The concluding afternoon session of the 6th Meeting of ALBA-TCP Culture Ministers in Havana yesterday saw the signing of a statement by each of the ministers from the 11 countries making up the organization.
The document recognizestherole ofculture inthe reaffirmation ofLatin American and Caribbeanidentities, in theintegrationand unityof our peoples, in economic growth, eradicating poverty, reducing social inequalitiesand achievingsustainable development.
Participants reaffirmed the commitment to promote the cultural integration of the region, encourage the active participation of communities in cultural processes, preserve cultural heritage and encourage the development of creative economies, among other actions.
At the same time they reiterated their respect for the cultural diversity within our multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual societies, stressed the contribution of intellectuals, artists and cultural promoters to the resistance of our peoples against renewed plans by transnational globalized capitalism to destabilize progressive processes and governments in the region.
The text also includes approval for the Plurinational State of Bolivia to host the 7th Meeting of ALBA-TCP Culture Ministers, scheduled for September 2016.
The closing remarks were made by Abel Prieto Jiménez, advisor to the president of the Councils of State and Ministers, who insisted on the need to ensure arts education covered authentic cultural processes of the region, in the face of mass hegemonic culture.
Borrowing the words of Venezuelan intellectual Luis Britto, he concluded: “Ultimately the battle is cultural. Each of our countries has to be a core of cultural resistance. Culture is liberty. "
