Castro
Most Americans seem to ignore the fact that, before Castro came to power in 1959, Cuba was one of the most racially integrated nations in the world, with a socio-cultural system relatively free of racial discrimination. As Professor Richard R. Fagen has pointed out, “Batista’s Cuba exhibited a greater degree of national integration than did Mexico after 50 years of integrative revolution.’” (1)
Though personal racial biases were far from non-existent, Cuba was almost free of institutional racism. Racial relations among Cubans were very different from the ones traditionally existing in the U.S. Proof of this is that Fulgencio Batista, the Cuban president Castro overthrew in 1959, was a dark skinned mulatto who found his way to top political positions in Cuba — though not to high society — and eventually became president of the country by popular vote.
