Prof. Indrani Mukherjee,
Chairperson of the Centre for Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies
Sonya Surabhi Gupta
Professor and Director
Centre for Spanish and Latin American Studies
Dear Students and professors,
And university staff.
Within the activities that our Embassy in India has been developing to promote dialogue and the exchange of knowledge between the Indian and Venezuelan people, an important cooperation has been established with the Center for European and Latin American Studies of the Jamia Millia Islamia University.
Right before the pandemic, the book Gandhi: Independence and Peace was launched in Delhi by its author Argentinian/Venezuelan writer and teacher Mónica Saiz as a tribute to the great leader. The book was published in Spanish and English (Thanks to Professor Sonya Gupta who gave us an extraordinary version in English done in a very short time). This book was a humble contribution from Venezuela to the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth. During her visit to India, Monica was able to present the book at the Center where she was the recipient of Indian hospitality and was able to verify that the libertarian spirit of Gandhi still with us, as she found it from the students, she had the opportunity to meet.
Last April, a virtual conversation entitled "Music for Life" was held on the diversity of Venezuelan popular music led by teachers, musicians and researchers from the National Experimental University of the Arts of Venezuela (UNEARTE), Fabiola José and Fidel Barbarito.
To continue with these activities of cultural dialogue, today a dramatized reading of the play "Apacuana y Cuari-curián" by Cesar Rengifo will take place, heeding the call of President Nicolás Maduro to publicize the work of this important Venezuelan artist, who captured the spirit of the struggle for freedom, justice and interculturality in his creation.
Cesar Rengifo was born on May 14th, 1915 and died on November 2nd, 1980, at the age of 65, in Caracas, Venezuela. Rengifo was a Poet, journalist, cultural promoter, visual artist, playwright, theater director and philosopher. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Caracas and then travelled to specialize in visual arts teaching in Santiago de Chile and later went to Mexico City to study the techniques of muralism.
During his stay in the Mexican capital, Rengifo was deeply influenced by the work of Diego Rivera. In 1939, he returned to Venezuela, where he held his first individual exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts. In 1947, at the same museum he made his first large individual exhibition. In 1954 he received the National Prize for Painting and between 1955 and 1956 he made the Amalivaca mural, which narrates the Caribbean myth of the creation of the world and which is found in the Plaza Diego Ibarra, in Caracas. César Rengifo's painting is characterized by his intention to portray Venezuela’s daily life and the frustrations and hopes of the people of his time. The protagonists of the paintings usually appear from behind, as if inviting the viewer to see their reality. Rengifo was the author of 40 plays, almost all of them published and staged in Venezuela and abroad. He wrote in different styles; however, he is recognized as a playwright, and in particular for his historical plays which are grouped into four major cycles: the indigenous resistance, the struggle for independence, the Federal War and the oil era in the 20th century.
In 2013, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, promoted the creation of the César Rengifo Children's and Youth Theater Movement, in order to promote the training of children and teenagers of Venezuela, in the field of performing Arts.
We are very grateful to the University, to the Center for European and Latin American Studies, specially to professor Sonya Gupta and students, for this unprecedented experience that means the interpretation in Spanish of a text that expresses the resistance, before the colonialist invader, put in the voice of Indian students in our joint effort of bringing the people of India and Venezuela even closer in the spirit of emancipation and anti-colonialism shared by us. 17 years ago, when President Chavez came to India, meeting with students, he remembered the lyrics of a very popular song by Ali Primera, and I want to close these few words with the same lyrics:
“Me gustan los estudiantes porque son la levadura del pan que saldrá del horno con toda su sabrosura”
“I like the students because they are the yeast of the bread that will come out of the oven with all its flavor”.
Thanks to all of you, dear students for this effort, for so many hours of dedication. This is one of the most special tributes ever paid to Cesar Rengifo. To you, students, our respect and gratitude.
Thanks a lot.
Embassy of Venezuela in India