by the El Reportero’s news services
The president of the Puerto Rico Committee at the UN, Olga Sanabria, denounced today the various facets of the cultural aggression suffered by that Caribbean island due to the domination of the United States.
The Puerto Rican nation does not have control over many of its institutions or communications, and it barely handles the educational system, which is basically an instrument to reproduce the colonial system, she explained in exclusive statements.
Recently, Sanabria took part in the high-level meeting for the tenth anniversary of the Declaration and Plan of Action of the Center for Human Rights and Cultural Diversity of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
There she offered details on how the condition of colonial subordination negatively affects the development of their own cultural patterns.
In these times, in which there is a certain stigmatization towards cultural and religious issues, it is necessary to talk about diversity and raise awareness about it, she said.
The globalization of the media has placed the hegemonic powers as a point of reference, which is why the NAM now returns to the points they addressed 10 years ago in the Tehran Declaration, she added.
In the case of Puerto Rico, the political control of the United States has a great impact on culture and the aggression in that field are also an attempt to dominate, especially when they are aimed at undermining national identity, she explained.
Shortly after the invasion of the United States to Puerto Rico -and until 1948-, a system of public instruction in English was imposed in the country, Sanabria recalled.
The island managed to revert that imposition and maintained its vernacular, its roots and its national, Latin American and Caribbean identity, said the representative of the Hostosian National Independence Movement of Puerto Rico.
Cuba celebrates 100 years of Perez Prado’s birth
The International Colloquium for the 100 years of the birth of Damaso Perez Prado, the King of Mambo, will take place in Matanzas, Cuba, and will include conferences, the opening of an exhibition and the screening of documentaries, said organizers.
The event, scheduled from December 8th to 10th, will include the performance of the Atenas Brass Ensemble wind quintet and the exhibition of living statues with artists of the group Renacer.
The opening day includes the premiere of the play ‘Yo soy el Rey del Mambo’, based on the book with the same name by playwright Ulises Rodriguez Febles, by Mexican group Conjuro Teatro, directed by Dana Stella Aguilar.
An important event within the colloquium will be ceremony to unveil the plates in Damaso Perez Prado’s house in this city, 100 kilometers east of Havana.
Other significant activities will be the lecture by Ivan Restrepo, researcher and Perez Prado’s friend, and the materials on the presence of Prado in Mexico.
The wide program includes a panel on the book by Colombian researcher and filmmaker Sergio Santana Archbold: ‘Perez Prado ÂíQue rico mambo!’, and movies with music or performance of Perez Prado.
The closing ceremony of the Colloquium is scheduled for a night performance on the eve of December 11th, Perez Prado’s birthday (1917-1989), with mambo dance, theater, dance and poetry performances, at the park La Libertad.
