The Issue of Race in Cuban Society Today: The Letter and Spirit 325
hindered and hampered the implementation of a Cuban policy against racial dis-
crimination during the last half a century.
Something deserving far-reaching consideration is the recent state-
ment by Cuban President Raul Castro when talking about “the repre-
sentativeness of the ethnic and gender composition of Cuban
population in leadership positions. I personally consider that the
insufficient advance in this issue in fifty years of revolution is shame-
ful.”^3 If we are incapable of offering a serious and objective analysis,
on scientific grounds and with multidisciplinary approaches, to guar-
antee genuine and systematic impact against racial discrimination we
have not reached our goal.
Awareness of the advances and limitations of the way racial topics
have bean dealt with in Cuba cannot only be attributed to the political
leadership—it is increasingly necessary to widen the spectrum of anal-
ysis to other objective and subjective factors. This may prevent the
emergence or survival of conceptions or expressions of racism and
discrimination in our environment. The following aspects need to, be
taken into account:- the idiosyncrasies of the Cuban people, still awaiting an updated sociological
interpretation which would include human, geographical, historical and eco-
nomic factors, - the racial composition of Cuban emigration as basically white during the revolu-
tionary period, taking into account the material contribution its members have
offered their relatives in the island, especially in the conditions of the “special
period,” after the fall of the socialist system in Europe. - on the other hand internationalist actions by the Cuban Revolution, stressing the
military aid and medical cooperation offered to the African peoples in a gesture of
solidarity, with many professionals being trained in Cuba, - the globalization of behaviors generated by the information society and the new
technologies that increase the dynamics at an unprecedented pace in the exchange
of knowledge, products and services have created new social differentiations of
every type “and color,” - the development of international projects like “The Slave Route” by UNESCO,
which defends the identities derived from slavery through the promotion of
- Raúl Castro, intervention on December 20, 2009 at the closing of the People’s
Power National Assembly. Source: Granma newspaper.