In an interview on TV show El Mundo en Contexto (The World in Context), broadcast by Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), the Foreign Vice-minister for Africa, Yuri Pimentel, said the cultural events that will be held to celebrate the 16th Africa Week in Venezuela will strengthen relations with the African continent and foster knowledge and cultural exchange between the Venezuelan and African people.
Pimentel explained that even though Latin America has strong Afrodescendant roots and historical ties with Africa, we cannot deny that there is a lack of awareness in some sectors of the reality of African peoples, their struggles and problems.
«That’s why this type of events are important to promote knowledge and exchange on both sides […] One of the biggest tools for domination is cultural domination through the media. That’s why the Western mass media are not interested that we know about Africa and vice versa, because they are not interested in the relations between the peoples and South-South cooperation, » he stressed.
In this regard, Pimentel recalled the four proposals made by Commander Hugo Chávez when he participated in the African Union Summit held in The Gambia: The University of the South, the Bank of the South, Petrosur and Telesur. «The latter came to fruition so that Latin Americans and Africans do not depend on mass media to know the truth, » he added.
Finally, the Venezuelan foreign vice-minister for Africa invited everybody to tune in and enjoy the Cultural Festival of African Peoples, which will be broadcast on May 26 and 27 on the YouTube channel of Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry.
In the 16th edition of the Africa Week and the 7th edition of the Cultural Festival of African Peoples, nearly 100 videos from numerous parts of the world will be broadcast, as well as international fora and video conferences on Venezuela and Africa, culture, identity and resistance from the South.