We are being colonized more than ever, which is why it is important to create spaces like this for debate, said the president of Casa de las Américas, speaking this Monday by videoconference at the online event.
After denouncing the attempts to degrade culture to the role of mere merchandise, Prieto recounted the colonial and neo-colonial past of his country, and the changes undertaken in the cultural sector after the triumph of the Revolution in January, 1959.
Fidel Castro (historical leader of the Cuban Revolution) saw in culture a powerful transformative element, the only way to achieve emancipation, said the writer and essayist.
In this regard, he stressed that the first book that came out of the nascent Cuban national press in 1960 was not an indoctrination manual, but El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de La Mancha, the masterpiece of the Spanish Miguel de Cervantes.
The XV annual conference of the Forum for Studies on Cuba began virtually this Monday, and will run until Thursday, with the participation of British, Cuban and academics from other parts of the world.
On the opening day, the professor at the University of Nottingham Jackie Cannon and the Canadian journalist Arnold August addressed ´the Obama effect´, alluding to the visit that the then North American president made to the Caribbean island in March 2018, and his participation in a humorous program on local television.
Researchers from the Center for Hemispheric and United States Studies of the University of Havana participated in a panel dedicated to the US blockade against Cuba, geopolitics and the impact that this unilateral measure has on US foreign policy towards the Antillean country.
Two presentations by the director of the Casa de las Américas Literary Research Center, Jorge Fornet, and the director of the Nuevo Milenio publishing house, Michel Torres, are scheduled for the next few days.
Founded 25 years ago, the Forum for Cuba Studies at the University of Nottingham defines itself as an international discussion group dedicated to promoting cooperation, academic exchanges and conferences on the cultural and political reality of the Caribbean island.
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