Santiago de Cuba Symposium: Five-hundred years of culture and history

By: Susana Méndez

The Santiago de Cuba symposium: Five-hundred years of culture and history, sponsored by the Cuban Writers and Artists Association (UNEAC) Provincial Branch, the City Historian Office and the National Association of Historians of Cuba (UNHIC) Provincial Branch in Santiago de Cuba, will take place in this city from May 21 to 23, on occasion of celebrating the foundation of this town in 1515, and the 62nd anniversary of the attack to Guillermon Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, in July, 1953.

Prestigious historians, researchers and professors will attend this event that will be held at the City Salon of the Municipal People's Power. There will be Ph.D. María del Carmen Barcia Zequeira, Ibrahím Hidalgo Paz, Olga Portuondo Zúñiga and Msc. Elda Cento Gómez.

The symposium consists of different lectures and panels; these latter will deal with the following topics: Foundation of Santiago de Cuba village: features and miscegenation, its status as capital of Cuba; Santiago de Cuba at the colonial times; Slavery and Society; Personalities of the history and culture of Santiago; Santiago de Cuba: during the Republic and the Revolution times, and Music, Literature and Art: personalities and significant moments.

Lectures will be taught by Ph.D. Olga Portuondo Zúñiga and María del Carmen Barcia, as well as by also Ph.D. Ibrahím Hidalgo Paz.

The program also includes book and magazine presentations, besides visits to institutions of sites of cultural and historical nature in Santiago de Cuba.

Source: Cubarte