The most Spanish FIL bets on tradition to heal diplomatic wounds with Mexico | EUROtoday

The chronicles of 2019 recounted a cheerful assembly that led to tears of emotion with the alternate of a e book titled in the identical boat. They had been Juan Manuel Santos and the guerrilla Rodrigo Londoño, Timochenko. For years that they had wished to kill one another, as they heard, however that day, the previous Colombian president and his former enemy from the FARC had been laughing fortunately. Peace was signed and a e book concluded, maybe, some glimmer of friendship. Journalists crowded to witness the relaxed dialog between each males on the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), a setting the place politics flowed cradled between printed pages. The FIL has at all times been that, “a good space for dialogue to heal wounds,” within the phrases of Nubia Macías, who directed it for 10 years. This yr, the nation invited to Mexico’s nice cultural occasion is Spain, simply when relations between each international locations are rocky. Macías trusts in tradition as “the best intermediary for dialogue.”

In this thirty eighth version of the truthful, the presence of the brand new Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and maybe some alternate with Spanish authorities of equal degree was anticipated, however the invites have been declined. “We do not lose hope,” stated FIL director Marisol Schulz. But the diplomatic disagreement that arose at Sheinbaum’s investiture on October 1, to which the king of Spain was not invited resulting from one other earlier controversy, continues to be very recent.

The earlier Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (who by no means wished to attend the truthful and described it as a bourgeois occasion), wrote a letter to Felipe VI in 2019 during which he instructed a joint ceremony, to mark the five hundred years of the conquest. , the place the monarchy acknowledged the grievances induced in these instances. It was about therapeutic wounds, however the matter ended up opening them. All in all, the truthful has led to a primary assembly between the Mexican Secretary of Culture, Claudia Curiel, and her Spanish counterpart, Ernest Urtasun, which was held this Friday in Mexico City, the place agreements within the cultural discipline had been mentioned.

The Spanish exile in Mexico after the Civil War is without doubt one of the backbones of this truthful and presumably probably the most nice assembly between two international locations, which then sealed robust diplomatic ties and brotherhood between their peoples that persist right now, thanks, in good measure, to the cultural alternate that was promoted and that’s mirrored within the FIL program. The names of León Felipe, Max Aub, María Zambrano, Luis Cernuda, Angelina Muñiz-Huberman, maybe Carmen Castellote, Mada Carreño, Luisa Carnés and plenty of others who constructed bridges between Mexico and Spain that may at all times stand will likely be heard once more. They are a great foundation for political dialogue, as a result of with these there aren’t any discrepancies.

“The FIL goes for literature, because there is already a feeling of belonging with this cultural meeting that represents all Mexicans, but politicians have always liked to be in that photo,” says Macías. “The FIL is no longer just from Guadalajara, it is also from Latin America, which feels it is its own, and Spain has always ratified that commitment to two-way dialogue,” he provides. It was the visitor nation in 2000, Andalusia, Castilla y León and Catalan Culture had been in different editions and subsequent yr will probably be Barcelona’s flip. On these events, the presidents of the autonomous communities had been current and in addition the king, who was then prince of Asturias. “Spain has always had a genuine interest in maintaining communication ties with Mexico and Latin America and that, I think, is a good sign,” says Macías. In the identical manner, “the FIL dignifies the cultural power of Mexico,” he assures.

The Mexican María Luisa Capella, daughter of Spanish exiles and a terrific connoisseur of each cultures, would additionally like this FIL to “soften the relations of the two countries, it would be convenient,” she says. But he believes that “the king’s serious lack of respect for López Obrador’s letter was diplomatic imprudence and contempt” that won’t be remedied on the stroke of a pen. Capella, who labored as a library supervisor on the Mexican embassy in Spain, directed the Economic Culture Fund and represented the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Spain, believes that Mexicans felt “the contempt of the king,” for which signifies that the circumstances for conferences on the highest degree at this truthful are usually not but met. Despite this, he believes that a bit extra promoting would have been wanted, given {that a} good a part of this system offers with Republican exile, a web page of harmony and brotherhood. “Of course it would have been a great opportunity and it would be a great start if there was a meeting, but if Sheinbaum has to meet with the monarch, well no,” he says. “We must try to reestablish these relations as soon as possible, and this would have been a good time to work with the authorities of both countries. You have to take advantage of any opportunity, and FIL is certainly one,” he says.

The FIL can also be a “scenario to disseminate ideas and thoughts, it allows political interests and disagreements to sit down and negotiate,” says Macías. And she is aware of it effectively, as a result of when she was director she needed to cope with some altercations that occurred in 2001, when Cuba was the visitor nation. “It was complicated, Cubans and Mexicans revolted, some high-profile writers like Vargas Llosa and Enrique Krauze asked to be expelled, and Rafael Rojas, a historian at the College of Mexico, a Cuban exile and son of Fidel Castro’s doctor, we had to protect him because he They strongly rebuked them in one of their interventions. But it was solved,” he says. And from that political battle one other of probably the most thrilling tales resulted. “The Castro Vice Minister of Culture, who was Rojas’s brother, had also come. We met the two of them in a restaurant, they cried for hours, it was a moving scene, a reunion of brothers and politicians,” summarizes Macías.

Politics had been at all times current within the FIL. He was the protagonist the yr during which President Peña Nieto was upset when requested about his studying. He did nothing however babble. Or in 2011, when he was nonetheless a candidate and an indication was organized in opposition to him. The FIL was born by the hands of Raúl Padilla, who died final yr, a really political character who promoted negotiation. The giant worldwide presence of journalists provides this occasion an object of want for politicians, who dilute probably the most controversial points within the embrace of letters. Or as Macías says, “culture cleanses your face, it lets you see yourself in the best conditions.”

The results of this truthful will present whether or not the assembly has served to thaw relations between Spain and Mexico, no less than in its most public side. “I hope that the dialog takes place, the University of Guadalajara [organizadora de la feria]”, now with an elected rector, has good relations with President Sheinbaum and also the outgoing rector,” says Macías, and hopes that “over time everything will be transformed and the federal authorities will turn to look at the fair.”