US Dickinson College Delegation to Visit Cuba

Havana, Oct 27. -A group of students and teachers from the US Dickinson College will visit Cuba in March, 2012, sources from the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Cultural Center confirmed.The announcement was made by the Center's Director, Cuban poet and filmmaker Victor Casaus, during the inauguration of the Poetry Week at Dickinson College, attended by writers from China, Egypt, Canada, Spain, the United States, Russia and Cuba.

He also announced the publication in Cuba of a Spanish version of Steve Brouwer´s book "Revolutionary Doctors" by the Cuban publishing house La Memoria.

Casaus opened the poetic week by reading at least 20 poems from some of his books translated by Rina Benmayor and Anthony L. Geist, professors of the universities of California and Washington, respectively.

He thanked organizers of the event, "mainly coordinator Angela Delutis-Eichenberger and the director of the Community Study Center, Susan Rose," for the efforts made so that Cuban culture was present in this Poetry Week scheduled to conclude on Thursday.

The program includes poetry recitals, meetings and visits to places of cultural interest in Carlisle and other places in Pennsylvania.

"All these activities confirm our vocation to opening new paths of exchange and collaboration, based on intellectual rigor and mutual respect," said the Cuban writer, who conveyed the suggestion from "a good old friend of Dickinson´s" to bring this Poetry Week to Havana soon.

"The serious problems of our time and our planet cannot be solved only with poetry, nor can they be solved without it," he said.

"Hence our pro-integration vocation that gives priority to imagination over banality and diversity over a dominant conception in culture and on the planet," he said.

In the name of poetry, he urged US President Barack Obama to lift the blockade against Cuba and exert legal mechanisms to release The Cuban Five, anti-terrorist fighters unfairly held in US prisons, who are serving "disproportionate sentences for defending their country from terrorist actions organized in South Florida."

The final activities of the Poetry Week include an exhibit of Cuban works of fine art and posters, organized by Art Professor Davenny Ward, with winning pieces in Digital Art exhibits and Graphic Design contests promoted by the Pablo de la Torriente Brau Cultural Center.

Casaus is on a US cultural exchange tour that began in early October and also included the cities of New York, New Jersey, Boston and Denver. (Prensa Latina)