Photo: Asahi Shimbun

President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro at a March 21 press conference in Havana



     A columnist for the Havana Tribune paper criticized Barack Obama
    The writer said Obama 'incited rebellion and disorder' during historic Cuba visit last month
    In his headline, Elias Argudín called Obama a 'negro'

continue after the cut ...
    After facing criticism, the columnist apologized and admitted his wording was disrespectful
    But, he suggested it was perhaps more disrespectful of Obama to criticize the Cuban government 'in its own home'
    Among other things, Obama's visit has highlighted race relations in Cuba

Days after Fidel Castro went on the offensive against Barack Obama in an editorial questioning the intentions behind the president's Cuba visit, a Havana columnist attacked the U.S. leader for 'inciting rebellion' in an opinion piece titled 'Negro, are you dumb?'
The Havana Tribune writer, who is black, accused Obama of 'overplaying his hand' by criticizing Cuba during his visit last month and by implying that the country should change.
'[Obama] chose to criticize and subtly suggest … incitations to rebellion and disorder, without caring that he was on foreign ground. Without a doubt, Obama overplayed his hand,' wrote Elias Argudín in the opinion piece.
Argudín went on to remark: 'I can not help but say, Virulo-style: 'Negro, are you dumb?'
Note: Virulo is a 'white pro-Revolution comedian,' according to Breitbart.
The article's Spanish title, 'Negro, ¿tú eres sueco?,' uses an idiom that literally translates to, 'Are you Swedish?'


Elias Argudín, a writer for the Havana Tribune, later apologized for his language but suggested that Obama had been disrespectful, too
Photo: Facebook
Elias Argudín, a writer for the Havana Tribune, later apologized for his language but suggested that Obama had been disrespectful, too

The opinion piece appeared online with a March 24 dateline
The opinion piece appeared online with a March 24 dateline
The columnist also mocked Obama's calls for freedom in Cuba on the basis that the American presides over a country where white police 'enjoy the freedom to massacre and manhandle black people.'
The op-ed was met with criticism in Cuba.
In the Tribune's comment section, the Afro-Cuban writer Victor Fowler remarked sarcastically, 'Oh, what an appropriate example of the absence of racism in Cuba!' and demanded an apology from Argudín.
In a second column, Argudín wrote that he didn't mean to offend anyone, but defended himself by pointing out that it's part of a journalist's job to grab the reader's attention.
'I admit... that it's perhaps disrespectful towards our distinguished visitor,' the columnist continued. 
However, he wrote, 'In my opinion, it's much more disrespectful for the aggressor to ask the victim - in his own home - to forget the offences... that still have not completely stopped,' referring to U.S. hostility towards Cuba. 
U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro at a baseball game in Cuba on March 22
Photo: Getty Images
U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro at a baseball game in Cuba on March 22
During his visit to the Caribbean country, Obama said the Cuban government should not fear the people's 'capacity to speak, and assemble, and vote for their leaders.'
'Many suggested that I come here and ask the people of Cuba to tear something down - but I’m appealing to the young people of Cuba who will lift something up, build something new,' Obama said during a speech in Havana where Cuban president Raul Castro was present. 
Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro said he almost had a heart attack after hearing Obama speak in Cuba last month
Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Revolutionary leader Fidel Castro said he almost had a heart attack after hearing Obama speak in Cuba last month
Obama also made mention of race relations in his official remarks, pointing out that Cuba and the U.S. share a history of slavery.
'Cuba, like the United States, was built in part by slaves brought here from Africa. Like the United States, the Cuban people can trace their heritage to both slaves and slave-owners,' Obama said in the March 22 speech.

In an editorial published Monday in the Communist Party-owned newspaper Granma, Fidel Castro wrote that Obama's words exposed him to 'the risk of a heart attack,' and slammed the president for failing to mention indigenous people along with the African slaves who contributed to the development of both countries. 
Castro warned his fellow Cubans to be wary of Obama's intentions, writing: 'We don’t need the empire to gift us anything.'
It's difficult assessing the racial demographics of Cuba, given that the country's government is known to manipulate its statistics, said Sebastian Arcos, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute in Florida. 
'Most numbers have a political meaning, and can be manipulated,'
Official numbers from 2012 put the country's black population at around 9 percent, with a mixed population of around 26 percent and a white majority of 64 percent. 
However, Arcos said, 'It's difficult measuring the exact numbers, because in Cuba, it's very common for mixed, light-skinned people to define themselves as white.' 
A 2008 Economist piece referred to the Cuban government as a 'mainly white gerontocracy' ruling over a 'mainly black or mulatto' population.