HAVANA, Cuba, Jun 30 (ACN) In memory of the speech delivered by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro, known as Words to the Intellectuals, which has made history as the address that marked the cultural policy of the Revolution, several institutions will have today a busy schedule of celebrations.
On the 60th anniversary of Fidel’s meeting with the artistic and intellectual vanguard of the country on June 16, 23 and 30, 1961, the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC), founded in the wake of the speech and under its precepts on August 22, 1961, organized for today a panel discussion on the significance of that historic event and a concert by outstanding Cuban musicians in honor of both Words… and the 60th anniversary of UNEAC’s foundation by Cuba’s National Poet Nicolas Guillen, who was its first president.
Since the launching of the campaign that under the slogan “You have the floor” has been part of the said celebrations, Cuba has been active in the social networks, given the increasingly complex COVID-19 situation.
Among the activities held in recent days are the main event at the José Martí National Library, attended by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and personalities of Cuban culture, just like it happened 60 years ago in the same venue, where Fidel said, “Within the Revolution, everything”, a phrase that Díaz-Canel praised by saying that “the only thing that is not under discussion is the Revolution, which is not a fact in dispute, but the fact itself, the raison d’être of that meeting”.
For being a symbol of Cuban culture, as well as the place where consequential historic events have taken place, the National Library will be granted National Monument status today in a ceremony organized by the National Council of Cultural Heritage, the National Commission of Monuments, and the institution itself.
Since Monday, over a hundred photographs of different moments that the Commander in Chief shared with intellectuals and artists are in display at the Library’s El Reino de Este Mundo Gallery as part of the exhibition Palabras: imagen y posibilidad organized by the Consejo Nacional de las Artes Plásticas.
On Friday, the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC) will present at the Library the text Aquel Verano del 61, a compilation of testimonies by Fernando Martinez Heredia, Roberto Fernandez Retamar, Graziella Pogolotti, Carlos Rafael Rodriguez and Ambrosio Fornet, published during the commemoration of the 25th, 30th, 40th and 50th anniversaries of Fidel’s speech.
Furthermore, the volume Guerra Culta, a compilation of texts by intellectuals and artists of different generations on the cultural policy of the Revolution and its current relevance, will also be publicly available.
