“My next film will be number 50, I think it’s a good time to stop. My idea, in principle, is not to make more movies and focus on writing, these stories and, well, now I’m thinking more of a novel, “he said.

He added that “the movie business has changed; human stories are no longer so interesting”.

Literature, on the contrary, is “an obsessive work”, according to Allen. “You spend long periods of time thinking about a single word or a phrase, for several hours, trying to figure out how to make that sentence work. Really good writers I know spend a day or two polishing up a sentence,” he emphasized.

The film director is sure that writing a script “is much looser: there are a lot of dialogues and the mere outlines of the scenes, it changes all the time and you don’t work on it as much”.

His final work, of which few details are still known, will resemble one of Woody Allen’s best films. “It will be similar to ‘Match Point’, exciting, dramatic and also sinister”, confessed the filmmaker.

Born on December 1, 1935 into a Jewish family, Allen began his career as a humorist writing jokes and scripts for television shows.

His debut as a film director took place in 1968, when he shot ‘Take the money and run’. It was a false documentary, a genre that the director would later cultivate in some of his subsequent creations. Allen’s films such as ‘Annie Hall’, ‘Bullets Over Broadway’ or ‘Manhattan’ are considered classic works of world cinema.

Throughout his successful career, Allen has touched on various genres and styles, from melodrama (‘The Purple Rose of Cairo’, 1985) and criminal comedy (‘Bullets on Broadway’, 1994), to the ‘thriller’ drama (‘Match point’, 2005 and ‘Cassandra’s dream’, 2007).

(Taken from RT in Spanish)

In the midst of a scenario nuanced by the insufficiencies of the internal economy, the inhuman pressures of the US blockade and the pause imposed by COVID-19, a discourse that incorporates, along with the claims of a group of honest artists and creators , takes force. attractive symbols and fallacies aimed at distorting the reality of the island.

Is there freedom of expression within Socialism? What role do art and the artist have? For the Doctor in Philosophical Sciences, Anayansi Castellón Jiménez, dedicated for years to studies on the ideology of the Cuban Revolution and Head of the Department of Philosophy at the Central University “Marta Abreu” of Las Villas, answering these questions involves analyzing the current scenario from the solid corpus of Marxist theory.

- How to read the events of the last weeks?

- A general analysis of the current scenario must start from a fundamental idea: this is an essentially political issue. Many times I notice how some people understand it only as an individual matter, given by very particular circumstances, and believe that everything will end if a group of supposed “demands” are fulfilled. I believe that this is not the case and the examination should be done in more depth.

We are talking about political positions. That is an important element. Therefore, it is a matter of class struggle and of the survival of the project of the Cuban Revolution, which is a socialist project. There is a first element to take into account.

The second question lies in the particularities of our country. We must ask ourselves what is Cuba, what does the Revolution represent and how has it been permanently subjected to a siege by the forces of imperialism.

The third issue has to do with the construction of a socialist society that is not perfect, but has proven to be better than the capitalist world, because it guarantees better justice quotas. In this sense, it is a society in permanent formation, with a group of errors – economic solutions, corruption, bureaucracy or conduction of processes – in which we revolutionaries must work permanently.

- You often hear the term “freedom of expression”. What precepts shape it and, above all, what to do with that freedom?

- Freedom will always be restricted, as its limits are determined by the class in power. The idea of ​​total freedom, like that of democracy, is a great fallacy. You always have quotas of it and limits to enjoy it. Now, socialist freedom is more freedom for a greater number of people, but that implies a responsibility with respect to the rest of the citizens and the fulfillment of social norms.

In a small sector of Cuba, a tendency is sometimes noticed, typical of the globalized world, linked to a certain petty-bourgeois spirit. It is seen above all in a group of people who are not in a position to digest or find behind these doctrines their true essence. Because the ideology that capitalism sells us, the notion of its better democracy, its multiparty system and also its freedom of expression, are fallacies.

It is pure ideology, in the Marxist sense of seeing it as false consciousness. It is about “truths” of a social class that they try to construct as the truth of many people.

That is why sometimes one sees claims that are inconsistent or that do not have a direct anchor in our reality. Not because we don’t have freedom of expression, but because our forms of freedom are different; not because we don’t have democracy, but because our democracy is different. That spirit also floats on the platform on which a group of “demands” are raised.

- There is also a lot of talk about Words to intellectuals …

- There are elements decontextualized and not read in their entirety. The best known phrase of that speech is “within the Revolution everything; against the Revolution nothing ”. There Fidel analyzes how the artist is even freer than in Capitalism, because his art is no longer an object for the market. It also establishes the limits of freedom of expression and creation in Socialism, and says that the only border is precisely the life of the Revolution.

During that speech, Fidel speaks of three types of artists or intellectuals. The revolutionary, convinced that the Revolution and Socialism are the roads. He also mentions the one who does not support the ideas of the Revolution, but who is honest and is not bought by anyone or responds to foreign interests.

Finally, it refers to those who are not revolutionaries, and also are not honest. And right there comes the “within the Revolution everything; against the Revolution nothing ”. So, from the discourse, it follows that the Revolution has the duty to include and respect both revolutionary and honest creators. That continues to be the limit of freedom in Cuba today, the survival of the Revolution. And it is precisely that element one of those that is in controversy these days.

- What is the role of art and the creator in Socialism?

- Art is a form of social consciousness. In that sense, it also means reflecting reality through other codes, and it has a strong component of criticism, but also of spirituality. In Capitalism art is produced in a more individual way. In Socialism, on the other hand, as artistic production becomes massive and culture reaches a greater number of people, it acquires a more social character, a greater responsibility.

Art also draws essentially from universal culture. Marx easily clarifies it when he says that history is nothing more than the passing of one generation that rises above the other, and receives from the previous one all the cultural heritage of humanity. Therefore, an art or artist that does not know its cultural past is inconsequential, and is incapable of appropriating it, firstly to respect it, and then to legitimize its new cultural positions.

However, this analysis goes further. It is not possible to create a political platform in Cuba if you do not respect the Cuban flag, which is part of our culture. But also, you cannot invent a model that tries to find in the United States – our historical enemy – a political and economic foothold. If you do that, you are saying that the Cuban is incapable of thinking for himself.

Founding fathers of Cuban nationality, such as José Agustín Caballero, Félix Varela or José de la Luz y Caballero, taught us that we can solve problems on our own. Cuba has enough capacity to articulate a project for an original society and that of no one else, but that is impossible looking north. Then you realize that those who defend an agenda of interference are unaware of the entire history of Cuban thought, all of its cultural heritage.

Anayansi Castellón: “Dialogue is given to Socialism, because it is more democratic as there is greater social justice.” Photo: Yunier Sifonte / Cubadebate.

- Where are the borders between art and vulgarity? Who legitimizes an artist?

- Vulgarity and marginality can never be art, as can offenses either. Cuba has excellent samples of leaders, especially from the labor sector, who were not great intellectuals or possessed a deep theoretical mastery of things, but were educated people, trained in the civic spirit necessary to interact with the world.

It is precisely there that the limit with vulgarity appears, in that domain of culture. A person who disrespects those around him, who shouts expletives or uses obscenities, is not an artist.

An artist is legitimized by his quality work, consistent with his ideas and his time. Nobody else. To the intellectuals of the Republic, key in the movement of ideas that led to the search for a new society, who legitimized them but their own creation?

- Where should the dialogue with those intellectuals who do not compromise their work with the enemies of Cuba lead?

- We must use it to draw lessons about the present and take advantage of the critical vision of young people and honest intellectuals to strengthen the country. As we ourselves have many things well done and of which we are proud, there are also elements to improve. In that we must work, especially to avoid that their permanence creates more difficulties, resentments or fuels the lack of unity. That is another essential matter.

As is the case with the idea of ​​thinking for ourselves, the theme of unity cuts across the thought of the Cuban Revolution, from 1868 to today. This unit also includes dialogue with young people who have just concerns, and together face those who pretend manipulation and have unscrupulous handling in matters of culture or other social aspects.

Along with this, we could remember Antonio Gramsci when he spoke of the construction of hegemony, that ability to build consensus from power. It is an idea to strengthen even more. We cannot be afraid to speak of our problems to solve them in function of Socialism. As Gramsci himself said in one of his newspapers, the truth is always revolutionary.

Another indispensable theorist for current times is Che Guevara, because if anyone advocated timely criticism within the Revolution, it was him. And Socialism is given dialogue, because it is more democratic as there is greater social justice. That is the summary, to put those who want to improve Cuba to talk. To the revolutionaries and those who do not share some of our ideas, but be honest. Just like Fidel said.

- In the recent debate between various creators and authorities of culture in the country, Alpidio Alonso said that “Cuba must be a parliament within a trench.” Is that one of the keys?

- It’s part of the key. We have always been a trench and in it we must ensure the greatest good: the independence of Cuba. We began to be a country on January 1, 1959. We acquired shape on the map of the economic, political and cultural life of the world on that date. But that has cost us a permanent struggle.

Socialism does not eliminate the class struggle at once. It is a present phenomenon. We must know that it is a just system and in constant danger, both from the forces within and from without. And the way of success is to fight against our imperfections and against the external enemy that always haunts us.

He added, immediately thereafter, “This means that within the Revolution, everything; against the Revolution, nothing!” Speeches should not be interpreted independently of the historical moment and the context in which they were delivered, but in these words Fidel addresses a contradiction that continues to be relevant, perhaps one of the most significant faced within a revolutionary process: the complex relationship between the individual and the collective.

Liberalism takes this contradiction to an agonizing level. Stated individual freedoms are a formality and end up being effective only for those who possess economic power, or when they do not directly affect the interests of these powerful groups. The history of social movements on a global scale has shown that individual freedoms, for the historically dispossessed, must be a collective conquest under certain conditions, and that their continuity must be defended over time, also collectively. Where collectives have been splintered, captured, or corrupted, individual rights and freedoms have been brutally swept away, with those affected lacking the resources to defend them. This is what we have seen occurring with the increasingly precarious nature of work over the last decades on a global scale. Today it is difficult to find a job with a minimum of protected labor rights, historical conquests of the working class which are now endangered.

***

The imperative of valuing the collective leads us to reconsider the individual, which cannot be annulled. The collective must be a vehicle for individual interests to stand a chance of being honored. Thus, personal dilemmas should be placed in the light of a collective context, which is not always simple. Julio Cortázar did this with exemplary acuity when, in March of 1980, at the Casa de las Américas, he said: “I have not hidden from anyone my conviction that at this point the critical horizon should open up more in Cuba, that the media – as some leaders have already pointed out – have not reached the level they could have, and that there are a number of things that could be done and are not being done or could be done better. But I make these criticisms always starting from a sentiment I call the joy of confidence, I make them as I see and live the Cuban Revolution’s great number of positive accomplishments in all fields and, above all, I make them without stupidly anchoring myself in what I am, That is, a writer, not confining myself to the exclusive criteria of the intellectual at a time when an entire people, against all odds, despite errors and stumbling blocks, is today a people infinitely more worthy of its Cuban identity than in the times when it was vegetating under alienating, exploitative regimes.”

The people of whom Cortázar spoke are precisely the collective subject of the historical process that is the Cuban Revolution. And when I say people, I am not referring to a homogeneous bloc. To think that way is untenable. The people of Cuba are heterogeneous in their living conditions and in their desires, denying this today makes no sense. What then defines this collective subject that makes itself felt when it marches through the plaza, approves a Constitution or ignores the “opposition” in Cuba? Perhaps a structural consensus continues to exist on the basis of fundamental principles that have been constructed alongside a sense of Cuban national identity (hence its power), through a complex historical process of struggle, resistance, demands, great sacrifice and devotion as the cost of a desire: the sovereignty of the Cuban nation and the defense of a system that is considered more just insofar as it guarantees, in a universal and inalienable manner, a set of collective rights, that is, to all men and women equally, with an effectiveness in this sense has made its presence known these days, saving lives with names and surnames, beyond statistics.

This is the biggest obstacle facing the “opposition” in Cuba. No social mobilization can be triggered by an “opposition” manufactured in Washington, with interests far removed from the collective consensus of Cubans, given that they are connected to the economic interests of power groups with which the people do not identify. In short, there has been no Cuban “opposition” that was not a made-in-USA product. This is not a paranoid view of the enemy; it is a reality recognized within the U.S. itself. The private press and other political actors in Cuba are financed by some of the most discredited and malicious organizations of the international right, and we must be prepared for a context in which this reality becomes increasingly present.

With the rise of social media, the Cuban “opposition” is diversifying its face and we are no longer confronting only groups in Miami that continue to spin a narrative of hate, but also new actors and platforms within the island itself, although trained and supported from abroad. They constantly manipulate symbols that have value within the collective imagination and capitalize on existing social problems. Of course, I am not referring to those who – outside of state media but without foreign financing – are creating valuable materials on the internet reflecting a critical perspective on current Cuban society, which enrich the debate on our reality from Marxist and de-colonialized positions, which contribute and in no way detract.

In the recent period, perception of the right to participate in public decision-making has increased in Cuba: Cuban men and women debate all areas of national life, be it a local architectural decision or one involving the borders of an entire country. There are voices that take advantage of this context to manipulate public opinion in the media regarding state administration and institutional work. We cannot ignore this reality, but it is also true that these manipulators do not have the upper hand. Despite the haters, there is a popular sense of defending the common good. The need for government efforts at the local level to develop mechanisms for greater and more profound popular participation is key. Making a regular practice of consultation, transparency, and the provision of timely information on decision-making processes is imposed as a work philosophy absolutely essential to the development of socialism.

***

In March of 2020, a national program to combat racism and racial discrimination was announced. The adoption of a Decree-Law on animal protection was approved this year. And it will be necessary to continue creating working platforms to analyze, debate and develop alternatives to resolve problems present in Cuban society today, which will allow for the deepening of the democratic, just character of Cuba’s political system. This cannot be done outside of context of socialism. Capitalism today is exacerbating all of these problems throughout the world. The transition to socialism does not solve these problems naturally or spontaneously, as something inherent, but it does create better conditions for these problems to be analyzed, debated and worked on. Inclusive, transparent platforms for building dialogue and consensus are needed. When the causes are just, they will find a place within the Revolution and its institutions. Perhaps that is what Fidel meant when he said that there was room for everyone in the Revolution.

***

No one receiving payment from abroad to change Cuba has ever presented a decent proposal to our people. Fighting tooth and nail for Cuban men and women to preserve our lives under adverse conditions, since Cuba is a poor country, without sacrificing our sovereignty in the least, is a proposal worthy of this people. Perhaps that is what Fidel meant when he said everything within the Revolution and nothing against it. Although there are many things, as Cortázar would say, and revolutionaries recognize, that should be done better for the collective good, so individuals have ever greater and fuller possibilities of being.

(Source: Granma)

For the first time I was subjected to the torturous task. I was obliged to stand still, exactly as he said. I did not know if it would last an hour or a century…
I was in the presence of a no less than a great teacher and an exceptional person, who I would later come to know with ever-increasing admiration and deep affection: Oswaldo Guayasamín. He would have been around 42 years old at that time…

Guayasamín was perhaps the most noble and human person I ever met. He created at the speed of light, and his dimensions as a human being knew no limits…

I learned a great deal from my conversations with him.They enriched my conscience regarding the terrible drama of conquest, colonization, genocide and injustices committed against the indigenous peoples of this hemisphere: a lacerating pain that he carried among his deepest feelings. He was very knowledgeable about the history of that drama…

None of this escaped the profound thought, warmth and sense of human dignity of Oswaldo Guayasamín. He devoted his art and his life to building consciousness, denouncing, combating, and fighting these injustices.

(Granma)

This is even more significant if we take into account the organizational and logistical requirements of a highly complex and comprehensive event, which takes place in the midst of a strained finance situation and the tightening of the blockade, to which we must add certain actions aimed at detracting from this festival of the most advanced visuality.

In the final stretch of preparations, organizers assured that the theme of this Biennial, “La construcción de lo posible” (Construction of the Possible), is about to become a reality.

Faithful to its original intention to support Third World arts, featuring are participants from Central America and the Caribbean (32 artists), South America (21), Africa and the Middle East (23) and Asia and Oceania (27), with the particularity that from this last region 11 artists from China and the same number from Australia will attend. In total, some 300 foreign creators will participate in the event, according to Jorge Alfonso, executive director of the Biennial.

For the guest Cuban artists – 17 with individual projects and 68 in collective projects – participating in the main exhibitions, the upcoming Biennial represents a new opportunity to present their work to the world. Looking at the list of 85 national artists featuring at the core of the event, one notes that there is a wide age range. Alongside creators with an already recognized and established career, several of whom have been awarded the National Visual Arts Prize, are others whose more recent beginnings guarantee the constant renewal of aesthetic codes that keep contemporary Cuban art alive.

If the Biennial is important for the artists, it is also very significant for the public. Firstly, because Havana will become, perhaps even more so than in the last editions, a vast open gallery. Secondly, it offers the possibility of enriching experiences and visual heritage.

Exponents will occupy more than 30 cultural institutions, museums and galleries of the Cuban capital, including Pabellón Cuba, the La Acacia, Villa Manuela, and Orígenes galleries, as well as spaces in the city’s central historic district, and the Hispano-American Cultural Center; while the National Museum of Fine Arts will host a project based on extensive and rigorous research. Other venues include public spaces, including along Línea Street, with a project led by architect Vilma Bartolomé; and the Malecón, which will host the third edition of Detrás del muro, an open-air exhibition organized by curator Juan Delgado Calzadilla, featuring works by more than 60 artists.

Beyond Havana, several other provinces will be part of the Biennial program: the Farmacia project, in Pinar del Río; Magdalena Campos’ Ríos intermitentes initiative, in Matanzas; the collective exhibition Mar adentro, in Cienfuegos; and the Video Art Festival, in Camagüey.

An overwhelming majority of the artists who will take part in the program, including those who are based in the United States and Europe, are graduates of the University of the Arts and the network of arts schools that operate throughout the country.

This will be evident from the very opening, when the legendary Omara Portuondo is accompanied by pianists Rolando Luna and Pachequito, saxophonist Yosvany Terry, the Orquesta Miguel Faílde, and the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, conducted by the young Maestro José Antonio Méndez Padrón.

These last two groups, in particular, are examples of the most recent achievements of arts education on the island. The Orquesta Miguel Faílde is composed of young musicians from Matanzas, almost all trained in the musical academies of the city, with a firm commitment to the promotion of danzón (Cuba’s national musical genre and dance) and other genres that define the musical heritage of the region. Meanwhile, the Havana Lyceum Orchestra is rooted in the promotion of concert music with a practical pedagogical experience, which results in the high professional training of its members.

The new generations of dancers of the National Ballet of Cuba and the Irene Rodríguez company, whose performances are eagerly awaited by U.S. audiences, speak of the excellence of their teachers and the island’s educational programs.

They also illustrate the inclusive nature of the system, as based on their qualities and vocations they are provided with access to free arts education. Students come from the most diverse points of the island and receive the same training, regardless of their social background.

This is a principle established by the Revolution in this field, which has ensured the universal human right to education and culture since the early 1960s.

(Granma)

The program, including some 50 events under the title of “Artes de Cuba: From the Island to the World,” was announced in Havana, March 28, by Deputy Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas, who emphasized the importance of the event as indicative of the interest in building bridges of harmony and understanding between the two peoples.

“I can assure you that Cuban artists,” he said, “will convey our cultural values and our desire to promote exchanges in this field, within a climate of peace.”

The May 8 inauguration, in Eisenhower Hall, will feature Omara Portuondo, who will head the bill and be joined by pianists Rolando Luna, Aldo López Gavilán and Pachequito; saxophonist Yosvany Terry; singer Aymée Nuviola; the Miguel Faílde Danzón Orchestra; and the University of the Arts Orchestra affiliated with Havana’s Lyceum Mozartiano.

To close the program, the National Ballet of Cuba, led by the great Alicia Alonso, will travel to the U.S. capital for successive performances of Don Quijote and Giselle, May 29-June 3.

Some 400 artists, half from the island, will present intense days of music, ballet, contemporary dance, theater, and visual arts. Cuban musicians based in the United States and France, as well as outstanding visual artists from the island, José Parlá and Emilio Pérez, are set to participate.

Also featured is a film series, with a selection of Cuban classics (Memorias del subdesarrollo, by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea; Retrato de Teresa, by Pastor Vega; andy Lucía, by Humberto Solás), and prizewinning films from Havana’s Latin American Festival of New Cinema (Fresa y chocolate, by Gutiérrez Alea and Juan C. Tabío; Suite Habana, by Fernando Pérez; and Conducta, by Ernesto Daranas), as well as a movie poster exposition mounted by Cuba’s Film Institute, ICAIC.

Scheduled as well are fashion shows by designers Celia Ledón and Nachy Carmona, and “Arte y Moda” projects, directed by Maestro Rafael Méndez and director Juan Carlos Marrero, plus typical Cuban food and cocktail tastings.

Eight halls and 22 other spaces within the Kennedy Center are being utilized for presentations. Addressing the motivation behind organizing the mega-event, the Center’s vice president Alice Adams stated, “…the United States has Cuban music and Cuban arts in its DNA. Looking at all of that is what’s fascinating to me.”

The vast majority of artists participating in the event, including those who reside abroad, have been trained in the art schools created in Cuba since the 1959 triumph of the Revolution. These are creators and performers of recognized talent and indisputable mastery, many of whom are innovators in their art forms, but all in one way or another are linked to their roots.

Deputy Minister Rojas emphasized “the professionalism and seriousness of the collaboration between the Kennedy Center and our institutions and artists, at a time when, as we know, there have been restrictions.” The artists, for example, were obliged to travel to Mexico to acquire visas from the U.S. embassy’s consulate in the capital of this neighboring country.

“I think,” he said, “that an effort like this is also an expression of the desire of both parties to transcend the blockade that has affected us for decades.”

Music is taking center stage on the artistic agenda. All genre are being presented, from concert music to rap, including trova, with a concert by Pablo and Haydée Milanés, and dance music in the hands of Los Van Van. Cuba’s new generation of jazz musicians will be noticed.

In addition to the National Ballet of Cuba, there will be performances by the Malpaso and Irene Rodríguez companies. Theatrical works to be presented include Las lágrimas amargas by Petra von Kant, performed by El Público (director: Carlos Díaz), and Diez millones from the Argos Teatro (director: Carlos Celdrán).

Outstanding among the visual arts expositions are those of Roberto Fabelo, Roberto Diago, Esterio Segura, and Manuel Mendive – who will also perform with musicians Adonis González and Yosvany Terry.

May 12 will be Family Day, a community event that will begin with a parade of children’s marching bands, with Miguel Faílde’s danzón orchestra participating, followed by rumba and salsa demonstrations and classes, along with batucada, in Cuba’s Brazilian style. On the 19th, the classic “Guantanamera” will be performed my U.S. amateur choirs.

(Granma)

The artist settled in Cuba in the 1950s and won the 2008 National Dance Award and the National Artistic Teaching Award.

Burdsall took classes with three important U.S. dancers: Martha Graham, Anthony Tudor and Merce Cunningham, and studied at the George Washington University and the prestigious Julliard School in New York.

The dancer, teacher and choreographer did a remarkable work in promoting and creating works for the development of dance in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In recognition of her contributions to Cuban dance, the participants in the 24th International Meeting of Dance Academies will hold a gala to pay tribute to the teacher.

Today’s show is the fifth and last of a cycle. A children and choreographic contest is scheduled from April 3 to 6.

(Prensa Latina)

Specialists from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Spain and Italy, as well as the host country Cuba, will participate in Histarmed, organized by the Medical Sciences University of Havana, from March 8th.

The program includes topics such as Great Warriors, their pathobiographies, and History of Art, and lectures such as ‘Doctors seen by painters’ and ‘Vincent van Gogh: artistic expression and lead poisoning’.

Other topics of the event are addiction to new technologies in early childhood and a lecture on humor from history, art and medicine.

Participants will be able to approach to the link of history with microbiology in Cuba, as well as homeopaths in the wars for independence in the second half of the 19th century and the events that contributed to the development of neurosciences.

Histarmed, to be hosted by the Conference Center of Cojimar, in Habana del Este, will run until March 10th.

(Prensa Latina)

Mercy Correa, director of the Cuban Cultural Goods Fund crafts department, co-sponsoring the event alongside the Asociación Hermanos Saíz, was right when she noted that the new design of the Pabellón Cuba site provides greater visibility, above all in the central hall, where from July 1 through September 18, the 52 different sales stands – which will be changing every month – are located.

The 17th edition of the event was inaugurated with the exposition Fidel, soldado de las ideas, by photo-journalists Liborio Noval and Ismael Francisco; its title taken from the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution’s March 11, 2011 speech, during which he stated: “I am and will continue to be, just as I promised; a solider of ideas for as long as I can think and breathe.”

The exposition, a tribute to Fidel on his 90th birthday, includes 19 photographs tracing practically the entire revolutionary period.

The oldest photo in the collection, taken by Liborio, is from 1960, while the most recent, by Ismael Francisco, is from Fidel’s last public appearance during the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, on April 19, this year.

Liborio Noval (Havana, 1934-2012) was a founder of the newspaper Granma and is considered to be one of Cuba’s best photo-journalists. He received over 30 national and international awards throughout his lifetime, and his photos have been featured in dozens of collective exhibitions.

His photographic works appear in various books such as Instantáneas, published in 1999, which includes 77 images of Fidel taken over 40 years, as well as in Cien imágenes de la Revolución, 15 of which were taken by Liborio.

For his part, Ismael Francisco is one of the most outstanding contemporary Cuban photo-journalists and son of Ismael González also a photo-journalist at Granma. The deserving recipient of various awards, Francisco has worked for Granma, Prensa Latina, La Agencia Cubana de Noticias and currently Cubadebate.

In 2010 the exposition Ismael con Ismael was presented in the Casa de la Prensa. Trained in the rigorous world of press-photography, Ismael Francisco is also renowned for his technical skill, compositions and framing.

On Friday, July 1, it was all about the kids, with the Fair providing numerous offers for little ones, such as the presentation in the Salón de Mayo, of the DVD of the performance of Peter and the wolf by La Colmenita children’s theater company, followed by a rendition of La Cucarachita Martinaby the collective directed by Carlos Alberto Cremata, in the Pabellon’s main hall.

The exposition Fidel, soldado de las ideas, is displayed in the tunnel of the Pabellón Cuba. Of its 19 photos, pictured in the foreground is one taken by Liborio Noval in 1961, Fidel con boina. Photo: José Raúl Concepción/Cubadebate
Despite the fact that there are apparently fewer stands this year (with artisans alternating throughout the three-month fair), the high quality of products continues to be maintained, with offers ranging from footwear, textiles, jewelry, ceramics, and out-door furniture.

Like always, the summer event again has a cultural agenda, with a special program for children featuring clowns, music, and dance.
Music is without a doubt one of the mainstays of the event, with jazz, trova and repentismo concerts by various musicians and performers, including popular figures such as Polito Ibáñez, Ernesto and David Blanco, Interactivo, Telmary and Adrián Berazaín.

Art on La Rampa is one of the city’s most visited events during the summer. The Fair has many merits including its central headquarters in the Pabellón Cuba, crafts, books, reproductions of art works, albums, and a program which in addition to musical events also features visual arts, film showings and talks, which combine to create a superb Cuban cultural Fair, just as organizers have planned.

(Granma)