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Café con leche: Race, Class, and National Image in Venezuela
For over a hundred years, Venezuelans have referred to themselves as a café con leche (coffee with milk) people. This colorful expression well describes the racial composition of Venezuelan society, in which European, African, and Indian peoples have intermingled to produce a population in which almost everyone is of mixed blood. It also expresses a popular belief that within their blended society Venezuelans have achieved a racial democracy in which people of all races live free from prejudice and discrimination. Whether or not historical facts actually support this popular perception is the question Winthrop Wright explores in this study. Wright's research suggests that, contrary to popular belief, blacks in Venezuela have not enjoyed the full benefits of racial democracy. He finds that their status, even after the abolition of slavery in 1854, remained low in the minds of Venezuelan elites, who idealized the European somatic type and viewed blacks as inferior. Indeed, in an effort to whiten the population, Venezuelan elites promoted European immigration and blocked the entry of blacks and Asians during the early twentieth century. These attitudes remained in place until the 1940s, when the populist Acción Democrática party (AD) challenged the elites' whitening policies. Since that time, blacks have made significant strides and have gained considerable political power. But, as Wright reveals, other evidence suggests that most remain social outcasts and have not accumulated significant wealth. The popular perception of racial harmony in Venezuela hides the fact of ongoing discrimination.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1990
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March 6, 2024
A One Theme Wonder
If you are interested in race relations in Venezuela up to the 1990s, you’ve come to the right place, but don’t look too far beyond that. Like many Latin American countries, Venezuela has a wide mix of human types—African, European and Native American—and the various sub-groups resulting from mixture over time. Unlike the USA, the country has never experienced real segregation with separate facilities for different racial groups. There have never been lynchings based on race hatred. However, that does not mean that there was no racism. Venezuelans chose to call their discriminatory practices a matter of class rather than race, but if you read this book you will definitely see that race loomed large in the national legend. White Europeans conquered and settled Venezuela importing African slaves and mixing with the local Indians, who often became suppressed workers as well. In the wars of independence led by Simon Bolivar, all the races took part and even in the civil war of 1859-1863 all the different racial groups were represented on both sides, so race, as such, did not play much of a role in that Federalist-Centralist conflict. But as Venezuela developed, the national dialogue was extremely racist. Anything to do with African culture or the substantial black element of the population was rubbished and declared unworthy of attention. Black Venezuelans were labelled poor and inferior. The white elite of the country, over at least 80 years, constantly rabbited on about how more European immigrants were necessary for the nation’s progress or to “improve” the country. They wanted to encourage interracial marriages to “whiten” the population—not the dream of American racists! Unfortunately for the white elite, though, for most of that time, national conditions were such that few Europeans were tempted to settle when they could also choose Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Canada or the USA! Such ideas as “whitening” look like utter rubbish today, but they were dominant in the Venezuelan discourse of the late 19th century and early 20th. The author discusses various Venezuelan intellectuals and social philosophers who thought and wrote about race in their society and notes (p.58) “the Venezuelan desire to overlook obvious signs of prejudice and racial discrimination based on genetic factors alone”.
There’s a lot of repetition in this book, which I think could have been cut down to some extent. The author repeatedly stresses that the Venezuelan elite banned immigration of peoples of color, writing about whites as the most advanced race, while at the same time large numbers of black West Indians entered illegally to work in the developing oil fields or in agriculture. There was a high level of racism evident in the media and government through the 1930s and no doubt for some time afterwards, if diminishing. After the 1940s, when racism became a much-debated topic in the world, many white Venezuelans, especially politicians, tried to say racism had been introduced by foreigners. An interesting note is that many foreigners saw Venezuela as an example of racial harmony, albeit seeing race mixture as a national weakness. Local political parties repeatedly proclaimed that there was no racism in the country. It wasn’t true. Racial harmony in Venezuela is a myth, but the signs of discrimination differ from North America or Europe.
If you are interested in race relations in Venezuela up to the 1990s, you’ve come to the right place, but don’t look too far beyond that. Like many Latin American countries, Venezuela has a wide mix of human types—African, European and Native American—and the various sub-groups resulting from mixture over time. Unlike the USA, the country has never experienced real segregation with separate facilities for different racial groups. There have never been lynchings based on race hatred. However, that does not mean that there was no racism. Venezuelans chose to call their discriminatory practices a matter of class rather than race, but if you read this book you will definitely see that race loomed large in the national legend. White Europeans conquered and settled Venezuela importing African slaves and mixing with the local Indians, who often became suppressed workers as well. In the wars of independence led by Simon Bolivar, all the races took part and even in the civil war of 1859-1863 all the different racial groups were represented on both sides, so race, as such, did not play much of a role in that Federalist-Centralist conflict. But as Venezuela developed, the national dialogue was extremely racist. Anything to do with African culture or the substantial black element of the population was rubbished and declared unworthy of attention. Black Venezuelans were labelled poor and inferior. The white elite of the country, over at least 80 years, constantly rabbited on about how more European immigrants were necessary for the nation’s progress or to “improve” the country. They wanted to encourage interracial marriages to “whiten” the population—not the dream of American racists! Unfortunately for the white elite, though, for most of that time, national conditions were such that few Europeans were tempted to settle when they could also choose Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Canada or the USA! Such ideas as “whitening” look like utter rubbish today, but they were dominant in the Venezuelan discourse of the late 19th century and early 20th. The author discusses various Venezuelan intellectuals and social philosophers who thought and wrote about race in their society and notes (p.58) “the Venezuelan desire to overlook obvious signs of prejudice and racial discrimination based on genetic factors alone”.
There’s a lot of repetition in this book, which I think could have been cut down to some extent. The author repeatedly stresses that the Venezuelan elite banned immigration of peoples of color, writing about whites as the most advanced race, while at the same time large numbers of black West Indians entered illegally to work in the developing oil fields or in agriculture. There was a high level of racism evident in the media and government through the 1930s and no doubt for some time afterwards, if diminishing. After the 1940s, when racism became a much-debated topic in the world, many white Venezuelans, especially politicians, tried to say racism had been introduced by foreigners. An interesting note is that many foreigners saw Venezuela as an example of racial harmony, albeit seeing race mixture as a national weakness. Local political parties repeatedly proclaimed that there was no racism in the country. It wasn’t true. Racial harmony in Venezuela is a myth, but the signs of discrimination differ from North America or Europe.
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