Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Havana, April 28th. – The prestigious Cuban institution Casa de las Américas celebrates its 66th anniversary today, with that transformative spirit that finds in art and culture a haven of peace, dialogue, and integration.
This is the home of Haydée Santamaría, Roberto Fernández Retamar, and so many other artists and intellectuals of immense worth. Casa is a space of creation and yearning, where imagination, love, and the longing for a better world reside.
Reaching the iconic gray tower, climbing each step to immerse yourself in its history, carefully exploring its walls and halls, and immersing yourself in that indescribable mystique, is a pleasurable experience for the visitor. Music, literature, exhibitions, and thought-provoking encounters converge in perfect harmony with the spirit of the institution, committed to promoting and disseminating Latin American and Caribbean art.
Although, if anything defines it, it is its ability to summon wisdom and understanding. It is worth mentioning here the worldwide support that Franco-Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet's open letter to then-US President Joe Biden, demanding Cuba's removal from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, garnered in 2024. Casa de las Américas played a crucial role in that battle.
The Casa Tomada Gathering of Young Thought and Creation in the Americas is another initiative led by the organization, which fosters reflection and exchange among creators and artists from Latin America and the Caribbean.
How can we forget the Casa de las Américas Literary Prize, which receives a massive response every year; the 2025 edition just concluded, and its success was similar to previous years.
Solidarity with the world's greatest causes is a permanent commitment of the institution: it has always supported the Palestinian people and condemned the atrocious genocide committed by the State of Israel.
Casa de las Américas has been a decolonizing project since its inception, and confronting cultural colonization is part of our mission, its vice president, Jaime Gómez Triana, emphasized in an interview with Prensa Latina.
The institution's president, renowned writer and intellectual Abel Prieto, is working on this issue together with the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and has toured the country to present it, he added.
Gómez Triana also stated that we will remain committed to promoting and disseminating Latin American and Caribbean art, making Casa a space inhabited and frequented by the continent's creators. May it continue to be that home to which everyone comes and in which everyone recognizes themselves, and may it continue to be even more so for the younger generations.
We work for a House that is always young and conscious of its legacy, memory, and future; a protector of its heritage, archives, art collections, and bibliographical resources. (Text and photo: PL)
