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Political work must be felt

Yuniasky Crespo Baquero, 35, after having had multiple responsibilities since the earliest stages of her life, just a few days ago was appointed first secretary of the Cuban Youn Communist League at the national level .

By Alina Perera
September 29, 2012 19:52:58 CDT

A CubaNews translation by Abel González Alayón.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.

Perhaps the history of humankind, her island, and her dear native province of Las Tunas, which she has gladly scrutinized, has given Yuniasky Crespo Baquero the aplomb born of knowing that life is an undivided and without pause line, which we take and get off like characters in which, if we are aware of being living a time, will do our best.

Yuniasky confesses she looks ahead, without fear. In her eyes I think I find the idea of
​​a great Cuban poet: here nothing has happened, it is nothing more than life. And so, understanding that there are events that you have to assume naturally, she has just taken on the responsibility of being first secretary of the Youth Communists League (UJC) at country level.

When she arrived in the hall where this interview took place, her presence is that of a rather serene woman, simple, with the typical gait of a hard-working person. Minutes later, at some point, I asked her who gave her that peculiar name, and she recalls that it was her father, inspired by the universe of the Soviets.

"I guess I will learn it before the end of our dialogue” I make this bad taste joke that doesn’t infuriate my interlocutor; quite the opposite: she tells stories of how people have changed her identity whenever they misspelled the name or have written "Mr." where it should say "ma'am".

"I was born in the capital municipality of Las Tunas, on August 10, 1977," she says when I asked her to go back to the beginning, where almost all keys of who we are lie. And smiling she recalls: "I
​​had a nice childhood, I lived at my maternal grandmother’s; it was a period when I was surrounded by many people who loved me. I was an only child at the time, and I was always very fond of teaching. I learned how to read early. I liked all that whole world of the classrooms"

- So, you were teaching imaginary students?

-My mom and dad had a bedroom outside the house, and that was the classroom that I got ready. There I sat the dolls, and even a dog named Laica. I had books and a ruler that I occasionally used to scold. In the neighborhood there weren’t many friends, but there was one I always played teaching with
 

-You did go to study teaching (Bachelor of Marxism-Leninism and History), then your choice coincided with a very early vocation...

”Actually I had much inclination for sciences. Since I was studying in junior high school, when I began to discover chemistry, I told myself I wanted to be a chemical or physical doctor. When it came time to decide what to study, in the very difficult days of the special period, there were not many choices: in Las Tunas province you could study medicine, teaching and Agronomy. Then I chose teaching, because the only student in my municipality applying for Chemistry was me, and that specialty had to be studied in Holguin, something I did not do because my mother was sick and did not want to get away from her.

"So I started to study history, an universe that I had noticed early, but I became interested because I had a teacher in grade twelve and then he taught me at the university, and also thanks to the vocation of my husband, who was my boyfriend from my high school days, and loved to study and learn about historical events
"

Anyway, you were lucky: you took a road you were looking for from your childhood: that of teaching.

I studied history and have no regrets. I had excellent teachers, people who today have PhD in teaching and have a Marxist background and a philosophy, a quite realistic worldview. They definitely made
​​me passionate about History. I graduated in 2000from Las Tunas Pedagogical University.

-Interesting period: the discussions were intense in your university world ...

-My time at the university was convulsive, a lot of movement of ideas, and of various student activities. I was a member of the UJC since 1993, when I was in tenth grade, and circumstances led me to assume responsibilities in the Federation of University Students (FEU).

Moments of a career

"I've always liked things that have to do with the activities, and it was easy for me among the pioneers to have some influence" recalls Yuniasky Crespo.

"Back in tenth grade, since entering high school, I was elected president of the Cuban Federation of High School Students (FEEM) of the school. Then, although I had to change high schools for reasons peculiar to the province (the school was turned into a polytechnic school), I was elected president of the FEEM in the new school"

- Everything came natural to you?

-No impositions. Maybe it had to do with my dad being a party leader and my mother of the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP). I was born into a family that always believed in taking a step forward.

"By the time I was in twelfth grade I was a member of the UJC Secretariat of the school. And there begins the story of the positions in the UJC: I assumed endorsement processes, issues having to do with the inner workings of the organization, and when I got to the first year of university I was secretary of a grassroots committee. While in second year I made it to the UJC Secretariat of the Pedagogical University.

"During my third year it was the time to take responsibility as president of the Federation of University Students (FEU). It was a nice period that I remember fondly. And by my fourth year I became part of the National Secretariat of the FEU. That was from 1998 to 2002, when I go to the University of Las Tunas as a professional base secretary.

"The following year, 2003, I became a member of the Las Tunas municipality UJC politburo. There I look over the educational sphere. It was a task I did willingly and comfortably, because it had a lot to do with my career. "

Try yourself in your profession

The V Plenum of the UJC National Committee, held in 2007, was a particularly important meeting for Yuniasky. From there decisions and experiences came off that have been paramount in the life of the Las Tunas leader.

She came to the meeting with her experience as a student and youth leader that had increased in recent times: in 2004 she had begun to serve as first secretary of the Las Tunas municipality, and in 2005 she was elected member of the National Committee of the UJC.

"That plenary discussed, among other topics, the previous working life of the youth and student leaders. I was first secretary of the Youth in the main municipality of Las Tunas, and I had the responsibility of explaining my experience in the plenary, and to communicate the understanding that we had about the need to work on the base, of trying ourselves in what we had studied.

"While studying at the Pedagogical I thought I would teach history classes in a little elementary school, or a high school, or wherever necessary. In the V Plenary it was agreed that all youth leaders that had not worked in the profession we had studied, to do it.

“A year later, 2008, I had my son Adolfo, and in 2009 I started teaching Cuban History in the Exact Sciences Senior High School in my province, teaching twelfth grade. That was a big challenge; I had to do a lot of self-preparation, because though I had the theoretical knowledge, I was lacking the methodological skills”

“Luckily I had a very supporting staff; that let me in with open arms. The students had a high level, and knowing this I prepared myself, and I learnt a lot!

“On that regard I must say that the leadership of the Revolution always teaches us great lessons. I didn’t fully comprehend the importance of getting to work in your profession, even for what it gives you in the personal level. You are a better human being afterwards”

“It has great value to be around professors, among the students, knowing how a group think, that the kids call you “profe” (shortening for professor) this is in fashion now” It was a two and half year long experience and when I finished I undertook the mission, in 2011, of leading the Youth Provincial Committee in las Tunas, a responsibility I have undertaken till this moment”

An unavoidable question emerges in this part of the conversation: what should a person with responsibilities in front a human group be like?

 “We could mention many qualities, she says, but the first, in my opinion, is the capacity of leading by example. If you are exemplary, people will follow you. Things must be done the right way, everyday, systematically. It is something that pays off. Those who lead people must have deeply-rooted values, not values you create on the way”

Regarding Cuban history; what personalities, events or epochs you do you like to go over the most?

Cuba’s history is very rich. From the very formation of the nationality. You can enjoy all epochs, all the processes that you know don’t happen isolated, but in permanent concatenation. But if you tell me to choose one, I have to mention the first years of the 1950s till the Revolution Triumph.

“And, why do I say that? There are moments in history where you get to the top of the formation of generations that have taken steps, in which there is a consolidation in the formation of a revolutionary awareness, and I think that time was decisive in the creation of a patriotic awareness, if the revolutionary awareness in the people.”

“When I was teaching that time it was like I was living in them. It is very moving the stage of preparation for the attack to the Moncada Garrison; and there is a book by Commander of the Revolution Juan Almeida Bosque that I am very fond of and that I would include in the bibliography to teach Cuban History: “!Adelante! !Recuento!” (Forward! Looking back!)

“It is true that it is not in the bibliography, but I have kept sharing with my students a book like this, because Commander Almeida took you so much into reality, that my students used to weep with me, they got moved”
-There is in that book, that I really enjoyed reading, a phrase about death. His author says that men must get ready to know how to fall like trees do…
 
-On their feet…it is a great phrase. Just recently Granma newspaper published stories and anecdotes by commander in Chief Fidel Castro regarding that assault. I like very much the gesture doctor and combatant Mario Muñoz who, on his birthday, July 26th tells Fidel he leaves his 41 years in the hands of the leader who was only 26. Those are lovely moments that should be known.

-History must be told as we tell life…

-I liked to live that life I was teaching, and every time I could I related it with that of the community, with the one in Las Tunas, that is very rich. I didn’t teach the Ten Year War without mentioning Vicente Garcia, with all his qualities and mistakes, and when I spoke of the first conspiracy meeting I took the students to San Miguel del Rompe in my hometown. If you don’t teach History like that, they learn something cold, and that is something we don’t want. It is necessary to pass on knowledge but also feelings. Taking the two things at the same time we create values like patriotism and anti-imperialism, which are so important for the new generations.
-For what I understand, what you studied gave you the certainty that political work, if doesn’t entail feelings, won’t be effective…
 
-Political work must be felt. And within it, the most important thing is to make sense of every task. If you can’t find the logic in what you do, if you can’t find a coherent idea, a reason, a why, you won’t be effective. If you find the why, you will be able to convince people, you will make people get involved and do their tasks. If somehow people feel the political work is the imposition of tasks and missions, you won’t achieve anything, because people must feel that the tasks are not assigned for the sake of it, but that they are coherent.

-What worries you the most about Cuba at present?
 
-That´s a well-thought question, because includes so many others within. I think it has to do with the responsible assimilation by the new generations that this historic process we are living is must be preserved. It is an element that I think it is of great importance that the youngsters don’t think the Revolution is here because it is our fate and that’s the end of it, but that we must defend it, look after it everyday.

“The Revolution is a living entity you have to feed. And little by little, with work. But with systematic work, not guesses. A personalized work, aiming at people. We can’t think that what was achieved will stay like that just because, as a divine right and not because we fight for it.

“We have to continue explaining the virtues and good things our Revolution has, for people to have the perception that if we don’t protect it, we are taking the risk of losing everything because the counterrevolution is stalking us everyday, because we, the youngsters, are a target for it. That’s what worries me the most”

-Regarding the youth, such heterogonous and complex sector, what are the challenges that in your opinion that sector has at a society level?

-There are many challenges we must face. We are not enclosed in a glass; we receive all kind of influences. We are being bombarded with other cultures and we must face that, but in a smart and natural way, working. We are exposed to things that have to do with globalization. There are several scenarios we didn’t have two, three years ago, like the one conditioned by new technologies. And there are these new elements that are being introduced in our economy, which we need to explain, especially to our youth.
 
“Before, we only had the television, the radio and the printed press. Today a piece of news reaches the public much faster through other ways than what our national media outlets can; that’s a new reality we have been getting used to in the past 5-6 years. I think we need to be aware of those elements but not to run away from those challenges, quite the opposite: new technologies, for example, have to be used to do well, in our interests, for our policies, in favour of the youngsters, of what our Revolution wants”

-I have the perception that many of our young people are not reading enough, which implies a huge cultural and political challenge…

-that is an undeniable fact, that we have to face, but obviously we will have to do other things in order to provide them with other attractions to feed the spirit. We will have to look for other offers through the press and our books, creating messages for all age groups. We have to look for and find the way, with a wide, creative language.

-In today’s´ Cuba, which is living extremely complex times, the UJC as a political organization has ahead, as society itself, multiple and bog tasks…
 
-The organization has many challenges. The first is to have among its members the best of the best, and that our militants will be a mirror for the rest of the youngsters, and that our youth want to be like our militants. Out of that leadership condition will come out the things UJC does on daily basis, as the growing work, that our youth vanguard organization will be the true relay of our Party, because if we lose the Party we will lose the Revolution.
 
“Youth must have that idea, that perception that by preserving our organization, keeping it, we will be giving continuity to the Revolution”

-How do you personally assume that new task?

-Leading Cuban youngsters is a great responsibility because we must keep into account every aspiration, their characteristics, from children to the least young among youngsters. I think that is an element we must take on nowadays.

“And we, at a personal level, will have to keep working to instil a spirit of preparation in people, especially in those responsible of leading people from the grassroots organizations to the national level”
 
-It will be important to choose wisely, identify the best suited among the vanguard…
 
-It is important to have leaders within the organization, people that truly draw others, without any fanfare, the great stages, the massive meetings, or large crowds, though all that will be necessary at certain point, but there will times too, the most of them, where we have to address the individual and its peculiarities, the convincing of people, and you can only do that with the best prepared people.
 
-What would a History teacher be able to say about what we are living in Cuba now?

- A History teacher, if it is about today’s Cuba, will have to tackle many things: the changes, the updating of our economy model. He will have to say that this time had is characteristics. Thirty years from now we will be thinking that youngsters of that time need special attention, because they will have other standards, will think differently, the world obviously wont be the same, technology will be more advanced. It will be another stage of the Revolution because it will be older, and it will be as we have been able to make and defend, in which we will talk of our historical leaders, who are going to be present as long as history itself lasts.

“A year later, 2008, I had my son Adolfo, and in 2009 I started teaching Cuban History in the Exact Sciences Senior High School in my province, teaching twelfth grade. That was a big challenge; I had to do a lot of self-preparation, because though I had the theoretical knowledge, I was lacking the methodological skills”

“Luckily I had a very supporting staff; that let me in with open arms. The students had a high level, and knowing this I prepared myself, and I learnt a lot!

“On that regard I must say that the leadership of the Revolution always teaches us great lessons. I didn’t fully comprehend the importance of getting to work in your profession, even for what it gives you in the personal level. You are a better human being afterwards”

“It has great value to be around professors, among the students, knowing how a group think, that the kids call you “profe” (shortening for professor) this is in fashion now” It was a two and half year long experience and when I finished I undertook the mission, in 2011, of leading the Youth Provincial Committee in las Tunas, a responsibility I have undertaken till this moment”

An unavoidable question emerges in this part of the conversation: what should a person with responsibilities in front a human group be like?

 “We could mention many qualities, she says, but the first, in my opinion, is the capacity of leading by example. If you are exemplary, people will follow you. Things must be done the right way, everyday, systematically. It is something that pays off. Those who lead people must have deeply-rooted values, not values you create on the way”

Regarding Cuban history; what personalities, events or epochs you do you like to go over the most?

Cuba’s history is very rich. From the very formation of the nationality. You can enjoy all epochs, all the processes that you know don’t happen isolated, but in permanent concatenation. But if you tell me to choose one, I have to mention the first years of the 1950s till the Revolution Triumph.

“And, why do I say that? There are moments in history where you get to the top of the formation of generations that have taken steps, in which there is a consolidation in the formation of a revolutionary awareness, and I think that time was decisive in the creation of a patriotic awareness, if the revolutionary awareness in the people.”

“When I was teaching that time it was like I was living in them. It is very moving the stage of preparation for the attack to the Moncada Garrison; and there is a book by Commander of the Revolution Juan Almeida Bosque that I am very fond of and that I would include in the bibliography to teach Cuban History: “!Adelante! !Recuento!” (Forward! Looking back!)

“It is true that it is not in the bibliography, but I have kept sharing with my students a book like this, because Commander Almeida took you so much into reality, that my students used to weep with me, they got moved”
-There is in that book, that I really enjoyed reading, a phrase about death. His author says that men must get ready to know how to fall like trees do…
 
-On their feet…it is a great phrase. Just recently Granma newspaper published stories and anecdotes by commander in Chief Fidel Castro regarding that assault. I like very much the gesture doctor and combatant Mario Muñoz who, on his birthday, July 26th tells Fidel he leaves his 41 years in the hands of the leader who was only 26. Those are lovely moments that should be known.

-History must be told as we tell life…

-I liked to live that life I was teaching, and every time I could I related it with that of the community, with the one in Las Tunas, that is very rich. I didn’t teach the Ten Year War without mentioning Vicente Garcia, with all his qualities and mistakes, and when I spoke of the first conspiracy meeting I took the students to San Miguel del Rompe in my hometown. If you don’t teach History like that, they learn something cold, and that is something we don’t want. It is necessary to pass on knowledge but also feelings. Taking the two things at the same time we create values like patriotism and anti-imperialism, which are so important for the new generations.

 
-For what I understand, what you studied gave you the certainty that political work, if doesn’t entail feelings, won’t be effective…
 
-Political work must be felt. And within it, the most important thing is to make sense of every task. If you can’t find the logic in what you do, if you can’t find a coherent idea, a reason, a why, you won’t be effective. If you find the why, you will be able to convince people, you will make people get involved and do their tasks. If somehow people feel the political work is the imposition of tasks and missions, you won’t achieve anything, because people must feel that the tasks are not assigned for the sake of it, but that they are coherent.

-What worries you the most about Cuba at present?
 
-That´s a well-thought question, because includes so many others within. I think it has to do with the responsible assimilation by the new generations that this historic process we are living is must be preserved. It is an element that I think it is of great importance that the youngsters don’t think the Revolution is here because it is our fate and that’s the end of it, but that we must defend it, look after it everyday.

“The Revolution is a living entity you have to feed. And little by little, with work. But with systematic work, not guesses. A personalized work, aiming at people. We can’t think that what was achieved will stay like that just because, as a divine right and not because we fight for it.

“We have to continue explaining the virtues and good things our Revolution has, for people to have the perception that if we don’t protect it, we are taking the risk of losing everything because the counterrevolution is stalking us everyday, because we, the youngsters, are a target for it. That’s what worries me the most”

-Regarding the youth, such heterogonous and complex sector, what are the challenges that in your opinion that sector has at a society level?

-There are many challenges we must face. We are not enclosed in a glass; we receive all kind of influences. We are being bombarded with other cultures and we must face that, but in a smart and natural way, working. We are exposed to things that have to do with globalization. There are several scenarios we didn’t have two, three years ago, like the one conditioned by new technologies. And there are these new elements that are being introduced in our economy, which we need to explain, especially to our youth.
 
“Before, we only had the television, the radio and the printed press. Today a piece of news reaches the public much faster through other ways than what our national media outlets can; that’s a new reality we have been getting used to in the past 5-6 years. I think we need to be aware of those elements but not to run away from those challenges, quite the opposite: new technologies, for example, have to be used to do well, in our interests, for our policies, in favour of the youngsters, of what our Revolution wants”

-I have the perception that many of our young people are not reading enough, which implies a huge cultural and political challenge…

-that is an undeniable fact, that we have to face, but obviously we will have to do other things in order to provide them with other attractions to feed the spirit. We will have to look for other offers through the press and our books, creating messages for all age groups. We have to look for and find the way, with a wide, creative language.

-In today’s´ Cuba, which is living extremely complex times, the UJC as a political organization has ahead, as society itself, multiple and bog tasks…
 
-The organization has many challenges. The first is to have among its members the best of the best, and that our militants will be a mirror for the rest of the youngsters, and that our youth want to be like our militants. Out of that leadership condition will come out the things UJC does on daily basis, as the growing work, that our youth vanguard organization will be the true relay of our Party, because if we lose the Party we will lose the Revolution.
 
“Youth must have that idea, that perception that by preserving our organization, keeping it, we will be giving continuity to the Revolution”

-How do you personally assume that new task?

 -Leading Cuban youngsters is a great responsibility because we must keep into account every aspiration, their characteristics, from children to the least young among youngsters. I think that is an element we must take on nowadays.

“And we, at a personal level, will have to keep working to instil a spirit of preparation in people, especially in those responsible of leading people from the grassroots organizations to the national level”
 
-It will be important to choose wisely, identify the best suited among the vanguard…
 
-It is important to have leaders within the organization, people that truly draw others, without any fanfare, the great stages, the massive meetings, or large crowds, though all that will be necessary at certain point, but there will times too, the most of them, where we have to address the individual and its peculiarities, the convincing of people, and you can only do that with the best prepared people.
 
-What would a History teacher be able to say about what we are living in Cuba now?

A History teacher, if it is about today’s Cuba, will have to tackle many things: the changes, the updating of our economy model. He will have to say that this time had is characteristics. Thirty years from now we will be thinking that youngsters of that time need special attention, because they will have other standards, will think differently, the world obviously wont be the same, technology will be more advanced. It will be another stage of the Revolution because it will be older, and it will be as we have been able to make and defend, in which we will talk of our historical leaders, who are going to be present as long as history itself lasts.
 

   
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El trabajo político hay que sentirlo

Yuniasky Crespo Baquero, de 35 años de edad, tras haber tenido múltiples responsabilidades desde las etapas más tempranas de su vida, asumió hace solo días la de primera secretaria de la Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas a nivel nacional

Alina Perera
perera@juventudrebelde.cu
29 de Septiembre del 2012 19:52:58 CDT

Tal vez la historia de la humanidad, de su Isla, y de su querida y natal provincia de Las Tunas, hilos en los que ha escudriñado con gusto, han dado a Yuniasky Crespo Baquero el aplomo nacido de saber que la vida es línea sin divisiones ni pausas, a la cual subimos y de la cual descendemos como personajes que, si tenemos conciencia de estar habitando una época, daremos lo mejor de nosotros.

Yuniasky confiesa mirar hacia delante, sin temor. En sus ojos creo encontrar la idea de un gran poeta cubano: aquí no ha pasado nada; no es más que la vida. Y así, entendiendo que hay sucesos que se asumen de modo natural, ella recién ha tomado la responsabilidad como primera secretaria de la Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas (UJC) a nivel de país.

Cuando llegó al salón fue donde tuvo lugar esta entrevista, su presencia es la de una mujer más bien serena, sencilla, con el típico paso de quien está acostumbrada a trabajar duro. Minutos después, en algún momento le pregunto quién le puso un nombre tan peculiar, y ella recuerda que fue su padre, inspirado por el universo de los soviéticos.

«Supongo que me lo aprenda antes de terminar nuestro diálogo», lanzo esa broma pesada que no crispa a mi interlocutora sino todo lo contrario: cuenta anécdotas de cómo le han trocado la identidad cada vez que le han cambiado alguna letra del nombre o le han puesto «señor» donde debía decir «señora».

«Nací en el municipio cabecera de Las Tunas, el 10 de agosto de 1977», me dice cuando le pido se remonte a sus comienzos, allí donde están casi todas las claves de quiénes somos. Y rememora risueña: «tuve una infancia bonita, viví en casa de mi abuela materna, fue una etapa rodeada de mucha gente que me quería. Era hija única en ese entonces, y siempre fui muy aficionada a dar clases. Aprendí a leer tempranito. Todo ese mundo del aula me gustaba mucho».

—¿Dabas clases a estudiantes imaginarios?

—Mi mamá y mi papá tenían un cuarto un poco apartado en la casa, y esa era el aula que yo preparaba. Allí sentaba a los muñecos, y hasta una perrita llamada Laica. Tenía libros y una regla que de vez en cuando servía para regañar. En el barrio no había muchos amiguitos, pero había una con la que siempre jugaba a enseñar.

—Si cursaste una carrera pedagógica (Licenciatura en Marxismo-Leninismo e Historia), entonces coincidió tu elección con una vocación muy temprana…

—En realidad sentía mucha inclinación por las ciencias. Desde que estudiaba en la Secundaria Básica, cuando comencé a descubrir la Química, me dije que quería ser química o física. Cuando llegó el momento de decidir qué estudiaría, en días muy difíciles del período especial, no eran muchas las ofertas: en Las Tunas se estudiaba Medicina, carreras pedagógicas y Agronomía. Entonces escogí carreras pedagógicas, porque la única de mi municipio que pedía Química era yo, y esa especialidad tenía que cursarla en Holguín, algo que no hice pues mi madre estaba enferma y no quería alejarme de ella.

«Así fue como empecé a estudiar Historia, universo que no me había llamado la atención desde temprano, pero que me empezó a interesar gracias a un profesor que tuve en grado doce y que después me impartió clases en la universidad, y también gracias a la vocación de mi esposo, quien era mi novio en los días del preuniversitario y adoraba estudiar y conocer sobre sucesos históricos».

—De todos modos fuiste afortunada: tomaste un camino que ya buscabas desde los días de la infancia: el del magisterio.

—Estudié Historia y no me arrepiento. Tuve excelentes profesores, personas que hoy son doctores en ciencias pedagógicas y tienen una formación marxista y una filosofía, una concepción del mundo bastante realista. Ellos hicieron que me apasionara definitivamente por la Historia. Me gradué en el año 2000, en el Pedagógico de Las Tunas.

—Interesante período: los debates eran intensos en tu ámbito universitario…

—La etapa universitaria fue convulsa, de mucho movimiento de ideas, y de diversas actividades estudiantiles. Yo era militante de la UJC desde 1993, cuando estaba en décimo grado, y las circunstancias me llevaron a asumir responsabilidades en la Federación Estudiantil Universitaria (FEU).
Momentos de una trayectoria

«Siempre me han gustado mucho las cosas que tienen que ver con las actividades, y me era fácil, en el colectivo pioneril, tener alguna ascendencia», recuerda Yuniasky Crespo.

«Ya en décimo grado, desde que entro al preuniversitario, me eligen presidenta de la Federación de Estudiantes de la Enseñanza Media (FEEM) del centro. Después, aunque tuve que cambiar de preuniversitario por cuestiones propias de la provincia (convirtieron la escuela en un politécnico), fui elegida presidenta de la FEEM en el nuevo centro».

—¿Todo se daba de modo natural?

—Sin imposiciones. Tal vez tuviera que ver con que mi papá era dirigente del Partido y mi mamá de la Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños (ANAP). Nací en una familia donde se hablaba siempre de dar el paso al frente.

«A la altura de doce grado era miembro del Comité UJC del centro. Y ahí empieza la historia de los cargos en la Juventud: asumí procesos de aval, asuntos que tenían que ver con el funcionamiento interno de la organización, y cuando llegué al primer año de la carrera fui secretaria de un comité de base. Estando en segundo integré el Comité de la Juventud del Pedagógico.

«Tercer año fue el momento de asumir la responsabilidad como presidenta de la FEU del centro. Fue una etapa linda, que recuerdo con mucho cariño. Y a la altura del cuarto año de la carrera paso a integrar el Secretariado Nacional de la FEU, donde estuve desde 1998 hasta el 2002, año en que voy a la Universidad de Las Tunas como secretaria profesional de base.

«Al año siguiente, en el 2003, paso a ser miembro del Buró de la Juventud del municipio cabecera de mi provincia. Allí atiendo la esfera educacional. Fue una tarea que realicé gustosa y cómodamente, porque tenía mucho que ver con mi carrera».
Probarse en la profesión

El V Pleno del Comité Nacional de la UJC, celebrado en el año 2007, representó un encuentro de especial trascendencia para Yuniasky. De allí se desprendieron decisiones y vivencias que para la dirigente tunera han sido cardinales.

Ella llegó a la reunión con una experiencia como dirigente estudiantil y juvenil que se había acrecentado en tiempos recientes: en el año 2004 había comenzado a desempeñarse como primera secretaria del municipio cabecera de la provincia de Las Tunas, y en el 2005 había sido electa como miembro del Comité Nacional de la Juventud Comunista.

«Aquel Pleno —evoca la Primera Secretaria de la UJC— analizó, entre otros temas, el de la vinculación laboral previa de los dirigentes juveniles y estudiantiles. Yo era primera secretaria de la Juventud en el municipio cabecera de Las Tunas, y tuve la responsabilidad de explicar mi experiencia en el Pleno, y de comunicar el entendimiento que teníamos nosotros sobre la necesidad de trabajar en la base, de probarnos en lo que habíamos estudiado.

«Mientras cursaba estudios en el Pedagógico pensé que impartiría clases de Historia en una escuelita primaria, o en un preuniversitario, o donde hiciera falta. En el V Pleno se acordó que todos los dirigentes juveniles que no habíamos ejercido antes la profesión para la que habíamos estudiado, lo hiciéramos.

«Un año después, en el 2008, tuve a mi hijo Adolfo, y en el 2009 me incorporé a impartir clases de Historia de Cuba en el Preuniversitario de Ciencias Exactas de la provincia, en el grado doce. Ese fue un reto importante; me tuve que imponer mucha autopreparación, porque, aunque tenía ganada la parte teórica, estaba pendiente la arista metodológica.

«Afortunadamente conté con un colectivo que me apoyó, que me recibió con los brazos abiertos. Los estudiantes tenían un nivel alto, y conociendo eso me preparé, y aprendí mucho.

«Sobre este tema hay que decir que la dirección de la Revolución nos da siempre lecciones grandes. No tenía yo la comprensión exacta de la trascendencia que tenía vincularse a la profesión, por lo que aporta incluso en el plano personal. Uno es mejor ser humano después.

«Tiene un gran valor estar entre los profesores, entre los estudiantes, saber cómo piensa un colectivo, que los muchachos te digan: “profe, la moda está así…”. Fue una vivencia de dos cursos y medio, y cuando terminé asumí la misión, en el año 2011, de dirigir el Comité Provincial de la Juventud en Las Tunas, responsabilidad que he ocupado hasta el presente».

Una pregunta inevitable aflora en esta parte de la conversación: ¿cómo debe ser alguien que ostente responsabilidades frente a un colectivo humano?

«Habría que mencionar muchas cualidades —reflexiona Yuniasky—, pero la primera, a mi entender, es la capacidad del ejemplo personal. Si tú eres ejemplo, la gente te va a seguir. Las cosas deben hacerse bien, cotidiana, sistemáticamente. Es algo que da frutos. Quien dirige debe tener un grupo de valores muy arraigados, no valores que deban ser construidos después sobre la marcha».
Vivir, sentir la historia

—De la historia de Cuba, ¿qué personalidades, sucesos o etapas son los que más te gusta repasar?

—La historia de Cuba es muy rica. Así es desde la propia formación de la nacionalidad. Se disfrutan todas las etapas, todos los procesos que ya sabemos no se dan aisladamente sino en una concatenación permanente. Pero si me das a escoger una etapa que me gusta repasar, menciono los inicios de la década de los 50 del siglo XX, hasta el triunfo de la Revolución.

«Y por qué digo esto: hay momentos de la historia en que se llega a la cúspide de la formación de generaciones que han ido dando pasos, en que hay una consolidación en la formación de la conciencia revolucionaria, y creo que esa etapa fue decisiva para la elevación de la conciencia patriótica, de la conciencia revolucionaria en el pueblo.

«A mí me pasaba que cuando impartía esos años era como si los estuviera viviendo. Es conmovedora la etapa de preparación del asalto al Cuartel Moncada; y hay un libro del Comandante Juan Almeida Bosque que a mí me gusta mucho y que incluiría en la bibliografía para impartir las clases de Historia de Cuba: ¡Atención! ¡Recuento!.

«Es verdad que no está en la bibliografía, pero no he dejado de compartir con mis estudiantes un libro como ese, porque el Comandante Almeida te llevaba tanto a la realidad, a lo que estaba pasando, que yo hacía que los muchachos lloraran conmigo, se emocionaran».

—Hay en ese libro, que a mí me gustó mucho leer, una frase sobre la muerte. Su autor dice que los hombres deben prepararse para saber caer como lo hacen los árboles…

—«De pie…». Es una gran frase. Hace poco fueron apareciendo en el periódico Granma pasajes y anécdotas del Comandante en Jefe Fidel relacionados con el asalto. A mí me gusta mucho el gesto del médico y asaltante Mario Muñoz, quien el día de su cumpleaños, el 26 de julio, le dice a Fidel que pone sus 41 años en manos del líder que tenía solo 26. Son momentos muy lindos, que deben ser conocidos.

—La historia debe ser contada como solemos contar la vida…

—A mí me gusta vivir esa historia que impartía, y siempre que podía la conectaba con la de la comunidad, con la de Las Tunas que es muy rica. No di la contienda de 1868 sin tocar la figura de Vicente García, con todas sus cualidades y errores, y cuando expuse sobre la primera reunión conspirativa llevé a los alumnos a San Miguel del Rompe, en mi provincia natal. Si la historia no se enseña así, los muchachos aprenden una cosa fría, y eso no es lo que queremos. Es necesario transmitir conocimientos pero también sentimientos. Llevando las dos cosas a la par creamos valores como el patriotismo y el antiimperialismo, tan importantes para las nuevas generaciones.

—Por lo que entiendo, lo que estudiaste te llevó a la certeza de que el trabajo político, si no implica los sentimientos, no será eficaz…

—El trabajo político hay que sentirlo. Y dentro de él, lo más importante es encontrarle sentido a cada tarea. Si no le encuentras un sentido lógico a lo que haces, si no hallas una idea coherente, una razón, un por qué, no serás eficaz. Si le encuentras el por qué a las cosas, vas a lograr convencer, que la gente se involucre y cumpla. Si de alguna manera la gente percibe que el trabajo político es imposición de tareas y misiones, no se logrará nada, porque la gente tiene que percibir que las misiones dadas no son por gusto, sino tareas que tienen una coherencia.

—¿Qué es lo que más te preocupa de la Cuba actual?

—Es una interrogante que debe ser bien pensada, porque tiene dentro de sí otras muchas. Creo que tiene que ver con la asimilación consciente de las nuevas generaciones de que este proceso histórico que estamos viviendo hoy hay que cuidarlo. Es un elemento que me parece trascendental: que los jóvenes puedan entender que la Revolución no está aquí porque nos tocó ese destino y ya, sino que hay que defenderla, cuidarla todos los días.

«La Revolución es un ser vivo que hay que alimentar. Y es de poquitos, con trabajo. Pero un trabajo sistemático, no al bulto. Un trabajo diferenciado, a lo individual, con las personas. No podemos pensar que lo logrado se mantendrá porque sí, como si fuera un derecho divino, y no porque luchemos.

«Hay que seguir explicando las virtudes y bondades que tiene nuestra Revolución, que la gente tenga la percepción de que si no la cuidamos podemos correr el riesgo de perderlo todo por el acecho que sufrimos todos los días, porque los jóvenes somos un punto en la mira de la contrarrevolución. Eso es lo que más me preocupa».

—En cuanto a la juventud, un sector tan heterogéneo y complejo, ¿cuáles son los desafíos que a tu modo de ver implica ese universo en el contexto de la sociedad?

—Hay muchos desafíos que tenemos que enfrentar. No estamos en una urna de cristal, y nos llegan todo tipo de influencias. Se da una avalancha de otras culturas que debemos asumir, pero de manera inteligente y natural, trabajando. Estamos expuestos a todos los elementos que tienen que ver con la propia globalización. Hay escenarios que no teníamos hace dos, tres años, como el condicionado por las nuevas tecnologías. Y están los nuevos elementos que se están introduciendo en la economía cubana, los cuales hay que explicar especialmente a nuestros jóvenes.

«Antes solo teníamos la televisión, la radio, y la prensa escrita. Hoy una noticia llega más rápido por otras vías que lo que pueden hacer nuestros propios medios nacionales, realidad a la cual no estábamos acostumbrados hace cinco, seis años. Creo que son elementos que debemos tener presentes, pero no huir de esos desafíos sino todo lo contrario: las nuevas tecnologías, por ejemplo, deben ser usadas para bien, en función de nosotros, de nuestras políticas, a favor de los jóvenes, de lo que quiere la Revolución».

—Tengo la percepción de que muchos de nuestros jóvenes no están leyendo lo suficiente, lo cual implica un reto cultural y político enorme…

—Esa es una realidad innegable, que hay que enfrentar, pero evidentemente habrá que hacer otras cosas en función de que haya atracción por alimentar el espíritu. Habrá que buscar nuevas propuestas a través de la prensa y de nuestros libros, elaborando mensajes para todas las edades. Hay que buscar y encontrar los caminos, con un lenguaje amplio, creativo.

—En la Cuba actual, que vive momentos de suma complejidad, la UJC como organización política tiene ante sí, como la sociedad misma, múltiples y grandes tareas…

—La organización tiene muchos retos. El primero es agrupar en su seno a la vanguardia, lo mejor de lo mejor, y que nuestros militantes sean un espejo para el resto de los jóvenes, y que nuestros jóvenes se quieran parecer a nuestros militantes. De esa condición de liderazgo se van a desprender las cosas que en la labor cotidiana hace la Juventud, como la labor de crecimiento, como que nuestra organización de vanguardia juvenil sea verdaderamente el relevo de nuestro Partido, porque si perdemos el Partido estamos perdiendo la Revolución.

«La juventud debe tener esa idea, esa percepción de que cuidando nuestra organización, manteniéndola, estaremos dándole continuidad a la Revolución».

—¿Cómo asumes personalmente la nueva tarea?

—Dirigir a los jóvenes en Cuba es una gran responsabilidad, porque debemos tener en cuenta todas sus aspiraciones, sus características, desde los niños hasta los menos jóvenes dentro de los jóvenes. Creo que ese es un elemento que hoy nos toca asumir.

«Y nosotros, en el plano profesional, tendremos que seguir trabajando para que la gente tenga espíritu de preparación, sobre todo quienes son responsables de dirigir colectivos desde la base hasta el nivel nacional».

—Será importante hacer equipo, visualizar a los más idóneos dentro de esa vanguardia…

—Es importante tener líderes dentro de la organización, gente que de verdad arrastre, sin fanfarria, sin los grandes escenarios, sin las grandes reuniones, sin las grandes concentraciones, aunque eso también será necesario en algún momento, pero habrá momentos también, que son los más, donde tendremos que ir a lo individual, al convencimiento, a lo particular, y eso solo se asume con gente más preparada.

—¿Qué podrá decir, dentro de 20 o 30 años, un profesor de Historia sobre lo que estamos viviendo ahora en Cuba?

—Un profesor de historia, si de la Cuba de hoy se trata, tendrá que hablar de muchas cosas: de los cambios, de la recontextualización de nuestro modelo económico. Habrá que decir que este momento tuvo sus características. Dentro de 30 años vamos a estar pensando que los jóvenes de ese tiempo necesitan atenciones especiales, porque tendrán otras condiciones, pensarán de otra manera, el mundo lógicamente ya no será igual, la tecnología será más avanzada. Será una etapa más de la Revolución que entonces tendrá más años, y que será como la hayamos sabido hacer y defender, en la que se hablará de sus líderes históricos, los cuales van a trascender el tiempo que dure la historia misma.

http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2012-09-29/el-trabajo-politico-hay-que-sentirlo/