Haiti and Cuba exchanged on coffee cultural heritage

Havana, Dec 7 (RHC) Cuba and Haiti concluded this Thursday in Santiago de Cuba an exchange between specialists from both countries and from UNESCO on coffee cultural heritage.

At the Coffee Culture Interpretation Center (Casa Dranguet), of the Office of the City Conservator, the work team of the Institute for the Safeguarding of the National Heritage of Haiti, UNESCO members from Haiti and local specialists, informed the press about the joint work to preserve the coffee heritage.

Monique Rocourt, Project Coordinator in Haiti, explained that the first objective of the visit was to exchange with the technical team responsible for the classification of the Cuban Coffee Trails recognized as World Heritage, so Haiti can use similar methods to classify theirs as world heritage.

The specialist emphasized that the coffee heritage of Cuba and Haiti are related, because those who brought coffee cultivation to the Greater Antilles came from Haiti, which is why they want to study the similarities and differences of the ruins of both countries, and in particular, how Haitian emigrants lived on Cuban coffee plantations.

Clara Tatiana Villegas, director of the UNESCO Office in Haiti, considered the idea of ​​reconstructing a history around the customs and work of men and women on coffee plantations in Cuba and of studying all the possibilities of cooperation, professional exchange, research and mutual learning between the two nations.

On the Cuban side, Dr. Yaumara López Segrera, Head of the Coffee Routes Department of the Office of the Conservator of the City of Santiago de Cuba, explained that the exchange was continuity of the collaboration between Haitian and Cuban institutions as it has precedents in the years 2004 and 2010. (Source: PL)