Abstract

This chapter analyzes the recognition of Afro-Descendants and racial discrimination in Latin American public policies and administration. For a long time, race and racial discrimination were ignored or denied. The mobilization of Afro-Descendants managed to move the agenda from the systematic denial of racism to its recognition as a critical policy problem. After the official recognition of racial discrimination as a problem by the heads of government at the Santiago Conference in 2000, we identify the following changes: prohibitions of racial discrimination, legal recognition of Afro-Descendant populations, introduction of the race variable in population censuses of the region and the creation of public institutions of Afro-Descendant affairs. However, these achievements remain fragile, and many challenges lie ahead for the policy agenda and for the creation of an inclusive public administration.