Rise Of The Latin Africans

Throughout the region, individual blacks have also begun blazing new trails. Graciela Dixon became the first black woman to head Panama's Supreme Court in 2005, and Luis Alberto Moore, a cop in Colombia, has reached the rank of general—a first for an Afro-descendiente. "I hope I will serve as an example for other black people in Colombia who will say, 'If General Moore did [it], then so can I'," says the 48-year-old Bogotá native.

But many other Latin blacks remain reluctant to openly acknowledge their background, which makes it hard for their communities to increase their influence. In 2005, for example, when Colombians were asked for the first time to identify their ethnic background in a census, less than half the country's blacks described themselves as such. Doris de la Hoz, a senior Afro-Colombian official in the Ministry of Culture, says that even this percentage represented progress, since more than 4 million people did acknowledge their heritage. But "there is still a strong separation of people by groups," she says, "and many black families try to convince their lighter-skinned children that they are white."

Yet such attitudes also seem to be shifting, albeit gradually. Evelyne Laurent-Perrault, 48, is the daughter of Haitian immigrants and grew up in middle-class Caracas, where she was usually the only black in her classroom and, later on, her office. Over the years she's endured her fair share of cruel jokes. Starting in her 20s, however, Laurent-Perrault, a biologist by training, began to develop a passionate interest in her culture and its links to Africa. She is now working on a Ph.D. at New York University analyzing the topic in the context of Venezuela. "There is [now] more pride in being black," she says. "People are mobilizing, and organizations have arisen in almost all of Latin America to expose inequality and demand that this must end."

Such organizations are drawing inspiration and financing from foreign, largely U.S., sources. In February, African-American journalist Lori Robinson launched a new Web site called vidaafrolatina.com that spotlights news, cultural events and commentary by and about Afro-Latinos. Leading members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus, like Rep. Gregory Meeks, have taken a special interest in Afro-Colombians and dispatched staff to advise black Colombian legislators. USAID has funded a variety of social and economic development projects in predominantly black areas of western Colombia, and has provided money and technical assistance to an association of black mayors and groups working on behalf of internal refugees. The groundbreaking presidential bid of a certain young U.S. senator hasn't gone unnoticed in the region, either. "A triumph of Barack Obama would be extraordinary," gushes Ernesto Estupiñan, mayor of the predominantly black Ecuadoran city of Esmeraldas. "It would be a huge encouragement for all of us in terms of minority participation in politics." Indeed, if Obama does reach the White House, one of his familiar slogans could soon take root in the hearts and minds of his fellow Africano-Americanos south of the border: "¡Si se puede!"("Yes we can!")

With Steven Ambrus in Bogotá, Maria Amparo Lasso in Mexico City and Phil Gunson in Caracas

© 2008