Cuba Celebrates the 'Haitian Day' in Guantanamo

From Tuesday to Friday, Guantanamo province will host the 5th Colloquium Emilio Barcenas as part of the celebrations of the Haitian Day in Cuba.

RELATED: 

Cuba Starts Legalizing Small, Medium-Sized Enterprises

This year’s event will comprise a forum, whereby researchers will discuss the legacy of Haitian immigrants in the Guantanamo's Franco-Haitian customs.

Haiti's Ambassador to Cuba Regine Lamur will deliver the inaugural address of this forum, which will be held virtually. The colloquium also promotes over 20 lectures and art exhibitions, including the "Color and Faces" series of photographer Eliardo del Toro and the presentation "The Kreyol: resistance culture in Cuba" by researcher Hilario Batista.

The Babul, Jagüey, and Los Cossia socio-cultural projects will also make presentations of Haitian folklore and screen a documentary dedicated to Barcenas, a Haitian who took part in the Cuban revolution.

All activities will be transmitted from the Facebook and Telegram profiles of Guantanamos's Young Computer Club, cultural institutions, and the Haitian Association of the Cuban East.

Located at about 77 km from Haiti, Guantanamo province received large numbers of Haitian migrants in the 19th and 20th centuries. Their traditions have a strong presence in the socio-cultural life of this province.

To defend this legacy, several social organizations gather the Haitian-descendent people in this province. The Haitian Association of the Cuban East, for instance, groups about 559 people of Haitian origin.