{"id":201296,"date":"2019-06-24T16:15:05","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T20:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=201296"},"modified":"2019-06-24T16:15:05","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T20:15:05","slug":"diaz-canel-i-have-nothing-against-reggaeton-or-pop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/diaz-canel-i-have-nothing-against-reggaeton-or-pop\/","title":{"rendered":"D\u00edaz-Canel: “I have nothing against reggaeton or pop”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cuban President Miguel D\u00edaz-Canel affirmed he doesn\u2019t discriminate against any musical genre, and that what culture officials should be concerned about is the quality of the works.<\/span><\/p>\n

“It is not a question of genres,” he said at a meeting with intellectuals, representatives of the Ministry of Culture and organizers of the 9th Congress of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), which will take place June 28 to 30 to “evaluate the role of the Cuban artistic vanguard” and discuss, among other topics, the “need to apply a single cultural policy in public spaces” and the relationship between culture and tourism in Cuba.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to the National Television News (NTV) <\/span>broadcast<\/span><\/a>, those present also referred to “the United States\u2019 cultural war against Cuba, the defense of national identity, the role of artists and intellectuals and the contribution of the historical leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz.”<\/span><\/p>\n

D\u00edaz-Canel highlighted the validity of Palabras a los intelectuales<\/em>, as is known the 1961 speech in which Fidel Castro addressed a group of writers and artists in the National Library, and which has transcended because of the phrase “within the Revolution, everything; against the Revolution, nothing,” which would define the country\u2019s cultural policy.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I want to recognize, and I think I represent how all the comrades here feel, your commitment and dedication to the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba and in general to culture, in the midst of so many complex tasks,” said Miguel Barnet, president of the organization, to D\u00edaz-Canel.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The permanent struggle against the platform of U.S. manipulation”<\/strong><\/p>\n

At a time of growing tensions due to changes in the Trump administration’s Cuba policy, D\u00edaz-Canel said: “The U.S. wants to standardize their culture. They want to impose it on the whole world; and to impose what they have they have to destroy the identity of the peoples, and what they have to do is for people to start seeing that what is theirs doesn\u2019t work, that people start looking at what is theirs, their essences, that people start seeing that what is theirs is retrograde, that what is theirs doesn\u2019t contribute. And that\u2019s when they destroy you, when your identity is destroyed. So that’s why you have to defend your identity.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I believe that what this Congress can contribute the most is to finding the answers to how we can integrate and face this platform of capitalist and neoliberal restoration that they want to impose on us now.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Good reggaeton and bad reggaeton<\/strong><\/p>\n