Dissident Cuban groups form integration committee

By Patricia Grogg, Tieramerica

HAVANA (IPS/GIN) — Dissident groups in Cuba are attempting to spark a debate on racism to promote "full integration" of all Cuban citizens. To eradicate discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity or skin color, a committee "without ideological affiliation or political goals" has just been formed to promote actions and initiatives to guarantee "a voice and a forum" for Cubans of African descent, "with the responsible support" of all Cubans who are aware of the problem.
The Citizens' Committee for Racial Integration (CIR) "will attempt to bring the issue out of the closed intellectual debates where it has been closeted for the past 15 years," said Manuel Cuesta Morúa, a spokesman for Arco Progresista, a coalition of small social democrat groups that participated in a recent workshop on the issue. In his view, alternative civil society organizations should seek ways to achieve the self-recognition of Black people, who are not represented in proportion to their demographics and their cultural contribution to Cuba.
The latest census, from 2002, indicates that out of 11,177,743 Cuban nationals living in the country at that time, 7,271,926 were "White," 1,126,894 were "Black," and 2,778,923 were “mixed.” The classification was based on skin color.
Cuesta said the CIR plans to hold regular discussion workshops and carry out a campaign against racist behavior by the police, which tends to be "selective" and "harasses" darker-skinned people more often than Whites. The CIR will also institute a "Tolerance Plus" prize for combating racism and promoting racial integration, to honor people and institutions that have made outstanding contributions to promoting racial harmony.
"But we are basically going to work with ordinary people, because racism is not an issue that can be solved by waving placards ... practical solutions ... have to be sought together with the people," Cuesta said.
After Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the socialist government made efforts to stamp out discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, and place of origin, making it punishable by law. Article 42 of the constitution stipulates that "the institutions of the state educate everyone from the earliest possible age in the principle of equality among human beings."
Among the first measures taken by the Cuban Revolution was universal access to beaches, clubs, and hotels that were formerly reserved only for "Whites," and equal rights to education, health care, and employment and access to positions at a decision-making level. However, several studies recognize that eradicating institutionalized racism did not abolish all of its latent expressions, as originally expected. But the problem was ignored and excluded from academic debate until the 1990s.
An economic crisis triggered by the collapse of the East European socialist bloc and the breakup of the Soviet Union, the country's main trade and aid partners, widened the gap between people who were already socially disadvantaged and the rest of the population. The recession reproduced and exacerbated social and therefore racial inequalities, given the historic links between race and class, according to a 1996 study by María del Carmen Caño Secade of the University of Havana, published in the Cuban cultural journal Temas. Participants in the dissident-organized workshop said Black Cubans have fewer opportunities for better-paid jobs, receive less in expatriate remittances from abroad, and live in the poorest neighborhoods with the worst housing, all of which makes them more vulnerable.
Cuba's population includes descendants of indigenous peoples and people who trace their origins to Africa, Asia, Spain, and some other European countries.