The Third International Congress on Culture and Development, on the relationship of art, heritage, identity and the economy, met in Havana, Cuba from June 9-12. The congress issued a universal call for the creation of spaces to allow exchange of initiatives, strategies and projects "in a world ruled by neo-liberal globalization, which threatens our cultures, as it implies a homogenization of approaches and concepts." More than 800 delegates from 50 countries and 17 international organizations participated, making it the largest meeting of its kind. The Congress included artists, critics, teachers, promoters, researchers, development agents, officials and government institutions and organization leaders.

The conference was convoked by the Cuban Culture Ministry to debate the link between development and culture, in forums, plenary sessions and conferences. The largest number of delegates came from Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Italy, France, Brazil and Guatemala. Ministers of Culture from Guatemala, Mozambique, Mali, Haiti and Ecuador attended, along with vice ministers from Venezuela, the Virgin Islands and Angola. Representatives from the UN, UNESCO, SELA (the Latin American Economic System) and the Andres Bello Covenant also participated. Personalities included Italian Valerio Massimo Manfredi, author of the best-selling Alessandro; Argentine filmmaker Fernando Pino Solanas; Venezuelan writer Luis Britto Garcia; and Brazilian guitarist Egberto Gismonti, who held a concert during the proceedings.

As part of the artistic activities organized for the participants, the Cuban National Ballet world-premiered Contemporanea Dance. Participants enjoyed fine arts exhibits, concerts and visits to museums.

Topics of discussion included: Biennal Art Festivals as Contemporary Artistic Practices; Reading, the Book, and Literature in the Third Millennium; and Theatre and the Public, Universes that Come Together.

Other points of debate were: the Music Industry; Artistic and Musical Creativity — Protection of Patrimony from Market Challenges; Audiovisual Means, an Unlimited Future; Participation and Socio-cultural Development; Cultural Patrimony: Historic Centres and Intangible Patrimony.

The program closed with Third World Libraries; Art and Cultural Training: Concepts, Strategies and Conflicts; and Culture in the Digital Era.

Pre-Congress workshops were held on the following themes: Identities, Psychology and Culture; Panorama of Cuban Dance; Cuban Theatre: Current Situation and Perspective; Pedagogy and Art, and Cultural Policies and Development.

Other workshops included: Master Class, a Panorama of Cuban Percussion; Methodological Tools for Teaching Popular Traditional Dance; Workshop for the Protection of the Audiovisual Patrimony, and a Seminar-Workshop on Animation.

Cuban President Fidel Castro addressed the closing session of the Congress on June 12. That morning, some one million people marched through the streets of Havana against the recent European Union statement proposing measures against the island, backing the aggressive anti-Cuba policy of the U.S. government. In his address to the Congress, President Castro condemned the recent U.S. provocations against Cuba and the double standards of the European Union, which "never said anything about the thousands of men and women assassinated by the counterrevolutions in Nicaragua, Mozambique, Angola, Vietnam or Chile."

The Congress participants also issued a statement in support of Cuba. See text below.

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The warmongering leaders of Washington, flinging themselves into the irrational undertaking of imposing their rule throughout the world in the 21st century and the third millennium, continue to exercise their plans for the War Without End.

Still immersed in its campaign of destruction in Iraq that incited the repudiation of humanity, they are now aiming at a new target: the Independent Republic of Cuba, which they have not been able to conquer for over 40 years, despite having resorted to every possible provocation. The island is currently in the sights of Washington’s escalated negotiating away of the principle of sovereignty of nations and the self-determination of peoples.

Taking into account the difficulties that the aggressive superpower experienced with some of its European allies in the case of Iraq, it is now taking the trouble to subjugate them as the accomplices of its new conquests. It has decided to utilize Cuba assmall change in order to overcome disagreements and jointly undertake a new colonization of all the countries rejecting the old slavery, by dressing it up in new pseudo-modern clothing.

The European Union governments, under the thumb of Bush and his gang, are now submissively obeying the superpower. In order to ingratiate themselves with it and participate in the plunder, they have approved the anti-Cuban attack, which could be a preludeto new aggressions calculated to produce a second Iraq.

Cuba will never become a second Iraq!

We are certain that the people of the earth, who represent humanity’s feelings in their purest essence, will take to the streets of the five continents as they did before the invasion of Iraq, to say in no uncertain terms: "No to war, yes to peace!"

Without any doubt the European Union’s decision does not interpret the will of this continent’s peoples, connected by so many links in terms of nations, and as part of a universal culture and a common humanity.

It is an extremely serious challenge for the world. The reply should be immediate and massive because, when all is said and done, it is about the destiny of human beings in this new millennium. The peoples yearn to be free and sovereign and to live as dignified and respectable human beings. They will rise to their feet and triumph.

Havana, June 12, 2003