Cuba: Race & Identity in the News

What AfroCubans say

What Spanish Cubans say

What foreigners say

Foreign Organizations

Acting On Our Conscience - A Declaration of African American Support for the Civil Rights Struggle in Cuba, 12/09

The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 2008-2009

The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 2007

Dissidents and Race, 2001

Conferences

History: Time Line

Native Cuba

AfroCubans: Race & Identity in Cuba

There is an increasing focus on race & identity in Cuba, from both within and outside the island.  Here we present some resources and references on issues relating to AfroCubans as these are complex and often poorly understood. We will be adding to this and welcome suggestions.

Some observers estimate that over 70% of the Cubans inside Cuba are of African descent.  Both the Cuban government and analysts at the US State Department and the CIA used to agree on a number around 63%. In the 2002 census, the proportions were reversed, which any one walking down any street in Cuba will find absurd - this came about because the Cuban government allowed for self-identification, something no longer accepted internationally, as among UN demographers.  Yet these numbers are used to justify  racial mixes in many settings, such as professional schools or in the tourism business, where light skinned Cubans hold the preponderance. A much smaller percentage of Cubans abroad are of African descent.  In Miami, some estimate that over 97% of Cubans are of Spanish origin.  At the very least, 85% of them describe themselves as being white in a recent survey. In New Jersey, there are more AfroCubans among the Cuban exiles there.

The very term Spanish Cuban tends to hide the fact that Spaniards themselves have a strong African heritage, the result of being next to North Africa and receiving African culture over the milenia, including the 8 centuries the Moors and the Almoravids occupied southern Spain, from 710 AD to 1492 AD. This gives rise to a famous quote from Simon Bolivar, himself a mulatto who was often held in contempt by "pure blooded" Spaniards: "We are no longer European just as Spain is no longer European, because of its African blood, character and institutions."

AfroCubans have become increasingly vocal about racial issues. Some suggest this goes against the Revolution. However, it would be more accurate to see this trend in the context of how AfroLatins across South and Central America are becoming more vocal and getting better at defending their rights.

Cuba also has a Chinese community, centered around Havana's "Barrio Chino."   Many Chinese were brought into Cuba towards the end of the last century as it became more difficult and less profitable to kidnap and import Africans. Historically, they sided with the Africans in their struggles against the Spanish Cubans.

There is a very small, but still surviving Indian community, mostly in Oriente and consisting of Taino people, related to the Taino of Puerto Rico. According to Cuban researchers working over the past 20 years, Native Cubans survived in far greater numbers to a much later date than was commonly accepted: part of the continent wide myth of the "vanishing red man".  See Native Cuba.

There is also a Jewish community which has been reconnecting with Jews outside the island.