Identidades in English No 1, February 2014 | Page 40

Rastafarians in Cuba:
The Hidden Truth

astafarians in Cuba

Guillermo Ordóñez Lizama
Executive Secretary, Citizens’ Observatory against Discrimination (OCD)
Havana, Cuba
ithin the so-called Cuban revolution, sectors assumed to be independent, different
or uncontrollable have felt ongoing pressure from those in power, who want to maintain their
hegemony. They have also excluded those whose essence and behaviors do not conform to the sociopolitical model imposed from above. For example, religious preferences and practices, political and cultural
preferences, as well as sexual orientation have been

W

The Rastafarians comprise one of the social groups
that has most been affected by this triple stigma, repression and disdain. The streets of Havana have been
scenes of increasing repression and witnessed countless times in which human dignity and the freedom to
make one’s own cultural choices have been disrespected. Recently published books have served to intellectually confirm this stigma’s underpinnings as
well as the demonization Rastafarians have endured in

enough for people to be excluded, repressed and stigmatized as “different,” which is an objectionable manifestation of disrespect for the diversity that has characterized Cuba over the past 50 years

Cuba for so long.
The distorted image of Rastafarian men and women
reflected in the work of two “official” researchers so
created doubts about the presence of Rastafarians in

39