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dozens of foreign delegations interested in interracial relations in the
country, especially those interested in the real conditions of Afro-
descendants.
In previous times, the “black” component in Cuban culture was
dealt with superficially, a hidden and taboo topic especially throughout
the republican period. Few movies and plays that dealt with race, with
the honorable exception of the poetry of Nicolas Guillen, and the
works of Wifredo Lam which offered a genuine view of our reality
with all its nuances, acknowledged and projected the essential values
of the population of African origin in its full dimension within what is
“Cuban.”
Today, national institutions like the Juan Marinello Institute and the
Fernando Ortiz Foundation work on topics of race in the context of
cultural identity with regular publications. In the case of the NGO
bearing the name of the learned Cuban anthropologist, these publica-
tions include several numbers of the anthropological Journal
CATAURO, the Ethnographic Map on the Slave Route in Cuba, as well as
the books: La tradición ewe-fon en Cuba (The Ewe-Fon Tradition in
Cuba) by H. Sogbossi; Negreros catalanes y gaditanos en la trata cubana
(Traders from Catalonia and Cadiz in Cuban Slave Trade) by E. Sosa;
El culto de San Lázaro en Cuba (The Cult to Saint Lazarus in Cuba)
by L. Zamora; Tras las huellas de las civilizaciones negras en América (After
the Footprints of Black Civilizations in America) by A. Leon; Oraciones
populares en Cuba (Popular Prayers in Cuba) by J. Guanche; Las almas del
pueblo negro (The Souls of Black Folks) by W. Dubois; Retorno a las raíces
(Return to the Roots) by I. Barreal; Rodar el coco (Rolling the Coconut),
de L. Menéndez; Remanentes de las lenguas bantúes (Remnants of Bantu
Languages) by G. Valdés; Brujas e inquisidores (Witches and Inquisitors)
by F. Ortiz; Cazadores de Esclavos (Slave Hunters) by G. La Rosa and
Mirtha González; Desafíos de la problemática racial en Cuba (Challenges of
Racial Problems in Cuba) by E. Morales; and Contra la raza y los racismos
(Against Race and Racisms) by, de F. Ortiz, forthcoming.