RACIAL SEGREGATION IN CUBA: BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION

Was the Cuban revolution positive for Black people in Cuba? We explore that question in this video, recorded from when African Stream spoke directly to Rolando Julio Rensoli Medina, who leads many of the country's government-supported, anti-racist educational initiatives.

This week, 9-13 December, Cuba hosts a special conference in honour of the UN’s Decade of Afro-descendants programme. The conference will explore government-led anti-racist initiatives and African cultural contributions to Cuba's national identity. Rensoli Medina will play an active role in the events to unfold.

When a delegation from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—comprised of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger—visited Cuba last month, Rensoli Medina explained the Cuban revolution was a deathblow to the racial segregation that existed on the island during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista (1901-73) when the country was a neo-colony of the United States. He said Black Cubans could not go to every hotel, restaurant, social club or beach before the revolution.

As early as 1959, Fidel Castro (1926-2016) denounced racism and clarified that while all workers have a shared class struggle, Black Cubans have an extra layer of oppression as both proletariat and racialised people.

Some critics of the Cuban revolution say that the government does not acknowledge the vestiges of racial prejudice or discrimination. This sentiment is primarily in response to a statement Castro made in the early 1960s, when he proclaimed that the revolution had ended racism. However, Castro apologised in 2000, retracted his statement, and acknowledged that work still needed to be done. Today, Rensoli Medina's work demonstrates that the Cuban government is making efforts to rectify the racism that still exists. 

Rensoli Medina can be followed on Facebook: facebook.com/rolandojulio.rensolimedina. This is the YouTube playlist of one of his organisations, Color Cubano: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_JTlBag_eLUbaU-mcfXBTLT-5t2OT8b-. This is the Facebook page of another one of his organisations, Comisión Aponte: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072321090594

Sources:

https://www.plenglish.com/news/2024/11/29/cuba-to-host-international-event-on-afro-descendants

https://pulitzercenter.org/projects/we-are-not-hidden-race-cuba

https://www.cetri.be/Revolutionary-Racism-Afro‑Cubans?lang=fr#:~:text=Three%20years%20into%20his%20rule,egalitarian%20society%20officially%20ended%20racism