Christian Rodríguez, responsible for international relations of La France Insoumise (LFI) party and Cuban poet Nancy Morejón. Photo: Prensa Latina.
Christian Rodríguez, responsible for international relations of the La France Insoumise (LFI) party, questioned the censorship against Cuban poet Nancy Morejón—made due to her political stance in support of the Cuban revolution—in the recently concluded Paris Poetry Market.
“No one has the right to suppress an artist or intellectual’s talent because of their political thinking,” Rodríguez told Prensa Latina this Monday, June 12, commenting on the decision adopted by the event, held from June 7 to 11, to withdraw her honorary president status.
He reiterated that Morejón—a winner of the 2001 National Literature Prize and other international awards—should be supported. “I think it is terrible and prehistoric to mix political pressure with culture,” he said, noting that it was just another “way to intentionally not recognize Nancy Morejón’s position and values.”
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After naming her honorary president of the 40th edition of the Paris Poetry Market, planning for her to give a speech at the opening ceremony, and promoting her work in official documents, the organizers of the event suppressed all of this and reversed their decisions, deciding to yield to pressure from radical sectors that took advantage of the poet’s commitment to the Cuban Revolution.
In view of what happened, Morejón decided not to participate in the rest of the activities of the event and thanked Cuba, France, and the world for their solidarity.
(Prensa Latina) by Ileana Ferrer Fonte
