IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH | Page 17

for example, the aforementioned mechanisms for social protection for the elderly and single mothers, or
regarding the rights of the handicapped, the fight
against tobacco use, and homosexual rights.
Moreover, as is always the case in Cuba, African descendants are the primary victims of the atrophy and
disadvantages plaguing our society. The island’s socioeconomic map, which reveals permanent setbacks,
clearly reflects this population group’s very unfavorable social marginalization. The poorest provinces, territories and enclaves with the greatest social backwardness are those in which African descendants are
a majority.
Recent economic reforms and partial liberalizations
do not favor African descendants; without State support, they definitely do not have the capital or material
requirements to insert themselves with any real possibility of success into a competitive economic environment.
One of the best-hidden tragedies has been the proliferation of dozens of shantytowns that blemish the
scene in almost all our cities. The State’s demonstrated inability to fulfill its promise to guarantee all
citizens decent living conditions causes many families—most of them black—to move to these enclaves.
In them, generations of Cubans are born and grow up
in deplorable living 6