René González Barrios, president of the Cuban History Institute, yesterday October 13, opened the conference entitled ‘The Cuban Revolution: Genesis and Historic Development’ asserting that the Cuban Revolution is one of the most important processes in the history of humanity, and there are many reasons to study it, to evaluate and extract lessons from both the gains achieved and the errors committed in the construction of socialism.
Participating in the two day event, at Havana’s Convention Center, are 70 researchers, historians, educators and university students from Asia, Europe and the Americas, with the objective of promoting debate of historical ideas and knowledge to contribute to a better understanding of the country’s revolutionary process, in all of its complexity.
González Barrios, who headed the conference organizing committee, said that the Revolution is the logical result of the radicalization of a people tired of the corruption and poverty which reigned prior to 1959 in Cuba. Noting that the Revolution served as an example to other peoples struggling for their emancipation, he said, “As the Cuban Revolution emerged victorious in the face of imperialist attack, many peoples wanted to imitate it.”
Eduardo Torres Cuevas, president of the Cuban Academy of History, commented that an event of this kind had been needed for some time, adding that he expected the discussion to be enriching for all, allowing for a review of over 50 years of recent history.
History is made, he emphasized, but in many cases it is not written down, and we run the risk of losing it to oblivion. It is imperative, he said, that we recuperate historical memory, take advantage of this great wealth of knowledge which participants in the event possess.
(Granma)