Paris, June 7 (RHC)-- The Cuba Coopération France (CubaCoop) association announced Wednesday that the island's renowned poet Nancy Morejon agreed to be the godmother of the first Cuban film festival in the town of Vitry-sur-Seine, in the Paris region.

"We are very pleased to have her with us, in what we consider an act of reparation to the Cuban intellectual and culture, after the decision of the Paris Poetry Market to withdraw her status as honorary president due to external pressures," CubaCoop president Victor Fernandez told Prensa Latina.

The festival will take place from June 17 to 24, with the films El Benny, Fresa y Chocolate, El Mayor, Conducta, Esther en alguna parte and Boccaccerías Habaneras, in addition to exhibitions and a meeting on its final day of solidarity with the largest of the Antilles and against the U.S. blockade.

According to Fernandez, the presence of the poetess will be a source of pride and an opportunity for her to dialogue with intellectuals, friends of the island and the general public.

The decision of the Paris Poetry Market needed a response, and this gesture by CubaCoop goes in that direction, he stressed.

The announcement by the association, which has been involved for the past three decades in socio-economic development projects on the island, comes on top of signs of rejection of the measure as a result of pressure from anti-Cuban sectors in France.

A petition launched by the coordinator for France and Europe of the World Poetry Movement, Francis Combes, a letter from the France-Cuba Friendship Group of the National Assembly to the organizers of the Market, a complaint to Unesco and an evening yesterday at the Cuban embassy are among the actions of solidarity with Nancy Morejon.

Poetry is future and peace, therefore, Nancy and Cuban culture also represent those values that nobody will be able to silence, warned Fernandez.

According to the president of CubaCoop, the poetess will be at the inauguration and in various activities of the Vitry-sur-Seine film festival, a meeting that the French association aims to systematize in coordination with local authorities.

Nancy Morejon thanked the invitation to accompany the festival and the opportunity to exchange views with the French public and to address the reality of Cuban culture. (Source:PL)