Barack Obama’s Presidency Inspires Cuba To Welcome Exiles, Speak Out Against Racism

Barack Obama’s election is being felt beyond U.S. borders and into, among many other places, Cuba. For one, Carlos Lage, Vice President of the Council of State, has announced that the island would be ready to welcome back exiled Cubans should Obama lift current travel restrictions on Americans as promised. Said Lage, referring to the Bush administration’s current policy of allowing exiled family members one tip to Cuba every three years:

“It is an act of barbarity to prohibit a citizen to visit his family.”

Additionally, Obama’s election has also prompted the country to critique its own “barbarities” by highlighting discussion on racism in Cuba, as we’ve mentioned previously. Talk has turned not only to the fact that racism exists in Cuba — an ostensibly obvious fact that was ignored under the official policy that Cuba’s “egalitarian” government made racial discrimination implausible — but that it is widespread and institutional. But even in the face of a society that all but bars dark-skinned Cubans from holding potentially lucrative jobs in tourism, there is hope for change. Says Victor Fowler, a Black Cuban:

“I still feel my heart skip a beat. I listen to Barack Obama … I look at my skin, I look at my children’s skin, I cry and I smile.”

Obama’s forthcoming presidency has also inspired more than a bit of anger and frustration - seen in the prevalence of signs such as the one above, reading “Yes we can -Damn it!”

Lage: Cuba is ‘ready’ to welcome exiles [Cuban Colada]
‘Obama Effect’ Highlights Racism in Cuba [New American Media]