages of 18 and 23, usually supporters of the troubadours who entertained at jam sessions.
Becquer (1970) is a self-taught singer-songwriter who developed his musical career mainly in small venues that are very popular with teenagers and young people.
He is also the author of some songs with aggressive language related to women. He is a member of the Hermanos Saiz Association and performs regularly at Trova festivals such as Longina and others in various provinces of the country. He has only released two albums: Cubano por donde tú quieras and El negro de tu vida.
The bigger picture
Sexual assault on women in Cuba is largely invisible in the press, state institutions and politicians, although it is common.
Although these complaints are based only on testimony, there are patterns that can be distinguished. For example, the use of a position of power and influence by the alleged harasser to bring his victims into a position of vulnerability. Likewise, the use of religion as an excuse for indecent acts. In Becquer’s case, physical violence was not used to achieve his desires, and there was no penetration in any of the reported cases.
According to the Penal Code in force in Cuba, lascivious assaults against a person of either sex can be punished with (three to five years in prison) “and it is in accordance with the article regulating the crime of rape or not.
Sex offenses happen in private. They are often sanctioned with one piece of direct evidence: the testimony of the victim. Obtaining additional evidence from the victim implies transferring responsibility for the investigation to the victim and helping to prevent the filing of lawsuits.
Sexually harassed and abused women prefer not to go into the complicated terrain of police and judicial investigations, where they know that they will be brought to justice without a perpetrator, but rather a victim. The criminal investigation into these attacks is again guilty.
The sexual abuse victim will be investigated to see if they are an innocent, believable victim who they did not provoke. If she is a suitable victim, her previous sex life will be examined. She has to prove beyond any doubt that she resisted, did not consent.
The Cuban Family Code regulates the treatment between spouses in Article 26 and is limited to gender-based violence from the point of view of marital relationships, leaving out other forms of violence for those who are not formally married. The effects of psychological violence or cruel physical or mental treatment are not recognized in this body of law, as is the case in other legal systems in the region.
In Cuban criminal law, too, there is neither a section of norms specifically protecting women, nor is domestic violence classified as a criminal offense as such, although it comes about through inferences to several other criminal offenses.
Offenses such as arbitrary legal exercise, manslaughter, murder, illegal abortion, injuries, abandoning minors, the disabled and the helpless, imprisonment, threats, coercion, violation of the home, crimes against the right to equal rights, rape, pedophilia, lascivious abuse, pimping and human trafficking, sexual abuse, incest, rape and corruption of minors are used to protect female victims of gender-based violence.
But femicide is not included in Cuba’s criminal law as it is only charged as murder with the aggravating circumstance of kinship with the victim. Its main flaw is eliminating the gender component as a motivation for the country’s increasing female homicide crime.
Cuban criminal law does not include the criminal figure of harassment, let alone when it occurs through electronic devices, which is known as cyberbullying. In these cases, women lack the instruments to ensure their effective protection, as they refuse to accept such complaints in the police units and there is complete impunity.
However, Cuban women can use the term “sexual abuse” provided in Article 303 of the Criminal Code. Theoretically it states that “who a) harasses another with sexual distress, is punished with three months to one year in prison or a fine of one hundred to three hundred quotas.” Experience shows, however, that when filing a complaint after this Article the possibility of receiving a sanction for the molester is low or nonexistent.
Oddly enough, the institutions have not yet commented on the Becquer case, and through posts on Facebook, several close friends of the troubadour gave the event a political turn. They try to defend Becquer by arguing that he is being attacked by “enemies of the revolution”. The troubadour himself made use of this refuge; his only response to his accusers was, “I don’t believe anything; I believe in the revolution. “
The political turning point comes because everything comes to light in an independent medium, El Estornudo. The Communist Party government does not accept the independent press, in fact it is consistently accused of being financed by the “enemy” (the United States). One of the complainants said she had also visited various official newspapers but was still waiting for an answer.
As a result of these public denunciations, more women have joined who claim to have been abused or at least tried by Becquer. El Estornudo has already announced that it will process the data.
* With information from The touch and The sneeze.
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