Sergio Ramírez affirms that “there is no possible exile” thanks to the language: “No one can banish me”
CÁDIZ, 27 (from the special envoy of Europa Press, Eduardo Blanco)
The King inaugurated this Monday, March 27, the IX Congress of the Spanish Language at the Teatro de Falla in Cádiz in an act in which he stated that this is the time for Spanish “with all its accents”. “Language unites us now and, therefore, it is a future project for tomorrow. We have to know how to seize the moment and this is the time for Spanish, with all its voices, its turns and nuances, with all its accents, with all its richness and diversity”, defended Felipe VI.
Thus, the monarch stressed that the 21st century “should be the century of the Spanish”. “Let’s make it possible,” he said. For the King, the Spanish cannot “let the opportunity that History puts ahead” pass us by.
The monarch has arrived at the Falla Theater around 12:00, accompanied by Queen Letizia, to inaugurate the Congress in an act in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the directors of the RAE and the Cervantes Institute, Santiago Muñoz Machado and Luis García Montero, respectively.
“If we have that power, that strength, if a new horizon for Humanity is opening up before us, we have the opportunity for our language, as well as being universal, to be increasingly global. Language is one of our great assets that we have to preserve, to care for, but also to promote”, Felipe VI pointed out before an auditorium full of academics.
The King alluded to miscegenation –the central theme of this Congress–, recalling that America is a continent “in which you can cross its different and diverse nations from North to South without changing your language: Spanish, with all its rich variety, which makes our language a living language”, he added, to later put the value of Spanish into figures.
Thus, Spanish is the second most widely spoken mother tongue in the world, after Mandarin Chinese, and the second language of international communication, only surpassed by English, among other data. “Spanish, from its origins, has been a mestizo language, and this miscegenation transcends social coexistence, education and the entire cultural world,” he highlighted.
Felipe VI has celebrated that in this Congress they are going to listen to words of Nahuatl, Quiché, Quechua or Guaraní and considers this event “the most relevant event in the Spanish language”. He has also had words for the previously chosen venue, Arequipa, which finally had to be replaced months before due to the situation of political instability.
“Instead of meeting in the hometown of our admired Nobel Prize winner, Mario Vargas Llosa, we do it here, in Cádiz. But, of course, we hope and hope that Peru will once again host the Congress”, the monarch remarked to conclude his intervention.
SERGIO RAMÍREZ AND “THE EXILE”
One of the most notable participations has been that of the Nicaraguan writer and Cervantes Prize winner Sergio Ramírez, who has lamented the recent withdrawal of his Nicaraguan nationality, assuring that “there is no possible exile” thanks to the language, which is his “homeland”. “No one can take it from me or banish me,” he added.
Ramírez has participated in the opening ceremony with a speech in which he has been belligerent regarding his situation with his country of origin. Ramírez has been one of the 94 Nicaraguans affected by the decision of the Government of this country to withdraw the nationality of those accused of “treason”.
“We have always been fleeing from someone or something: earthquakes, plagues or tyrants. The tyrant who grows old in his bed and on his throne is always the same: he goes astray in his arbitrariness, imposes silence and condemns to exile, the writer has pointed out before the gaze of the Kings of Spain and an auditorium full of academics.
Meanwhile, Albares has celebrated the launch of the Congress in Cádiz -a city that has woken up with various posters throughout the center with prominent words such as ‘agua tapá’ or ‘biruji’–, “”symbol of brotherhood” between Spain and Latin America “It has been a challenge to organize this in such a tight deadline. Spanish is one of the few global languages ??on the planet and a language of the future,” he defended.
The director of the RAE, Santiago Muñoz Machado, has spoken of “the most beautiful of inheritances” for his institution and its “sister academies”: caring for and enriching a language and “keeping away” those who seek to “take away the people’s rights exclusivity on the creation and transformation of language”. The academic has also celebrated the role of Cádiz, “starting point of the language of freedom”.
CADIZ FOOTBALL CLUB
For his part, the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, has defended the Spanish language “as a common territory of the one and the diverse”. “There are theorists who are uncomfortable with the word ‘miscegenation’ because they understand that it hides an offense against the indigenous within it,” he lamented.
“Without ignoring that there is a lot of mestizo that despises the indigenous, in the same way that there are many white supremacists who despise the mestizo, I dare to assume the awareness of mestizaje as a way of recognizing historical processes,” he indicated, to then make a a nod to the city of Cádiz and its football team – he has also cited the popular ‘if you love me, go away’, by Lola Flores to use as an example of speech in western Andalusia-.
“If we talk about miscegenation, interculturality and language, I would like this Congress to endorse one of the most popular slogans of the Cádiz Football Club: ‘The fight is not negotiated’. So be it”, he concluded.
The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, has also participated praising Spanish, “a language that has forged a belt of fraternity throughout the land.” “The planet has been speaking the same language for a long time, everyone’s Spanish, which is the language we speak and build together with a mestizo mosaic, full of colour, nuances and possible shapes”, he pointed out.
Finally, the mayor of Cádiz, José María González ‘Kichi’, stated that holding this Congress in Cádiz “against the clock has not been easy”. “This city welcomes you with enthusiasm and enthusiasm. And we give a hug from the heart to Peru: this Congress should be yours and I hope that in 2025 you can celebrate it smoothly”, he added.
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