Matanzas: a city that wakes up

The phrase "Matanzas, a destination, not a passing point" was born from a personal observation, which goes back a long way. Matanzas was always considered as the crossing point to get to Varadero or Havana, and over time the extraordinary wealth of Matanzas was forgotten. I started to have my meetings, when I was visiting Cuba, in Matanzas, and I would show them the city. There were always fascinating surprises. So I started talking in Havana to bring the Biennial to Matanzas.

At first, the response was cold but I insisted every time there was an opportunity. Matanzas is a classic city, distinguished by its cultural heritage, a city not only of musicians, poets, intellectuals, but also of science, something key in the national economy. A city focused on the power and magic of its native cultural abundance, also blessed by a spectacular topography.

Important chapters of fundamental moments of Cuban culture saw their birth in Matanzas. Then why accept that idea of a "sleeping city"? My interest lies in helping the artists to wake up Matanzas: a job to be done by the Matanzas folks, from everywhere: to give back the city its ancestral power.