Cubans in search of racial equality
By: Maritza Gutiérrez
The political will of the Cuban state to eliminate from society the vestiges of discrimination based on skin color and ethnic origin was reaffirmed with the approval in 2019 of the National Program against Racism and Racial Discrimination Cuban Color, which marked a change in the traditional way of addressing the issue of racial equity in Cuba from public policy.
Approved by the Council of Ministers and implemented by a National Commission chaired by the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel, the government program has projected important goals for its fulfillment in several stages.
Professor and researcher Julio Rensoli, member of the Executive Coordination Group of the National Commission of Cuban Color, talks to us about this government program:
The National Program Color Cubano in a first period, had a qualitative evolution - from an intersectoral territorial, corrective and recognition approach, to an affirmative integral, transdisciplinary one, with reflection in the six macro programs of the National Plan for Economic and Social Development (PNDES 2030). Adjustments have also been made to its strategic projections and its scope as a government program.
The program includes a group of subprograms and projects that are in full implementation, but there are great challenges in its implementation, among which stand out the articulation of the teams and working groups proposed to exercise its governance, the evaluation of the 70 indicators linked to the PNDES 2030, and the consolidation of the stable operation of the provincial commissions, with the gradual increase of popular participation in their results.
Recently, during the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Ambassador Daylenis Moreno Guerra, Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations, reaffirmed Cuba's commitment to the eradication of all discriminatory practices.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel reiterated that political will is a decisive factor in advancing public policies on racial equality.
The National Program against Racism and Racial Discrimination Color Cubano, constitutes a clear expression of the political will of the State in the gradual and definitive eradication of this phenomenon, from a comprehensive affirmative approach that acts in an articulated manner on the reproductive causes of social disadvantages by skin color existing in the country, and in seven fundamental areas: education, health and welfare, work, habitat and living conditions, income, socioeconomic disadvantages and integration, racism and discrimination.
The political will of the Cuban government to eliminate from society the traces of discrimination based on color and ethnicity was reaffirmed with the approval in 2019 of the National Program against Racism and Racial Discrimination Cuban Color, which represented a change in the usual way of addressing the issue of racial equality in Cuba through public policies. This program, approved by the Council of Ministers and carried out by a National Commission chaired by the President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel, proposed important objectives for its implementation in different phases.
