AREQUIPA, Peru – For just over three months, Cubavisión has been broadcasting the soap opera Be reborna production that has won over the Cuban public for its complex characters and themes of social interest.
One of the characters and topics that have fueled the debate during the last episodes are those of Liliana, played by actress Gisselle Fajardo, and the sexual assault perpetrated by her cousin Hector, played by actor Jorge Molina.
In this regard, Fajardo spoke about his participation in the soap opera during an interview for Cuba Today +in which he confesses some common points of his life with the character’s story.
The young woman initially auditioned for the roles of Yemayanki, Aytana and Liliana, but was not selected for any of them. Shortly after, one of the actresses in the cast suffered complications that led her to leave the project and was replaced by Fajardo.
The artist, now 27 years old, recorded the soap opera even at a younger age, and has shown her talent not only in acting, but also as a singer, as evidenced in the dramatization.
Currently, Lilina in Be reborn She goes through the most painful moments because of the rape and the emotional toll it takes. For Giselle Fajardo, these scenes evoke difficult memories from her own life.
She says that when she was in seventh grade, she and two classmates were summoned to school on a Saturday by the physical education teacher under the pretext of practicing “a gymnastics routine.”
There was a moment, Fajardo recalls, when the teacher sent them to shake the eraser and they went away to complete the task. When they returned, they noticed that the man had pulled down his shorts and was touching himself.
“I didn’t say anything to anyone out of fear. I was afraid of telling my parents, and that they might even think it was my fault, for wearing a short skirt, for something I had caused myself,” says the actress.
However, one of her classmates reported the incident to the school principal and the man was prosecuted, he was in prison and a restraining order was imposed on him.
In addition, Fajardo suffered a second experience of this type, more aggressive, this time during his 15 days of isolation at the center located at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA), in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On the last night of confinement, while she was sleeping, the fumigator of the rooms entered the room and felt that she was being touched in her private parts over her clothes. She had forgotten to turn off the light and lock the door.
When he realized what had happened, which took a few seconds, Fajardo became scared and said he ran to knock on the doors of the premises where the nurses and doctors were.
Although the aggressor disappeared immediately, the next morning the police arrived and filed a complaint. Regarding the case, the actress said that a few months later the authorities contacted her and informed her that the accused had been identified and penalized with a restraining order.
Giselle Fajardo, originally from Playa Baracoa, is also part of the theater company El Público, directed by Carlos Díaz. Beyond her current role on the small screen, whose outcome is yet to be seen, the actress participated in the summer season of the play Requiem for Yariniwhose productions will be back on the billboard this September.
