Fourth International Conference for World Balance opens in Havana

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 29 (ACN) On the 166th anniversary of the birth of José Martí, the most universal of Cubans, the Fourth International Conference for World Balance was inaugurated in the Convention Center of this capital city. Miguel Díaz-Canel, President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers, was in attendance.

This world forum of thought, which summoned academics and researchers until January 31st, has the presence of more than 650 delegates from 65 countries.
Hector Hernandez, deputy director of the Office of the Marti Program and coordinator of the event, emphasized during the opening that the meeting becomes a propitious space to pay tribute to two great Cuban physically disappeared: Fidel Castro and Armando Hart.
He referred to the origins of the International Conference, which date back to 2003, and highlighted the great convening power it has maintained, since in its first edition it brought together 400 delegates from 36 countries.
He mentioned how little by little the interest in the knowledge of Martí's work is broadening at the international level, and announced that from now on, the appointment will be every two years, one less than initially planned.
Hernandez also expressed his solidarity with the people and government of Venezuela, and with the Sandinista of Nicaragua, and urged different organizations around the world to unite their voices to demand the freedom of progressive leaders such as former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
As part of the Conference, the International José Martí Prize was awarded to the outstanding Cuban intellectual Roberto Fernández Retamar, who has dedicated his life to the study of Martí's thought.
The event is a world forum of plural thought organized by the José Martí Project of International Solidarity that seeks to stimulate with the broad and democratic debate the struggle for the construction of a better, balanced, sustainable, fairer world where peace reigns.
The inauguration was also attended by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez; José Ramón Balaguer and Víctor Gaute, members of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba; Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso; and Abel Prieto, director of the Martiano Program Office.