• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > Latin America

Young Cuban Intellectuals Slam Trump's 'Manipulative' Speech

  • The First National Congress of Writers and Artists in August 1961 adopted the slogan,

    The First National Congress of Writers and Artists in August 1961 adopted the slogan, "To Defend the Revolution is to Defend Culture.” | Photo: Reuters

Published 25 June 2017
Opinion

The AHS was named after two brothers and young intellectuals, Sergio and Luis Saiz Montes de Oca, who were assassinated in 1957 by the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship.

Young Cuban artists and writers from the Hermanos Saiz Association, one of Cuba's oldest cultural organizations, joined several organizations in condemning Trump's policy change towards the Caribbean island.

RELATED:
Cuba: Trump's Policy Will Backfire by Strengthening Revolution

At the AHS National Council meeting, the Cuban artists declared their solidarity with the National Association of Cuban Writers and Artists against Trump's "manipulative" speech delivered in Miami on June 16.

Remembering the speech by the Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, the members highlighted how in his address to the intellectuals, Fidel announced some groundbreaking political programs in 1959 as part of his manifesto of the July 26 Movement. Army barracks were turned into schools and teaching budgets were increased tenfold.

The literacy campaign launched in 1961 saw a quarter of a million young people from rural areas participate and gain literacy. The revolution was fiercely committed to the campaign in order to iron out some of the inequalities between the urban and rural regions.

In 1954, the Cuban Institute of Cinematic Arts and Industries founded just two months after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution helped establish the basis of film as an art form.

The AHS was named after two brothers and young intellectuals, Sergio and Luis Saiz Montes de Oca, who were assassinated in 1957 by the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship.

It was founded in 1986, as a result of the Raul Gomez-Garcia Brigade, which brought together art instructors and experts of the New Song Movement and the Hermanos Saiz Brigade.

The First National Congress of Writers and Artists in August 1961 that was organized by the country’s writers and artists, firmly embedded its work in social justice and the revolution. Their slogan became, "To Defend the Revolution is to Defend Culture."

Just last week, calling Trump's policy reversal against Cuba, a "grotesque spectacle," Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez slammed the move saying it would negatively affect U.S. citizens and result in the opposite of what Washington seeks as it would lead to strengthening Cuba's resolve to defend its sovereignty.

The foreign minister said the reversal will "gravely harm foreign policy" and it "reinforces our patriotism and our will to defend the Cuban Revolution."

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.