Cuban intellectual receives International Award

 HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 22 (ACN) Alpidio Alonso, Minister of Culture, and Marta Bonet, president of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC), attended the ceremony where the renowned Cuban intellectual Abel Prieto received the International Award “Fernando Ortiz” in recognition of his prolific literary career, his thoughts about decolonization, and his exquisite sensitivity and commitment to the national social project.

The political scientist and researcher Rafael Hernandez, director of the journal Temas, and the ethnologist and writer Miguel Barnet, chair of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation and Honorary President of UNEAC, praised Abel's qualities, his capacity to protect culture against any dogmas, his permanent fight against cultural colonization.

Mr. Barnet referred to the winner as a connoisseur of all the great intellectuals of the 19th and 20th centuries and particularly of Ortiz, which earned him the Award in line with the Foundation’s commitment to the legacy of the eminent anthropologist and his contribution to sociocultural research in Cuba and the world.

"I really consider that this recognition is undeserved, but we are human beings for whom affection is very important. We not only live with ideas, but also with emotions, so I am very grateful for, and the fact that so many people have come is also very important to me," said Mr. Prieto, who is also president of Casa de las Américas.

Since 1998, outstanding Cuban and international institutions have received the International Award “Fernando Ortiz”.