CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Raul Castro and Michelle Bachelet Presided Over Book Fair Opening Ceremony

CUBA, Februray 12, 2009. Presidents Raul Castro and Michelle Bachelet, presided over the opening ceremony of the 18th International Book Fair, at Havana’s historic la Cabaña Fortress, venue of the annual event in this capital city. In his statement at the opening ceremony, Cuba’s Culture Minister Abel Prieto sent a strong and special hug to Cuban Revolution leader Fidel Castro, whom he described as the major promoter of the book fair and its expansion throughout the country.

Prieto said he was inaugurating the most important cultural event in Cuba, the most expected one, which gathers some 5,000,000 Cubans very year, as it starts in the capital Havana and later travels to all Cuban provinces.

This year, the Fair brings some 6,000,000 copies of more than 1,000 titles plus other artistic manifestations, workshops, lectures and other activities.

The Cuban Minister thanked Chile’s response to the invitation at the book fair, the enthusiasm shown, the interest and the dialogue between both people’s cultures, in times when demagogy and distortion of history and realities are commonplace.

The Cuban government official warned the audience about the consequences of the current world crisis and reaffirmed that Cuba, from the site of the fair is sending a message telling that culture is a right of the people, a necessity, energy and a live-giving essence.

Chile´s President Michelle Bachelet addressed the audience to declare herself in favor of building a richer and common future. She recalled the misery experience by Chile during 17 years of military dictatorship which, in her opinion forced the Chilean people to build a path to reencounter themselves “with their identity, diverse on one hand, and plural on the other” she stressed.

“And that diverse and plural identity is what we share with you here today, with the pleasure of knowing that we have been able to reencounter our Latin American destiny and to create the conditions for the blossoming of a culture of life, where a culture of death prevailed for so long”, she added.

That one is the Chile that comes today to Havana, a Chile that looks for for ways and answers, that creates and works and opens its fraternal arms to Latin America, that sings and creates with different voices and shades from the Bravo River to the Patagonia, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, from the Andes to the Caribbean, said Bachelet.

“It is the same Chile that Gabriela Mistral brought along in her many visits to Havana, which she loved so much and whose reality she was able to learn on advance, thanks to her readings of the work by (Jose) Marti”, said Bachelet.

Roberto Fernández Retamar, President of Casa de Las Americas Cultural center, thanked the Fair’s organizers for the homage paid to his institution and highlighted the bonds it maintains with the Chilean artists and intelligentsia, including renowned painter Roberto Matta and singer Victor Jara.

Once the ceremony finished, the Cuban and Chilean leaders along their respective delegations, tour Chile’s stand and inaugurated the “Un abrazo entre dos pueblos” (A hug between two peoples) exhibition, which illustrates the historic and far-reaching relations between the two Latin American nations.(Cubaminrex- ACN)