Cubadebate reproduces the statement issued this Thursday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, following the acts of harassment and aggression that Cuban artists and intellectuals have suffered in recent days:

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In recent days, prestigious Cuban artists and intellectuals have been the target of aggressions, encouraged, promoted and carried out by elements of the transnational extreme right on stages in certain European countries. The most recent examples have been the condemnable and unpunished harassment against the Buena Fe duo in some spaces in Spain and the ignominious revocation of the status of honorary president of the Poetry Market event in France to the renowned writer Nancy Morejón.

These manifestations of sick hatred are not new. A few decades ago the Cuban people and the world witnessed a scandalous act of vandalism against the work of the renowned artist Manuel Mendive, burned in the streets of Miami, and the attacks against those attending a great concert of the Van Van orchestra in that city, which they could not prevent.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba strongly denounces the fascist acts committed against exponents of the national culture.

It also rejects the strong pressures, intimidation and blackmail to which businessmen, cultural promoters, owners of establishments and foreign cultural entities that have been in charge of organizing the tours and presentations of our artists in these countries have been subjected.

The Ministry recognizes that these are isolated events, carried out by minority groups, which represent retrograde forces of neo-fascist ideology and receive copious financial resources from organizations at the service of imperialism, with the clear purpose of denigrating Cuban culture and our artists, blurring the historical and patriotic memory of our people and their cultural identity. and destroy the Cuban Revolution.

In almost all the international scenarios in which Cuban artists and intellectuals have been performing, even within the countries in which events such as those described have taken place, they have received the best reception from the vast majority of audiences that recognize in them ambassadors of the best values and expressions of our culture.

Cuban culture, which suffers the impact of the inhumane and illegal economic blockade, carries messages of peace, dialogue and tolerance. It rejects the barbarism, hatred and violence that imperialist monopoly interests seek to impose from the United States and some of its allies.

Solidarity, peace and commitment to art will continue to be the premises of our artists, in the face of violence, impunity, fascism and the prevailing cultural colonization.

Cuba will not renounce exposing its culture in any corner of the world and will respond to every aggression with firmness and unity.

Havana, June 1, 2023.

(Cubaminrex)