|
AfroCubaWeb
|
|
The Cuban Census
|
(Official 2002 Cuba Census) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race | Total | Men | Women | % Of Total | |
White | 7,271,926 | 3,618,349 | 3,653,577 | 65.05% | |
Black | 1,126,894 | 593,876 | 533,018 | 10.08% | |
Mestizo | 2,658,675 | 1,385,008 | 1,393,915 | 23.84% | |
Asian | 112,268 | 56,098 | 56,170 | 1.02% |
-- see
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubans.
Note the differences with the 2002 results reported in the 2012 census
above.
The CIA Fact Book pre-2002 census entry, as noted at the time in AfroCubaWeb: "Ethnic groups: mulatto 51%, white 37%, black 11%, Chinese 1%" [51+11=62%] . This entry can still be found in the June 12, 2007 snapshot (the latest one) of the CIA Fact Book site by Archive.org which states that the page was last updated May 31, 2007: web.archive.org/web/20070612205459/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cu.html
According to Archive.org, some time between July 9, 2008 and August 13th of that year, the entry accepted the official 2002 results while noting that they depended on self identification:
CIA Fact Book entry (August 13, 2008): "Ethnic groups: white 65.1%, mulatto and mestizo 24.8%, black 10.1% (2002 census)"
CIA Fact Book entry (2020): "white 64.1%, mulatto or mixed 26.6%, black 9.3% (2012 est.)"
However, internal cables from the US Interests Section in Havana shows that the US government knew better:
OBSERVATIONS OF THE STATE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN CUBA 7/28/2009 Wikileaks - US Interests Section Cable: "In spite of official statistics to the contrary, African descendent Cubans probably constitute a majority of the population."
What is puzzling is why did CIA stop reporting more correct figures at a time when they had finally discovered the importance of Afro Cuba and had started somewhat courting it, as best they knew how?
Further back in history, we can see large periods when there were as many blacks as white, as in this entry from Wikipedia:
Official 1775-1899 Cuba Census | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
White | Non-white | |||||||
Census | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | ||||
1775 | 96,440 | 56.2 | 75,180 | 43.8 | ||||
1792 | 153,559 | 56.4 | 118,741 | 43.6 | ||||
1817 | 257,380 | 45.0 | 314,983 | 55.0 | ||||
1827 | 311,051 | 44.2 | 393,435 | 55.8 | ||||
1841 | 418,291 | 41.5 | 589,333 | 58.5 | ||||
1861 | 793,484 | 56.8 | 603,046 | 43.2 | ||||
1877 | 1,023,394 | 67.8 | 485,897 | 32.2 | ||||
1887 | 1,102,889 | 67.6 | 528,798 | 32.4 | ||||
1899 | 1,067,354 | 67.9 | 505,443 | 32.1 | ||||
According to the Census, the Chinese were counted as white. |
The large dip in non-whites from 1841 to 1877 does not appear plausible given than this was a period of massive importation of slaves. The Mambi Army that fought the Spanish Kings in the late 19th century is now widely believed in Cuba to have been overwhelmingly Black, perhaps as much as 85%.
One study shows official Cuban census figures to be 7 points off and was led by Katrin Hansing, who has been a consultant to Open Society Fundations' Cuba efforts.
Cuba's New Social Structure: Assessing the Re-Stratification of Cuban Society 60 Years after Revolution 2/1/2019 GIGA:
In our survey we only used two categories – namely, “white” and
“Afro-Cuban."
The former category includes all Cubans who are phenotypically “white,”
while the
latter includes all Cubans who are phenotypically of African descent. As
to our method of
racial identification: each interviewee was asked to self-identify
him-/herself, and the interviewers
were also asked to note down their classification of the person being
interviewed. In
all 1,049 cases, there was not one single discrepancy between the
interviewees’ and interviewers’
responses. We are well aware that neither of these categories does justice
to the complexity of
“race” nor to the wide variety of racial identifications in Cuba. They
cannot be more than a
rough approximation, with all the deficits such a reduction of complexity
entails. But given
the societal relevance “race” has historically had and continues to have
today, coping with the
deficiencies of such categories is in our view better than not using them
at all and, by doing
so, being blind to the current social realities.
As mentioned, the survey sought to reflect a semi-representative cross
section of Cuban
society. With regard to “race”/skin colour, the Cuban census states that
the population is 64 per
cent white and 36 per cent black and mulatto combined (ONE 2016, S. 4).
Our survey slightly
deviates from this ratio, in that it includes 57 per cent whites and 43
per cent Afro-Cubans.
www.one.cu/censo2012.htm Resultados del censo de 2012
CUBA. PROPORCION DE POBLACION POR COLOR DE LA PIEL SEGUN CENSOS. 1981 2002
2012
http://www.one.cu/publicaciones/cepde/cpv2012/20131107resumenadelantado/Graficos/Pag%2039.pdf
Presentan informe nacional del Censo de
Población y Vivienda
Granma, 11/12/05
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Cuba
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Cuba, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.The 2002 census figures supplied by the regime claim that 65% of Cubans were
white.
The Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami says 68% are black.The Minority Rights Group International says that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution. Estimates of the percentage of people of African descent in the Cuban population vary enormously, ranging from 33.9 per cent to 62 per cent". It uses the number for 51% for mulattoes.
According to the 2002 census, Cuba's population was 11,177,743.
www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part4/index.html
Cuba's official statistics offer little help on the race issue. The 2002
census, which asked Cubans whether they were white, black or mestizo/mulatto,
showed 11 percent of the island's 11.2 million people described themselves as
black. The real figure is more like 62 percent, according to the Institute for
Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami.
And the published Census figures provide no way at all to compare blacks and whites in categories like salary or educational levels. Ramón Colás, who left Cuba in 2001 and now runs an Afro-Cuba race-relations project in Mississippi, said he once carried out his own telling survey: Five out of every 100 private vehicles he counted in Havana were driven by a Cuban of color.
The disparity between the census' 11 percent and UM's 62 percent also reflects the complicated racial categories in a country where if you look white you are considered white, no matter the genes.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/cu.html
CIA happily adopts the 2002 Cuban Census results with no commentary.
World
Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Cuba : Afro-Cubans, 2008,
UNHCR
Since 1989 and the so-called 'special period in peacetime', statistics and
analysis concerning social trends in Cuba have been almost unavailable. This
compounds a more long-standing problem of information concerning race relations
and minorities in the island. An objective assessment of the situation of
Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic
studies both pre- and post-revolution.
Estimates of the percentage of people of African descent in the Cuban population vary enormously, ranging from 33.9 per cent to 62 per cent. This is partly a question of self-perception, as census figures are based on how Cubans define themselves.
As in many Latin American and Caribbean countries, there is also a large 'mulatto' or ethnically mixed population, and colour, class and social status are closely interlinked. Few Cubans are either 'pure' white or black. Definitions of 'colour' are as much the result of social criteria as of somatic classification. Afro-Cubans are most prevalent in the eastern part of the island and in districts of Havana.
Taking all of this into consideration, the fact that there has been a significant exodus of 'white' Cubans from the island means that Afro-Cubans have now come to represent a larger proportion of the overall population and are now thought to constitute closer to 70 per cent of the total.
Presentan informe nacional del Censo de Población y Vivienda, Granma, 11/12/05
Reflections On Race & The Status Of People Of African Descent In Revolutionary Cuba,
Eugene Godfried, 11/2000
Some official documents consider a "mulatto" as being
"white". Other documents define Chinese as "white" and yet
on other occasions as "black." One can find still other sources, such
as the Ministry of External Affairs, that include black and mulattos on the same
side of the list resulting in a 63% figure for the segment of African descent,
an estimate one also finds in American sources, both governmental and scholarly.
Percentages that are sometimes officially applied, such as whites 70%, blacks
19 %, mulattos 11%, are clearly inadequate. These likely come from the 1980-1981
census, where people were asked to identify themselves along ethnic lines, and
are disregarded by most Cuba scholars. Such percentages necessarily lead to
partial policies followed by inequality in proportional social relations as a
result. Consequently, leading figures directing major policy-making bodies need
to accommodate themselves on these patterns of visions and in order to be
inspired to have a critical and self-critical attitude when addressing themes
regarding the position, participation, and mobility of the people of African
descent in the Cuban society.
From http://popindex.princeton.edu/browse/v53/n1/s.html
53:10853 Cuba. Comite Estatal
de Estadisticas (Havana, Cuba). Census of population and housing of
1981: methodological volume, Vol. 17. [Censo de poblacion y viviendas de
1981: tomo metodologico, Volumen XVII.] Jul 1984. [206] pp. Havana, Cuba. In
Spa.
This volume describes the methodology used in the 1981 census of Cuba.
Information is also provided on scheduled publications of census results and
costs. Comparisons are made with other Cuban censuses.
Location: University of Texas at Austin, Population Research Center. Source:
APLIC Census Network List, No. 68, Dec 1986.
The Cuban-American counterpoint: Black Cubans in the United States, Dialectical Anthropology, Sep 1988
Race and ethnicity in censuses, Wikipedia
www.latinamericanstudies.org/cuba/racial-demographics.pdf Quotes Esteban Morales.
Afro-Cubans on the brink 7/30/2021 Politico: by Amalia Dache - "The Cuban
census states that its population is about 35 percent of African descent [Black
and Mulatto combined] and that its population of whites is about 65 percent. But
U.S. stats and folks who have researched Cuba, say that it’s actually the
opposite. In painting your country as predominantly white, it allows people
outside of the [the island] to think that the leadership is representative. We
know the people in power in Cuba, in the military elite, are predominantly
white. [In the U.S.] we still have these conversations, like, Cuban Americans
are all white, they all look like Marco Rubio, Gloria Estefan and Andy Garcia.
But it invisiblizes people like myself and people, like Celia Cruz for example."
El Color de la Piel
según el Censo de Población y Viviendas Febrero 2016 2/5/2020 ONEI: "Esta
publicación, constituye el cuarto estudio realizado a partir de los resultados
del Censo 2012, en este caso referido a La Población Cubana según el Color de la
Piel. El tema fue estudiado y resultó novedoso a partir de la base de datos del
Censo de 1981, y desde entonces no se había vuelto a tratar de manera
específica, a pesar de haberse captado la información en todos los Censos
realizados en el país antes y después de dicho año. Sin dudas, esta situación
creó un vacío en el conocimiento que sobre esta problemática se tenía."
¿RACISMO “ESTRUCTURAL” EN CUBA? NOTAS PARA EL DEBATE 8/28/2018 Negra
Cubana: "Hace cuatro años tuve la oportunidad de participar en una investigación
sobre la variable “racial” en los censos de la región. Uno de los resultados más
importantes de dicho estudio revela que el censo no cruza la variable “racial”
con otras de suma importancia, como por ejemplo, la tasa de fecundidad. Si
además le interesa saber cuáles son las profesiones en las que negras y negros
están sobre-representados, o la cantidad de personas negras en puestos de
dirección, sus preguntas nunca serán respondidas. A lo anterior se suman las
particularidades del diseño de la variable “racial” para los censos en Cuba y en
específico el concepto que se utiliza (el “color de la piel”), el cual se
introdujo por primera vez en el levantamiento de 1970 y que ha sido cuestionado
por varios intelectuales y activistas como el Dr. Esteban Morales. Estos se ha
reunido con funcionarios de la Oficina Nacional de Información y Estadística,
pero ello no ha supuesto ningún cambio práctico en la manera en que se recoge
tal indicador. Descargue el artículoresultado dela investigación."
¿De dónde venimos los cubanos según estudios de ADN? 8/16/2018 Cubahora: "El
35 % de las mujeres estudiadas procede, hace 15 generaciones atrás, de una mujer
amerindia, de una mujer nativo-americana. Esa abuelita suya hace 500 años le
trasladó esa información a toda la familia. El 39 % de las mujeres estudiadas
tuvieron 500 años atrás una abuela africana y un 26 % una abuela europea."
Roberto Zurbano on Race and Cuba 11/3/2017 Havana Glasgow Film
Festival: "In egalitarian societies, such as Cuba's, some are of course more
equal than others, and racial minorities tend to suffer the most from
inequality. Cuba is a particularly unusual example, since the Cuban census
claims the island to have a 65 per cent majority white population, but many
think that the Afro-descendent population occupy that proportion in reality.
Roberto Zurbano is a Cuban writer, activist and researcher at Casa de las
Americas, who definitely believes this to be the case, He observes,, "I say this
because most of the population census in Latin America and the Caribbean
manipulate the amount of the black population. Cuba is not an exception to this.
However, in practice, we know that we are a country with a black majority which
should feel proud of being black and of affirming its identity in whichever
document and in the next census."
In Cuba, African Roots Run Deep, but It's a Lesson Students Aren't Learning in
the Classroom 9/1/2017 NBC: "For about a decade, Dominquez and other
scholars have been struggling to get Afro-Cuban history into the Cuban system —
in textbooks, in the classroom and in the curriculum. It can be the tool to
awaken children and youth, says Tomás Fernández Robaina, an expert on the
African presence in Cuba. Robaina says knowing Afro-Cuban history should matter
to all Cubans. And so should knowing that “Blacks continue to be the most
discriminated group of all in Cuba,” adds Robaina. He rejects the notion that
studying this history is a threat to Cuban nationalism."
Revolutionary Cuba’s racism problem 12/1/2016 Spectator: "Cuban census
figures from 2012 indicate that black, mixed-race, and mestizo people make up a
third of the population, while the other two-thirds is white. These figures
don’t seem quite right walking around Cuban cities and towns. You will hardly
see a white face. It’s not down to more white Cubans living rurally. The census
puts the percentage of white Cubans living rurally down around 50 per cent.
Curiously, statistics from both the US State Department and the Institute for
Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami put the nationwide
population of black and mixed-race Cubans at twice the Cuban Government’s figure
– at around 65 per cent – which feels much closer to the reality on the street."
El color de la piel según el Censo 2012 7/11/2016 Negra Cubana: "Buscando
el dato de la composición racial de la población cubana he llegado a este
importante y revelador informe de la Oficina Nacional de Información y
Estadística, publicado en febrero del 2016."
Black Cubans celebrate Barack Obama's visit 3/21/2016 Daily Kos: "The Cuba
Briefing Sheet states: “US State Department officially identifies Cuba as 62%
black. Cuban scholars say up to 72% of population is non-white” (emphasis
added). The large population that is counted as “mulatto,” meaning mixed-racial
ancestry, and major cultural elements on the island like food, music, dance, and
forms of religious worship owe a far bigger debt to West Africa than to Spain.
Regardless of the way “race” is defined, it is clear that at least one-third of
the population is “not white” by the Cuban government’s definition."
El
Color de la Piel según el Censo de Población y Viviendas de 2012 2/15/2016 Oficina
Nacional de Estadística e Información: BLANCA 64,1% NEGRA 9.3% MULATA 26,6%
Amid sweeping changes in US relations, Cuba’s race problem persists 8/13/2015 Al
Jazeera: "Official Cuban census figures say black and mixed-heritage people are
about 35 percent of the island’s population, but a quick stroll around any Cuban
town will provide visual confirmation of just how many Cubans of color deem
themselves “white” when the government is asking. That may not be surprising,
given that race is not an objective scientific category, but rather an
organizing principle of political power — both before and after the revolution
that brought Fidel Castro to power."
Dark-Skinned Or Black? How Afro-Brazilians Are Forging A Collective Identity 8/12/2015 NPR: "She's
been participating in the black pride movement for over 15 years. And it seems
to be working, she says, because the number of people self identifying as pardo
or preto surged in the latest census. And more importantly, lawmakers are
beginning to pay more attention to issues of inequality. Brazil now has an
affirmative action program for higher education. Before the program launched,
only seven percent of Afro-Brazilians went to college. Now it's about 15
percent, and the numbers are growing."
Cuba - Afro Cubans 6/19/2015 EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW, US
Dept of Justice: "Since 1989 and the so-called ‘special period in peacetime',
statistics and analysis concerning social trends in Cuba have been almost
unavailable. This compounds a more long-standing problem of information
concerning race relations and minorities in the island. An objective assessment
of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a
paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution. Estimates of the
percentage of people of African descent in the Cuban population vary enormously,
ranging from 33.9 per cent to 62 per cent. This is partly a question of
selfperception, as census figures are based on how Cubans define themselves. As
in many Latin American and Caribbean countries, there is also a large ‘mulatto'
or ethnically mixed population, and colour, class and social status are closely
interlinked. Few Cubans are either ‘pure' white or black. Definitions of
‘colour' are as much the result of social criteria as of somatic classification.
Afro-Cubans are most prevalent in the eastern part of the island and in
districts of Havana. Taking all of this into consideration, the fact that there
has been a significant exodus of ‘white' Cubans from the island means that
Afro-Cubans have now come to represent a larger proportion of the overall
population and are now thought to constitute closer to 70 per cent of the
total."
Reforma económica aviva la división racial en Cuba 9/4/2014 El Universal,
Venezuela: "Un estudio del Havana Consulting Group, con sede en Miami, reveló
que de los $3.000 millones que llegaron el año pasado a la isla en remesas
familiares, el 82% terminó en manos de blancos y 12% fue destinado a mestizos.
Los negros sólo recibieron 5,8% del total. La relación no guarda proporción con
la composición de la población: el último censo de 2012 mostró que de los 11
millones de cubanos 64,1% es blanco, 26,6% es mestizo y 9,3% es negro." [Los
porcentages no son correctos.]
THE INVISIBLE COLOR 9/1/2014 THE BROKEN IMAGE/ LA IMAGEN ROTA: "The
invisible color is a living testimonial of the experience through the eyes of
Black Cubans everyday life in Miami Dade County in particular, highlighting
their mayor occupations and contribution to society as well their life in
contemporary Cuba. Cubans and their descendants represent the largest
demographic group of Hispanic in South Florida, yet the Black Cubans has gone
largely unnoticed due to the Census having limited the reporting on them as just
as “Hispanic.” "
Cuba’s Largest
Overseas Diaspora is the Least Known 6/17/2014 Havana Times: "According to
the census, 1,444 Cubans residing on the island were born in Spain. This does
not exactly constitute a diaspora. Cuba, quite naturally, has historical
migratory links to what people here sometimes refer to as the “motherland” and
Spaniards emigrated to Cuba in a sustained fashion from the early 16th century
until 1961. There are a significant number of Spanish associations in Cuba,
organized on the basis of ethnic or regional criteria, or as autonomous
communities, which gather immigrants and their descendants. My Cuban
grandfather, for instance, was from Leon, Spain and acquired Cuban citizenship
years after moving to the island. He never returned to his country of origin.
Many of his former compatriots did the same thing. The second largest group of
people who live in Cuba but were born overseas (some 794 individuals) came to
the island from the Russian Federation."
Cuba, Blacks and the New York Times - The Zurbano Controversy 4/12/2013 CounterPunch: by
NELSON P. VALDES - "The author leaves the impression that the classification of
color or race is determined by the census taker. That is not the case. In Cuba
census takers ask households to self-classify, just as it is done in the United
States. In fact, the Cuban authorities follow the guidelines established by the
United Nations." [The Cuban Government used to discount these
aberrant
census results, but since 2002, they have embraced them. They are used to
justify the diminished presence of blacks in many institutions.]
Dura crítica al racismo en Cuba le cuesta el puesto a escritor 4/6/2013 Nuevo
Herald: No se puede
admitir la
verdad, que 65%+ de la población es afrodescendiente - "El caso de Zurbano
refleja el creciente movimiento de derechos para los negros en Cuba, donde el 35
por ciento de su población de 11 millones de personas son negros o mestizos, en
un momento en que sus activistas se quejan de que las reformas económicas de
mercado abierto de Raúl Castro favorecen injustamente a los blancos."
For Blacks in Cuba, the Revolution Hasn’t Begun 3/24/2013 International
Herald Tribune: by
Roberto Zurbano - "Raúl Castro has announced that he will step down from the
presidency in 2018. It is my hope that by then, the antiracist movement in Cuba
will have grown, both legally and logistically, so that it might bring about
solutions that have for so long been promised, and awaited, by black Cubans. An
important first step would be to finally get an accurate official count of
Afro-Cubans. The black population in Cuba is far larger than the spurious
numbers of the most recent censuses. The number of blacks on the street
undermines, in the most obvious way, the numerical fraud that puts us at less
than one-fifth of the population. Many people forget that in Cuba, a drop of
white blood can — if only on paper — make a mestizo, or white person, out of
someone who in social reality falls into neither of those categories. Here, the
nuances governing skin color are a tragicomedy that hides longstanding racial
conflicts."
El color de la piel en Censo Cuba 2012 (II) 3/18/2013 Negra Cubana: "Luego
de las múltiples objeciones que recibieron los resultados del Censo del 2002[1],
acerca de la composición étnico-racial de la población cubana; aun existen
reclamos orientados a advertir las posibles implicaciones socioeconómicas que
para los afrocubanos y afrocubanas tiene el hecho de que en los resultados
ofrecidos por dichas investigaciones no es posible cruzar la variable “color de
piel” con cualquier otra. De manera que si le interesa conocer la tasa de
fecundidad de las mujeres negras, cuáles son las profesiones en las que negras y
negros están sobrerepresentados o la cantidad de personas negras en puestos de
dirección, sus preguntas nunca serán respondidas por un Censo realizado en la
Cuba post-revolucionaria."
El color de la piel en Censo Cuba 2012 (I) 3/17/2013 Negra Cubana: "Cuando
en junio del 2013 se ofrezcan los resultados del Censo Cuba 2012, una vez
podremos confirmar que la investigación estadística y demográfica más importante
de una nación no tiene suficientemente en cuenta revelar la realidad de las
personas afrodescendientes de la Isla."
El color de la piel en Censo Cuba 2012 (I) 3/5/2013 Negra Cubana: "Cuando
en junio del 2013 se ofrezcan los resultados del Censo Cuba 2012, una vez
podremos confirmar que la investigación estadística y demográfica más importante
de una nación no tiene suficientemente en cuenta revelar la realidad de las
personas afrodescendientes de la Isla. El presente artículo tiene la finalidad
de acercarse al Censo Cuba 2012 y al abordaje de la variable “color de la piel”,
en relación con levantamientos anteriores, realizados en la época republicana,
así como destacar algunos antecedentes de la pregunta que sobre este tema se
incluyó en el cuestionario censal de este año."
"El racismo está en nuestras mentes, en nuestra formación y en nuestra cultura" 9/30/2012 BOLTXE: "Nosotros
tenemos en Cuba un problema con el censo, incluso en IPS acaban de sacar una
entrevista en la que yo le hago una crítica; el censo recoge tal por ciento de
blancos, tal de negros y tal de mestizos, a nivel macro, pero lo que hace falta
saber es cuántos negros hay en Güines, cuántos están desempleados, cuántos
tienen nivel universitario, cuántos no, eso es importante porque nosotros
tenemos que construir este país sobre la base de una política social científica
donde puedas decir: “allí es donde está la pobreza, la desigualdad”."
Censo homofóbico Cuba 2012: CENESEX declara que no hará declaración 9/15/2012 Negra
Cubana
Comenzó en Cuba el Censo Nacional de Población y Viviendas 2012 9/15/2012 CubaDebate: [En
el ultimo censo de 2002, hubo autodeterminacion de raza, con el resulto que
muchos se pusieron blanco.]
Call to Count Gays
in Cuba Census 9/2/2012 Havana Times: "How many homosexuals are there in
Cuba? How many same-sex couples are living together? How many transsexuals does
the island have? And how many bisexual and lesbian households exist in Cuba?
Answers to these kinds of questions are being sought by Cuban journalist and
blogger Francisco Rodriguez*, a well-known government sympathizer and gay
activist on the island."
Mis preguntas para el Censo 2012 8/23/2012 Negra Cubana: "¿Quiénes son las
personas dueñas de los negocios privados: pertenencia o identidad racial, edad,
género, procedencia regional? ¿Cuántas mujeres cubanas, en relación con los
hombres, son dueñas de esos negocios?"
“La discriminación racial es un combustible peligroso” 8/15/2012 CubaNet,
financiado por la USAID: "Cuando te montas en una guagua o caminas por las
calles, te das cuenta de la superioridad numérica de los afro descendientes. Es
cierto que hay ciudades con más población blanca, pero también existen
asentamientos con una relación aritmética contraria. Ejemplifico que el
antropólogo Juan Alvarado fue uno de los primeros en poner en entredicho las
estadísticas oficiales -las verdaderas cifras son “secreto de estado”-. Incluso,
tenemos informaciones de especialistas del Instituto Cubano de Genética, quienes
manifestaron estar en descuerdo con los números arrojados por los censos de
población y vivienda, afirmando que al menos 60% de cubanos son afro
descendientes. Enfáticamente te aseguro que el gobierno ejerce presiones sobre
todos aquellos intelectuales que impulsan un debate nacional sobre la demografía
afro descendiente, destacándose entre ellos: el bibliotecólogo Tomás Fernández
Robaina, el ensayista Roberto Zurbano, quien en la actualidad preside el fondo
literario de Casas de las Américas, y la investigadora Inés María Martíatu, por
cierto, más reconocida en el extranjero que en Cuba. También, desde 1986, en los
congresos de la UNEAC se han disputado estos cuestionamientos raciales, pero el
régimen se las arregla para silenciar las demandas del anhelado debate
nacional."
Population and Housing Census in September 2012 10/1/2011 Cuba
Headlines: The previous census counting ethnicity was in 2002 and grossly
undercounted los afrodescendientes,.
ESTEBAN MORALES/CARLOS MOORE 5/17/2011 Negra Cubana: "Tampoco los negros y
mestizos son fácilmente contratados por las áreas en que mas el dólar circula en
Cuba. Por lo que se observa que algunos tienden a refugiarse en la santería como
forma de lucro, la actividad ilícita, el proxenetismo y la prostitución, las
reventas ilegales de productos etc. Por lo cual, de la población penal total hoy
en Cuba, los negros y mestizos representan casi el 57%, comparados con los
blancos, que son un 43%.[5]Por lo que, censalmente hablando, se encuentran
sobrerepresentados dentro de la población penal (pues según el censo del 2002,
el 65% se identificaron como blancos, el 10,1% como negros y el 24,9 como
mestizos)."
CUBA:
Replica Slave Ship Drops Anchor amidst Debate on Racism 3/24/2010 IPS: "The
issue is gaining visibility, which gives us hope that progress will continue to
be made," Norberto Mesa, founder of the Cofradía de la Negritud (CONEG), a
"brotherhood" or association of black people aimed at raising awareness about
the problem, told IPS. According to CONEG, racial inequality is a growing
problem in Cuba, where the latest census, from 2002, indicates that of a total
population of 11.18 million, 7.2 million were white, 1.13 million black, and
2.78 mixed-race, based on self-identification. However, scholars estimate that
the Cuban population is actually around 60 to 70 percent black or mixed-race.
"We foment debate at the community level because we know that solutions will
start to emerge, as a result of citizen participation," Mesa added, after a day
of cultural activities organised by the Casa Comunitaria (community centre) in
the Havana neighbourhood of La Ceiba. During the activities that day, the
Cofradía awarded its annual prize to Eric Corvalán, a Cuban filmmaker who filmed
the first documentary on racial discrimination in this country, "Raza" (Race).
The 2008 film helped launch the fledgling debate on racism. "That was the
message, the idea, but I am not satisfied. The debate should be at a national
level," Mesa commented. CONEG wants a Cuban parliament commission to focus on
the question of racism. It is also pushing for the issue to be included on the
agenda of the next congress of the Young Communist League (UJC). "What could
divide us is precisely the failure to deal with this problem," said Mesa,
referring to the socialist government's official stance in the 1960s, when the
Cuban revolution considered the issues of racism and discrimination solved, and
saw any discussion of the matter as a threat to unity and social cohesion."
Color Cubano by Elíades Acosta Matos 5/21/2009 Progreso Weekly: "Acosta was
chief of the Department of Culture of the Central Committee of the Communist
Party of Cuba." A rank apology for the status quo that repeats a fundamental lie
in the ibero spanish canon: "Nationwide, 65.2 percent of the population is
white, but the number of mestizos increased by 4 points since the previous
census." [Acosta, it is more like 65% afrodescendiente!]
Cuban Color 2/12/2009 Progreso Weekly: By Elíades Acosta Matos, former head
of the Committee on Culture of the Cuban Communist Party’s Central Committee,
unfortunately repeats the falsehoods of the last census - "Nationwide, 65.2
percent of the population is white, but the number of mestizos increased by 4
points since the previous census."
Can Cuba Change? 1/15/2009 Journal of Democracy: Gershman is founding
director of NED. Gutierrez is an outspoken advocate of a US military invasion of
Cuba who serves as national secretary of the USAID and NED-funded Cuban
Democratic Directorate. In this "blueprint for cultivating Cuba’s post-Cold War
underclass as an anti-government vanguard" Gershman and Gutierrez reveal
internal US appraisal of Cuba's population mix: "On the social level, according
to the RAND study and other reports, young people are largely alienated from
official politics and increasingly drawn to a subculture of rap music, drugs,
and crime. Afro-Cubans, who make up a majority of the populace, have an
especially hard lot, making up disproportionately large shares of the poor and
those in prison. A low birthrate is leading to a rapidly aging population, with
growing demands for pensions and other services that the state cannot meet."
‘Obama Effect’ Highlights Racism in Cuba 12/15/2008 New America
Media: "Cuban authorities offered statistical analysis to bolster their view,
which revealed the lengths to which Havana was prepared to deceive others even
as it deceived itself. Of Cuba’s population of 11.2 million people in 2002,
officials declared, 65 percent were white, 10 percent were black, and 25 percent
were mulatto. This racial breakdown matched exactly the breakdown of members of
Cuba’s parliament: 65 percent white and 35 percent people of color. The
implication was as obvious as it was ridiculous: Cuba had achieved “perfect”
racial representation between the people and their representatives. Europeans
scoffed at such claims. In fact, most independent census reports of the Cuban
nation puts the number of “whites” at anywhere from 20 to 35 percent; everyone
else is black or mulatto."
Back to the Past in Cuba 3/4/2008 Lew Rockwell: "French intelligence
sources tell me there is a growing risk of major street violence by poor blacks,
who make up 60% of the population and live in slums ringing Havana. Army units
have been deployed around the capitol." [The 60% is a reasonable figure, much
more so than the dubious 2002 census.]
About Cubans in the United States By Andres Gomez 9/25/2006 Cuba Now: "And
finally, the survey of the Census Bureau shows, significantly, that in 2004 56%
of the Cubans supported a dialogue between the United States and the Cuban
government to solve the existent conflicts between both countries. A clear
rejection to the intransigent and denaturalised position of the extreme
Cuban-American right wing."
Presentan informe
nacional del Censo de Población y Vivienda 11/12/2005 Granma: Figures from
2002 Census just released - total population: 11.177.743; whites: 65% -
7.271.926; blacks: 10% - 1.126.894; mulatos: 24,9% - 2.778.923.
Cubans Jittery About Providing Census Information 9/6/2002 Black World
Today: "An intense campaign by Cuba's socialist government is aimed at calming
fears that the new Census on Population and Housing, which begins to be carried
out on Saturday, could uncover irregularities like black market purchases or
illegal housing arrangements. Every day, the government-controlled radio and TV
stations loudly insist on the benefits of knowing exactly ''how many we are''
and the need to assess the conditions of housing as well as shortcomings in the
areas of housing and social security in this Caribbean island nation."
Cuba: Census To Measure Two Decades Of Changes 8/27/2002 Black World
Today: "''Besides evaluating how many college graduates we have, the census will
enable us to find out how many of them are working in jobs related to their
studies, and how many people work, are looking for a job, or have more than one
source of employment,'' he added. The census will also provide more specific
data on the aging of Cuba's population of 11 million, 14 percent of whom are
over 60. In addition, it should shed light on internal migration flows, the
number of couples living together without being married or separated without
getting divorced, the increasing number of female heads of households, and the
makeup of the population in terms of skin colour."
Cuba cuenta - Una fotografía nacional 5/17/2002 Granma: "El primer censo
cubano del que se tenga noticia data de 1774, época en que la Isla vivía bajo
dominio colonial español y cuando apenas poblaban el país 171 620 habitantes, la
mayoría blancos (56,2%), seguidos por negros (29,3%) y mestizos o mulatos
(14,5%)." According to figures from other sources - a total population of
172,620 inhabitants: 96,440 whites, 31,847 free blacks, and 44,333 black slaves.
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