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Cuba Facts is an ongoing series of
succinct fact sheets on various topics, including, but not limited
to, political structure, health, economy, education, nutrition,
labor, business, foreign investment, and demographics, published
and updated on a regular basis by the Cuba Transition Project staff.
AFRO-CUBANS*: A DEMOGRAPHIC
AND POLITICAL PROFILE
Demographics (1)
Population:
- Afro-Cubans constitute 62 percent of the island’s population.
Prison Population:
- Afro-Cubans compose 85 percent of the prison population.
Regional Concentration:
- Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo provinces are estimated
at over 75 percent non-white.
Daily Life: Select Statistics
(2)
Automobile Ownership:
La Habana: 5 of 100 cars with private license plates
are driven by a Cuban of color
Remittances Received, 2000 Estimates:
- White Cubans: US$81 per capita
- Non-white Cubans: $31 per capita
Employment:
- Afro-Cubans occupy 5 percent of jobs in tourism, versus 80 percent
by whites (tourism is Cuba’s leading, highest-paying industry)
Political Power of Afro-Cubans
(3)
- National Assembly (parliament) seats: 32.84 percent of members
- Council of State: 29 percent of members
- Council of Ministers: 5 percent of members
- Provincial Heads of the Cuban Communist Party:
20 percent
- Presidents of Provincial Assemblies: 7 percent
- Generals/Senior Military Leadership: 0 among Top
10**
- Upcoming One-Party Elections:
Afro-Cuban Candidates by Province (4):
Pinar del Río: 25.6%
La Habana: 26.2%
Ciudad de La Habana: 28.5%
Matanzas: 27.5%
Villa Clara: 15.9%
Cienfuegos: 26.0%
Sancti Spíritus: 20%
Ciego de Avila: 15.3%
Camagüey: 24.4%
Las Tunas: 11.1%
Granma: 18.1%
Holguín: 12.9%
Santiago de Cuba: 38.4%
Guantánamo: 40.6%
Isla de la Juventud: 50% (2 of 4 seats)
__________________
TOTAL: 26.27% of 609 seats
___________________________________________________________________
Notes
* For the purpose of this analysis, Afro-Cubans
are defined as those of black or mixed (mulatto) ancestry.
** The top ten generals according to the
organizational framework of Cuba’s Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias
(FAR) are as follows:
- Raúl Castro, Minister of the FAR
- Julio Casas Regueiro, 1st Vice Minister, FAR
- Alvaro López-Miera, Vice-Minister, Head of the Chiefs of
Staff
- Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, Head of Ministry of Interior (MININT)
- Leopoldo Cintra Frías, Head of the Western Army
- Joaquín Quinta Solá, Head of the Central Army
- Ramón Espinosa Martín, Head of the Eastern Army
- Pedro Mendiondo Gómez, Head of the Air Force and Air Defenses
- Pedro Pérez Betancourt, Head of the Revolutionary Navy
- Leonardo Andollo Valdés, 2nd Head of the Chiefs of Staff
1. The general population percentage is
a CIA estimate. See CIA Factbook, 2002. Prison figures are based
on published articles by independent journalists and Afro-Cuban
dissidents on the island. The estimates of the provinces of Santiago
de Cuba and Guantánamo are from Ramón Colás
in Proceedings of “Transition from Communism: Lessons Learned,
Challenges Ahead for Cuba,”Seminar held by the Cuba Transition
Project, University of Miami, November 9, 2004.
2. Ramón Colás in “Transition
from Communism: Lessons Learned, Challenges Ahead for Cuba,”
November 9, 2004. For remittance estimates, see Carmelo Mesa-Lago,
“Growing Economic and Social Disparities in Cuba: Impacts
and Recommendations for Change,”Cuba Transition Project, University
of Miami, 2002, pg. 8. See also Alejandro de la Fuente, A Nation
for All: Race, Inequality and Politics in Twentieth Century Cuba,
University of North Carolina Press, 2001. Tourism job figures from
Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, Cuban government commissioned racial
study cited in “Advierten sobre racismo en Cuba,” Fernando
Ravsberg, BBC Mundo, February 13, 2003.
3. Cuba Transition Project staff conducted
an analysis of the racial composition of leaders of the Council
of State, the Council of Ministers, the Armed Forces, and of regional
and local level government representatives.
4. “Los candidatos del pueblo,”
Granma, http://www.granma.co.cu/secciones/candidatos/index.htm.
The CTP can be contacted at
P.O. Box 248174, Coral Gables, Florida 33124-3010, Tel: 305-284-CUBA
(2822), Fax: 305-284-4875, and by email at ctp.iccas@miami.edu.
The CTP Website is accessible at http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu. |
