Cuba celebrates its culture

By María Josefina Arce

On such an important date for Cubans, 10 October, which marks the beginning of the struggle for Cuban independence 156 years ago, the day begins with the celebration of Cuban Culture Day, synonymous with resistance and the defense of patriotic values.

Since 1980, the 20th of October has been declared Cuban Culture Day, in memory of the day in 1868 when the Bayamo anthem was sung for the first time in the city of Bayamo, declared the national hymn of Cuba, born from the purest feelings and libertarian aspirations of patriots, including musicians, poets and intellectuals.

And, as historians point out, the history of our acts of independence is also the history of our culture.

This day is an opportunity to pay tribute to those who, through the ages, have defended our identity, that mixture of races, traditions and customs, of different cultural manifestations.

It is a tribute to the artists, creators, historians and intellectuals who have brought Cuban culture to every corner of the country, to inaccessible mountain communities or to prisons, making a right guaranteed by the Revolution a reality.

Since January 1959, a profound transformation has been taking place in all areas, saving our culture and freeing it from the colonizing ideology that has always tried to harm our nationality.

From the outset, the Revolution's cultural policy was designed to encourage popular participation in cultural processes and to make the best of Cuban and world art available to the people.

However, it has also been an area that has not escaped the restrictions imposed by the US blockade, which has hindered the development of numerous initiatives for the benefit and satisfaction of Cubans, as well as the promotion, dissemination and commercialization of our cultural talents, while at the same time launching media campaigns against the creators who continue to work in the country, but our artists and intellectuals continue to exalt, through their creations, the emancipating work of the Revolution, defending our values and resisting the difficulties and attacks of the colonizers.