by Jose Lara-Muhammad

SAN JOSE DE BARLOVENTO, Venezuela—In this lush green valley town, nestled in South America, approximately 90 percent of the population is of African descent.

It was the appropriate setting for the second International Reunion of the African Family in Latin America, held in July. Nearly 300 delegates from 20 countries, including the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, and South America attended the gathering.

Delegates participated in an array of workshops about the social, economic, religious, cultural and historical battles Afro Latino communities face in fighting poverty, racism and invisibility. The workshops were simultaneously translated into Spanish, English and Portuguese.

The descendants of Africans in Latin America represent 40 percent of the poor in the region, suffer racial discrimination, poor education, high infant mortality, ethnic cleansing, and verbal and media image insults, delegates said.

All of the abuse occurs with the tacit approval of Latin American governments, who feel Black communities do not exist in their countries, delegates charged.

There was no international non-governmental organization to serve as a watch dog and advocate for these 150 million people, until the creation of the Organization of Africans in the Americas (OAA), which sponsored the reunion.

OAA Secretary General Michael Franklin has lobbied U.S. politicians, International Development Banks, the Organization of American States and Latin American governments to recognize and assist this long neglected and important group in the African Diaspora.

"What this conference has done is to provide a space in which Blacks are able to come together and talk about what their needs are, what their pains are, what their successes are, and this doesn’t happen very often," said Mr. Franklin.

"The second accomplishment is that Blacks in Latin America do not have programs where they talk about Black history, or Black culture or concentrate on themselves. But, in addition, we are also trying to fill that internal space, that emptiness relating to their culture, their history, and knowledge of who they are.

"Thirdly, Latin American governments do not support Black communities, therefore, the presence of the U.S. government here, with the ambassador, letters from the president, the vice president, and letters of support from major institutions from the United States shows Blacks and Latin American governments that governments can work successfully with Black people," Mr. Franklin added.

"Thank God for this conference, its sponsors and supporters. If African communitites in Latin America do not organize and their plight is not made known, we will have Kosovo-style ethnic cleansing at a continental level, but without the benefit of the media," said Min. Muhammad Abdullah Muhammad, national Latino minister of the Nation of Islam.

"Latin American governments are treating Black people past the stage of ‘benign neglect’ and into a state of ‘total neglect,’ which could lead to gradual extinction, if something is not done soon," Min. Muhammad warned.

His presentation was one of the most popular of the July 6-12 weekend meeting where startling facts were revealed.

According to an OAA report, Afro Peruvians are blatantly denied entry to night clubs and restaurants and suffer employment discrimination, where ads ask for applicants who look "presentable," a code word for no Blacks, he said.

"The per capita income of Blacks in Colombia is $500, opposed to $1,500 for the rest of the population," said Agustin Valencia, former representative to the National Congress of Colombia.

"In the Pacific Coast (region), 120 children out of 1,000 born do not get to reach their first birthday. Moreover, the Colombia Congress has granted collective title deeds for the lands where Blacks have lived for generations. But now these title beneficiaries have had to flee for their lives because they are being violently killed to steal their properties," said Mr. Valencia.

"Now these Black Colombians are relocating in the slums of Bogota, Cali, and Medellin, and the result is marginalization for the lack of housing and education," he said.

"The fundamental problem in Ecuador is racial segregation and racism, factors which impede the participation in the decision-making process of all human sectors. For instance, there are communities of 300 children or more without any school facilities. This creates a permanent underclass for lack of education," explained Wilmer Corozo Valencia, an attorney and president of the Association for the Development of the Afro Ecuadorian Communities.

"We are now organizing the community in a ‘do for self program,’ wherein family groups of 15 persons or more pledge to pay for a teacher’s full salary, until we form a group of six units. This allows us to provide education for Afro Ecuadorian children, until such time the government decides to assume its responsibility," he explained. In Ecuador, Blacks are approximately eight percent of the population and have no representation in Congress.

Community organizing and development, health and family issues, information, and community development in Black communities were some of the workshop topics.

"We have been successful in conveying to the delegations of the various countries the importance of organizing. We have also impressed upon their mind the importance of coordination and to fully recognize that in order to go forward, we need to present a united front," stated Francisco Campbell, Nicaragua’s representative to the Central American Parliament.

"More than ever today I am aware of who I am. Basically, what we lose is our identity. To reacquaint myself with my own roots, with myself, with my identity—this conference has fulfilled these expectations. The job that I have now is with my children and my family. To make them understand, to get the knowledge, so that they feel proud, and not miserable as they have made us to feel," said Hugo Martinez, legal advisor to Leopoldo Baquerizo, a representative in the Ecuadorian Congress.

The conference received congratulatory letters from many notables, including President Clinton and Vice President Gore, and Dr. Hedy Fry, Canada’s secretary of state.

The reunion’s inaugural ceremony was attended by U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela John Maisto; the Hon. Lionel Alexander Hurst, Antigua and Barbados’s ambassador to the United States and Organization of American States; Mayor Modesta Ruiz of Barlovento; and John Dennison, representating Canada’s secretary of state; Min. Abdullah Muhammad, National Latino Minister of the Nation of Islam; Francisco Campbell, Nicaragua’s representative to the Central American Parliament; Jena Roscoe, a White House special assistant; Zenaida Mendez, aide to N.Y. Rep. Charles Rangel; Lisa Mari Mallory, of Vice President Gore’s staff; Runoko Rashidi, a Black American historian; and Rodolfo Moreno Mina, a member of Columbia’s Congress.

"We have had the opportunity to share with people of African descent from all over Latin America, and now we are aware of what is going on in each country pertaining to Black people," said Ms. Mendez, who is of Dominican heritige.

"We are the eyes and ears for the president on our constituencies. We wanted the Afro Latino community to know that, from the United States Government’s stand point, we acknowledge that there is an Afro Latino constituency. We support the efforts that OAA is doing in the United States and in the Americas, we want to try to support some of these initiatives," added Ms. Roscoe, associate director for African American Outreach in the White House Office for Public Liaison.