The first Cuban chef with a Michelin star, and the chef — and owner — of the private paladar where former President Barack Obama dined during his trip to Cuba, have something more in common than love of cooking: Both represent snippets of success that Afro-Cubans can find in the emerging private sector on the island.

Almost apologizing because he "doesn't want to make things worse,‚" Afro-Cuban activist Norberto Mesa Carbonell recalled how Cuban police arrested him for trying to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination last month.

Many Afro-Cuban activists say that despite the social advancements made in Cuba in recent years, blacks on the Spanish-speaking Caribbean island still face and battle overt racism.

Más de 30 activistas, escritores, intelectuales, académicos y emprendedores cubanos, en su mayoría afrodescendientes, participaron en una reunión en la Universidad de Harvard para celebrar los logros del movimiento afrocubano y trazar una agenda para el trabajo futuro, reporta el diario El Nuevo Herald.

More than 30 Cuban activists, writers, academics and entrepreneurs, mostly of African descent, gathered at Harvard University for an unprecedented meeting to celebrate the achievements of the Afro-Cuban movement on the island and set the course for future work.

Más de 30 activistas, escritores, intelectuales, académicos y emprendedores cubanos, en su mayoría afrodescendientes, convergieron en una reunión que calificaron como "histórica‚" en la Universidad de Harvard para celebrar los logros del movimiento afrocubano y trazar una agenda para el trabajo futuro.