After three days of coordinating projects, experiences, and communication strategies to create, together with the public, a space for ideological debate, the 1st Granma-Rebelde International Festival concluded yesterday in Havana.
At the closing ceremony, attended by Yudí Rodríguez Hernández, a member of the Secretariat of the Party's Central Committee and head of its Service Department, and Yuniasky Crespo Baquero, a member of the Central Committee and head of the Ideological Department, a recognition was presented to the newspaper Juventud Rebelde for its 60 years of history and activism with Cuba and the young people it represents in its pages.
In his remarks on the event, Yuniel Labacena Romero, director of Juventud Rebelde, emphasized that the Festival had established itself as a "massive, open space that successfully integrated debate, cultural expression, the fair's offering, and direct community participation."
Yoerky Sánchez Cuéllar, director of the Granma newspaper, called for the second meeting, which will take place next year, and emphasized that one of the main conclusions is the need to continue defending peace in the face of illegal blockades and the direct threat of imperialism.
According to Labacena Romero, the true magnitude of the Festival was evident not only in participation figures, but also in the quality of popular interaction and the combination of political and cultural activities, which allowed the public and the national and international media to create a collaborative communication project for a better world.
Also attending the meeting were Emilio Lozada García, head of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (CCPCC); Roberto Pérez Jiménez, head of the Organization Department; and Meyvis Estévez Echevarría, first secretary of the National Committee of the Union of Young Communists (UJC).
With information from Granma
