By Yusimi Rodriguez ~

Norberto Mesa

 HAVANA TIMES  — The United Nations designated March 21 as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. This year, Cuba’s official media, tasked with covering (and criticizing) US President Barack Obama’s address in Cuba, made absolutely no mention of the day.

Civil society organizations, such as the Citizens Committee for Racial Integration (CIR) and the Black Brotherhood (Cofradía de la Negritud), did celebrate the occasion. I attended the activities organized by both organizations.

Norberto Mesa Carbonell, the founding member of the latter, invited me to the event for the second consecutive year. In 2015, the function was held at the Cuban Chapter of UNESCO. This time around, the condition for holding the gathering at this venue was that dissidents and independent journalists were to be excluded. Norberto replied that his organization condemns all forms of discrimination. The activity was held at the Veterinary Scientific Council, located on PaseoStreet, Vedado.

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.”

FOR THE FULL STORY GO TO:  HAVANA TIMES