The Cuban authorities will launch a campaign in 2020 in which they will ask Cubans to have more sexual intercourse to increase the depressed birth rate on the island. The campaign, which will not be too subtle, will have the slogan “More love, more children,” after the use of the word “sex” was banned from the propaganda, a source that preferred to remain anonymous revealed to OnCuba.
According to the source, who is part of the commission of experts formed to develop and launch the campaign, it is a “necessary step” to encourage births, which in recent years have visibly decreased in Cuba, while population aging has set off the government’s alarms due to its economic and social implications.
“The formula is simple: Cuba needs more children, and the only way in which fertility and birth rates can increase is for Cubans to have more sexual intercourse,” said the specialist, who told us that the Cuban authorities finally decided to apply this “somewhat drastic” measure after other campaigns and policies “have not had the expected effects.”
In 2018, the gross birth rate per thousand inhabitants was only 10.4, while the annual growth rate of the island’s population was negative for the second consecutive year, which means that the number of Cubans decreased. Meanwhile, projections indicate that the number of persons over 60 will continue to increase and will exceed one third of the total of Cubans in 2050.
The new campaign was devised to reverse this situation and will be launched nationally on July 11, World Population Day. It will include radio and television spots, gigantographies and other graphic media, which will seek to persuade Cubans to have more sex, following the results of a recent scientific investigation, the source said.
This study is the result of a joint work between French and German universities that shows that the birth rate grows exponentially as the frequency of sexual intercourse increases. Couples with more children are the ones who have more sex, the researchers say, according to which “doing it” about five times a week is the “optimal” amount to have more than two children.
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The source revealed that a Cuban research, commissioned by the Center for Demographic Studies (CEDEM) of the University of Havana, is already underway to know the current frequency of intercourse among Cuban couples, based on the suspicion that “it has gradually decreased in the last decades.”
The study, “based on a field work on a representative sample,” should be completed in the first quarter of 2020 and will allow concentrating campaign actions in specific regions and groups.
In addition, the source advanced that the aim is to involve the CDRs and other mass organizations, so that they carry out their own promotional campaign―which could be called, he said, “Cinco y Pa’lante” (Five and More)―and that the incentives are being studied for “outstanding couples,” such as a stipend or days off in the week to “accomplish their mission.”
Asked about the participation of homosexual couples, the source said that, after consultations with the National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), it was decided that they would not be excluded from the campaign because they “also have the right to sex and to no longer feel discriminated against,” in tune with the debates of the new Constitution.
In search of more information, OnCuba contacted CENESEX, which preferred not to give statements in this regard. For its part, CEDEM denied its participation in a study on the frequency of sexual intercourse among Cubans―“although we think it is an excellent idea that we could analyze,” said the director who was consulted―and warned about the coincidence that the news is being revealed precisely on December 28.
If you believed all of the above and even got excited about following the suggestions of the campaign, we inform you that it is really a joke because the Feast of the Holy Innocents (which is the Spanish equivalent of April Fools’ Day) falls on this date. In addition, we clarify that OnCuba respects the work of CENESEX and CEDEM―like that of the rest of the entities and persons linked to the promotion and investigation of the birth rate in Cuba―and that their inclusion in this article is innocent and in good faith, like the jokes that every December 28 many persons play on their friends and relatives, and like the one that many media also dedicate this day to their readers.
Authors
OnCuba Staff,
OnCuba editorial staff
