Hay Cartagena Literary Festival: day 1

Cartagena: Iglesia de San Pedro

It has been a good start to the Hay Festival in Cartagena. The old colonial city centre has never looked more beautiful: glorious, dilapidated colonial houses; blazing sunshine; and full of Colombian coastal life, with voluptuous fruit-sellers balancing plates of watermelon, papaya and pineapple on their heads; vallenato, the Colombian coastal music at which Gabriel Garcia Marquez excels, streaming out of bars at every street corner; and cars, cyclists and pedestrians breezing through the narrow streets.

Three events of note today: first, the official opening of the Festival, carried out in the handsome 17th-century Teatro Heredia, by the Latin American pop icon, Juanes, and his musical partner and muse, the Spaniard Miguel Bosé. Interviewed by the editor of the main Colombian broadsheet, El Tiempo, both celebrities spoke with endearing modesty and genuine conviction about their charitable activities, their commitment to peace in Latin America, and their perceptions of their role as committed musicians contributing to public life (most famously, in Juanes’ concert in mid-2008 on the Colombia-Venezuela border following the build-up of tensions between both countries).

Juanes is indeed an important figure here: his recent endorsement of the former mayor of Medellín, Sergio Fajardo, for Colombia´s presidency in 2010, has made all the news, and contributed more to derailing the ever-popular Alvaro Uribe´s aspirations to be re-elected for a third term than any of Colombia’s recent political vicissitudes (of which there have been many). Read more »

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