Caribbean Carnivals Network Created in Santiago de Cuba
The Caribbean Carnival Network, which comprises important celebrations of the region, was established on July 6 at the City Hall, within the framework of the celebrations for the 35th edition of Fiesta del Fuego, taking place at the city through July 9.
Kenia Dorta, Deputy Director of Research with Casa del Caribe, explained that this move fulfills agreements taken during the 5th Summit of Heads of State and/or Government of States, Countries and Territories of the Association of Caribbean States, in Haiti, and the 1st Meeting of Caribbean Carnivals, held in Barranquilla, Colombia, both in 2013.
Dorta pointed out that the main goal of the network is to share ideas, experiences and strategies so as to strengthen those events as collective mobilization fiestas, as part of the present context of Caribbean societies, influenced by urbanization processes, technological development and globalization.
Likewise, she said, it will foster cultural cooperation and contribute to the construction and preservation process of the Caribbean identity, by means of lectures, seminars, book fairs, interdisciplinary research on those festivities and coordination ways.
The network is made up of Grenada, Guatemala, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Haiti, Panama, Dominican Republic, Trinidad & Tobago, as well as the Carnivals of Barranquilla, Colombia, and Junkanoo in Las Bahamas, the honorable guest country in the 35th Fiesta del Fuego.
The development positions these festivities as identity cultural expressions of the region, a force of integration at social level, a space of artistic expression and tourism attraction.
