Venezuela and Uruguay join forces for culture (+MONDIACULT)

Published at: 30/09/2025 09:51 AM

The Minister of Popular Power for Culture of Venezuela, Ernesto Villegas, held a meeting with his counterpart from Education and Culture from Uruguay, Gabriela Verde, with the objective of deepening cooperation between the two nations, within the framework of the UNESCO World Conference on Cultural Policies (MONDIACULT) 2025, which is taking place in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

During the meeting, Villegas presented a series of proposals and expressed his desire to move towards a normalization of relations between the two countries, using culture as a bridge, according to a note from the Ministry for Culture.

Among the proposals, the holder of the Venezuelan culture portfolio highlighted the possibility of bringing the play “Neither enemies nor foreigners” to Uruguay, as part of a stage exchange.

He also proposed to promote cultural exchange, through consolidated experiences in Venezuela, such as the Southern Biennial “Peoples in Resistance”, the Venezuelan International Book Fair (FILVEN), the International Progressive Theater Festival (FITP) and the World Poetry Festival.

In audiovisual matters, Villegas reported on the nomination of the Venezuelan film “Ali Primera”, by Daniel Yegres, for the Oscars, and offered the power of the National Autonomous Center for Cinematography (CNAC) to “declare foreign films of special interest”, allowing them to be screened for two weeks on the national screen. In this regard, he invited Uruguay to submit films of interest to him.

As a gesture of affection, Villegas presented his Uruguayan counterpart with his book “Maja Mía” and a work by renowned visual artist Juvenal Ravelo. In addition, he indicated the development of a program to promote books and reading, run by the National Book Center of Venezuela (CENAL), requesting any contribution from Uruguay that may be valuable.

For her part, the Minister of Culture of Uruguay, Gabriela Verde, enthusiastically welcomed the proposals of the meeting. At the same time, he described as “wonderful” the project of bringing a Venezuelan cast to the Performing Arts Festival (FIDAE) in Uruguay.

In the cinematographic field, Verde was willing to establish a link to screen Venezuelan films, including “Ali Primera”, at the Uruguayan Cinemateca Festival. In addition, he took the initiative to share several of his animated films with Venezuela, mentioning titles such as “The Book of Lila”.

In addition, he assured that “diplomatic ties between Uruguay and Venezuela have not been broken”, expressing his willingness to work and the commitment to use culture as a mechanism of understanding, solidarity and cooperation.

Mazo News Team