Working to secure the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples

Minority Rights Group International campaigns worldwide with around 130 partners in over 60 countries to ensure that disadvantaged minorities and indigenous peoples, often the poorest of the poor, can make their voices heard.

This information pack has been produced with the support of E4D.

Find out more

Newsletter Signup

Sign up to receive news, reports and job postings from Minority Rights Group International.

Subscribe

Support Our Work

With your help with can continue to empower minorities and indigenous communities to speak out for their rights and make sure their voices are heard.

Donate
×

Photo story: iconic spots

1 min read

The significance of place for Havana’s LGBTQI communities

‘Here we are at a very historic hotspot for all the LGBT people to get together… to socialise basically. They get together here after 10pm. It’s like a tradition.’ Luis A. Paz

23rd Avenue in Havana’s Vedado neighbourhood, known as La Rampa, is the historic centrepoint of the city’s gay scene. At night, the intersection of the Malecón seawall with the hill on which sits the Hotel Nacional and the infamous Yara cinema (see photo above), becomes one of the main places where the LGBTQI community meets, drinks, hangs out and dances to sounds from tinny boom boxes, before heading off to parties and nearby nightclubs. Here is Luis A Paz, an Afro-Cuban, gay, human rights activist explaining the significance of a particular spot in downtown Havana for the LGBTQI community.

 

Iconic spaces-Photo Bex Wade-2

Iconic spaces-Photo Bex Wade-3

Malecon Girls-Photo Bex Wade