Identidades in English No 4, December 2014 | Page 31

A Long Way
To Go
Fernando Palacio Mogár
President, Cuban National Liberal Party
Havana, Cuba

T

he Organization of American States
(OAS), founded in 1948, is one of the institutions that work continuously against
all forms of discrimination, even racial discrimination. There are various international pacts and
agreements that serve as tools for denouncing discrimination, from International Human Rights
Treaties to the International Convention For the
Elimination all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The United Nations defines discrimination accordingly: “Any distin ction, exclusion or preference based on race, color, sex, religion, political
or any other opinion, national or social origin,
property, birth or other status, whose purpose or
effect is to annul or impede in the acknowledgement, enjoyment or exercise of all of a person’s
rights and freedoms.”
No race is privileged. It is only through ignorance
and prejudice one sees such supremacy. Throughout history, some races have learned from others
and have thus benefited. Yet, everyone belongs to
the same race—the human race—above and beyond anything else.
In Cuba, Afro-descendants are discriminated
against through racial prejudice. Racial discrimination expresses itself as the denial of rights and
social subjugation of people who belong to a certain race. The argument that is used to support this

is that they are inferior. Yet, there is not one single shred of valid evidence that confirms that any
one race is naturally superior to others. Some racial groups have enjoyed more favorable conditions, historical and social, but there is no mark of
superiority in their genes.
The traditions, habits, lifestyles and customs of
all social groups should be respected, so long as
they (1) do not affect the human rights or the
rights of others, and (2) do attempt to impose
them on members of another group.
The Declaration on the Nature of Race and Racial
Differences (1950) states very clearly that there is
no such thing as race. What do actually exist are
human groups—religious, national, geographic,
linguistic and cultural—but we cannot define
them or call them races because they don’t necessarily align themselves along racial lines. Another
concept this declaration clarifies is that intelligence has nothing to do with skin color.
Throughout history, Cuban Afro-descendants
have made great contributions to the formation of
the country’s national identity and worked arduously to recover their roots and cultures, as well
as achieve acknowledgment and self-recognition.
The problem of racial discrimination in Cuba has
become a great scourge. There is no denying that
Cuban Afro-descendants are the least protected

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