Order Code RL32713
Afro-Latinos in Latin America
and Considerations for U.S. Policy
Updated July 13, 2007
Clare M. Ribando
Analyst in Latin American Affairs
Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division

Afro-Latinos in Latin America and
Considerations for U.S. Policy
Summary
The 110th Congress has maintained an interest in the situation of Afro-Latinos
in Latin America, particularly the plight of Afro-Colombians affected by the ongoing
armed conflict in Colombia. In recent years, people of African descent in the
Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking nations of Latin America — also known as
“Afro-Latinos” — have been pushing for increased rights and representation. Afro-
Latinos comprise some 150 million of the region’s 540 million total population, and,
along with women and indigenous populations, are among the poorest, most
marginalized groups in the region. Afro-Latinos have formed groups that, with the
help of international organizations, are seeking political representation, human rights
protection, land rights, and greater social and economic rights and benefits.
Improvement in the status of Afro-Latinos could be difficult and contentious,
however, depending on the size and circumstances of the Afro-descendant
populations in each country.
Assisting Afro-Latinos has never been a primary U.S. foreign policy objective,
although a number of foreign aid programs benefit Afro-Latino populations. While
some foreign aid is specifically targeted towards Afro-Latinos, most is distributed
broadly through programs aimed at helping all marginalized populations. Some
Members may support increasing U.S. assistance to Afro-Latinos, while others may
resist, particularly given the limited amount of development assistance available for
Latin America.
During the 109th Congress, the House passed H.Con.Res. 175, recognizing the
injustices suffered by African descendants of the transatlantic slave trade in all of the
Americas and recommending that the United States and the international community
work to improve the situation of Afro-Latino communities. A concurrent resolution,
S.Con.Res. 90, was submitted in the Senate.
In the 110th Congress, the House-passed version of the FY2008 State, Foreign
Operations, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (H.R. 2764; H.Rept. 110-197)
would require that $5 million of U.S. funding for aerial fumigation in Colombia be
used to protect biodiversity, indigenous reserves, and Afro-Colombian lands subject
to spraying, and stipulate that no less than $15 million in U.S. development
assistance be provided to Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities. The bill
would also require the State Department to certify that the Colombian military is not
violating the land and property rights of Afro-Colombians. On July 11, 2007, the
House passed H.Res 426 (McGovern), recognizing 2007 as the year of the rights of
internally displaced persons (including Afro-Colombians) in Colombia and offering
U.S. support to programs that seek to assist and protect them. The resolution is soon
likely to be considered by the Senate. This report will be updated as legislative
action warrants.

Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Panorama of Afro-Latinos in Latin America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Identity, Definition, and Geographic Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Current Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Brazil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Colombia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Ecuador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Honduras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Nicaragua . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Issues Affecting Afro-Latino Populations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Political and Legal Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
National Census . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Anti-Discrimination Legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Political Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Affirmative Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Human Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Land Titles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
U.S. Policy Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
U.S. Foreign Assistance and Afro-Latinos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Regional Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Programs Benefiting Afro-Colombians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Programs Benefiting Afro-Ecuadorians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
U.S. Department of State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Inter-American Foundation (IAF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Peace Corps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
National Endowment for Democracy (NED) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Multilateral Development Banks and Afro-Latinos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
World Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Inter-American Development Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
International Organizations, Conferences, and Afro-Latinos . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Organization of American States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Inter-Agency Consultation on Race in Latin America (IAC) . . . . . . . 21
Impact of Durban and Regional Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Prior Legislative Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Legislation in the 109th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Legislation in the 110th Congress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Possible Options for Support for Afro-Latinos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
List of Figures
Figure 1. Afro-Latinos as a Percentage of Total Country Population . . . . . . . . . 25

Afro-Latinos in Latin America and
Considerations for U.S. Policy
Introduction
Persons of African descent, commonly referred to as “Afro-Latinos,” along with
women and indigenous populations, are among the poorest and most marginalized
groups in Latin America. The term “Afro-Latinos,” as used within the international
development community and the U.S. government, generally refers to Afro-
descendant populations in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking nations of Latin
America. Following common usage, this paper uses the terms “Afro-descendant,”
“Afro-Latino,” “Afro-Latin,” and “black” interchangeably. This paper does not
include a discussion of Haiti or English-speaking Caribbean nations that have
governments composed largely of Afro-descendants.
Within the past decade, Afro-Latinos have begun to employ different strategies
to align national movements with international organizations, including multilateral
development banks to which the United States contributes, in order to improve their
social status. Some countries — most notably Brazil and Colombia — have enacted
legal reforms and government programs to address racial discrimination, land rights,
and political and social exclusion. Improvement in the status of Afro-Latinos could
be difficult and internally contentious, however, depending on the size and
circumstances of the Afro-descendant populations in each country.
Some U.S. analysts and policymakers argue that the United States has a specific
interest in assisting Afro-descendant peoples in Latin America. They assert that
assisting vulnerable peoples fits into larger U.S. policy goals for the region:
promoting democracy, encouraging economic growth and poverty reduction, and
protecting human rights. Those proponents disagree, however, as to whether U.S.
foreign aid should be specifically targeted towards Afro-Latinos (as it has been in the
case of some indigenous peoples), or whether it should continue to be distributed
broadly through programs aimed at helping all marginalized populations.
Other analysts question whether increasing assistance to Afro-Latinos is feasible
at a time when limited development assistance is being allocated to Latin America.
They point out that the country with the largest Afro-descendant population in the
region, Brazil, is relatively developed and does not receive large amounts of U.S.
foreign aid. They question whether funds directed towards Afro-Latinos will have
to be taken from programs currently serving other needy groups. Still others caution
that because race is a sensitive issue for many countries in Latin America, the United
States should be cautious when pursuing policies that affect the issue.


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This report reviews and analyzes the situation, concerns, and activities of Afro-
descendants in the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking nations of Latin America. It
then discusses current U.S. foreign aid programs, as well as multilateral initiatives,
that have directly or indirectly assisted Afro-Latinos. The report concludes with a
discussion of potential policy options that have been proposed should the United
States elect to provide further support for Afro-Latinos.
Panorama of Afro-Latinos in Latin America
Race and ethnicity are complex issues in Latin America. Most of Latin
America’s 540 million residents descend from three major racial/ethnic groups:
Indian or indigenous peoples, of whom there are some 400 distinct groups;
Europeans, largely of Spanish and Portuguese heritage; and Africans, descendants of
slaves brought to the region during the colonial era.1 Mestizo generally refers to
people of mixed European and indigenous lineage, while mulatto refers to people of
mixed African and European background. After centuries of racial mixing, there are
numerous racial variations in Latin America, and many people of mixed African,
European, and indigenous ancestry.
Since the colonial period, racial intermingling, also known as mestizaje, has
been a source of national pride for many countries in Latin America. Countries with
large Afro-descendant populations, especially Brazil, have, until recently, been
heavily influenced by the notion of “racial democracy.” Racial democracy attributes
the different conditions under which blacks and whites or mestizos live to class
differences, not racial discrimination. Adherents of this theory, which is also
pervasive in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, argue that being black is a transitory
state that can be altered by “whitening” through miscegenation or wealth
accumulation.2 The racial democracy theory has been challenged by recent data
revealing a strong and persistent correlation between race and poverty in Latin
America.3 In both Brazil and Colombia, the countries with the largest Afro-Latino
populations in South America, Afro-descendants are (and have always been) among
the poorest, least educated, lowest paid citizens.
Despite the complexities surrounding racial identity in Latin America, and the
limited data available on this topic, this section outlines the characteristics, history,
and current status of Afro-descendant people in Latin America.
1 People of European descent will also be referred to as “whites.”
2 For a discussion of “racial democracy” and the differences between the prevailing
conceptions of race in Brazil and the United States, see Sheila Walker, “Africanity vs.
Blackness: Race, Class and Culture in Brazil,” NACLA Report on the Americas, May/June
2002; Robert J. Cottrol, “The Long Lingering Shadow,” Tulane Law Review, 2001.
3 Haider Rivzi, “Development: Globalization Driving Inequality — UN Warns,” Inter Press
Service
, August 26, 2005; Hoffman, Kelly and Miguel A. Centeno, “The Lopsided
Continent: Inequality in Latin America,” Annual Review of Sociology, 2003.

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Identity, Definition, and Geographic Distribution
Afro-descendants in Latin America have not been historically identified, as they
have in the United States, as any individual with traceable African ancestry. People
in Latin America have several different ways of classifying themselves. Lighter
skinned mulattoes may identify themselves as white, while some blacks may identify
themselves as mulattoes or mestizos. These classifications are influenced by class
position, geographic location, societal associations of blackness, the existence (or
lack) of collective identities among people of color, and state policies.
There is a range of state policies towards race in Latin America, from tacitly
condoning racism against minority groups to promoting diversity. The Dominican
Republic provides a striking example of how racial identity has been formed by
official notions of national identity. The Dominican government mobilized a
nationalist movement against an external threat (the mostly black republic of Haiti).
Although some 84% of the population has African ancestry, Dominicans, in order to
distinguish themselves from their poorer Haitian neighbors, tend to define themselves
as mestizos descended from Indians and Europeans, and not as Afro-Dominicans.4
A 2005 study on racial attitudes in the Dominican Republic finds that 83% of
Dominicans believe their society is racist against blacks.5
For the purposes of this report, blacks and mulattoes are grouped together to
yield the estimated number of Afro-descendants in Latin America.6 Of the 540
million people living in Latin America, some 150 million were of African descent as
of 1997, the latest data available.7 Figure 1 (at the end of this report) depicts Afro-
descendants as a percentage of total population for the Spanish- and Portuguese-
speaking countries in Latin America. Afro-Latinos tend to reside in coastal areas,
although in many countries they have migrated to large cities in search of
employment. Afro-Latinos constitute a majority of the population in Cuba and the
Dominican Republic. In Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, Ecuador, and
Nicaragua, they form a significant minority. In terms of absolute numbers, Brazil has
the largest Afro-descendant population outside of Africa. In 2000, 45% of Brazilians
4 “‘Illegal People’: Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in the Dominican Republic,” Human
Rights Watch
, April 2002, Vol. 14, No. 1.
5 “Racism Rampant in the Dominican Republic, Study Finds,” EFE News Service, May 3,
2005.
6 Estimates vary as to the actual number of Afro-descendants in each of the countries in
question. For example, the CIA World Fact Book estimates that while 38% of Brazil’s
population is “mixed white and black,” only 6% is black. Some argue that racial
discrimination and social exclusion affect blacks in Brazil far more than they affect the
country’s larger mulatto population.
7 Estimates vary as to the actual number of Afro-descendants in Latin America. In order to
arrive at the figure of 150 million, blacks and mulattoes (people of mixed African and
European background) have been grouped together. See “The Region: Race: Latin
America’s Invisible Challenge,” Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB), January 1997.

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identified themselves as black or mulatto, as compared to 13% of U.S. citizens who
identified themselves as African-American.8
History. The vast majority of Afro-Latinos descend from the millions of slaves
brought by European traders from the West African coast who survived the Middle
Passage to the Americas. Some historians have stated that the first slaves in the
hemisphere arrived in Virginia in 1619, and that the majority of African slaves ended
up in the southern United States. However, historians now maintain that the first
slaves arrived in Hispaniola, an island now divided between Haiti and the Dominican
Republic, in the early 16th century. Some 12 million or so Africans arrived in the
Americas over the 400-year history of the slave trade.9 Some scholars estimate that
more than 50% of those African slaves ended up in Brazil, while only 5% went to the
United States.10 Although many Africans perished due to harsh working conditions
and disease, new slaves from West Africa continued to replace them until abolition.
Slavery was abolished in most Latin American countries at or soon after their
independence from Spain in the1820s, but continued in Brazil until1888.
As slavery and lingering racism have left an indelible mark on Afro-Latinos, so
too has the long but little-known legacy of black rebellion and self-liberation
(marronage). The first slave rebellions occurred in Puerto Rico (1514) and
Hispaniola (1522). By the 17th century, maroons (escaped slaves) in Latin America
have been estimated to have numbered between 11,000 and 30,000.11 Maroons
formed communities with sovereign territoriality in remote terrains with low
population densities that now constitute the prominent Afro-Latino areas of eastern
and northern South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.12 According to
the Brazilian Ministry of Culture, there are at least 1,098 quilombola (escaped slaves)
communities in Brazil today. Afro-descendant communities in Honduras and
Nicaragua are generally rural communities descended from escaped slaves who
immigrated to Central America from the Caribbean in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Many of those communities, particularly the Garifuna in Honduras, have developed
distinct racial, cultural, and political identities based on communal land ties in areas
that are geographically isolated from the rest of their country’s populations.
8 For Brazilian census figures, see Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, Censo
Demográfico — 2000, at [http://www.ibge.gov.br]. For U.S. census figures by race, see
[http://www.census.gov].
9 Johannes Postma, The Atlantic Slave Trade. (London: Greenwood Press, 2003).
10 Howard Dodson, “The Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Modern World,”
in African Roots/African Cultures: Africa in the Creation of the Americas, Sheila Walker,
ed. (Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2001); Hillary Mayell, “Re-Examining
U.S. Slaves’ Role in Their Emancipation,” National Geographic News, December 6, 2002.
11 Ibid., Mayell.
12 For a comprehensive history of the African diaspora in the Americas, see Norman E.
Whitten and Arlene Torres, eds., Blackness in Latin America and the Caribbean
(Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1998). For a more recent history of Afro-
Latinos, see George Reid Andrews, Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004).

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Current Status. Although some countries with large Afro-Latino populations,
such as Brazil and Colombia, disaggregate socioeconomic data by race, most
countries do not, making it extremely difficult to find good quantitative data on Afro-
Latinos. Despite these data limitations, household surveys and anecdotal evidence
from across the region point to a correlation between African descent and political,
economic, and social marginalization. Disparities between Afro-Latinos and the
general population in Latin America have persisted despite rising income and growth
levels throughout the region.13 Statistics from Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador Honduras,
and Nicaragua generally support that finding.14
Brazil. Afro-Latinos represent 45% of the population of Brazil but constitute
64% of the poor and 69% of the extremely poor. With respect to education, 18% of
Afro-Brazilians have completed secondary school as compared to 38% of those who
self-identify as white. Afro-Brazilians have, on average, roughly five years of
schooling, whereas whites have completed nine years of school. Some 41% of Afro-
Brazilians live in houses without adequate sanitation and 21% lack running water,
versus 18% and 7% of white households. The maternal mortality rate of Afro-
Brazilian women is three times that of their white counterparts. Afro-Brazilians have
lower life expectancies than whites (66 years as compared to 71.5 years) and nearly
twice the homicide rate of whites.15
Colombia. Colombia has the second largest Afro-descendant population in
Latin America after Brazil. While most analysts assert that Afro-Colombians
constitute between 19% and 26% of the Colombian population, only 11% of the
population self-identified as Afro-Colombian in the country’s 2005 national census.
Most Afro-Colombians reside in rural areas on the country’s Pacific Coast, but many
have also fled to poor neighborhoods in the country’s large cities as a result of the
country’s ongoing armed conflict. Some 80% of Afro-Colombians live in conditions
of extreme poverty, and 74% of Afro-Colombians earn less than the minimum wage.
Chocó, the department with the highest percentage of Afro-Colombians, has the
lowest per-capita level of government investment in health, education, and
infrastructure. Some 30% of the Afro-Colombian population is illiterate, with
illiteracy in some rural black communities exceeding 40%. The Colombian health
care system covers only 10% of black communities, versus 40% of white
communities. Despite their marginalized position in Colombian society, Afro-
Colombians reside on some of the country’s most biodiverse, resource-rich lands.16
13 Jonas Zoninsein, “The Economic Case for Combating Racial and Ethnic Exclusion in
Latin American and Caribbean Countries,” Washington, DC: IDB, 2001.
14 These countries were selected because there is some data available on the socioeconomic
conditions of their Afro-descendant populations.
15 Ricard Henriques, “Desigualdade racial no Brasil,” Brasilia: Instituto de Pesquisa
Econômica Aplicada (IPEA), 2001; United Nations Development Program, Human
Development Report: Brazil
, 2005.
16 U.S. Department of State, Colombia: Country Report on Human Rights Practices, 2006,
March 2007; “Más Allá de los Promedios, Afrodescendientes en América Latina: Los
Afrocolombianos,”World Bank, February 2006; Milam Fitts, “The Mundo Afro Project,”
(continued...)

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Ecuador. Afro-Latinos represent between 5% and 10% of the Ecuadorian
population. Some 69% of Afro-Latinos in Ecuador reside in urban areas, primarily
in the coastal regions of Guayas and Esmeraldas. Afro-Ecuadorians generally live in
slightly better conditions than the indigenous population, but both groups post
poverty rates significantly above the country’s average (90% and 74% respectively
as compared to 62%). This poverty is perpetuated by a lack of access to health care,
sanitation, education, and well paying jobs. For example, Esmeraldas, a region
whose population is 80% Afro-Ecuadorian, has infant mortality rates double the
national average. At a national level, only 15% of Afro-Ecuadorians aged 18 and over
have completed secondary school as compared to 23% of the general population. As
a result, although Afro-Ecuadorians have a high labor participation rate, the vast
majority are employed in low-wage jobs.17
Honduras. Afro-Latinos represent roughly 2% of the population of Honduras.
The Afro-Honduran population is primarily composed of Garifuna and Afro-
Antilleans. Some 80% of Garifuna reside in rural communities along Honduras’
northern Atlantic coast, while 85% of the Afro-Antilleans reside in the Bay Islands.
The 2001 Honduran census reports that these regions, though poor, have lower
poverty levels than the rest of Honduras’ departments. According to the national
census, some 55% of Garifuna households and 63% of Afro-Antilleans report having
their basic needs met. In addition, while the national illiteracy rate is estimated at
20%, the illiteracy rate for Garifuna is 9% and for Afro-Antilleans is 4%.18 These
census results belie the fact that many Afro-Honduran communities are located in
rural and isolated areas that have traditionally suffered from a lack of public
investment. The Garifuna are a high-risk group for HIV/AIDS, with over 8% of the
population infected (as compared to the national prevalence rate of 1.8%).19
Nicaragua. Afro-descendants constitute roughly 9% of the Nicaraguan
population. Nicaragua is the second poorest country (behind Haiti) in the Western
Hemisphere. Although Afro-Nicaraguans do not reside in the poorest regions of the
country, their communities are located in some its most isolated coastal regions.
Most Afro-descendants reside in the Caribbean lowlands of Nicaragua, a region that
was never part of the Spanish empire but rather a de facto British protectorate from
the 17th through the late 19th centuries. As recently as 1993, there were no paved
roads connecting lowland Caribbean communities to Nicaragua’s Pacific region. The
World Bank has recently reported that although an average of 60% of Nicaraguan
16 (...continued)
Inter-American Foundation, September 2001.
17 Juan Ponce, “Más Allá de los Promedios, Afrodescendientes en América Latina: Los
Afroecuatorianos,” World Bank, February 2006.
18 Mary Lisbeth González, “Más Allá de los Promedios, Afrodescendientes en América
Latina: Los Afrohondureños,” World Bank, February 2006.
19 Mary Lisbeth González, “Más Allá de los Promedios, Afrodescendientes en América
Latina: Los Afrohondureños,” World Bank, February 2006; Gaarder et al., “Mapping
Community Capacity Among the Garifuna,” Inter-American Development Bank, December
2003; UNAIDS, AIDS Epidemic Monitor, December 2004, p. 59; U.S. Department of State,
Honduras: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, 20065, March 2006.

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households have access to potable water and 49% have electricity, comparable
figures for the Atlantic coast are 21% and 17% respectively.20
Issues Affecting Afro-Latino Populations
This section provides a brief overview of some of the major issues affecting
Afro-descendant communities in Latin America. These issues include legal
protection, political representation, land rights, human rights, and access to quality
healthcare. When applicable, the section compares and contrasts the situation of
Afro-descendants to that of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples are, generally,
descendants of the Amerindian ethnic groups that lived in the hemisphere prior to the
European conquest who retain distinct communal, cultural, linguistic, or geographic
identification with that heritage.
Indigenous peoples have, perhaps as a result of their distinct heritage and shared
history, generally exhibited a stronger sense of group identity and a higher level of
political mobilization than Afro-descendants. For example, while the First Inter-
American Indian Congress was held in Mexico in 1940, the first large-scale
hemispheric meeting of Afro-descendant leaders was held in 1977, and the first
meeting of Afro-Latino legislators was held in Brazil in 2003. Some have argued
that Afro-descendant communities that have been able to prove their “indigenous-
like” status have achieved more rights and recognition from their governments than
other blacks in the region.21 Others assert that it has been easier for the indigenous
to achieve collective rights than Afro-descendants as political elites in Latin America
have tended to award those rights on the basis “of a perceived possession of a distinct
cultural group identity, not a history of political exclusion or racial discrimination.”22
Despite those limitations, Afro-descendant leaders in Latin America have used
international forums, multilateral donors, and diplomatic channels to garner support
for increased rights and representation for their communities. Since 1990, these
efforts have resulted in significant improvements in the formal rights accorded to
their communities in a relatively short period of time. They have also been relatively
successful in garnering international support for their movement, including support
from some Administration officials and Members of Congress. Afro-Latino
mobilization efforts have been less successful in galvanizing grassroots support for
race-based public policies or in “ensuring that public policies are implemented or that
laws are followed once they are created.”23
20 Tim Merrill, ed., Nicaragua: A Country Study, Washington, DC: Federal Research
Division, Library of Congress, 1994; Stubbs and Aoki, 2005.
21 Eva T. Thorne, NACLA Report on the Americas, New York: September/October 2004,
Vol. 35, Issue 2.
22 Juliet Hooker, “Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity, and Multicultural
Citizenship in Latin America,” Journal of Latin American Studies, May 1, 2005.
23 Thorne, 2001.

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The most salient challenges for the Afro-descendant movement in Latin
America include increasing public awareness and group identification among Afro-
Latinos while also ensuring that formal rights granted by governments result in
meaningful improvements in the standards of living of their communities.
Political and Legal Issues
National Census. A government may define race and delimit a country’s
concept of “otherness” by the categories it chooses to include in its national census.
In a 1991 census, Brazilians used 100 different words to define their racial
categories.24 In the early 1990s, some analysts criticized the Brazilian government’s
historic tendency not to encourage citizens to define their racial identity in strict
categories. They argued that ambiguous census categories inhibited the formation
of advocacy groups and political movements to improve the status of Afro-
Brazilians.25 In 1995, Fernando Henrique Cardoso assumed the presidency in Brazil
and, under his leadership, the Brazilian government began to use fewer racial
categories in the country’s national census. The government sought to collect official
statistics on Afro-Brazilians in order to assess whether specific public policies were
needed to improve their socioeconomic status. Some observers have attributed
Brazil’s subsequent adoption of some affirmative action policies as a positive
byproduct of this census reform.
In 2000, encouraged by the Brazilian example, the World Bank sponsored the
first of two conferences on census reform for officials from national statistics bureaus
across the region. As a result of these conferences, and ongoing census reform, all
countries in Latin America, with the exception of Venezuela, now include some sort
of racial indicator in their national censuses. Many countries are also including
“racial modules” in household surveys, which will enable them to track the
socioeconomic status of Afro-descendants as compared to the general population.

Anti-Discrimination Legislation. No Latin American country has ever
enacted the type of strict racially based discriminatory laws that were once common
in the United States. A paradoxical result of that distinction is that the law has, thus
far, proved to be a more successful tool for dismantling racism in the United States
than it has in Latin America.26
According to the Inter-American Dialogue, a great deal of variation exists
among Latin American countries with respect to anti-discrimination legislation
targeted at Afro-descendants.27 As of October 2006, only Brazil, Colombia, and
Ecuador had constitutional bans on racial discrimination that are specific to Afro-
descendants. In several other countries — Nicaragua, Honduras, and Peru — Afro-
24 R. Reichmann, Race in Contemporary Brazil: from Indifference to Inequality (University
Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999).
25 Htun, 2004.
26 Cottrol, 2001.
27 For a detailed discussion on constitutional provisions and legal actions related to Afro-
Latinos, see Inter-American Dialogue, “Race Report,” August 2004.

CRS-9
descendants, though not specifically identified by a constitutional provision, have
been given the same sort of legal protection and collective rights as indigenous
peoples.28 The Dominican Republic stands out as the only country in Latin America
with a large Afro-Latino population that has neither constitutional provisions nor
major laws to prevent racial discrimination.
Political Representation. Afro-Latinos are under-represented politically in
many Latin American nations. In 2006, Brazil, a country with 45% of its population
claiming some African ancestry, 25 congressmen of a total of 594 self-identified as
Afro-Brazilian. In Ecuador, the population is between 5 and 10% Afro-Latino, but
in 2006 there was only one Afro-Ecuadorian serving in the 100-member Congress.29
Representation has increased in some countries, however. In November 2005, for the
first time in the country’s history, Hondurans elected 3 Garifuna to serve in the
country’s legislature.30 There are now Afro-descendant leaders serving as ministers
in several countries throughout the region including Brazil, Ecuador, and Colombia.
Some policy-makers in Latin America believe countries should employ quotas
in order to ensure that Afro-descendants (as well as indigenous peoples) are
represented on party tickets and in legislative bodies. Quotas, though controversial,
have been used across the region to increase female political representation. In 1991,
Argentina enacted a law requiring parties to present at least 30% female candidates
in their party lists. By 1997, women’s representation in the Argentine Congress had
risen to 28%, one of the highest rates in the world. Since the Beijing Conference on
Women in 1995, at least eight other Latin American countries have passed laws
requiring political parties to reserve 20%-40% of candidacies for women.
In 1993, Colombia passed a law that set aside two seats in Colombia’s House
of Representatives for persons of African descent. That law was declared
unconstitutional in 1996, and several years passed during which few Afro-
Colombians were elected to serve in either the Senate or the House of
Representatives. Colombia now has two Afro-Colombian senators and seven Afro-
Colombian members of its House of Representatives. On October 26, 2006, the
Colombian Black Caucus was officially launched, at which time it presented its
priorities, which include legislative proposals that would condemn racism, enforce
land titles for Afro-Colombian communities, and establish quotas for the
representation of indigenous peoples and Afro-Colombians in public entities.
Another way to address the issue of race and political representation has been
the creation of new institutions to promote racial equity and affirmative action. In
2003, Brazil established a Special Secretariat with a ministerial rank to manage
Racial Equity Promotion Policies. The mission of the Special Secretariat is to
28 Juliet Hooker and Edmund T. Gordon, “The Status of Black Land Rights in Central
America,” paper presented at the 2004 Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
Conference, October 2004.
29 Figures for Brazil and Ecuador are drawn from the U.S. Department of State’s Country
Reports on Human Rights
covering 2006.
30 U.S. Department of State, Honduras: Country Report on Human Rights, 2006, March
2007.

CRS-10
develop initiatives to reduce racial inequalities by developing affirmative action
programs, coordinating with other Ministers and government entities, and
cooperating with the private sector and international institutions. Despite the Special
Secretariat’s efforts to address racial discrimination in Brazil, some grassroots
Brazilian groups maintain that its Afro-Brazilian leaders have been coopted by the
government and assert that the Special Secretariat for Racial Equity Promotion
Policies is under-funded and under-performing. Other countries in the region that
have similar government entities in place include Ecuador, Peru, Honduras and Peru.
Affirmative Action. In 2001, Brazil became the first Latin American country
to endorse quotas in order to increase minority representation in government service.
Although Brazil’s public universities are free, most Afro-Brazilians, the majority of
whom attend public high schools, have been unable to pass the admissions test
required to attend those universities. In 2000, black students comprised only 2% of
Brazil’s 3 million college students.31 Since 2002, several state universities throughout
Brazil have enacted quotas setting aside 20% of admission slots for black students.
The Brazilian Senate has passed draft legislation that would enact racial quotas for
public universities, television casting, and government agencies. It is now under
consideration in the Chamber of Deputies. In 2004, the first university in Latin
America established to serve black students opened in Sâo Paulo, Brazil.
The use of quotas in university admissions and government hiring programs has
opened up a vigorous debate on affirmative action in Brazil that may spread to other
countries in Latin America. Although most Brazilians favor government programs
to combat social exclusion and inequality, they disagree as to whether the
beneficiaries of those programs should be selected on the basis of race or income.32
Several court cases in Brazil have challenged the fairness of using racial quotas for
university admissions. Some observers have stated that state governments
throughout Brazil have not budgeted the funds necessary to provide financial
assistance and supplementary services for minority students admitted under the quota
program.33 Critics of affirmative action programs fear that they will artificially divide
Brazilian society along “‘pseudo-racial’ lines and foster the kind of overt racial
tension with which Brazil is not familiar.”34
Human Rights
For the past several years, both USAID and the multilateral development banks
have shared the goal of increasing human rights protection and access to the justice
system for minority groups in Latin America, but progress has been slow in both
31 Marion Lloyd, “In Brazil, a Different Approach to Affirmative Action,” Chronicle of
Higher Education
, October 29, 2004.
32 Livio Sansone, “Anti-Racism in Brazil,” NACLA Report on the Americas, September 1,
2004.
33 Jonas Zoninsein, “Affirmative Action and Development in Brazil,” paper presented at the
2004 Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Conference, October 2004.
34 “Brazil Separates Into a World of Black and White,” Los Angeles Times, September 3,
2006.

CRS-11
these areas. The State Department Human Rights Report for Brazil covering 2006
finds that “darker-skinned citizens, particularly Afro-Brazilians, frequently
encountered discrimination.” Afro-Ecuadorians reportedly face both official
discrimination and negative stereotyping and are stopped by police for document
checks more frequently than other citizens.35 A 2004 report on people of African
descent and the judicial systems of Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and the Dominican
Republic finds weak enforcement of laws against racism, and limited access to
justice for blacks in these countries.36 Though data on Latin American prisons is
limited, the survey also found blacks to make up large percentages of prison
populations living in conditions that were often overcrowded, violent, and
unhygienic.
The absence of an effective state presence in Afro-Colombian communities has
created a vacuum into which the country’s 40-year conflict between paramilitaries
and guerrilla forces has spread. In May 2002, a battle between paramilitaries and
guerrilla forces resulted in the bombing death of 119 Afro-Colombian civilians who
had sought refuge in a town church. According to the Colombian Consultation for
Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES), the displacement rate of these
communities is 20% higher than the national rate. Nationally, Afro-Colombians
compose roughly 22% of the total displaced population, which is now estimated to
be 3 million. In the last five years, more than 2,500 young Afro-Colombians have
been killed, primarily in the cities of Tumaco and Buenaventura. Buenaventura
posted the highest murder rate of any city in Colombia in 2006, some seven times the
rate in Bogotá.37 In 2006, the United Nations expressed concern that the Colombian
conflict was having a disproportionate effect on indigenous and Afro-Colombian
communities.38 Afro-Colombian leaders have expressed concern that the Colombian
government, though making an effort to protect some endangered Afro-Colombian
leaders, has not responded to black communities’ demands for better government
services and increased protection.
Land Titles
Giving poor families access to land titles has been identified as an important
poverty-fighting measure.39 Land titles can enable families to obtain mortgages to
finance home improvements, to start small businesses, or to pay for their children’s
education. Increasing legal land ownership enables governments to collect more
35 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2006: Ecuador,
March 2007.
36 Justice Studies Center of the Americas, “The Judicial System and Racism Against People
of African Descent,” March 2004.
37 “Cocaine Wars Make Port Colombia’s Deadliest City,” New York Times, May 22, 2007.
38 Testimony of Luis Gilberto Murillo-Urrutia, Former Governor of Chocó, Colombia before
the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, April
24, 2007; “Colombia: UN Agency Voices Renewed Concern Over Mass Displacements
From Conflict,” States News Service, July 7, 2006.
39 Tyler Bridges, “Land Titles Give Poor a Chance to Advance,” Miami Herald, April 4,
2004.

CRS-12
property taxes to pay for schools, hospitals, and infrastructure projects. The World
Bank has helped finance land-titling programs in Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador, and
Guatemala.
In the 1980s, a number of Latin American countries began to recognize the
importance of land reform. One type of land reform that has benefitted indigenous
and some Afro-descendant groups has been ethnic-specific. Starting with Brazil in
1988, and Colombia in 1991, Latin American governments began to recognize the
historically derived land rights of some black communities, notably maroon
communities of escaped slaves’ descendants.40
Afro-descendant groups have, in general, been much less successful than
indigenous groups in gaining collective land rights. In Central America, only Afro-
Latinos in Honduras and Nicaragua have gained the same collective land rights as
indigenous communities. For example, the Garifuna community, descendants of
escaped slaves from St. Vincent that inhabit the Caribbean coast of Central America,
won communal land rights in Honduras and Nicaragua by proving that their
language, religious beliefs, and traditional agriculture techniques are inextricably
linked to their notion of land and territory.41 In contrast, Afro-Latinos whose
ancestors were brought as slaves have been integrated into the mestizo culture of
Central America and do not therefore possess the racial/cultural group identity or
specific relationship to the land that the Garifuna possess.
Even Afro-descendant groups that have communal titles, such as the Garifuna,
are facing increasing challenges to their land titles, especially in coastal areas, as real
estate developers seek to capitalize on the recent boom in tourism development.
Some Garifuna have also expressed concerns that a 2004 Honduran law granting land
titles for individual and private capital development, may threaten their communal
land rights. On May 30, 2005, Gregoria Flores, a prominent Garifuna leader, was shot
while collecting evidence to present to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
in support of Garifuna land rights claims against developers in Honduras.42
A similar situation has occurred among Afro-descendants who live in the Pacific
Coast region of Colombia. Since the early 1990s, Afro-Colombian communities have
been mobilizing for increased rights and representation. In 1993, the Colombian
government passed Law 70, which recognized the collective land rights of Afro-
Colombian communities. While some 5 million hectares of land have been granted
titles under Law 70, over 60% of Afro-Colombian communities have been forced off
their ancestral lands because of the ongoing internal conflict. Some Afro-Colombian
lands are also reportedly being used by private companies (in violation of Law 70)
to develop African palm oil.43 In addition, illegally armed groups have increasingly
40 Thorne, 2004; Hooker and Gordon, 2004.
41 Hooker and Gordon, 2004.
42 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Honduras, March
2006.
43 “In Colombia, Chocó Seeks Prosperity After Fighting,” World Politics Watch, September
(continued...)

CRS-13
engaged in both licit and illicit extractive activities (such as mining, agro-business,
and coca cultivation) in the Afro-Colombian territories.
In Brazil, the government of President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva has improved
health, education, and electricity provision to many quilombola communities, but
many of those communities still lack titles to their land. Press reports indicate that
Brazil’s federal and state governments have provided only 23 land titles out of more
than 400 requested by quilombola communities.44
Health
Although extensive regional data are not yet available, existing studies from
selected countries indicate a persistent gap between health indicators for Afro-
descendants and for the general population in Latin America.45 Analysts from the
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) assert that these health differentials
result, at least in part, from racial discrimination. Discrimination in health can limit
ethnic minorities’ access to services and reduce the quality of information and
services provided to them. Racial discrimination also operates indirectly, according
to PAHO, by limiting the types of jobs, living conditions, and educational
opportunities available to indigenous groups and Afro-descendants.
Health disparities are evident in some countries by higher rates of infant
mortality, homicide, suicide, and HIV/AIDS among Afro-Latinos than other people
in Latin America.46 The infant mortality rate in the Chocó, a region that is 70% Afro-
Colombian, is the highest in Colombia, more than three times higher than the rates
in Bogotá. Similarly, in Brazil, the infant mortality rate by race of the mother in 1993
was 37 per 1,000 for whites and 62 per 1,000 for blacks. Figures from Ecuador
reveal significantly higher homicide and suicide rates in Esmeraldas, a coastal region
that is inhabited by Afro-descendants, than the national average. In Honduras, the
Garifuna community of Afro-descendants has a much higher HIV/AIDS prevalence
rate (an estimated 8%-10%) than the general population (where the rate is less than
2%). In 2002, a household survey in the Dominican Republic found a higher
HIV/AIDS rate among Haitians and Dominico-Haitians working in the sugarcane
fields (4.9%) than for the general population (1.7%). These figures, though far from
exhaustive, illustrate some of the major health challenges facing Afro-descendants
in Latin America.
43 (...continued)
22, 2006.
44 “Descendants of Slaves Still Suffer in Brazil,” Reuters, July 3, 2007.
45 Cristina Torres Parodi, “Working to Achieve Health Equity with an Ethnic Perspective,”
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), October 2004; Cristina Torres Parodi,
“Ethnicity and Health: Another Perspective Towards Equity,” PAHO, June 2001.
46 These statistics were drawn from country statistics cited in two sources. See PAHO,
“Health in the Americas,” 2002, vol 1; PAHO, “Health and Ethnic Groups,” Presentation
for Latin American Parliament Meeting in Guatemala, 2004.

CRS-14
U.S. Policy Considerations
Recent actions and statements by Bush Administration officials have
demonstrated that the U.S. government has an interest in improving the condition of
Afro-Latinos in Latin America. When President Bush visited Colombia in March,
the only civil society groups he met with were members of Afro-Colombian
organizations. In a recent interview, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated
her interest in supporting African descent populations in Latin America. She
maintained that the United States has an interest in supporting multiethnic
democracies throughout the region “preserve the belief that you don’t have to be of
a particular color, or a particular ethnic background or a particular economic status
in life in order to progress.”47
These statements have occurred as Congress has moved to increase assistance
to Afro-descendants in Colombia. The House-passed version of the FY2008 State,
Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (H.R. 2764; H.Rept.
110-197) would increase assistance for Afro-Colombian and indigenous
communities. On July 11, 2007, the House passed H.Res 426 (McGovern),
recognizing 2007 as the year of the rights of internally displaced persons (including
Afro-Colombians) in Colombia and offering U.S. support to programs that seek to
assist and protect them. The resolution is soon likely to be considered by the Senate.
People of African descent comprise a significant portion of the population in
several Latin American countries, and account for nearly 50% of the region’s poor.
For many Afro-descendants, endemic poverty is reportedly exacerbated by isolation,
exclusion, and racial discrimination. The IDB notes that Afro-Latinos are among the
most “invisible” of the excluded groups as they are not well-represented among
national political, economic, and educational leadership in the region.48 They have
also been, until recently, absent from many countries’ census and socioeconomic
data.
Although Afro-descendants have benefitted from general development
assistance to the region, they have not, in most cases, received the same degree of
attention or targeted funding as indigenous peoples. Afro-descendant communities
have suffered human rights abuses, especially in Colombia. They may also be at a
high-risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. Some argue that their demands — for political
representation, land rights, jobs, access to health and education programs, and human
rights protection — intersect with strategic U.S. goals for the region.
This section outlines several U.S. foreign assistance programs that are already
targeting Afro-descendant communities in Latin America. It then discusses how
multilateral development banks and regional political institutions, such as the
Organization of American States (OAS), entities of which the United States is a
47 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Press Availability, July 9, 2007.
48 Social exclusion occurs when certain populations are denied the benefits of social and
economic development based on their race, gender, ethnicity, or disabilities. See
[http://www.iadb.org/sds/soc/site_3094_e.htm].

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member and major funding source, are engaging on this issue. The section includes
a brief description of previous legislative activity addressing the concerns of Afro-
Latinos, as well as legislation being considered during the 110th Congress. It
concludes with a brief discussion of other policy approaches that have been proposed
should the United States elect to provide further support for Afro-Latinos.
U.S. Foreign Assistance and Afro-Latinos
Assisting Afro-Latinos has never been a primary U.S. foreign policy objective.
However, a number of economic aid agencies that receive U.S. funding have
benefitted Afro-descendants and their communities either directly or indirectly.
Three of these agencies — USAID, the State Department, and the Peace Corps — are
government agencies. One — the Inter-American Foundation — is an independent
agency of the U.S. government. The last organization — the National Endowment
for Democracy (NED) — is a private foundation funded by the U.S. government.
Since many of the programs serving Afro-Latinos are small and relatively new, few
independent evaluations exist to evaluate their effectiveness. Unless otherwise noted,
sources for the program descriptions contained in this section of the report were
compiled from documents provided by the agency or entity in question.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Bilateral
economic aid to Latin America is primarily administered by USAID. Under
President Bush, U.S. policy towards Latin America is based on three broad objectives
— strengthening democracy, encouraging development, and enhancing security.
While hemispheric security is addressed by programs funded through counter
narcotics and military accounts of the U.S. foreign assistance budget, most
development programs aimed at fostering social, political, and economic progress are
funded by the Child Survival and Health (CSH), Development Assistance (DA), and
Economic Support Funds (ESF) accounts.49
In Latin America, USAID policy is to support efforts to deepen and broaden the
participation of all groups, especially those that are poor and marginalized.
According to USAID, beneficiaries of its programs in the region include indigenous
populations and people of African descent. In some countries these groups have
faced legal or official discrimination in employment, access to health and education
programs, and property rights. In Colombia, they have suffered from human rights
abuses as a result of an ongoing armed conflict. To address these issues, USAID has
reached out to indigenous and Afro-Latino populations, both through targeted
programs and through broad efforts to support marginalized populations. Among
USAID’s recent programs targeting Afro-Latinos are the following:
49 CSH funds focus on combating infectious diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and
tuberculosis, as well as on promoting child and maternal health, family planning, and overall
reproductive health. DA funds aim to achieve measurable improvements in key areas to
foster sustainable economic growth: trade and investment, agriculture, education, health and
democracy. Through the security-related ESF program, the United States provides economic
aid to countries of strategic interest to U.S. foreign policy. For more information on U.S.
foreign assistance, see CRS Report RL32487, U.S. Foreign Assistance to Latin America and
the Caribbean
, coordinated by Connie Veillette.

CRS-16
Regional Programs. USAID has supported Afro-Latinos through a past
agreement with the Inter-American Democracy Network (IADN) and a current
agreement with the Inter-American Institute for Human Rights (IIDH). In 2005,
IADN organized a virtual forum of Afro-Latinos from different parts of Latin
America so that they could prepare a common agenda to present at the November
2005 Summit of the Americas. IIDH is currently researching the ease of access and
level of participation in political-electoral processes by Afro-Colombians and Afro-
Panamanians. IIDH has also previously implemented an activity to help the Afro-
Panamanian movement set its “Strategic Advocacy Plan” and influenced both the
enactment of a law prohibiting workplace discrimination in Panama and the creation
of a special commission to develop a government policy for the full inclusion of
Afro-Panamanians.
Programs Benefiting Afro-Colombians. USAID/Colombia supports
Afro-Colombians and their communities through six programs. Those programs
include alternative development, local governance, administration of justice, human
rights, peace initiatives, and support for internally displaced persons. USAID’s
alternative development programs include an agriculture program that has taught
approximately 6,900 Afro-Colombian families (34,000 individuals) viable
alternatives to illegal drug production. USAID is also promoting a sustainable
forestry project that will benefit an additional 18,000 Afro-Colombians. According
to USAID, its governance programs have trained an estimated 60,000 Afro-
Colombians to strengthen citizen participation in local governments. USAID assisted
with the creation of the National Association of Mayors of Municipalities with Afro-
descendant Populations (AMUNAFRO). Afro-Colombian leaders have complained,
however, that USAID and other development agencies have not always sought Afro-
Colombian participation in project formation and implementation. USAID has
created “justice houses” in five departments that have provided 30,000 Afro-
Colombians access to government services and conciliation services. USAID asserts
that its assistance to displaced persons has benefitted over 650,000 Afro-Colombians.
A 2004 GAO report found that U.S. nonmilitary assistance programs to
Colombia have begun to produce some positive results.50 However, individual
projects reach a relatively small number of beneficiaries, confront serious
implementation obstacles, and may be difficult to sustain. The report contains only
one direct reference to Afro-Colombians in a section on assistance to internally
displaced persons (IDPs). It describes a small project outside of Bogotá that has
provided health and education services to roughly 480 Afro-Colombian IDPs and
their families. The report asserts that internally displaced persons do not generally
receive all the assistance they need, and that USAID does not keep track of its
beneficiaries to assess whether they have been able to transition back in to society.
USAID also funds technical assistance for the continued development of a
Colombian Black Caucus within the Colombian legislature through its political party
strengthening program that is implemented by the International Republican Institute.
50 U.S. General Accounting Office, “U.S. Nonmilitary Assistance to Colombia Is Beginning
to Show Intended Results, but Programs are not Readily Sustainable,” GAO-04-746, July
2004.

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On October 26, 2006, the Colombian Black Caucus was officially launched, at which
time it presented its legislative priorities.
Programs Benefiting Afro-Ecuadorians. USAID has designated funding
to support the development of water and sewage systems in marginalized Afro-
Ecuadorian communities along the country’s northern border with Colombia. The
program has benefitted more than 51,000 individuals. USAID funds have also built
bridges in Esmeraldas and in Imbabura, two provinces with significant Afro-
descendant populations, which have benefitted roughly 23,692 and 2,400 individuals
respectively. USAID is currently providing $25,000 to support training of a core
group of 40 Afro-Ecuadorian human rights promoters and the establishment of a
network of Afro-Ecuadorian community advocates. It has also supported agricultural
training and small grants programs that have benefitted some 1,799 Afro-
Ecuadorians.
U.S. Department of State. The State Department’s Bureau of Western
Hemisphere Affair’s Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs (WHA/PDA)
has recently created outreach programs designed to empower and educate Afro-
Latinos and other marginalized youth. Many of these programs have been
administered by the Public Affairs Sections of U.S. embassies in different countries
throughout Latin America. For example, Viajes Personales (personal journeys), a
multimedia program on Afro-Latino contributions to cultural life in the United States,
traveled to Venezuela, Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic
over the course of the past two years. In 2006, WHA/PDA began supporting more
than 150 Afro-Latino and indigenous secondary school students from seven countries
who were selected to receive two years of English training, college preparation tools,
and advising in order to help them pursue higher education opportunities.
Inter-American Foundation (IAF). The Inter-American Foundation is a
small federal agency that provides approximately 60 new grants each year to non-
profit and community-based programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. The
grants are awarded to organizations that promote entrepreneurship, self-reliance, and
economic progress for the poor. The annual appropriation for the IAF has averaged
roughly $18 million in recent years.
Since the mid-1990s, the IAF has been working to raise awareness of the issues
facing Afro-descendants, a minority group that has long benefitted from its grassroots
development programs. In FY2006, the IAF funded 15 grants (roughly 28% of all
new grants) by groups working in Afro-Latino communities in Brazil, Colombia,
Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Paraguay, and Panama. The grants totaled some
$2.9 million and benefitted more than 29,000 individuals in programs ranging from
micro-credit and sustainable farming to local governance and institutional
strengthening.
In addition to its grant work, the IAF has represented the U.S. government in a
number of regional and international groups and forums in which Afro-descendant
issues have been discussed. In 1999, the IAF became a founding member of the
Inter-American Dialogue’s Inter-Agency Consultation on Race Relations in Latin
America (IAC). In 2001, the IAF sponsored the first panel on African descendants
held at a Latin American Studies Association (LASA) conference. Finally, the IAF

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has co-sponsored a number of events on Afro-Latinos and their communities with the
National Council of La Raza.51
Peace Corps. The Peace Corps sends U.S. volunteers to developing countries
to provide technical aid and to promote mutual understanding on a people-to-people
basis. The FY2006 estimated appropriation for the Peace Corps in Latin America
was $44.5 million and the FY2007 request is $44.8 million. Peace Corps volunteers
are currently working in several countries in the region that have significant Afro-
Latino populations. Those countries include the Dominican Republic, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador. Peace Corps/Dominican Republic says that 100%
of its 176 volunteers are working with Afro-descendant populations. Approximately
20 volunteers are working on maternal and child health care and HIV/AIDS
prevention work in bateyes (small communities bordering sugar mills), which are
among the poorest areas in the country. The vast majority of the beneficiaries in
those communities (90%) are of Haitian/African descent. Peace Corps/Ecuador
reports that 20 of its 151 volunteers are working with Afro-Ecuadorians in activities
related to life skills development (including self-esteem, leadership, and job skills),
income generation activities, water and sanitation, and HIV/AIDS prevention and
education.
National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The National Endowment
for Democracy (NED), funded by Congress since 1983, plans and administers grants
to promote pluralism and democratic governance in more than 90 countries around
the world. In FY2005, NED provided approximately $10.9 million in grants to
organizations working in Latin America and the Caribbean. In FY2006, NED
provided another $11.2 million in grants in the region. The primary focus of these
organizations is to foster participation of citizens in their national political systems.
Until 2005, few NED-funded activities were aimed specifically at Afro-
descendant groups. Between FY2002 and FY2004, however, NED provided
$135,920 to the Association of Youth Groups FREEDOM in Colombia. The
FY2005 grant for the Association is $73,570. This association has helped Afro-
Colombians in 12 municipalities near Cali, Colombia, to develop budget proposals
reflecting their community’s needs that were subsequently integrated into municipal
and state development plans. In October 2003, project participants ran for office in
local elections, and four were elected (one as mayor and three as council members).
NED has also supported the League of Displaced Women, a group that, in 2003,
provided education and support to over 300 displaced Afro-Colombian and
indigenous women in the department of Bolivar. The FY2003 grant for the league
was $45,000, and the FY2004 grant was $51,919.
51 Founded in 1968, the National Council of La Raza — the largest national constituency-
based Hispanic organization — is a private, non-profit, non-partisan advocacy organization
dedicated to improving the living situation of Hispanic Americans. Since 2001, NCLR’s
international efforts have included an initiative to improve the visibility of Afro-Latinos in
the United States and abroad. This initiative has resulted in the convocation of a number
of roundtable discussions on Afro-Latinos, and, since 2002, a panel on Afro-descendants at
La Raza’s Annual Conference.

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In addition to ongoing support for the Association of Youth Groups Freedom
in Colombia, NED’s FY2005 approved projects include $62,000 for the creation of
a journal about the situation of Afro-Cubans, $89,213 for two grants to strengthen
leadership and political participation in Afro-Ecuadorian communities, and $90,539
for Afro-América XXI, a group based in Colombia, to provide training in effective
political participation to Afro-Latino groups in Honduras, Peru, and Venezuela.
In addition to ongoing support for Afro-América XXI, the FY2006 grants
included another $141,033 to support three projects benefitting Afro-Ecuadorian
communities, $30,000 to train Afro-Peruvian leaders on citizen and human rights and
to raise awareness among local leaders about the needs of Afro-Peruvian
communities, and $90,000 to continue supporting the journal about Afro-Cubans.
Multilateral Development Banks and Afro-Latinos
In addition to its bilateral aid, the United States is a member and the major
funding source of the multilateral development banks that work in Latin America —
the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The World Bank
and the IDB have both funded a number of projects benefiting Afro-descendants in
Latin America.
World Bank. Since 2001, the World Bank has sought to assist Afro-
descendants in Latin America through both its lending and non-lending operations.
In terms of strategy, the Bank’s Country Assistance Strategies for Colombia,
Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, and Uruguay have added a special focus on
Afro-descendants. With respect to operations, the number of World Bank programs
targeting Afro-descendants has increased fourfold during the last five years, from five
programs between 1997 and 2000 to 23 programs between 2000 and 2005.
World Bank operations targeting Afro-descendants include a wide range of
activities. The World Bank has supported efforts to incorporate race/ethnicity
variables into national censuses. To date, all countries in the region except Venezuela
include a self-identification question in their national censuses. In February 2006, the
World Bank released reports on the socioeconomic situation of Afro-Latinos in
Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Honduras. The Bank has funded Afro-descendant
civil society groups in different countries, including a $34 million loan approved in
June 2004 to support the development of indigenous and Afro-descendant
communities in Ecuador. The Ecuador loan is similar to support for an ongoing
community development project, “Our Roots,” that the bank has funded in Honduras
since 1997. Finally, the World Bank has co-sponsored conferences bringing together
leaders of the Afro-descendant community from across the region, including a
February 2006 conference held in Washington D.C.
Inter-American Development Bank. In 1996, the IDB undertook the first
comprehensive assessment of the situation of Afro-descendants in Latin America.
Since that time, the IDB has focused, perhaps more than any other organization
working in the region, on combating poverty and social exclusion in Afro-Latinos
communities. In addition to its membership in the Inter-Agency Committee on Race
Relations in Latin America, the IDB formed a Working Group and a High Level
Steering Committee on Social Inclusion in 2000. The IDB’s broad social inclusion

CRS-20
program includes indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, persons with disabilities,
poor women, and people with HIV/AIDS. With respect to exclusion based on race
and ethnicity, the IDB has pledged to increase capacity-building within the bank and
in the region, to support research on this topic, and to expand projects focused on
Afro-descendants and indigenous groups.
In 2004, the IDB approved projects aimed at both Afro-Latinos and indigenous
communities totaling some $312 million, with roughly 35% of the funds targeted
towards Afro-descendants. In 2004, the IDB published a book on Social Inclusion
and Economic Development in Latin America.52 These efforts were complemented
by training, travel grants, and best practices rewards provided to nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) throughout the region.
The IDB has also supported country-level projects in Brazil, Ecuador, and
Nicaragua, among others, as well as regional projects related to census participation,
education, and health care. Some recent examples of IDB operations supporting
Afro-Colombians include a $35 million loan to improve local capacity to deliver
basic services to communities in the Pacific Coast region, as well as a $70,000 grant
to support the development and implementation of an affirmative action policy for
Afro-Colombians. The Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB has approved a $1.4
million grant to increase indigenous and Afro-descendant communities’ involvement
in Honduras’ expanding tourism industry.
In February 2003, the IDB launched a Social Inclusion Trust Fund (SITF),
which is being funded by initial investments by the governments of Norway and
Great Britain, to support small-scale initiatives to promote social inclusion. In its
first three years in operation, the SITF approved 26 projects, totaling $1.4 million.
Afro-descendant groups received roughly 33% of SITF funding in 2003 and 35% of
funds in 2004. In the past three years, the SITF has financed small projects in direct
support of Afro-descendants, including $80,000 to support the Afro-Brazilian
Observatory, a research center devoted to gathering socioeconomic data on Brazil’s
black population, and $55,000 to support the dissemination of information on the
situation of Afro-Uruguayans. The SITF has also helped incorporate social inclusion
components into at least six major IDB projects, as well as several country strategies
and policies, and supported awareness-raising initiatives, media, and outreach
campaigns. In April 2005, the SITF supported the participation of several Afro-
descendant leaders and public policy agencies working with Afro-descendant
communities in a regional conference on affirmative action held in Brazil.
International Organizations, Conferences, and Afro-Latinos
The United Nations (U.N.) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination entered into force in 1969. The United States, along with all
the Spanish- and Portuguese- speaking countries in Latin America, are parties to this
convention. As signatories, these countries have agreed to condemn racial
52 Mayra Buvinic and Jacqueline Mazza, eds., Social Inclusion and Economic Development
in Latin America
(Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank/Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2004).

CRS-21
discrimination and undertake all appropriate means necessary to eliminate it in all of
its forms.
Organization of American States. Hemispheric leaders reiterated a
commitment to ending poverty and discrimination at Summit of the Americas
meetings held in Santiago (1998), Quebec (2001), and Monterrey (2004). In 2003,
Brazil proposed a resolution requesting that the Organization of American States
(OAS), a political body of Western Hemisphere countries, draft an Inter-American
Convention for the Prevention of Racism and All Forms of Discrimination and
Intolerance. As a followup to this resolution, the OAS commissioned a report by the
Justice Studies Center of the Americas, completed in March 2004, on the judicial
systems and racism against Afro-descendants in several countries in the region.53
Several cases involving Afro-descendants and their communities have been resolved
or are pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHCR)
and the Inter-American Court. In February 2005, the IAHCR created a Special
Rapporteur on the Rights of People of African descent and racial discrimination. The
OAS, under the leadership of the Brazilian Mission to the OAS, is currently
negotiating a draft text of the Inter-American Convention for the Prevention of
Racism and All Forms of Discrimination and Intolerance.
Inter-Agency Consultation on Race in Latin America (IAC). In 2000,
the Inter-American Dialogue founded the Inter-Agency Consultation on Race in Latin
America (IAC), a consultative group of international development institutions that
meets regularly to address issues of race, discrimination, and social exclusion facing
Afro-descendants in Latin America. The IAC is comprised of representatives from
the British Department for International Development, World Bank, Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB), Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), OAS
Commission on Human Rights, Inter-American Foundation, and Ford Foundation.
Its mission is to encourage the hemisphere’s policy-makers, including the U.S.
government, as well as the international development agencies, to address issues of
race and discrimination when designing and implementing programs. The IAC has,
in consultation with academics and Afro-descendant advocacy and research groups
in Latin America, sponsored a number of forums and conferences to increase the
visibility of Afro-descendants and their communities. It is currently placing
emphasis on establishing specific development targets for Afro-descendants in the
context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).54
Impact of Durban and Regional Conferences. In 2001, the World
Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa increased regional interest in
the challenges of Afro-Latinos. After a national dialogue on race leading up to its
participation in the conference, the Brazilian government reportedly admitted for the
first time that racial prejudice and discrimination were serious problems that Brazil
53 Justice Studies Center of the Americas, “The Judicial System and Racism Against People
of African Descent,” Santiago, Chile, March 2004.
54 In 2000, hemispheric leaders agreed to support global development objectives known as
the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) is tracking regional and country progress towards attaining
those goals. See [http://www.undp.org].

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had to overcome.55 In 2003, Brazil hosted the first meeting of Afro-descendant
legislators in the Americas. The resulting “Brasilia Declaration” outlined concrete
regional and national goals for advancing Afro-Latino concerns, and set forth the
framework used to organize a second meeting of Afro-Latino legislators in Bogotá,
Colombia, in May 2004. Legislators, including Members of the U.S. Congress, met
for a third time in Costa Rica in August 2005. They and other Afro-Latino leaders
are preparing to assess progress in advancing Afro-Latinos rights that has been made
since the regional meeting to prepare for the Durban conference was held in Santiago
in 2000. A “Santiago + 5” meeting was also held in May 2006 in Brazil.
Prior Legislative Activity
Congress has expressed some concern in recent years about the status of Afro-
Latinos in Latin America. In the 107th Congress, the House Appropriations
Committee report to the FY2003 Foreign Operations Bill (H.R. 5410, H.Rept. 107-
663) included a section acknowledging the human rights violations suffered by Afro-
Colombians, and urging USAID to increase funding on their behalf.
In the 108th Congress, one bill and two resolutions concerning Afro-Latinos
were introduced in the House, but no action was taken on any of these initiatives. In
November 2003, Congressman Menendez proposed a bill, H.R. 3447, the Social
Investment Fund for the Americas Act of 2003, that would have provided assistance
to reduce poverty and increase economic opportunity to the countries of the Western
Hemisphere. The Social Investment Fund would seek to combat poverty and the
exclusion of marginalized populations by targeting assistance to people of African
descent, indigenous groups, women, and people with disabilities. It would have
authorized the appropriation of $250 million to USAID and to the IDB respectively
for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2009.
In February 2004, Congressman Rangel introduced a resolution, H.Con.Res. 47,
recommending that the United States and the international community promote
research, development programs, and advocacy efforts focused on improving the
situation of Afro-descendant communities in the region. In July 2004, Congressman
Meeks submitted another resolution, H.Con.Res. 482, urging the United States
government to work with the governments of Latin America, as well as the rest of the
international community, to promote the visibility of Afro-descendants and to support
efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic discrimination and the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals.
Legislation in the 109th Congress
On July 18, 2005 the House passed H.Con.Res. 175, recognizing the injustices
suffered by African descendants of the transatlantic slave trade in all of the Americas
and recommending that the United States and the international community work to
55 Some have argued that two byproducts of Brazil’s active participation in the Durban
Conference and subsequent regional meetings on Afro-descendants have been its recent
adoption of affirmative action programs, and legislation that requires schools to teach Afro-
Brazilian history. See Htun, 2004.

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improve the situation of Afro-descendant communities in Latin America and the
Caribbean. On July 20, 2005, a companion resolution was referred to the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations after being received by the House.
Some Members of Congress have expressed specific concerns about the
situation of Afro-Colombians affected by the conflict in Colombia. Legislation has
been introduced — H.R. 4886 (McGovern) the Colombian Temporary Protected
Status Act of 2006 — that would make Colombian nationals, including Afro-
Colombians affected by the country’s ongoing conflict, eligible for Temporary
Protected Status (TPS). Another resolution, H.Res. 822 (McCollum), was introduced
that recognizes the efforts of Afro-Colombian and other peace-building communities
in Colombia and urges the Secretary of State to monitor acts of violence committed
against them.
Legislation in the 110th Congress
In the 110th Congress, the House-passed version of the FY2008 State, Foreign
Operations, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill (H.R. 2764; H.Rept. 110-197)
would require that $5 million of U.S. funding for aerial fumigation in Colombia be
used to protect biodiversity, indigenous reserves, and Afro-Colombian lands subject
to spraying, and stipulate that no less than $15 million in U.S. development
assistance be provided to Afro-Colombian and indigenous communities. The bill
would also require the State Department to certify that the Colombian military is not
violating the land and property rights of Afro-Colombians.
On July 11, 2007, the House passed H.Res. 426 (McGovern), recognizing 2007
as the year of the rights of internally displaced persons (including Afro-Colombians)
in Colombia and offering U.S. support to programs that seek to assist and protect
them. The resolution will now be considered in the Senate.
Possible Options for Support for Afro-Latinos
In general, U.S. foreign aid has not addressed Afro-Latinos as a unique and
specific category of beneficiaries aside from the unique case of Afro-Colombians.
Afro-Latinos are not treated in the aid program the way “women in development” are
— that is, as a group requiring special attention, including the need to enumerate
those served in order to demonstrate and encourage progress. Rather, insofar as
Afro-Latinos comprise a large proportion of the poor in Latin America, they are
helped by the general assistance programs that serve the poor. Additionally, some
U.S. agencies have, to the extent possible, developed interventions specific to the
needs of certain Afro-descendant communities.
Some assert that the United States has an interest in increasing assistance to
Afro-Latinos and delineating a clearer policy to address their needs. These analysts
argue that Afro-Latinos have a set of problems specific to their situation that
economic assistance is not yet adequately addressing. Three examples they point to
include the dearth of data on the socioeconomic situation of Afro-descendants, the
limited support given to Afro-Latino community organizations, and the precarious

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nature of the land titles held (and still being sought) by Afro-descendant
communities.
Proponents of expanded assistance to Afro-Latinos emphasize the need for the
United States to support or encourage Latin American governments’ efforts to collect
better data on race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. These proponents also are
likely to support legislative initiatives targeting aid to Afro-Latinos and their
communities, especially capacity-building programs for Afro-Latino community
organizations. They believe that it is important to encourage USAID and other
development institutions to include Afro-Latinos in the process of designing and
implementing local programs. Finally, advocates of increased support for Afro-
Latinos assert that it is important to sponsor exchanges between Afro-descendant
leaders, organizers, and elected officials and interested groups in the United States.
In addition to increasing bilateral aid programs targeting Afro-Latinos, some
argue that the United States could take a more active role in multilateral initiatives
on behalf of Afro-Latinos. For example, the United States government could
contribute (as Norway and Great Britain have) to the IDB’s Social Inclusion Fund for
the Americas. Or the U.S. government might decide to support the Inter-American
Convention for the Prevention of Racism and All Forms of Discrimination and
Intolerance currently being drafted by the OAS.
Others question whether increasing assistance to Afro-Latinos is feasible at a
time when limited development assistance is being allocated to Latin America. They
point out that Afro-Latinos are already benefiting from development assistance
programs. Targeting further assistance to Afro-Latinos through earmarks or other
means might force USAID and other agencies to cut funding for other needy groups.
It may also increase the regulatory burden on development agencies by forcing them
to gather statistics on a new subgroup that is, for reasons outlined in the section on
identity in Latin America, sometimes difficult to delineate. Finally, they argue that
mandating the inclusion of Afro-Latinos in Peace Corps, IAF, or Millennium
Challenge Account (MCA) portfolios for a country may go against the priorities
outlined by the agency or the country in question.
Still others caution that race is a sensitive issue for many countries in Latin
America, and that the United States should proceed with caution when approaching
this issue. Notions of race and national identity vary widely between the United
States and Latin America, and within the countries of the region. Some maintain that
it would be inappropriate for the United States to attempt to impose its views and
policies with respect to race on other sovereign nations.

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Figure 1. Afro-Latinos as a Percentage
of Total Country Population
N/A
84%
62%
2%
9%
N/A
N/A
10%
2%
14%
26%
10%
5%
45%
.04%
N/A
N/A
4%
N/A
N/A = data Not Available
Source: Statistical data provided by Inter- American Dialogue Race Report, January 2003 . Map
Resources. Adapted by CRS. (K.Yancey 10/18/04).