Cuba: A Black Society

The Black Cuba

Cuba, as all Caribbean islands is composed of many nationalities and colors including, Europeans, Asian, Africans, and the native indigenous population, the Amerindian people called the Tainos. The Tainos were discovered  by the Spaniards in their conquest of the island in 1492.

Today Cuba’s black population is around 75% making it predominantly a black society. Although the majority of Cuba is made up of black people, only four black people have places on the 21 seat Politcal Bureau. The higest ranking black political party member is Esteban Lazo Hernandez, the vice president of Cubas Council of State. Other than that, the majority leaders andthe elite are white. 

                                
 www.historyofcuba.com                         www.thestudyofracialism.org                                                                                                                                                    

Prior to 1959, there were many inequalities in Cuban society as there are in any other Latin American country, Castro took full advantage of the popular discontent and used it to his advantages promising the blacks equal opportunities in his vision of a new Cuba.  Once he was in power Castro forgot his promises and Cuba today is as divided as it ever was.
Yes He has brought the opportunity of elevating the intellectual levels of most including blacks, many blacks have accomplish success in the different branches of science and engineering.  This doesn’t changes the fact that most are still living in substandard conditions, some in crumbling tenements over 200 years old and suffering from discrimination. Castro was so adamant about abolishing racism in Cuba. Yet still the prisons are overflowing with blacks as the Cuban governemt still associate crime with its black people, and black have to work harder to survive and do not have as easy access to the dollar as their white neighbors.
 
It is not enough to receive an all black congressional commission from the United States as he did this week, Cuba needs to face and resolve the needs of its own internal society, recognize the blacks as equal once and for all and if no change is coming in the system as a whole at least make them equal participants in the higher echelon of power in the island.