We are not only a Latin-American nation; we are an Afro-American nation also.

The statement asserts that national identity in Cuba (and, by implication, in parts of Latin America) cannot be reduced to a purely “Latin” or Iberian heritage. By naming the nation “Afro-American” as well, Castro foregrounds the centrality of African-descended peoples, cultures, and histories—shaped by slavery, colonialism, and racial hierarchy—to the formation of the modern nation. The phrasing also works as a political claim: it frames anti-racism and solidarity with Black struggles in the Americas as integral to revolutionary nationalism, not an external or secondary concern. In doing so, it challenges elite narratives that treat Blackness as marginal while presenting a more inclusive, hemispheric understanding of “American” identity.