The 2011 celebration of Cuba’s Festival del Caribe will be dedicated to Trinidad and Tobago and it is hoped that the country will be sending a large cultural delegation to participate in the event under the auspices of the Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism. “What we’re hoping that this year’s T&T delegation will be an expression of the full multi-cultural diversity and nature of her people that goes to Cuba in July,” said Kenia Dorta, director of Casa del Caribe, the organiser of the festival. The Festival del Caribe which is also known as the Fiesta del Fuego (Fiesta of Fire), is held in the eastern Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba and will be held from July 3-9 2011. According to Dorta’s Trinidadian translator, Gwendolene Roberts, some people call it the Festival of Fire because there is a huge bonfire ceremony at the end of the festival called the Burning of the Devil which is a symbolic expression of removing evil from the province and country. Dorta said: “Since the festival will be broadcast worldwide it will be a platform for artists to showcase their cultural talent from the Caribbean and will enable them to make linkages out there on the world stage. “It is an opportunity for participants at the Festival to display their countries’ myriad cultural diversities to international visitors to Cuba.
“One day of the festival is set aside to pay homage to the memory of the slaves and Maroons that rebelled against slavery in Cuba at the time in the Cobre community.” she said. Santiago de Cuba is one province that has the most concentration and mix of Caribbean people that migrated to in Cuba such as Bahamians, Brazilians, Jamaicans, Haitians, Barbadians, Dominicans and also people from the European diaspora. “Since 1981 when the first Festival del Caribe was held every year is dedicated to a different theme or country: 1984 was dedicated to Grenada in memory of the Maurice Bishop Revolution; 1987 was dedicated to Guyana; 1995 was dedicated to the English speaking Caribbean countries and 2006 was for Caricom,” Dorta said. “Thanks to The Tourism Development Company Ltd (TDC) and the Ministry of Ministry of Arts and Multiculturalism, The Caribbean House will be decorated in the colours of T&T and visitors will feel as if they were transported to our islands to experience the sights and sounds of T&T,” Priya Ganness-Nanton, coordinator of Trinidad and Tobago Cuba Solidarity said. “The T&T contingent is expected to put on a dazzling display of our country’s cultural heritage such as calypso, limbo dancing, chutney, steel bands and Carnival depictions as well as T&T’s culinary delights,” Shaffira Khan, treasurer of Trinidad and Tobago Cuba Solidarity said.
