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| Militant photos by Jonathan Silberman |
| HAVANA — Tens of thousands — adults, youth and children — have been thronging to the international book fair here to seek out some of the 700 new titles available at the nationwide cultural event, which opened Feb. 13. After 10 days in the capital city, the fair will travel to each of the 15 provincial capitals, concluding March 9 in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. The culture of reading has marked Cuba’s working people since the early years of Cuba’s socialist revolution. One feature event during the first days of the fair was a packed Feb. 16 launching of Antes de que se me olvide (Before I forget), a book-length interview with Venezuelan leader Alí Rodríguez by Cuban journalist Rosa Miriam Elizalde. Rodríguez held important responsibilities in the government of Hugo Chávez, including minister of energy and oil, foreign minister and ambassador to Cuba. He is currently general secretary of UNASUR, a Latin American trade alliance. In the 1960s and ’70s he was a leader of one of the groups, a split-off of the Venezuelan Communist Party, that engaged in a guerrilla war against the government. Speaking on the panel (bottom photo, from left) were Julio Chirino, Venezuela’s consul in Havana; Rodríguez; Elizalde; and Zuleica Romay, president of the Cuban Book Institute. |
| —JONATHAN SILBERMAN AND PAUL PRENDERGAST |