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Some how or another, Argentina reminds one of the Mexican case due to
the invisibility of Afro-Argentines. Yet,
unlike Mexico, there was more progress
made. In October 2010, Afrodescendants were included in the census
for the first time, nearly five years before
Mexico. It is already known how many
people self-identify as Afro-Argentine:
149,053, although activists’ estimates
are that the number is more like 2 million. There was no great news about legal or legislative progress this year. On
November8th, on the National Day for
Afro-Argentines and Afro Culture,
which has been celebrated since 2013,
there was a proposal to upgrade to the
Department for the Defense of the Public
and Audiovisual Communication Services the rules contained within “Tratamiento mediático respetuoso y responsable de la diversidad étnicocultural en los medios audiovisuales”
[Respectful and Responsible Media
Treatment of Ethnic-Cultural Diversity
in the Audiovisual Media]. These are ten
suggestions for how to denounce discriminatory content, a joint proposal by
Afro organizations. In Central America,
Honduras, host of the First World Summit for Afro-Descendants (2011), deserves special mention. This past September, its government approved the
Policy Against Racism and Racial Discrimination for the Integral Development
of Indigenous and Afro-Honduran Peoples. This came after two years of work
and a national survey. The Honduran
State invested $1.14 million dollar in
different development initiatives for indigenous and Afro-Honduran communities. Panama stood out in October due to
its official intention of eliminating racial
discrimination and ensuring the total
inclusion of Afro-Panamanians apropos
the International Decade for People of
African Descent: this was supported by
Afro-Panamanian groups. There will
also be an inventory of intangible, cultural patrimony undertaken, and it will
include things Afro. The Afro issue is
quite slow in a series of countries. Paraguay and Chile are examples, although
Chile did include it its last census in Arica, in 2014 (not national), and found
there to be 8.415 Afro-Chileans. Both
countries have a minority Afro population that is invisible and has not been
counted in the census. Cuba is in a similar situation, although the Afro presence
there is much more visible. Official statistics reveals that barely 9% of the Cuban population of 11 million is AfroCuban. Normalization between Cuba
and the United States has not brought
about notable improvements in the conditions for Cuban Afro-descendants. The
rhetoric deployed at the beginning of the
Revolution still prevails, and it establishes that there is no racial discrimination in Cuba. For the Dominican Republic, unfortunately, the most noteworthy news of 2015 has been the migratory
crisis involving its Haitian neighbors.
There has been no progress in affirmative action for the Afro-Dominican population.
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