LATIN AMERICA:
Blacks See Ray of Hope
in Obama
By Diego Cevallos
MEXICO CITY (IPS) - Members of the black community in Latin
America and the Caribbean hope the rise to power of Barack Obama,
the first U.S. president of African descent, will help raise
awareness about the discrimination and other problems they face.
It would have been impossible for someone like Obama to become
president of the United States even a few years ago; his arrival on
the scene "shows a change we should all pay attention to, and which
creates expectations in all of us," Nirva Camacho, a member of the
Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and the Diaspora Women's
Network, told IPS from Venezuela.
Obama, who was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States
on Tuesday, is the son of a Kenyan father and a white mother from
the U.S. state of Kansas, both of whom are deceased.
Juan Montańo, a newspaper column writer in Ecuador, said the
inauguration of an Afro-American president has "extraordinary
significance for us."
The new U.S. leader conveys a "clear message" to Latin American
governments against the racism and marginalisation that affects
millions of black people, Montańo told IPS from Esmeraldas, a city
in northern Ecuador with a mainly black population.
According to studies, in Latin America and the Caribbean there are
some 150 million people descended from African slaves, most of whom
are poor and suffer social exclusion because of the colour of their
skin.
The region's black population is characterised by "high density and
low impact," and suffers discrimination, according to a study by the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
In spite of the numbers of black people, most of whom live in
Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, their negligible political presence
and their lack of access to government decision-making is
deplorable, says the ECLAC study, titled "Ethnic-Racial
Discrimination and Xenophobia in Latin America and the Caribbean".
A research report by the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (IIDH)
says that in nearly every country in the region, Afro-descendants
are victims of racial discrimination and exclusion which cause great
economic and social deprivation, as well as preventing their access
to more than a handful of decision-making posts in society.
"Obama's presidency has boosted hopes for change among
Afro-descendants, particularly in Venezuela. But our expectations
are moderate, because I have to say we have already been
disappointed by his first statements about (Venezuelan President
Hugo) Chávez," Camacho said from Caracas.
In an interview for the Univisión television network, Obama said
Chávez was an obstacle to progress in Latin America and that he was
concerned about reports that the Venezuelan president supported the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.
This frequently repeated allegation has never been substantiated.
Chávez, for his part, predicted that Obama "will be a fiasco for his
people and for the world."
Camacho maintained that President Chávez has given black people a
voice, and that he is working on a "revolutionary project that we
hope Obama will understand and respect."
Ecuadorean columnist Montańo, who also works as head of
environmental management for the municipality of Esmeraldas, said
that Obama's success demonstrates that black people's power is on
the rise.
"There is tremendous symbolism in this, which we hope will be
understood and taken on board in Latin America as well," he said.
Montańo said that over the last few days he has noticed "great
enthusiasm and anticipation" among the residents of Esmeraldas
because of Obama's triumph. "Many people are interested in what he
has achieved and in what he could do," he said.
During his election campaign, Obama avoided radical comments against
racism and specific remarks about the social rejection that black
people face.
In the United States, where Afro-Americans make up 12 percent of its
305 million people, the poverty rate of the black community is three
times higher than that of whites, and their unemployment rate is
twice as high.
In Latin America, where black people comprise one-third of the total
population, their situation is considered to be even worse.
"Here in Ecuador, for example, where the constitution recognises our
rights, we are still excluded from high-level public positions in
the government," said Montańo.
Camacho, whose regional Afro-descendant women's network is made up
of groups from 33 countries, said that black people in Latin America
and the Caribbean have made unprecedented conquests in organising
and expressing themselves, but she added that "there is still a long
way to go."
Obama will be food and strength for the journey, she said. |
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