IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 7 ENGLISH | Page 64

make a bit more visible concerns about
structural racism in Costa Rica, which is
totally endemic to the region.
Relative, limited or no progress
Peru has not made much progress with
regard to meeting the multiple demands
of Afro-Peruvians. The last census
(2007) did not include a variable for
Afro-Descendant, thus it is difficult to
know the group’s socio-economic situation. Even so, the last Survey of Homes
(2004) calculated that the community is
about 900,000 strong (2%-3% of the
country’s 31 million inhabitants). The
most important bit of news in 2015 was
the publication of a study by the Ministry of Culture that served to shed light on
major data and confirm that AfroPeruvians remain behind according to
various indicators, and this despite some
small improvements since 2004. The
study was published in July and indicates that racial discrimination persists,
and that 37% of Afro-Peruvians believe
they are kept below the poverty line by
low wages. In June, the aforementioned
Ministry awarded three Afro-Peruvian
leaders with the Culturally Meritorious
Person prize. By the end of October, a
National Policy for the Mainstreaming
of an Intercultural Focus: it is an initiative aimed specifically at native and Afro-Peruvian communities. By the end of
November, a favorable court decision for
an Afro-Peruvian female victim of racial
discrimination was handed down: the
case went back to 2012.

Mexico is the region’s most populous,
Spanish-speaking country, The historical
and current presence of Afro-Mexicans
has only been on the radar since very
recently, and this begged the question of
when they would be included in the census. There are about 120 million in Mexico but, for the most part, it denies it
African roots. Although it has always
considered itself a mestizo country, Afro-Mexicans have not been on the census, since they are invisible to the Mexican imagination, despite their notable
presence in Oaxaca and Guerrero, where
they have even legal recognition. According to estimates put out by the incipient Afro movement, there might be 5
million Afro-descendants in Me xico, but
there are no official numbers. Finally,
the 2015 Inter-Censual Survey, created
by the National Institute of Statistics and
Geography (INEGI), it fulfilled an essential objective for Afro-Mexican activism: it surveyed 1.4 million AfroMexicans in early December, as was
announced last month. The National
Council for Preventing Discrimination
(CONAPRED), which carried out this
census, in early February, issued its very
first campaign focused on AfroMexicans: “I am Afro, I acknowledge
myself and count.” Its purpose is to
acknowledge Afro-Mexican populations
in the country and promote their rights.
There was talk all year about the need to
include them in the census, and of a
Senate-level reform to acknowledge
their existence, which was actually accomplished a few weeks ago.

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