13 February 2009/ Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean
The “Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean” (www.lacult.org), project of the Forum of Ministers of Culture and Officials in Charge of Cultural Policies of Latin America and the Caribbean, will soon launch its version in French. The Website has been published in Spanish since December 2002, and in English since March 2004. In 2008, the Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean registered a total of 8 681 092 hits of 480 227 visits ( BACK )

13 February 2009/ Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean
The Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Koichiro Matsuura, responded to official invitations from the governments of Cuba, Antigua & Barbuda, Grenada, Chile and Argentina.
Mr. Matsuura was received in the Republic of Cuba on 18 and 19 January 2009, in his first official visit to that Member State. The Director-General of UNESCO met with the President of the Council of Ministers and Council of State of Cuba, His Excellency Raúl Castro as well as with other high governmental authorities. During the meeting with the Cuban Head of State, both agreed on the purpose of continuing strengthening cooperation relations between Cuba and the UN agency. Mr. Matsuura expressed his pleasure for being able to visit Cuba and conveyed his best wishes to Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz. He also acknowledged the Cuban government and the Cuban people for their permanent support to the work developed by UNESCO, as is shown in the ratification of most of the legal instruments of the Organization in the field of Culture. The Director-General of UNESCO also was received at the Organization’s Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Havana, and toured the Historic Center of Old Havana, inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1982.
Koichiro Matsuura then traveled to Antigua & Barbuda, thus making the first ever official visit of a UNESCO Director-General to this Caribbean Member State on 20 and 21 January 2009. Mr Matsuura met with Mr Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, whom he congratulated on the speech he gave on behalf of the G-77 and China at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2008. He expressed satisfaction at Antigua and Barbuda’s growing interaction with the United Nations system, including the renewed engagement with UNESCO in all its areas of competence. In the area of culture, the Director-General encouraged the country’s aspiration to have one of its cultural sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Director-General, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, paid his first official visit to Grenada between 21 and 23 January 2009. It was the first official visit of a UNESCO Director-General to the UNESCO Member State. The Director-General had a bilateral meeting with the Honourable Tillman Thomas, Prime Minister of Grenada and with the key ministers in his Cabinet. Mr Matsuura began by expressing his deep satisfaction with the positive attitude of the new Government in Grenada towards UNESCO, and its increased engagement with the United Nations system more generally. In the area of culture, the Director-General underlined the prestige attached to having a site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and offered the Organization’s assistance to Grenada to attain this end while at the same time congratulated Grenada’s recognition of this as evidenced by their rapid ratification of three of UNESCO’s international conventions related to Cultural Heritage, Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
On February 9 to 11 2009, the Director-General of UNESCO paid his second visit to Chile, with an agenda including meetings with ministerial authorities and a special visit to Easter Island to learn in detail about the restoration works on monuments implemented with the support of the Organization. He also met with the Director and the staff in the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Latin America and th Caribbean, based in Santiago de Chile.
On 12 February, the Director-General continued his trip to Buenos Aires to inaugurate the International Center for the Promotion of Human Rights, sponsored by UNESCO, and headquartered at the former Escuela Mecánica de la Armada (Navy Mechanics School) (ESMA), the largest secret detention and extermination center during the last military dictatorship that ruled Argentina (1976-1983). The opening of the Center also includes the closing of the campaign for the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by UNESCO. ( BACK )

12 February 2009/ UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean and Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean
In keeping with the objectives of the Second Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase, dedicated to children and young people in our region, and following the mandates of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that the mass media shall ensure that the child has access to information and material from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and physical and mental health, the International Organizing Committee calls for the forum Film and Audiovisual Production and Exhibition for Children and Young People in the Caribbean: Realities and Prospects, was held in Havana, Cuba, on 9 - 11 February 2009.
The opening ceremony was presided over by filmmaker and Chairman of the Showcase Mr. Rigoberto López Pego; Mr. Herman van Hooff, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean; Mr. José Juan Ortiz, UNICEF Representative in Cuba and Mr. Omar González, President of the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC). Also present in the ceremony were Mr. Fernando Rojas, Vice minister of Culture of the Republic of Cuba, as well as Ambassadors and diplomats of the countries participating in the Showcase.
The Forum included a wide range of topics related to audiovisual and films and their relation with the younger audiences in which well-known and prestigious specialists from Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, United Kingdom, Dominican Republic and Trinidad & Tobago participated as well.
The main objective of the Forum was to provide a space for reflection and debate to asees the experiences from the Second Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase, and to discuss the relationship between children and young people with the audiovisual and its impact on the construction of their identities.
There were significant activities as part of the Forum, such as a meeting of the delegates with the Minister of Culture of the republic of Cuba, H.E. Abel Prieto; screenings of the films participating in the Second Traveling Showcase in several communities of the Cuban capital city; visits to the Animation Studios of ICAIC and to the Office of the Showcase and a Workshop for Children and Young People. Several Films of the Second Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase were exhibited in Havana, Matanzas and Santiago de Cuba while the Forum was in session.
International Organizing Committee
Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase
Mr. Rigoberto López, President
Mr. Alberto Notario, Coordinator
mr. Pablo Ramos, Advisor
Office of the Traveling Caribbean Film Showcase
Tel : (537) 838-2859
Fax: (537) 838-1188
E-mail: muestracaribe@icaic.cu
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11 February 2008/ Portal of Culture of Latin America and the Caribbean
Casa de las Américas, the Cuban institution created by Haydée Santamaría, celebrates in 2009 its 50th Anniversary with a comprehensive program. Celebrations will be honored with the participation of intellectuals and artists from Latin America and Europe.
As part of the activities scheduled for the anniversary, the institution prepared a year-long exhibition of 100 works from its collection of Latin American kinetic art.
Furthermore, some 30 new titles will be published, most of them by authors from Chile, country guest of honor of the 18th International Book Fair of Havana.
One of the most moving moments will be the ceremony in tribute to the founder of the Institution, Haydeé Santamaría. Activities include a special concert and a compilation of part of her letters and documents from her personal archives.
The literary award sponsored by Casa, also in its 50th edition, was held from 2 to 11 February. This year an extraordinary award was presented to Latino studies in the United States.
Two International Colloquiums, the awards for music, La joven estampa, and two other symposiums, one dedicated to Caribbean journals, complete the agenda of the celebrations.
Foreign institutions and intellectuals working with Casa will participate in other events that will also celebrate the anniversary, namely the Book Fairs of Quito, Bogotá, Monterrey, Santo Domingo and Ceará, and the festival of contemporary music of Peru. ( BACK )

4 February 2009/ UNESCO Media Advisory N°2009-04
On 13 February, UNESCO’s Director-General, Koïchiro Matsuura, will preside over the inauguration in Buenos Aires, Argentina, of the International Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights. Under the auspices of UNESCO, it will operate from buildings formerly occupied by ESMA, the Navy Mechanics School. During Argentina’s military dictatorship (1976-1983), ESMA became the largest centre for the detention and execution of civilians.
This ceremony will bring to a close UNESCO’s campaign to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The creation of the International Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights was approved by UNESCO’s Executive Board in October 2008. According to human rights organizations, some 5000 ‘disappeared’ detainees were held at ESMA, of whom 90% were murdered. Other crimes were also committed there, including torture and the kidnapping of babies.
In 2004, the ensemble of buildings and grounds on the 17-hectare city-centre site was dedicated to the memory of the 30,000 disappeared victims of the last military government. The International Centre is due to open in 2010, to coincide with celebrations of the bicentenary of the Argentine Republic.
Among its aims, the new Centre intends to promote democratic governance, consolidate human rights and the pre-eminence of the values of life, liberty and human dignity.
The Centre will also be used to encourage information- and skill-sharing between governmental and non-governmental organizations, emphasizing South-South cooperation. It will be used to hold international workshops and conferences, as well as cultural and academic activities, aimed at informing stakeholders and raising awareness of the existence and importance of human rights.
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22 January 2009/ Secretariat of Culture of Argentina
With new images and two new institutional spots for television, Argentina launched the Campaign Against Illicit Traffic of Cultural Property in 16 airports and more than one hundred border crossings in all the country.
The painting "Cabeza de mujer" (Portrait of a Woman), by Pierre-Auguste Renoir –stolen in 1980 from the National Museum of Fine Arts and recovered in 2005 by Interpol Argentina- and a 1836 gold coin with the picture of Juan Manuel de Rosas –stolen in February and recovered in May 2008 by the Argentine federal Police -, and several other objects recovered in the last three years are included in the new posters and clips.
“The success of the previous campaign has given us a new impetus to move on in 2009 with a second phase of the campaign, because looting of archaeological and paleontology sites claims for a renewed and permanent awareness raising of the citizens, and strengthen security measures implemented in museums and sites where cultural property is exhibited”, said the Secretary of Culture of the Nation, His Excellency José Nun.
Apart from the new pieces recovered, the communication strategy includes updating Argentina’s Red List and its translation into English. The document is a list of the cultural properties that are prone to looting and robbery, and the commercialization of which is punishable by law, according to Act 2574. This instrument was passed by the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences “Bernardino Rivadavia”, and by the National Institute of Anthropology and Latin American Thought (INAPL).
The campaign was designed by the Communications group of the Secretariat of Culture with support from Airports Argentina 2000. Estimates foresee that over 13 million people will be watching the graphic advertisement at airports and border crossings in which the images are shown.
“The strategy of the campaign aims at generating and raising awareness on the importance of protecting our heritage. The objective is to encourage the general public to learn about, respect and preserve our cultural identity”, explained Diego Marquis, director of Communications of the Secretariat of Culture.
The initiative, furthermore, makes accessible to everyone information about the Argentine cultural heritage. Fourteen pairs of images are used to explain which ones are artistic, archaeological and paleonthology property the people must learn to recognize and preserve.
Together with the Communications Division and the National Department of Cultural heritage and Museums of the Secretariat of Culture participated in the Campaign the Argentine Committee for the Struggle Against the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Heritage composed by the following agencies: Department of Visual Arts; National Institute of Anthropology and Latin American Thought; Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences "Bernardino Rivadavia"; National Library; Division of International Agencies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Cult; National Argentine Commission of UNESCO; Interpol Department; National Direction of the Gendarmerie; Argentine Naval Command; Airport Security Police; General Customs; Argentine Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM); National Academy of Fine Arts; National Academy of History and; Office of the Attorney General for the Investigation of Tax Crime and Contraband.
Contact:
Claudia Cabouli
General Coordinator
National Division of Museums and Heritage
Secretariat of Culture of the Nation – Presidency of the Nation
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