Cuba’s Pro-Government Intellectuals Denounce US “Cultural War”

Cuba's Pro-Government Intellectuals Denounce US "Cultural War" / EFE,
14ymedio

EFE/via 14ymedio, Havana, 20 October 2016 — The National Union of
Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) and the Hermanos Saiz Association on
Thursday blamed the United States for being behind a "war of culture and
symbols" against Cuba and warned that "any naiveté in this sense could
be very expensive for the sovereignty and independence" of the country.

"It is obvious that the war of culture and symbols that we confront is
based on an explicit laid out in the statements of the leaders of the US
themselves and in documents of that country's armed forced," says a
message from these groups collected in the official press to mark the
Day of Cuban Culture.

The two associations, that include the intellectuals of the island's
officialdom, say that they are trying to "undermine" unite, and "sow
doubts" and demobilize.

"Although those who attack us have failed to break the commitment of the
vanguard of Cuba's artists and intellectuals with the Revolution, they
do not pause in their attempts," affirms the letter, published by the
newspaper Juventud Rebelde .

The letter stresses that "history itself has been charged with
demonstrating that it is not possible to imagine the survival of a
socialist revolution if it is not accompanied by a profound cultural
transformation that reaches the level of common sense."

It also quotes former President Fidel Castro, who defined culture as the
"shield and sword of the nation" and the current ruler, his brother Raul
Castro, who recently warned that the field of Cuban culture is "doubly"
threatened by " subversive projects" and" the global wave of colonization."

Intellectuals also refer to the economic embargo the United Stats has
maintained for five decades against the island and whose "attacks" has
been "suffered directly" by Cuban culture.

On October 20 Cuba celebrates National Culture Day in commemoration of
the first singing of the country's anthem, in the city of Bayamo.

Source: Cuba's Pro-Government Intellectuals Denounce US "Cultural War" /
EFE, 14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cubas-pro-government-intellectuals-denounce-us-cultural-war-efe-14ymedio/