talkpolitics | The tender crusader against Machism-Leninism (and other un-sexy ~isms)

Every mention of the name Castro always stirs the spirits in the US - probably more than the subject about gays and lesbians, and certainly even more than the name Obama. And it was these days that a special Castro visited the United States. Mariela Castro, the daughter of the Cuban leader Raul Castro. She participated at a conference in San Francisco where in her speech she defended the equal rights of homosexuals, which is quite timely, given president Obama's recent statement about his stance on the issue. "As a citizen of the world, I would like him to win", she also said about Obama. Which of course confirms that Obama is a communist! =)

In fact, Fidel's niece is a sexologist, and is among the leaders of a movement whose mission is to break all taboos on the "Island of Freedom". And this is no easy task, given the conservative character of the Cuban society. She is 50 years old, she was born 3 years after the Revolution, when sexual freedom in Cuba was non-existent. Her uncle's rebels believed that the labour camps were the only proper place for gays and lesbians. The leadership of the communist party considered the homosexuals to be deluded and useless - as much as the Catholic priests and political dissidents. Those were the times of what could be called Machism-Leninism. "That was a big mistake", Mariela Castro now says. Unlike the rest of her family, she often gives interviews and uses Twitter and Facebook. In a country where cell phones had been banned until very recently. A modern lady indeed.

Since the 90s she has been chairlady of the Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual. She is a successor of Monika Krause, a German lady who founded the centre (she was called the Queen of Condoms). Mariela has turned HIV prevention into her personal cause. And Cuba has been doing very well in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

She is very supportive of the LGBT community, and she has contributed a lot for the recognition of the right to same-sex marriage and child adoption. Since 2008 the Cuban Ministry of Health has been funding sex-reassignment surgery, completely free of charge; and today the pride parades in Havana have become as big and colourful as those in Europe and North America. Recently Mariela lead a protest rally against homophobia, and she insisted that "the sexual rights should be treated by international law as human rights".

In the US, she has been outspoken against the Cuban mafia in Miami and the US-imposed embargo on her country. The two countries have always had a lot of common things, she argues. Meanwhile Marco Rubio, the governor of Florida claims this is "Anti-american propaganda" and calls her "a tool for the regime". The GOP has complained that it was a disgrace that the US granted her a visa. Even the Democrats in Florida are at odds with Obama for the decision.

Indeed, Mariela's visa has been granted directly by the Department of State, which is a unprecedented thing. The US normally does not even issue visas for Cubans, especially ones who could have something to do with the Castro regime. The GOP and the more radical among the Cuban immigrants are in shock from all this. The visit of this "envoy of the communist regime" has been a slap across America's face, and those are words of Mitt Romney himself. But meanwhile, many approve of her cause and are willing to support it.