The city of Arequipa, Peru, in a panoramic image. Julio Del Carpio (Hay Festival)
Spain has offered Peru that the ninth International Congress of the Spanish Language (CILE), scheduled for Arequipa from March 27 to 30, begin in Cádiz and close in the Peruvian city, given the political and social instability of the Andean country, they have informed sources of the organization.
Just three months after the event, Spain has launched this proposal, a plan B that would consist of sharing the headquarters of Congress, due to the government crisis due to the fall of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo and the riots in the streets that are taking place these days. throughout the country.
The great event on the situation, problems and challenges of Spanish, which brings together academics, philologists, writers and artists every three years in a Spanish-speaking country, walks through uncertainty, but a decision is expected to be made "in the next few days". ,
according to the same sources.
What has been ruled out is that the appointment was held online.
The aforementioned sources add that the Foreign Ministry is in talks with Peru.
The Government of Spain would support this appointment with economic support and infrastructure to avoid expenses for the Government of Lima, which plans to hold elections in April 2024, after the failed self-coup of President Castillo on December 7, which led to his arrest and the appointment of Dina Boluarte as successor.
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This movement from Spain has been followed by the urgent call for a plenary session at the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), this Thursday, at 11:00 a.m., by its director, Santiago Muñoz Machado, to address this issue, according to sources from the institution. .
In the previous plenary session held by the Academy, on December 15, the director already raised this matter, explains an academic source.
That day, the Nobel laureate and academic Mario Vargas Llosa, who was attending the session, took the floor to admit that, given the current circumstances, "it was unfeasible to hold the congress for security reasons," adds the same source.
A particularly significant voice, since the author of
Conversation in the Cathedral
was the personality who insisted that his hometown host the congress.
The plenary session of the RAE "approves of the option of Cádiz", a city with a special link with America and where the first liberal Spanish Constitution was promulgated, on March 19, 1812, with an important presence in those courts of citizens arrived from the still American colonies of Spain.
Another issue to take into account is the theme of the congress, whose motto is Spanish language, miscegenation and interculturality, "a sensitive matter", adds the same source, in a country that is experiencing an escalation of protests.
Outside the doors, the RAE refers to the words of its director, on Tuesday, during the presentation of the update of the
Dictionary of the Spanish language.
“The congress is going ahead and it is not contemplated that it will not be held except for the political instability of the country.
The situation is delicate and the Peruvian Government itself could decide not to celebrate it;
or also the academies as a whole, with which we are in contact”.
The final decision will depend on what the representatives of the Peruvian and Spanish governments agree.
What the 23 language academies in the world say about it is important, but in no decisive case.
Regarding the organization of the CILE, it should be explained that they are promoted by the Instituto Cervantes, dependent on Foreign Affairs, and the RAE, which together with the other 22 Spanish-language institutions in the world is in charge of the scientific program.
It is, therefore, an agreement of a political nature between the country that hosts it, in charge of the organization expenses, and the Government of Spain through Cervantes.
In fact, on November 11, the presentation ceremony of the congress was held in Arequipa, with the presence, among others, of the director of Cervantes, Luis García Montero, and that of the RAE, Muñoz Machado;
in addition to the mayor of the city and the president of the Peruvian Academy of Language.
That day it was announced that writers such as Sergio Ramírez, Héctor Abad Faciolince, Gioconda Belli, Santiago Roncagliolo, Jorge Volpi or Martín Caparrós would be there in March.
In total, more than 250 lecturers and speakers.
Likewise, it was recalled that the honorary presidency would be formed by King Felipe and President Castillo, today in prison.
Demonstrators in favor of former President Castillo in Arequipa, on December 16. DIEGO RAMOS (AFP)
The Arequipa congress has already suffered a delay, because it should have been held in 2022. Now what is weighing on the new decisions is the question of security, because, as usual at these appointments, the King will attend, among other authorities .
So far, the social outbreak in Peru has caused almost thirty deaths in the protests after the fall of Castillo, for which the country's Prosecutor's Office requests 18 months of preventive detention.
For all these reasons, the Spanish organization has shown that the Cádiz City Council is willing to co-host the congress, since it has already been working since 2020 on its candidacy to opt for 2025. "It is desirable that it could be held in Peru, because It would mean that this country recovers democratic normality”, Francisco Cano, councilor for the Presidency and Heritage of the Cadiz City Council and president of the Casa de Iberoamérica in that city, explains to this newspaper.
The councilor qualifies, however, that Cádiz would only be the framework for the celebration of "the program as it has been prepared by Arequipa" for this occasion, with the round tables and agreed speakers, and not with the own proposal that the Cádiz candidacy works on. —supported by flamenco and Carnival, hallmarks of the city— and which he presented in Madrid in November.
This candidacy was promoted by the Cádiz Press Association, and supported by the Diputación, the City Council, the Junta de Andalucía and other institutions, such as the Senate.
Cano assures that "the city is prepared and makes available to the organizers spaces for the development of the sessions, as well as the administration and logistics to welcome the more than 250 congressmen announced for the Arequipa congress."
Thus, the Palacio de Congresos de Cádiz, the Casa de Iberoamérica, the ECCO cultural space and other infrastructures dependent on the University of Cádiz, allied with the City Council in the Cadiz candidacy, have blocked the dates corresponding to the end of March 2023 before the eventuality that the great event of the Spanish language finally arrives in the Atlantic city.
If, on the other hand, the congress takes place in Arequipa, at the closing ceremony on March 30, the city that will host the next event would be announced, as is tradition.
In addition to Cádiz, San Millán de la Cogolla (La Rioja) is another candidate.
Since the first edition in Zacatecas (Mexico) in 1997, the following events were Valladolid (2001), Rosario (2004), Cartagena de Indias (2007), Valparaíso (2010), which was held online due to the earthquake, Ciudad de Panama (2013), San Juan de Puerto Rico (2016) and Córdoba (Argentina, 2019).
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