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Cuba News Archive: 2016 

Police Killing Black people in Florida - not in Cuba since 1959.  Black Florida

Cyber Cuba: tracking communications and computer technologies in Cuba

Cuba-EE.UU.: Trump, Desde la Ceiba, Nº 288, 23 de diciembre 2016

Se le niega la libertad condicional a Sundiata Acoli, ex Pantera Negra, luego de más de 40 años en prisión, Desde la Ceiba, Nº 288, 23 de diciembre 2016

Fidel Castro's Legacy On Race Relations In Cuba And Abroad 12/3/2016 NPR: Interview with Mark Sawyer, UCLA - "I think we need to look at Castro's mistakes of not allowing black pressure groups, not pursuing more rigid anti-discrimination policies as failures, but that he came as close as anybody has ever come to eliminating racial inequality in a place that had had plantation slavery."

Decreta el Consejo de Estado duelo nacional  11/26/2016 Granma: "Con motivo del fallecimiento del Comandante en Jefe de la Revolución Cubana, Fidel Castro Ruz, el Consejo de Estado de la República de Cuba declara nueve días de Duelo Nacional, a partir de las 06:00 horas del 26 de noviembre hasta las 12:00 horas del 4 de diciembre de 2016. Durante la vigencia del Duelo Nacional cesarán las actividades y espectáculos públicos, ondeará la enseña nacional a media asta en los edificios públicos y establecimientos militares. La radio y la televisión mantendrán una programación informativa, patriótica e histórica."

Video de la alocución de Raúl Castro Ruz 11/26/2016 Granma: con la noticia del fallecimiento de Fidel.  Las conexiones con Cuba sufren del bloqueo, se puede ver directo en YouTube.

Unlike other Latinos, about half of Cuban voters in Florida backed Trump  11/15/2016 Pew Research: "In Florida, Cubans were about twice as likely as non-Cuban Latinos to vote for Donald Trump. More than half (54%) supported the Republican president-elect, compared with about a quarter (26%) of non-Cuban Latinos, according to National Election Pool exit poll data."

Hundreds of Peaceful Anti-Trump Protesters Shut Down I-95 and MacArthur Causeway  11/12/2016 Miami New Times: "More frighteningly, the City of Miami's police union president, Javier Ortiz, threatened on Facebook that "change is coming," and implied that peaceful protesters will be arrested once Trump is sworn in on January 20. "Under the Obama administration, blocking interstates has been tolerated," he wrote. He added later: "They can do it for so long before the silent majority says no more."

A Trump attempt to reverse Obama’s Cuba policies could be complicated and costly 11/10/2016 Miami Herald

Cuba announces military exercises after Trump elected U.S. president 11/9/2016 Reuters: ""His most recent statements indicate that he may not immediately reverse commercial, economic and political engagement, but may increase conditionality as a cost of expansion," said John Kavulich, head of the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc. In a mid-October interview with CBS in Miami, Trump said he would do anything necessary "to get a strong agreement" with Cuba's government, without providing specifics."

Raza y desigualdad en Cuba 10/18/2016 Cuba Posible: Julio Cesar Guanche y Reinier Borrego Moreno (Coordinadores)

Activismo antirracista crece en Cuba pero falta debate público  7/29/2016  IPS: "Para los entrevistados, la Comisión Aponte, adscrita a la Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba, es la más escuchada por las autoridades, aunque observan que su labor resulta desconocida por el ciudadano de a pie y no ha logrado el ansiado debate público."

Ferguson protest leader Darren Seals shot and found dead in a burning car  9/8/2016 Guardian

The Stream - South African school girl's afro sparks racism debate  9/6/2016 Aljazeera / YouTube 

Universidades blancas  7/17/2016 Negra Cubana: "La Educación Superior cubana vive, desde hace años, la preminencia de un estudiantado de piel blanca. Cada vez menos negros o mestizos ingresan o permanecen en las casas de altos estudios. ¿Cuánto intervienen los procesos económico-sociales y contextos familiares en el proyecto educativo de estos sujetos? ¿Serán necesarias acciones o estrategias específicas, más allá de la gratuidad, para responder al fenómeno?"

Sometimes, the Diaspora Needs to Have a Seat and Listen  7/11/2016 Ebony: "If we are not careful, our voice can be used to legitimatize what is essentially imperialism in countries we claim to care about. Rather than demand to lead, we have to take our marching orders from the people on the ground themselves and use our access and privilege to help them shape their country and their future."

Especialistas critican silencio de medios cubanos sobre el racismo  5/29/2016 IPS: "Pese a las emergentes manifestaciones de discriminación, el tema racial sigue silenciado en los medios de comunicación estatales cubanos, reconoció la Comisión José Antonio Aponte (CJAP), adscrita a la no gubernamental Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba. De acuerdo con un boletín de la entidad,el 22 de abril tuvo lugar en la sede del Ministerio de Justicia un encuentro con los cuadros de ese organismo, presidido por el viceministro Francisco García Enríquez y el director de Cuadros, Félix de Armas Machado. También participó Heriberto Feraudy, presidente de la CJAP. Reconoce el texto que entre los presentes resultó “unánime” la condena “al silencio que aún se observa en los órganos de prensa nacionales acerca del tema racial en Cuba. Como si no existiera”."

Muerte a negros  4/25/2016 Negra cubana: por Heriberto Feraudy - "Pero si fue cuando menos chocante leer aquel texto tan vulgar y racista, igual me resultó cuando al reparar en la presencia de un conocido académico, experto en Economía por más señas, me le acerqué para que me acompañara a verlo. Con cara de rechazo y disgusto, me preguntó para qué. Le respondí que por conocer sus investigaciones sobre economía y los cambios por venir. “¿Y qué dice?” -me preguntó sin inmutar su rostro más bien huraño. A contrapelo de mi costumbre, yo estaba vestido con un pulóver de mala muerte, una gorra y unos tenis. Le respondí: “Muerte a negros, y está acompañado por una swástica”. “¿Y qué? -me espetó. Al escucharlo, no sabía qué decir o hacer. Lo mismo con lo mismo."

Acusaciones, acusaciones…  4/20/2016 AfroCubaWeb: por Claude Betancourt - "La segunda parte del artículo, sobre la injerencia de los EE.UU. en el tema del racismo en Cuba, trata de un sujeto muy importante y poco estudiado en la academia de Cuba o la de los EE.UU. En tales estudios, es altamente importante tener hechos fiables para entender la larga historia de una actividad que empezó por lo menos en la década de las noventas cuando José Basulto envió a sus agentes para coger una formación en la no violenza en el Centro Martin Luther King Jr de Atlanta (1995)."

Que se avergüence el amo  4/15/2016 Afromodernidades: entrevista con Alberto Abreu. "Recuerda esto: “Nadie conoce mejor las armas del dominador que el dominado”. Hay una vieja práctica racista que nació en la colonia y que de una forma u otra sobrevive hasta nuestros días, y es que la mayoría de las veces en las que el poder pretende deshonrar a una persona por negro o negra, busca a otro negro para que lo haga."

Elias Argudín Sanchez de la Tribuna de la Habana publico un ataque racista contra Obama. Andy Petit sigue la polemica en su “Negro, ¿tú eres sueco?”: otro choteo racista mas, 3/4/16

Definitivamente sueco, no soy tu hermano y pa’ tras ni pa cojer impulso. Profesor Julio Moracen Naranjo, 3/30/16

La visita de Obama, remueve el racismo.  4/2/2016 por Gisela Arandia Covarrubias
Complejo de inferioridad  3/30/2016 por Sandra Abd’Allah-Alvarez Ramírez
Sobre "Negro, ¿tú eres sueco?" en "Tribuna de la Habana" 3/30/2016: por Victor Fowler
Racismo en prensa cubana a propósito de Obama  3/29/2016 por el Dr Alberto Roque

The Obamas and the Blacks of Cuba: Some Questions of Power, Agency, and Representation  3/28/2016 Huff Post: by Odette Casamayor - "Under the imperative of maintaining national unity in the face of counterrevolutionary aggressions in the 1960s and 1970s, the struggle against racial discrimination was once considered instrumental by the government. Though it was also for the sake of national consensus that racial identification has been obliterated in Cuban history under the weight of a mythic concept of nationhood. When racial segregation was officially ended in 1959, difference was supposed to be diluted within the masses facing a common enemy (the United States), sharing a single tradition, and immersed in the building of tropical socialism. But, today, when the confrontation between the two countries is fading, what would prevent Black Cubans from expressing their racial concerns, presenting their own agenda, rethinking the nation in their own terms? "

La primavera cubana: proxima estacion del tren Obama 3/22/2016 de Roberto Zurbano

El asesinato de Berta Cáceres, COPINH/The assassination of Berta Cáceres, COPINH, Garifunaweb, 3/3/2016  El pueblo garifuna de Sambo Creek, Honduras, se defiende frente a un tentativo de robo de tierras y aguas, 1/30/2016. The Garifuna town of Sambo Creek, Honduras, defends itself against an attempt to steal lands and water. 1/30/2016.

What President Obama's Visit to Cuba Means for Cubans of African Descent 3/19/2016 Huff Post by Devyn Spence Benson. See also Obama's visit to Cuba.

Cuban Activists Say Telecommunications Infrastructure Must Stay In Cuban Hands  3/17/2016 Real News: "Sujatha Fernandes, Professor of Sociology at Queens College, discusses how Cuban advocates for greater internet connectivity are not willing to open the country to U.S. corporations in exchange for internet access ."

Mi (visita de) Obama  3/16/2016 On Cuba, por Victor Fowler.

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News Archive 2010-2011

News Archive: 2008-2009

News Archive: 2001-2007

News Archive: 1999-2000

Misty Copeland Visits Cuba, Where Brown Ballerinas Are The Norm 12/20/2016 Huff Post: An interesting contrast to the Miami press's obsession with the debacle of dancer Carlos Acosta's autobiography, whose publication the government prevented because of one line vaguely suggesting that Alicia Alonzo was racist. Just try Google Images for Miami ballet and see how diverse that is.

EL TEMA RACIAL SE QUEDO SIN FIDEL  12/11/2016 Esteban Morales: "Solo nos queda Raul para continuar bregando con este tema, que dentro de la Direccion Política del País, mas nadie se ha atrevido nunca a mencionar."

Carta al Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba  12/8/2016 Desde la Ceiba: por Embajador Félix Wilson Hernández, p 96

Cuba: Fanaticism against a White Background 12/7/2016 Havana Times. This condemnation of the Cuban treatment of the Ladies in White dissident group leaves out such vexing issues as the Ladies in White's extensive US government funding, their position in favor of the embargo (which few Cuba based dissidents favor), and their alliance with terrorists, which we cover in our Damas en Blanco.

Fidel, Ché and the Cuban executions in 1959, 12/5/2016

Fidel Castro and communism’s flawed record with black people 12/5/2016 WaPo: The author, a Black American specialist on Russia, conflates Russia and Cuba, two completely different societies where racism is expressed very differently. And he spells Zurbano's name as Zurbana, twice. For some folks, anti-communism remains primary.

Castro Town: Fidel grew up here, but he came back to destroy it  12/3/2016 WaPo: "Haitian laborers did most of the hard work in the cane fields. They lived in thatched-roof huts on the property, and Fidel Castro would later tell his many biographers that their exploitation by his father and other white landowners kindled his revolutionary zeal. “He saw those Haitians living in poverty. Who would have guessed it would make such a big impression on him?” said Pedro Rodriguez, 91, who attended first grade with Fidel at the one-room schoolhouse on the property." Gloria Rolando has documented some of this history in an interview with a retired Haitian worker from that farm in her film Reembarque.

Fidel Castro Ruz: Race in Cuba, 12/1/2016

Lessons from Fidel: Black Lives Matter and the Transition of El Comandante 11/27/2016 Black Lives Matter: "As a Black network committed to transformation, we are particularly grateful to Fidel for holding Mama Assata Shakur, who continues to inspire us. We are thankful that he provided a home for Brother Michael Finney Ralph Goodwin, and Charles Hill, asylum to Brother Huey P. Newton, and sanctuary for so many other Black revolutionaries who were being persecuted by the American government during the Black Power era. We are indebted to Fidel for sending resources to Haiti following the 2010 earthquake and attempting to support Black people in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina when our government left us to die on rooftops and in floodwaters. We are thankful that he provided a space where the traditional spiritual work of African people could flourish, regardless of his belief system." See Black Lives Matter and Cuba.

Colin Kaepernick clarifies remarks on Fidel Castro  11/27/2016 USA Today: "Kaepernick was asked about his remarks, which were interpreted by some as a sign of support for the longtime leader of Cuba. "What I said was I agree with the investment in education," Kaepernick said. "I also agree with the investment in free universal health care, as well as the involvement in helping end apartheid in South Africa."

Black America and the Passing of Fidel Castro  11/26/2016 Alternet: by Bill Fletcher, Jr. - "For any Black American who knows anything about the history of the Western Hemisphere, both Cuba and Haiti have a special significance. Haiti, of course, for successfully ousting the French in 1803 and forming the second republic in the Americas; a Black republic. Cuba, in 1959, kicked out the USA, the Mafia, and a corrupt ruling class that had enforced racist oppression against most of the Cuban population."

Native Woman Claims Chemical Weapons Used At Standing Rock 11/17/2016 YouNewsWire: "Native Americans at Standing Rock, North Dakota are being sprayed with chemical weapons from a crop duster plane with two hoses under the wings, according to protestor Candida Rodriguez Kingbird." This sort of material has been blocked by Facebook. Similar tactics have been used in the biowar against Cuba.

Jeff Sessions's chequered past  5/5/2009 The Guardian: a rabid racist with decades of voter suppression activism is now Trump's pick for Attorney General where he will be charged with enforcing civil rights laws.

The real reason we have an Electoral College: to protect slave states  11/12/2016 Vox: "In a direct election system, the South would have lost every time because a huge percentage of its population was slaves, and slaves couldn't vote. But an Electoral College allows states to count slaves, albeit at a discount (the three-fifths clause), and that's what gave the South the inside track in presidential elections."

Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Charles Schumer among those backing progressive black muslim Rep Keith Ellison as DNC Chair, 11/11/2015

Orgullosos de ser afrodescendientes  10/25/2016 El Pais: "El Decenio de Afrodescendientes llega a Madrid en busca de soluciones a sus problemas de identidad… el Instituto Caro y Cuervo (ICC) organizó en Madrid unas jornadas para presentar las actividades con las que participará en el Decenio Internacional de los Afrodescendientes... ha contado con el apoyo del Instituto Cervantes y de la Embajada de Colombia en España."

NED's Cuba projects  9/27/2016 Along the Malecon: Provides 2015 budgeted amounts for Cuban dissident groups, including several focused on racial issues, the Cuban Soul Foundation ($85K), Plataforma de Integracion Cubana ($113K), and the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights ($26K). Other funded groups also participate in this theme. See The Discourse on Racism in Anti-Castro Publications, 2014-2015 for more NED details.

Desde Bogotá: Conspiración contra Cuba  9/24/2016 Cubainformación: "Pero la misión humanitaria de la reunión, en realidad es una fachada. El evento fue organizado por el Instituto Raza, Equidad y Derechos Humanos, IRED, que fundó y dirige Carlos Quesada, un cubano-americano residente en Estados Unidos, que recibe copiosos recursos del Departamento de Estado y de las agencias norteamericanas de inteligencia, para adelantar programas anticubanos en el exterior, utilizando, consciente o inconscientemente, a organizaciones no gubernamentales diversas, para darle un ropaje de “sociedad civil” a lo que en realidad es una conspiración contra la revolución socialista en Cuba."

¿Hay racismo estructural en Cuba?  9/7/2016 Negra Cubana

Restoration of US commercial flight and the future of Cuba, 9/3/2016 by Alberto Jones

When Malcolm X Met Fidel Castro  8/30/2016 Slate: "San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has recently decided not to stand during the national anthem, wore a Malcolm X hat and a T-shirt featuring images of the leader meeting with Fidel Castro at a press conference where he explained his protest."

Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is a Celebration of Slavery  8/28/2016 The Intercept: "Almost no one seems to be aware that even if the U.S. were a perfect country today, it would be bizarre to expect African-American players to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Why? Because it literally celebrates the murder of African-Americans."

Bernie Sanders and the Black Vote, 2016 Primaries, a compendium of articles, 2/16 to 8/16. They could have learned from the Cuban experience. 

NED, the Legal Window of the CIA  8/18/2016 Cuba Si

Spots cubanos de bien público reproducen prejuicios racistas  7/7/2016 IPS: "Representaciones sociales prejuiciadas que relacionan a las personas negras y mestizas con calificativos negativos y a las blancas con actitudes positivas, persisten en la comunicación de bien público hecha en Cuba en los últimos cinco años. Esa afirmación es una de las conclusiones de la investigación De colores."

The Cuban edition of famed ballet dancer Carlos Acosta's autobiography has been delayed. The exile press, as always, is quick to claim racism. El libro de Carlos Acosta ya no se presentará este sábado en La Habana  6/12/2016 Afromodernidades, reprinting Cubanet article.

On Memorial Day Weekend in Miami Beach, Black Tourists Are Second-Class Citizens 5/24/2016 Miami New Times: "The goal seems to be to rob African-Americans blind, lock up as many of them as possible, and occasionally use some for police target practice. (Remember the 2011 killing of Raymond Herisse, in which 12 officers fired more than a hundred rounds, four others were wounded, and no one was charged?)"

Did the Revolution End Racial Discrimination in Cuba?  4/15/2016 Havana Times: "As in 2015, the function was an opportunity to condemn and analyze inequality and racial discrimination in Cuba. Norberto Mesa spoke of how he lost his job as a porter at the Hemingway Marina in 2009. “They had to cut back on personnel. There were three black and two white employees. The manager, who was also white, fired the three blacks.”

Autoestima  3/17/2016 Juventud Rebelde: "Psiquiatra, Franz Fanon ejerció la profesión en su Martinica natal. En la consulta cotidiana atendía a los pacientes más desfavorecidos de la pequeña isla. Al abordar el diálogo indispensable para la psicoterapia, tropezó con obstáculos que lo llevaron a detectar una de las huellas profundas e invisibles del colonialismo oculta en lo más profundo de la psicología humana. Era la fractura de la autoestima, valladar que se interponía en la capacidad para formular sus problemas. La servidumbre y la marginación coartaban el reconocimiento del yo y se convertían en factor mutilante de la persona."

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