10 July 2008/ ICCROM
A new regional programme for the conservation of cultural heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean (LATAM) will be launched in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, 14 - 17 July 2008.
The Meeting will be presided over by Mounir Bouchenaki, Director of ICCROM, institution jointly organizing the meeting with IILA, Unión Latina, the Embassy of Colombia in Italy and the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, thanks to the generous support from the Colombian authorities. The main objective of the LATAM programme is to create a network of persons and institutions to move together towards enhancing the care of cultural heritage in the region. Special emphasis will be given to activities promoting the participation of all sectors dealing with conservation, leading to innovative and sustainable collaboration mechanisms.
A delegation from the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean presided by its Director, Herman van Hooff, and integrated also by Víctor Marín, National Project Officer for Culture will also participate in the meeting.
Member States represented: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Spain, Venezuela. ( BACK )

10 July 2008/ PRENSA LATINA
With the "parade of fire" and the "burning of the devil" concluded yesterday in Santiago de Cuba the XXVIII Festival of the Caribbean, held from July 3 to 9, 2008 with the participation of over 600 guests from 18 countries and approximately 100 groups of artists both Cuban and foreign.
The closing ceremony, called Feast of Fire, dedicated this year to the popular culture of the Mexican states on the Caribbean, began in the afternoon of July 9, in the very central premises of the Parque Céspedes, with the colorful "parade of fire." Participants then "paraded" to the nearby coast line, where artists, guests and people in general merged together in a spectacular performance that lasted until the early hours.
The city vibrated for a whole week with the drums, the music, the voices and the dances that revealed the sensuality and cadence of Caribbean rhythms. Santiago was also driven by the explosion of color of visual arts, the magic-religious expressions, poetry readings, book presentations and other cultural activities. Simultaneous to the celebrations was held the World Meeting on Caribbean Popular Cultures, a scholarly event that rehabilitated such manifestations as part of the living culture of the peoples in the region.
Next year, Honduras will be country guest of honor in the Festival of the Caribbean, an event that for almost three decades has been putting together efforts in the promotion of popular culture ( BACK )

9 July 2008/ UNESCO Press Release n° 2008-59
The World Heritage Committee, meeting for its 32nd session, finished inscribing new sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List on 8 July with the addition of 19 cultural sites and eight natural sites to the List.
New cultural sites inscribed during the 32nd session: Preah Vihear Temple (Cambodia); Fujian Tulou (China); Stari Grad Plain (Croatia); Historic Centre of Camagüey (Cuba); Fortifications of Vauban (France); Berlin Modernism Housing Estates (Germany) Armenian Monastic Ensembles in Iran (Iran); Baha’i Holy Places in Haifa and Western Galilee (Israel); Mantua and Sabbioneta (Italy); The Mijikenda Kaya Forests (Kenya); Melaka and George Town, historic cities of the Straits of Malacca (Malaysia); Protective town of San Miguel and the Sanctuary of Jesús de Nazareno de Atotonilco (Mexico); Le Morne Cultural Landscape (Mauritius); Kuk Early Agricultural Site (Papua New Guinea); San Marino Historic Centre and Mount Titano (San Marino); Archaeological Site of Al-Hijr (Madâin Sâlih) (Saudi Arabia); The Wooden Churches of the Slovak part of Carpathian Mountain Area (Slovakia); Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Cultural Landscape (Switzerland and Italy); Chief Roi Mata's Domain (Vanuatu).
Natural properties inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List during the 32nd session:
Joggins Fossil Cliffs (Canada); Mount Sanqingshan National Park (China); Lagoons of New Caledonia: Reef Diversity and Associated Ecosystems (France); Surtsey (Iceland); Saryarka - Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan (Kazakhstan); Monarch Butterfly biosphere Reserve (Mexico); Swiss Tectonic Arena Sardona (Switzerland); Socotra Archipelago (Yemen)
Extensions added onto properties already on the World Heritage List:
Historic centres of Berat and Gjirokastra (Albania); Mountain Railways of India; Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain; The Antonine Wall (United Kingdom). The following countries have had sites inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List for the first time this year: Papua New Guinea; San Marino and Saudi Arabia, Vanuatu. UNESCO’s World Heritage List now numbers a total of 878 sites, 679 cultural and 174 natural sites and 25 mixed in 145 countries. ( BACK )

27 June 2008/ UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean
Participants in the International Workshop for Risk Reduction to Cultural Heritage in the Caribbean, organized in Havana, Cuba by the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, as part of the Caribbean Capacity Building Programme (CCBP) for the World Heritage in the Caribbean of the World Heritage Center, agreed to establish a working contact network to favor permanent exchange of information and documentation on the prevention and reduction of risks to heritage in the region, thus expanding and improving their preparedness for risks and the protection of heritage.
The Workshop dealt with Risk Reduction to cultural heritage taking into consideration the beginning of the hurricane season in the Caribbean and the attention it is granted in Cuba within the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The week-long Workshop was held at the Convent of Santa Clara, headquarters of the National Center for Conservation, Restoration and Museology (CENCREM) and sponsored by the UNESCO Chair also based at CENCREM. The program of the workshop included technical visits, practical classes, panels and lectures. Very important was the proposal to create a network of experts, coordinated from the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean. The organizers will soon publish contact information and operation mechanisms to facilitate wider exchanges in the field.
The objectives of the Workshop were met, one of them train in risk reduction measures the 35 participants representing 14 world heritage sites from seven countries. Also participating in the Workshop was the staff of the inter agency risk reduction team of the United Nations Agencies based in Cuba, thus establishing a pilot experience under the framework of the UNESCO/WHC Caribbean Capacity Building Programme for World Heritage (CCBP).
UNESCO Offices in Kingston, Jamaica and Port au Prince, Haiti collaborated closely with the Havana Office to promote and facilitate the exchange of expertise between experts from several Caribbean States. This first pilot experience of the CCBP also had the cooperation of outstanding experts from the Cuban Civil Defense system, the Institute of Meteorology, the School of Architecture of Havana, the National Center for Protected Natural Areas, the Blue Shield section in Cuba and several colleagues from 14 Caribbean world heritage sites, and museums of Cuba and the Bahamas.
The Caribbean Capacity Building Programme (CCBP) is one of the six projects of the Forum of Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies of Latin America and the Caribbean adopted in the XV annual meeting held in Trinidad and Tobago in June 2007. ( BACK )

24 June 2008/ UNESCO Havana
The official Program of the Second Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase was presented on June 23. This year, the Showcase will be dedicated to Caribbean children and teenagers. Participating in the Press Conference were the President of the Showcase, Mr. Rigoberto López Pego, Ms. Montserrat Martell Domingo, Culture Programme Specialist at the UNESCO HAVANA Office and some members of the International Jury, such as Frantz Voltaire, Suzette Zayden and Pablo Ramos among others.
Some 116 works from 16 countries (Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Venezuela) were submitted to the Second Traveling Caribbean Showcase, out of which were selected 45 films from 12 countries to represent the Showcase while traveling through 28 Caribbean countries. Among the works are Alma Negra (Black Soul) from Haiti, recipient of the Gold Lion at the Berlin Festival; La serpiente y el cielo (The Snake and Heavens) from Colombia and Abigail from Suriname.
The selection of the films that will travel with the Showcase was made on June 18 to 22 by a Jury of well known and prestigious specialists and filmmakers.
The Second Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase, dedicated to Children and teenagers of the Caribbean, is a joint effort of ICAIC, the UNESCO Offices in the Caribbean (Havana, Kingston and Port of Prince), and the UNICEF Office in Havana. This time, the Showcase includes fiction, animation and documentaries in film or video, and its target audience will be children and teenagers. The initiative meets the objectives of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and the Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and acknowledges the rights of children and youth expressed in the 1989 International Convention approved by UNICEF.
ICAIC has subtitled in English, French, Spanish and Haitian Creole all the films in the Showcase. The works selected for the Showcase will become part of the collections of the Videotheque of the Caribbean. TELESUR will also contribute to its dissemination in the region. ( BACK )

23 June2008/ Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean
Cuba, Paraguay and Venezuela have been elected to the UNESCO Committee for the safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The vote was held during the Second Session of the States Parties of the Convention on Intangible Heritage which met from 16 to 19 June at UNESCO's Headquarter in Paris, France.
Together with Mexico and Peru, members of the Committee since 2006, there are now 5 Member States from Latin America and the Caribbean. The Committee is responsible for promoting the objectives of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. Furthermore, members are responsible for advising, and making recommendations for the protection of such important heritage. ( BACK )

13 June 2008/ Office of Press and Communications, Secretariat of Culture of Argentina
On the 12th of June, the Ministers of Culture of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Chile approved a document with the recommendations for the Forum of Political Consultation and Coordination in which the presidents of Mercosur will be meeting on the 1st of July in San Miguel de Tucumán. Among the issues in the agenda is the implementation of the MERCOSUR Cultural Seal, to allow free circulation of cultural goods and services among the countries in the region.
The recommendations were approved during the XXVI Meeting of Ministers of Culture of Mercosur and Associate States that ended on the 12th of June in Buenos Aires. This was the last meeting held under the temporary presidency of Argentina in the Regional Coordinating Committee of Mercosur Cultural. From now on, Brazil will chair the Committee.
Other projects were also approved in the meeting, such as the creation and design of Cultural and Literary Itineraries which will include the Route of Maté, the Rubber Tree Road, Guaraní Cultural Universe, the Qhapaq Ñan Path and the Route of the Guaraní Jesuits Missions among others. Progress was also achieved in the creation of a Mercosur Cultural website with a section devoted to cultural diversity. The countries of MERCOSUR also analyzed and supported the presentation made by Argentina on the various regional actions to be undertaken on the Bicentennial Anniversary of National Independence of the countries in the regions. Based on a Project submitted by Venezuela, the Virtual Museum of Latin America and the Caribbean was also created, an endeavor to digitize and catalogue the collections in national museums of the countries in the region. Argentina also submitted the proposal for a Cultural Information System of Argentina (SInCA) to be replicated in the future by the rest of the countries of Mercosur.( BACK )