IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 2 ENGLISH | Page 31

nation of institutionalized racism nor military intervention in Africa brought about the end of racial inequality on the island.
What did happen was that the topic of racism as a subject for public debate and academic research in Cuba
was officially silenced between 1960 and 1980. This
silencing permitted the reproduction of racist ideas
and practices, for example, regarding interracial marriages or the mass media. Such patterns of prejudice
and racial discrimination are amply proved in the
work of anthropologist Juan Antonio Alvarado, historian Alejandro de la Fuente, political scientist Mark
Sawyer and anthropologist Nadine Fernández.
More over, the Revolution suppressed the independent Afro-Cuban organizations that existed during
1960 and 1970. Even cultural celebrities
like folklorist Rogelio Martínez Furé, ethnologist
Isaac Barreal or historian Enrique Sosa Rodríguez,
considered Afro-Cuban religious practices and festivals “anachronisms” that should be “purged” or “discarded” in a socialist society.5 Marxist doctrine’s emphasis on class conflict made difficult the consideration of other forms of social differentiation, like race.
Over the long term, the Revolution has dealt with race
relations unevenly. On the one hand, many Cubans of
African origin benefited from the programs for wealth
redistribution that were implemented in the early sixties. On the other, living conditions for the Afro-Cuban population have seriously deteriorated since the
beginning of the so-called Special Period, in 1989.
The urgent measures the revolutionary government
adopted to face this economic crisis—among the expanding tourism and family remittances as primary
sources of income—accentuated racial inequality in
Cuba. The creation of a Cuban form of “apartheid,”
through which whites have reaffirmed their advantageous position vis-à-vis blacks and mulattoes, proves
that prejudice and racial discrimination have not disappeared in contemporary Cuba.
Black intellectuals like historian Walterio Carbonell,
political scientist Carlos Moore, writer Víctor Fowler
Calzada, literary critic Roberto Zurbano or economist

Esteban Morales have denounced racism’s tenacity in
Cuban society—each in his own way. Despite their
ideological differences, these writers tend to agree
with the fact that skin color is still a key indicator of
social stratification on the island. Yet, official rhetoric
insists that Cuban racism is more a vestige of the prerevolutionary past than anything else.
Conclusions
Prejudice and racial discrimination continue to fracture Cuban society in the twenty-first century. We
must document the continuous breaches between Cubans of European and African origin in terms of education, employment, housing and economics. We
must also restate the rules concerning the discussion
of this issue, and leave behind the dominant, racial
rhetoric—particularly the myth of racial democracy—
both on the island and in the diaspora. One of the
greatest challenges to Cuba’s present and future is precisely how to overcome a racist legacy rooted in the
legacy of a colonial system with slave plantations. The
accumulated experience of recent decades suggests
that it is enough to legislate racial integration in housing or education, but that we must also transform attitudes and values that could last for generations, even
after radical changes to social structures.
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