They Keep on Ranting about the Issue of Racism in Cuba (I)

Elio Delgado Legon

HAVANA TIMES — Ever since the Cuban Revolution triumphed in 1959, different US governments have used every kind of violent method to try and pull the plug on the Revolution.

Starting from the Bay of Pigs; the boom in armed groups who carried out all kinds of atrocities, such as the hateful murders of farmers, teachers, literacy teachers; the cruelest acts of sabotage against the Cuban people, such as the murders and forced disappearances of Cuban diplomatic employees abroad; bombs in Cuban hotels so as to damage national tourism, without caring about how many innocent people had to die in the process; as well as hundreds of assassination plots against key revolutionary leaders, mainly against Commander in Chief Fidel Castro.

This whole series of attacks, plus their rigid economic, commercial and financial blockade which has caused many difficulties and shortages among the Cuban people, hasn’t managed to achieve anything but unite our people even more with regard to the Revolution.

The current US president Barack Obama, undoubtedly an intelligent man, realized that the US would never be able to reverse by violent means Cuba’s history so that our country once again becomes a capitalist state with a multi-party political system.  He thus decided to change strategy and work instead on winning over different sectors in Cuban society, making them believe that socialism isn’t the best thing for them and that they should head towards capitalism instead.

The US has tried this many times before using different techniques with our youth, but it hasn’t been successful. Furthermore, they’re trying to win over the Afro-descendent sector, which is very large here in Cuba, for their counter-revolution.

You have to be very naive, or seriously compromised by the imperalist policy against Cuba, to write articles such as that by Mr. Alberto N. Jones entitled “The persistence of racism in Cuba”, published on Havana Times on August 25th.

Completely out of touch with reality, the article uses expressions such as “heated issue of racism in Cuba”, or “the fear of the Cuban government to recognize and confront the increased racism in the country.”

The author recognizes the Revolution’s successes in many sectors, to then go on and ask: “How can we explain to ourselves, that racism, which is much easier to eradicate, has been able to survive and reproduce…?”

Further on in the article, he talks about “the persistence of super macista, sectarian and segregationist mentalities that reside in the minds and hearts of many Cuban government officials…”

Which is followed by their “unwillingness to change course.”  Finally, he gets to his point, which is that imperialism wants Cuba to change its course.

He also mentions “absurd decisions” without supporting this with facts or even mentioning the decisions that have been made. This kind of article only tries to create the idea of chaos and institutional racism in readers, when it has been, and is, the complete opposite, ever since the Revolution won. Our national constitution dedicates three articles to this subject: 41, 42 and 43 which prohibits and punishes any kind of discrimination. There is probably no other constitution like ours in the entire world that is so explicit with regards to this subject.

Anybody who knows about a proven case of racism, has to report it; but, how can you accuse a government who has two black vice-presidents, where the president of Parliament is black, the president of the Supreme Court is black, in the State Council, which has the highest level of State representation, there are nine black members and in the Party’s Political Bureau, which is the leading force in society, there are five, between being black and mestizo, of being racist?

I really can’t understand how you can accuse a government who lost over two thousand of its children born in this country in the fight against South Africa’s white army, which had repressed the black population in that country and in Namibia and who threatened to take over Angola.

What would the Africans reading this article have to say? Those people, who will eternally be grateful to Cuba for having helped them win their freedom. I don’t know what names they’d use to call the author of the article in question.

(To be continued)