Speaking before Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and other leaders at Havana’s Convention Center, Bonet emphasized the importance of a phrase by revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, “Culture is the first thing to be saved.”

At the UNEAC Congress, she encouraged the organization’s members to continue to defend the country and its culture today more than ever, in a context of acute economic and social crisis aggravated by decades of imperial blockade by the United States.

Bonet called on artists and intellectuals to reinforce the sense of belonging and national identity, and to defend the spiritual heritage, from their professional work and from social networks.

Another call from the UNEAC president was to ensure the quality of cultural programming.

She stated that imperialism wants to isolate artists, to cut them off from each other and from the State, and that is why, it fiercely attacks those who have not broken their institutional ties, those who remain in the country.

On the other hand, on the opening day of the event on Friday, the sessions consisted of dialogue with the work in commissions dedicated to the analysis of vital issues for the artistic and literary avant-garde.

Cuban Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Champan acknowledged the work of Cuban creators who, amid the current complex situation in the country, maintain community work and carry out projects in various spaces to bring the best of culture to the public in all provinces.

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