Afro-Chileans Aren’t Done Fighting for Representation on the Next National Census · Global Voices
Shirley Campbell Barr

The campaign for the inclusion of the Afro-Chileans in statistics, organized by the Luganda NGO with the support from the Ford Foundation. Image: Ong Lumbanga / YouTube.
While preparations for Chile's 2017 census in Chile are underway, the Afro-Chilean community opens another chapter in its struggle for visibility. The community's present fight is with the National Institute of Statistics (INE), which responded negatively to the request of the Afro-Chilean community to include an “Afro-descendant/black” category in its question on indigenous and tribal peoples.
Chile's census contains categories that allow for the identification of the various aboriginal and tribal communities recognized by the Chilean law, but these do not include the population of African descent. According to a study by the INE, however, more than 8,500 Afro-Chileans live in Arica, a port city on Chile's northern border. The study represented a first step for the organizations working for the visibility of the Afro-Chileans and set a precedent in counting the population of African descent. Once this study was completed, the objective of the communities was to be included in the 2017 census, but the INE rejected the proposal.
In response, the “Associations of the Afro-Descendants From the Azapa Ancestral Territory” presented a “protection resource action” against the INE. According to the representatives of the Afro-Chilean community, the action argues that “the arbitrariness and illegality of the action by the INE violates paragraphs 2 and 14 of Article 19 of the Constitution of the Republic […]. These refer to the equality before the Law and the right to present petitions to the authorities.”
The hope is that being included in the census could pave the way for policies aimed at reducing inequality and give rise to actions encompassing several sectors that support these populations in poverty.
According to Rodrigo Ruíz from the alternative media website El Desconcierto, the Afro-Chileans’ fight against the disappearance of their community in statistics, and therefore in public policy, is complex:
La suya ha sido una lucha contra la invisibilización radical, pues a ellos se les ha negado lo más básico: la elemental existencia en la cuenta censal. Como ha dicho el investigador de la CEPAL Martin Hoppenhayn “existe un círculo vicioso con el tema afrodescendiente en Chile, que consiste en que mientras no [haya] datos de algún tipo de encuesta de condición socioeconómica, entonces no existe la evidencia cuantitativa que sirva de base y mientras no se cuente con esa evidencia tampoco habrá conciencia y, al no haber conciencia no hay urgencia y mientras no haya urgencia no se incluye.
Their fight has been a struggle against radical invisibility, because they have been denied the most basic thing: the elemental existence in the census. As researcher Martin Hoppenhayn from the ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Carribbean) has said, “There is a vicious circle with the issue of the Afro-descendants in Chile, meaning that because there [is] no data of any kind of survey related to the socioeconomic situation, then there is no quantitative evidence to serve as a basis, thus without this evidence there will be no awareness and, consequently there is no urgency and thus there is no inclusion.
Efforts to increase the visibility of the Afro-Chileans have been part of a campaign carried out by the Afro-Latin American and Caribbean communities. In October 2000, the “Regional Seminar Against Racism” took place in Santiago de Chile and included experts on Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on economic, social, and legal measures to combat racism (with a focus on the vulnerable groups).
Two months later, the social organizations gathered in Santiago de Chile to celebrate, together with official delegations of various governments, the “Preparatory Conference of the Americas Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance.” However, as it can be seen on the Afro-Chileans’ blog, negotiations by 2011, a whole decade later, still showed no tangible results for “technical reasons”:
Ya han pasado casi de 2 años de negociación con el actual gobierno para poder incluir una pregunta sobre el auto reconocimiento de los y las afrodescendientes en territorio chileno. Han sido un sinfín de reuniones con diversos organismos ministeriales […] cuando te sientas a conversar con representantes del INE te das cuenta que no manejan mucha información al respecto y solamente responden negativamente argumentando temas técnicos para la inclusión de la pregunta.
It's been almost two years of negotiations with the current government to include a question on self-identification of people of African descent within Chilean territory. There have been countless meetings with various ministerial bodies […] when you sit down to talk with representatives of the INE you realize they do not have much information on this issue and only respond negatively arguing there are technical issues for the inclusion of the question.
In an interview with Notivisión (see below), Cristian Báez from the Lumbanga NGO explained the negotiating process with the INE and the importance of the Afro-descendants’ presence on the census. According to Báez, censuses are vital “in order to be able to address public policies straightforwardly” and to have a clear vision of the presence and the needs of the African communities throughout the country, not just in Arica, the region with the highest density of these communities. Báez also touched on the phenomenon of the disappearance of the Chilean Afro-descendants from the official records and from the image of Chile as a country:
Esa parte de blanquear a este Chile tiene que ver con [la celebración del] centenario de la República. Antes de cumplir los 100 años, cuenta la historia que el presidente manda a hacer un estudio de autobiografía: ¿Quiénes somos los chilenos? 100 años después de habernos independizado del yugo español. Y en esa autobiografía […] ese Chile es un país de blancos. Yo creo que esa parte fue trascendental en el blanqueamiento de [nuestra historia] y es un blanqueamiento que va más allá de lo fenotípico, es un blanqueamiento cultural también
That part of whitening of Chile has to do with [the celebration of] the centenary of the Republic. Before the 100-year anniversary, it was said that the president ordered the completion of an autobiographical study: Who are we Chileans? 100 years after having become independent from the Spanish rule. And in this autobiography […] this Chile is a country of whites. I think that part was vital in the whitening of [our history] and it is a whitening that goes beyond the phenotypical aspect, it is also a cultural whitening.
Báez also points out the importance of recognizing in the numbers the Afro-descendants from intra-American migration:
Hoy día tenemos que reconocer ya que la presencia [afro] está presente [también] con una nueva diáspora […] la de la afromigración. Los afrocolombianos, los afrodominicanos. Nosotros queremos demostrar que este Chile cambió. Y este censo de 2017 era una oportunidad tremenda para [demostrarlo].
Today we must recognize that there is [also] a new diaspora in the [African] presence […] that of the Afro-migration. Afro-Colombians, Afro-Dominicans. We want to show that this Chile has changed. And the 2017 census was a tremendous opportunity to [demonstrate this].
The historical presence of Afro-descendants in Chile, as in the rest of the region, dates back to the time of the country's conquest at the hands of the Spanish. A summary with references, documentaries, and criticism is available on the El Desconcierto website in the article “Afrochilenos, los invisibles de la nación” (The Afro-Chileans, the Invisible Ones of the Nation).
Another response to the refusal by the INE was a campaign led by Lumbanga and the Associations of the Afro-Descendants From the Azapa Ancestral Territory. The campaign is based on a YouTube video shared on social networks:
El único pueblo tribal que no reconoce el INE somos los afrodescendientes […] Somos afrochilenos, y queremos inclusión.
The only tribal people whom INE does not recognize is us, the Afro-descendants […] We are Afro-Chilean, and we want inclusion.
The bulk of the campaign is unfolding on the social networks, but not only there. Popular venues such as sports stadiums and cultural events have also been part of the scene. However, the movement has not been free of resistance. In February, a group of fans was removed from the stadium for displaying a banner less than two meters in length with the message “Inclusion of the Afro-Chileans—2017 Census.” According to Roberto Corvacho, one of the people who carried the banner, the goal was “to be recognized as an ethnic group, like our brothers, the Mapuche and the Aymara.”
In the video above, individuals recount how they've been routinely mistaken for foreigners and insulted because of their skin color. Each person claims the identity of African descent, arguing that this should not and does not diminish their belonging to the country, which must find a way to appreciate diversity.