Quinque-Cocal: Rehabilitation that Nurture the Soul

The Quinque-Cocal Therapeutic community of the Health and Tourism Company, located in Holguin province, welcomes patients from different countries who receives treatment for their drug dependence. Through a highly scientific rehabilitation process, the patients improved their quality of life and spirituality while overcoming their addiction. The community consists of two villages: El Cocal, managed by Juan Manuel Lopez Torres; and El Quinqué, directed by Mario Portuondo Isaac. The two organizations have specialists with a high professional level who provide a service of excellence to patients. The staff is composed of psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, social workers, rehabilitation specialists, physical education graduates and support personnel who form a close-knit team. According to Dr Pastor Aguilera, psychiatrics at villa El Cocal, sports and physical activity play an important role in the rehabilitation process, as they help to improve health and keep patients away from drugs. These activities favour the health recovery of the patients, who have said to be satisfied with the daily care provided by the medical team and service workers. "The attention is very good, I’ve been in villa El Quinqué for just one month and I have progressed a lot, I feel like at home and I'm sure I will continue to improve because the persons taking care of me do their job with love, so I will do my best to recover, " told to the local media Loryan Romero Marquina, a patient from Venezuela. Luis Rodolfo Ramirez, another patient, said "I am very happy with the care provided in villa El Cocal, I have no complaints, the medical team is really good and we are encouraged to continue toward greater recovery." Both Loryan as Luis Rodolfo speak highly of physical activity and sport, and the performance of the medical team as a whole, which ensures that the rehabilitation process carried out in the TC Cocal-Quinqué , strengthens the spirituality of patients. Confortable gyms, facilities for the practice of various sports that merge harmoniouslywith the practice of individual, group and occupational psychotherapies, constitute a whole in the health recovery of patients, the main goal of the staff of these two clinics. A strong sense of collectivism, a sound work ethics and a dedication to a work of high human values are some of the qualities that distinguish the Cocal-Quinqué Therapeutic Community. BY Jose Antonio Perez Chapman

A monkey flower?

Orchids are elegant flowers, but some of them have a very strange appearance, such as the monkey face orchid, one of the many curiosities of nature. Since this photo began circulating on the Internet, there have been many who have doubted its existence. The scientific name of this orchid is Dracula simia, but it is popularly known as monkey face orchid, from the resemblance of its flowers to the face of an ape. These rare orchids only grow in the cloud forests of southeastern Ecuador and Peru at elevations of 1,000-2,000 meters on the side of mountains.

The name Dracula comes from the strange feature of the two long spurs of the sepals, that resemble the fangs of a number of inhabitants of Transylvania in film and fiction. The orchid was named in 1978 by the botanist Luer, but is in a family that contains over 120 species mainly found in Ecuador. The monkey face orchid is not a typical flower season, although in their natural habitat can bloom at any time. This flowers smell like ripe orange, which is ironic, because with that face the least you can expect is they smell like bananas.

In my city

The region of Holguin is one of the richest scenes of nature in Cuba. High mountains, fertile plains and beaches of fine sand alternate in the landscape of this province unique for its beauty and many attractions. It also takes the best and most valuable of the local and universal culture with exponets in all branches of culture with renowned artists like Faustino Oramas (El Guayabero), painter Cosme Proenza, pianist Frank Fernandez. This eastern province of Cuba, has also a high quality health system. Sample is infant mortality rate achieved here, only comparable to that of developed countries, thanks to the implementation of a health system that allows pregnant women prioritized attention and care of newborns and infants in general. On several occasions it has hosted important scientific events as the International Symposium on Cardiovascular Research and the Cuba-canada International Symposium on the Heart, held in Playa Pesquero with the participation of leading Cuban and foreign specialists. This eastern territory of Cuba also hosted last week a Symposium on Pediatric Surgery that included the participation of Dr. Yann Revillon, outstanding professor at Descartes University and director of the pediatric surgery department of the famous children's hospital Necker-Malades in Paris, among other important scientists. The event demonstrated the quality reached by the Holguin and the island pediatric surgery in the field of science, research, teaching and care to patients in the province and the country, where there are many medical schools and pediatric hospitals that guarantee child care.

Love and Pain in the History of the Five Cuban

Mirtha Rodríguez talks intensely with the passion of someone who has a kind and deep feelings for his beloved family members and friends. It is difficult not to accept the words pronounced by this woman who has not stopped imagining that his son will be returning to Cuba to conclude a history of love and pain. This woman, who has already the color of her hair completely grey and loves the tango genre and artists like Libertad La marquee, Hugo del Carril and Carlos Gardel, among others, looks her memories into the past and present and looks into the present to see the future as if she was remembering occasions of her life without regrets and having the conviction of having done what she had to do on every moment of it and continues to do it. Mirtha de la Santísima Trinidad Rodríguez is the real name of Antonio Guerrero mother, who is one of the heroes of the Cuban Republic and a Cuban antiterrorist fighter that is currently incarcerated in US prisons for having monitoring terrorist groups which were conspiring against his nation. During more than 15 years of her son imprisonment, Mirtha, has never hesitated not even a single minute despite being thousands of kilometers from the motherland in respect of defending the cause of her son through true arguments and contributing with thousands of elements to make the people of good will aware about the case of the Cuban Five antiterrorist fighters taking into consideration that René, Fernando, Ramón and Gerardo are all considered by her as sons. As usual, she comes after having being requested her presence on the Radio Rebelde station in its program entitled La Luz en lo Oscuro (literally, the light in the darkness), then as if she was at her own house, she answered a series of questions with the typical sincerity from a mother who has never stopped thinking of her beloved son each single second of her existence. “Each single time that I travel overseas I say and insist a lot on the case of Gerardo Hernández given the fact that he was the one who experienced the most vicious attack from the US judicial system and we have to keep fighting for bringing the truth into light inside the own US people about the outrage and crime that has been committed against that man who had been given two life-imprisonment sentences even without proofs, let alone evidences againt him. Therefore, the US government has tried to punish Cuba through the case of Gerardo.” Mirtha Rodríguez said. Mirtha was the only woman from a family with seven siblings. She could get to know her name until she decided to get married and it was then when she knew about a change that not even her only family knew: Her name might be Mirtha Rita de Casia Rodríguez; however, behind her first name and inscription appeared the words De la Santísima Trinidad. The anecdote causes her to laugh at present, but she expresses the fact that when that happened, then all hell broke loose between her parents because they were not expecting that surprise. Life was not either good with her when she became a widow and her daughter Marucha was 15 years old and Tony, who was the youngest, was 13 years of age. It was something dramatic as happened right on her birthday. The pain always was present in her until her family members decided to celebrate her birthday by recovering that tradition. “The three of us got really united, so she and her two children made a pact of love, unity and respect that has lasted until nowadays.” This really kind woman, who talks slowly and clear and is a magnificent communicator, Mirtha Rodríguez highlighted. “I do consider myself an optimistic, enterprising and familiar person like my son as those are one of the aspects on which we both have many similarities.” Mirtha Rodríguez pointed out. What can be said about Tony? “It is a truly intense sadness what is felt after knowing that he is far away and imprisoned for having defended a fair cause, but it is precisely when I have had a personal problem and I usually tend to feel really depressed that I remember his case to talk to myself the undeniable fact that if my son is capable to defend that truth by even putting at risk everything, then how come I would not be able to go ahead, It is then when I take the right path again by rejuvenating my spirit and making it even stronger.” Mirtha Rodríguez highlighted. “When we visit the United States, we try that each single photo could transmit love. I always enjoy the occasion of the photos by my son when I have even desired to take my son with me. We usually try to have then a happy occasion and for Tony the truth is never absent.” Her mother stated. With that same truth, Mirtha Rodríguez travels there each time she is invited to talk about the case of the Cuban antiterrorist fighters in other nations. What does inspire you? “I talk and use the sincerity coming from my heart and the truth about this case, including the noble way these men, young ones with many dreams and families, left everything behind for a noble and fair cause to preserve the lives of more than eleven million of compatriots, including the ones from the own US population.” Mirtha Rodríguez highlighted. “It has been a story filled with love and pain, Olguita, as it is popularly named, had to wait over 13 years to see her husband. Adriana, on her part, has never been able to see her husband Gerardo due to the US government has never allowed it. They (The Cuban Five) took the decision about fulfilling their mission and that attitude shows their magnanimity as human beings. “Mirtha Rodríguez pointed out. When she talks about those men, Mirtha voice failed a bit until she recovers it and said: “Even though the price has been really high, taking into consideration the irregularities that has affected the case, their enemies will never success in breaking the moral of the Cuban antiterrorist fighters and their family members and that has been precisely their strength of spirit given that fact that despite they remain imprisoned, they continue being free through their thoughts and convictions.” Mirtha Rodríguez said finally. Regarding Mirtha and the rest of their family members, it is valid what has said many times René: “the mothers and wives of the Cuban Five families are also heroines.” By Demetrio Villaurrutia Zulueta

Yoani Sánchez, the Golden Girl of the Failed Extreme Right Wing in Miami

Cubaencuentro has recently published an article by Domingo Amuchástegui Álvarez, stating that Yoani Sanchez's credibility is in question after her ultra-reactionary speech before the Cuban exiles in Miami. Yoani, who was "apolitical", "no party preference" and "away from ideological commitments" has become their golden girl. We offer some of the fragments of the speech stating that the blogger traveller, from her opinions and the company that she has been surrounded with, has stopped her being the last hope for a "change" in Cuba. A crucial event took place in the course of her tour, starting with a visit to Brazil. Yoani lost her bid to keep a certain centrist political position. Her initial condemnation of the U.S. embargo and her demand to put an end to it, her demand regarding the necessity or desirability of the Miami Five being released, her position in favour of allowing normal tourism of U.S. citizens to Cuba, her argument for the return of the Guantanamo Naval Base to Cuba, all these together with her criticism of the Cuban government, its lack of democracy and freedom, and calling the current changes and reforms being carried out in Cuba as "cosmetic," and so on, changed overnight as soon she became aware of the wave of criticism, attacks and insults from several sources in Miami and Washington, DC. The next day she apologized for demanding the release of the Five, saying she had said it with irony, as a joke, and that the Five were guilty, as they were accused, and began to note that the embargo was the island's alibi --not intervention in the internal affairs of Cuba, as she previously expressed- to justify its failures and that it should be ended only after Cuba yields to certain pre-conditions imposed by the U.S., and she never returned to address grievances like American tourism and Guantanamo; the next day she focused entirely on these new "rectified" approaches and constantly emphasizing the conventional discourse of "regime change." These new "credentials" opened the way for her grandiose reception in the U.S.and Miami. After this, Yoanis lost her alleged "apolitical" centrism, "no party preference", "away from ideological commitments", while merging with the conventional discourse of the exiles and consequently with the older generations of exiles. In the absence of other alternatives, these seem to convert Yoani into their last hope. The Cuban lobby, recently characterized by Professor William Leogrande as a "right wing based on the hate of Castro" - turned Yoani into the golden girl and she accepted this deadly embrace with her long record of losses and failed policies from 1958, losing sight of a recent remark made by another exiled expert, Arnaldo Fernandez, in the Emilio Ichikawa blog, where he stated: "The starting premise to face Castro is: That he has not stopped winning." In this embrace, Yoani has overlooked the old saying of Don Miguel de Cervantes: "Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you the type of person you are." And in doing so, Yoani is no longer the last hope. She knows that, she is educated and astute enough to realize this, but that is her choice and with this comes her failure. As one Spanish writer and journalist recently said about Yoani's credibility: "How long will her credibility remain is still to be seen." In the past 25 years, Miami has experienced other icons and saviours from the island, and today they are nothing and not even remembered. / With information from Yoanislandia.com

"We were, we are and we will be the Cuban Five"

To my brother Rene, a free man That September 12th, with no adjective to describe its violence, I was the last who arrived in Miami, and therefore the last to be placed in an extremely cold cell, with an uncovered mattress, a blanket and a roll of toilet paper; all isolated. Silence was macabre in that 13th floor of the Miami Detention Center. Due to a purely animal instinct, one starts to walk around that extremely reduced space. Every now and then, I stopped in front of the narrow glass on the metal door, through which we were constantly watched by a guard taking rounds. In a cell across from mine, which was to a side, I looked at a man, who also stopped at times in front of the window. He had an austere bearded face, the naked chest and it made me wonder: who is this guy? Isn’t he cold? It was Rene, I had not met him yet. In those first days, of which there is still a lot to tell, they bring us down, both he and me, to the Court Hall. We were supposed to plead not guilty or guilty, which in our case was to plead worthy or unworthy, honest or dishonest, loyal or traitor. We were both certain of our innocence. But there was a guy I did not know either, who was going to plead guilty. Each one went separately in front of Judge, but Rene had read treason in the eyes of that despicable man, who was trying to convince him with his tale. Then, Rene said to me: “I have to talk to that guy.” I only asked him to calm down That’s how I met him. That’s how we became the five brothers we are. That’s why his freedom is our freedom; his pain and happiness are also ours. That’s why our unfair prison will continue to be his prison. That’s why we were, we are and we will be the Cuban Five, where a single man is formed, a Cuban as millions of compatriots, loyal to his people and his homeland. Tony Guerrero Rodríguez May 10, 2013 Marianna Federal Prison

The Bariay Park

The Holguin's Bariay park has enough attractions for the development of nature tourism programs, it has excellent beaches and a very rich and unique flora and fauna. It’s shows a vegetable formations of mangrove, complex of vegetation of rocky coast, complex of vegetation of sandy coast, heath coastal xenomorphic, forest ever green, forest semideciduo, secondary heaths and secondary forests. There, it is possible to admire two of the most attractive places in the geography of Holguin: La Silla de Gibara, mountain named this way for the Admiral Cristóbal Colón, due to its likeness with a saddle, and Colón’s Mosque, place that recreates a beautiful Andalusian legend. Today it constitutes a confirmed fact that the Bariay bay was the first point of our geography touched by La Niña, La Pinta and La Santamaría, the three ships commanded by Cristóbal Colón -reason for which Bariay Park has been transformed into National Monument- and the beauty of its environment gets rich with the rescue of the history and the bold efforts to return its original appearance to the place. There is a monument by local artist Caridad Ramos, which presents the ruins of a European neoclassical construction next to the copy of objects made by the native ones and found it in the near excavations, to show in a concrete way the encounter, everything amid an exuberant nature very characteristic of Cuba.