Cuba thanks Mexico for project to encourage young people to read

HAVANA, Cuba, December 17 (ACN) Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez described the educational and cultural project “25 for 25” as “a bridge of paper and ink that unites the youth of our America.”

This initiative of the Mexican government and its Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE) will distribute 2.5 million books free of charge to teenagers and young adults between the ages of 15 and 30 in 14 Latin American nations, including Cuba, where the presentation before nearly a thousand young people gathered at Havana’s Capitol Building, was held simultaneously with the official inauguration in the Zócalo in Mexico City, headed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

Díaz-Canel expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the project for three essential reasons: the historical ties with Mexico, the value of printed books, and the fact that the initiative is aimed at the region's new generations.

He recalled Fidel Castro's efforts to promote reading as a source of knowledge and freedom, from the creation of the National Printing Office in 1959 to the Literacy Campaign that made Cuba a territory free of illiteracy.

“Reading is neither a luxury nor a school punishment, but a right and a form of freedom,” he stressed as he commended the fact that the free books distributed to schools, universities, cultural centers, and libraries will broaden access to contemporary and 20th-century Latin American literature, eliminating barriers such as the cost of books and the lack of well-stocked libraries.

Casa de las Américas president Abel Prieto, who also took the floor at the ceremony, emphasized that “books, not bombs, are what humanity needs,” as did the Mexican ambassador to Cuba, Miguel Díaz Reynoso, who underscored the importance of republishing texts that illuminate the identity and memory of peoples.

At the conclusion of the event, each young participant received a free book, a gesture that symbolized the beginning of a project designed to sow hope and culture in the hands of the new Latin America and Caribbean generations.