Identidades in English No 1, February 2014 | Page 42

The Cuban civil movement and its international repercussions

CIR 2013:
The Consolidation of a Commitment
Rogelio Montesinos
Independent Journalist
Havana, Cuba

D

uring 2013, the Comité Ciudadanos por la
Integración Racial [Citizens’ Committee for
Racial Integration] (CIR) was able to consolidate its presence and stature in important political and
intellectual venues both nationally and internationally.
This progress increases the civic organization’s prestige and influence regarding its goal to make a considerable contribution to advancing towards models of
coexistence in Cuba in which social justice and respect for fundamental rights prevail without attached
conditions or discriminations.
Upon celebrating its fifth anniversary, the CIR
strengthened its convening and connecting capacity
by sponsoring numerous civic-cultural and commemorative meetings at which preeminent figures of underground, popular culture presented.
As part of the “Zero Violence” campaign on March
2nd and 3rd, and in commemoration of the International
Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
(March 21st), poets, singers, hip hop performers, folk
musicians and singers, and reggae performers came
together at the campaign’s great concert for integration and against violence and discrimination (November 27th), and at an important, year-end conference
with the Poetry Without End Festival, which cultural
project OMNI Zona Franca has been organizing for 15
years. All these efforts contributed mightily to good
causes to become exceptional players on a civic and
cultural stage clearly defended by the CIR, despite repressive attacks by the Cuban regime.
On December 10th, CIR leaders accompanied hip-hop
artists who staged a just protest before the country’s

cultural authorities for them inexplicably shutting
down the yearly “Raised Fists” festival.
The CIR strengthened its ties with Cuban society’s
most vulnerable social sectors, thanks to its effort to
broaden and increase its presence and work in various
regions around the country. It established more contacts within the citizenry, particularly with those who
endure the worst social and economic conditions. In
addition to its steady work legally advising and supporting victims of any kind of discrimination, the Observatorio Ciudadano contra la Discriminación [Citizens’ Observatory against Discrimination] (OCD)
connects directly with the trauma, needs and despair
of thousands of Cubans who survive in deplorable living conditions. Thus, it reaffirms its commitment to
tell the rest of the world the other face of the Cuba that
suffers.
On August 28th, Leonardo Calvo, National Vice Coordinator for the CIR, gave a keynote address at an event
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on
Washington (1963). It was celebrated by the U.S. diplomatic corps in Havana.
The year 2013 was important internationally, too. In
previous years, important events that receive media attention included the grand opening the Hall of Famous
Black Cuban Men and Women, with its ensuing
clashes with the regime’s repressive forces. Also important among these was the fact that certain CIR leaders were designated delegates to the First World Summit of African Descendants (La Ceiba, Honduras,
2013), and that they managed to get Juan de Dios
Mosquera, leader of Colombia’s National Cimarron

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