Paulo César is the name of the first child registered in Cuba as the son of two mothers

September 21, 2020

Recently, Cuba's Ministry of Justice issued a birth certificate that recognizes the dual motherhood or shared motherhood of the couple formed by Dachelys Valdés and Hope Bastian, residents of the Havana municipality of Plaza de la Revolución.

Dachelys explained to Prensa Latina that this constitutes the first step toward obtaining citizenship for the minor and argued that the procedures, initiated by mail from the United States, are now paralyzed as a consequence of Covid-19.

The document, supported legally by article 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, also registers the right to form a family, whatever its form of organization, and protects the best interests of the child and their right to be registered.

"The path is already open and more people will be able to achieve it, until the future Family Code regulates it for everyone and they don't have to rely on specific rulings. Cuba has the facilities and possibilities to be harmonious, to have coexistence and to offer rights to people," she expressed.

The couple chose Cuba to raise their son. "Yes, we have other options. We could even live in the United States, but all places have their positive and negative aspects and when we put that on a scale, Cuba always comes out ahead," Hope explained.

Two years before Paulo César's birth, whose name alludes to the Peruvian poet César Vallejo and the Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire, Dachelys and Hope were legally married in the American state of Florida. In that country, after an assisted reproduction process, the boy was born in 2019.

Although Cuba still does not recognize marriage between same-sex couples, the Ministry of Justice approved in the ruling to put "mother and mother," as it appears in Paulo's birth registration, issued at Florida Hospital.

They agree that the displays of support received, after the news was made public, demonstrate the willingness of Cuban society to embrace plurality without prejudices, stereotypes or misguided judgments.

"Sometimes when we go out to play with Paulo, there are people who tell us: he looks so happy. Of course, he's a happy child. He has two people completely in love with him, attentive to his needs, sharing every game, meal and awakening," Dachelys affirmed.

"Family is love, it's not roles, or orientations, races or ethnicities. You don't need to give birth, you don't need to fulfill a biological role, you don't need any of those things when you have the conscious decision to love someone, to bring a child into the world, to love them and give them everything, that's already family," she concluded.