320 Chapter 14
focus more clearly on this complex problem. The initial approaches
are centered on methodological aspects (criteria to evaluate policies,
analysis of objectives, achievements and shortcomings) with the aim
of endowing this interpretation with objectivity.
From the triumph of the Revolution, the impact of Cuban policy
intended to eradicate racial discrimination may be evaluated from
diverse perspectives that run the gamut from indulgence and inertia
to confrontation or out-and-out criticism. This implies that we should
devote attention to the establishment of those elements which allow a
balanced assessment of this policy. In other words: to avoid the preju-
dices for or against during half a century with a broad legal foundation
has meant overcoming racial problems in Cuba. There are those who
consider that any pattern of conduct or legal rule is a worthless bit of
paper before the sea of inequalities that may destroy people whose
physical color they identify with a historic “burden” which originated
with slavery and is today anchored in poverty.
In my opinion, the factors that must be taken into account to
undertake a comprehensive and impartial evaluation of Cuba’s racial
policies between 1959 and 2011 may be summarized, in three groups:
governmental discourse, aimed at raising awareness and arranging in
order of importance, the values of equality among all human beings as
the basis of Cuban society; legal status—laws, instruments and direc-
tives which oppose all racial discrimination and promote the exercise
of full citizen access to education, health, culture, sports and social
security among others; and economic practice, where the capacity of
the productive forces have not satisfied the demands of employment,
consumption, investment, accumulation, and so on. The resulting
negative effects for the Cuban population were intensified in stages
like that of the “special period.” There are effects that should be fol-
lowed with special consideration in population groups with inherited
disadvantages resulting from a greater poverty and marginalization
due to place of origin (countryside v. city), race (black v. white) and sex
(women v. men), to occupational sector and age, among others.