Proclamation Against Discrimination

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The Proclamation Against Discrimination was Fidel Castro’s March 23, 1959 speech. He said Cuba must fight racial discrimination as one of the four important battles after the revolution—along with jobs, wages, and the cost of living. He urged a national effort to end racism at work and in society and promised action to desegregate some public spaces.

What happened next
- May 1959: Beaches were desegregated by taking private beaches into state control. Private clubs could still limit who joined for a time.
- April 1960: The government nationalized all private clubs, so people of any race could use them.
- Public parks were redesigned to remove old signs of segregation.
- 1961: The Ministry of Labor began hiring to diversify workplaces, and private schools and universities were nationalized. A large literacy campaign started, helping many Afro-Cubans and others gain education. There was national mourning for Black literacy workers killed during the campaign.
- Castro and officials publicly said racism was being solved and celebrated the equal participation of Black workers.
- 1961 also saw censorship actions, including the ban of the film P.M., which some say reflected tensions about how race was depicted in Cuba. In a June 1961 speech, Castro warned against material that questioned the revolution.

Later developments
- February 1962: The Second Declaration of Havana claimed that racial discrimination had been eliminated.
- After that, discussing racism in Cuba became discouraged, and the government emphasized equality as a completed goal.
- Some scholars and activists argue that real prejudice persisted even after these measures, but official rhetoric portrayed racism as largely solved.
- In 1968, Eldridge Cleaver, the Black Panther leader who sought asylum in Cuba, criticized how the Cuban government handled race, saying he was pushed to denounce racism in the United States but not to challenge racism in Cuba itself.