Trinidad Named World Craft City

By Radio Cadena Agramonte

The Manaca Iznaga farmhouse in the Valley of the Sugar Mills. Photo: Twitter

The city of Trinidad has just been declared a World Craft City, after an extensive evaluation process by the World Crafts Council, which makes of this city located some 4 hours southeast of Havana, one of its kind in Cuba.

The city of Trinidad has just been declared a World Craft City, after an extensive evaluation process by the World Crafts Counci. Photo: ACN

Roberto Ponce, director of the Cuban Fund for Cultural Property at Sancti Spíritus, confirmed the news to the press and said the third village founded in Cuba was visited by members of the World Council from 11 countries, including Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.

At that time, they toured sites of high historical and socio-cultural value, such as the Manaca Iznaga farmhouse in the Valley of the Sugar Mills, where one of the region’s most famous sugar mills was located and where the 43.5-meter-high tower still stands tall, he recalled.

The Trinitarian creations have crossed the city’s borders and today projects such as the world-famous Santander family or the workshop of Yudit Vidal Faife, a creator who also promotes, among threads, wings and brushes, legitimize clay, painting and fabric, he said.

The Trinitarian creations have crossed the city’s borders and today projects such as the world-famous Santander family. Photo: Ceramica San Telmo

Cristina González Bécquer, visual arts specialist from the Cuban Association of Artisans and Artists, who prepared the nomination file, commented that since 2015 the candidacy presented by the Cuban nation was approved.

This is a city that from the very beginning has known how to maintain these traditions over time, said González Bécquer, who added the permanence and enrichment of the work of the needle in the southern territory and the institutional efforts to promote its practice.

During the World Crafts Council’s visit to the southern municipality of the city last month, Uruguayan Alberto de Betolaza, president of the organization for Latin America, said it is sui generis how the craftwork of the past is kept alive in the Caribbean Museum City.

These expressions of handicrafts are the livelihoods of several generations of Trinitarians, most of whom have drawn on the knowledge of collectives that have been trained to teach the traditions, he added.

These expressions of handicrafts are the livelihoods of several generations of Trinitarians, as Yudit Vidal. Photo: Yudit Vidal