This Wednesday, the central Government joined the events marking the centenary of the birth of Vicent Andrés Estellés because “it was the Ministry’s obligation to do so. If other Administrations have decided not to do so, they are the ones who have to give explanations.” This is how Minister Ernest Urtasun expressed himself this afternoon in Valencia, where he has staged the commitment of the central Executive in contrast to the lack of support from the Valencian government, yes, without wanting to fuel the controversy.
Urtasun appeared at the October Center for Contemporary Culture accompanied by Carmina Estellés, daughter of the poet and president of the Centenario Cent d’Estellés praising the importance of the writer in Valencian literature, but also “in the literature of Spain”.
This is why the first reference has been the presence of Estellés’ work in the upcoming Guadalajara International Book Fair, in which Spain is the guest of honor. There, the Ministry of Culture and the Association of Publishers of the Valencian Country (AEPV) have scheduled a recital and a concert in December by Pau Alabajos, who already gave an account a few weeks ago of the various events that have been organized in the Comunidad Valenciana, apart from institutional support, from various Valencian associations.
Urtasun, who did not want to assess the position of the Generalitat Valenciana in his statements, stressed that “from the Government we are clear that Estellés is a great literary heritage and that is why we want to pay tribute to it. Both the Mexico events and those of Madrid show that he is a universal author.”
Minutes before, in the Corts Valencianes, the Valencian vice president and Minister of Culture, Vicente Barrera, had indicated that the department he directs is indeed preparing activities on the figure of Vicent Andrés Estellés, but he has reproached the Minister of Culture for coming to Valencia to make an “apology for pan-Catalanism” and not to meet with him. It should be remembered that Barrera recently criticized Urtasun’s proposal to create a General Directorate of Cultural Rights “to fight against censorship” and assured that the Consell would be “a containment dam” for the policies of the Ministry of Culture.
In this regard, Urtasun has indicated today that he met with Minister Vicente Barrera in the Avilés sector and ruled out a meeting with him during his visit to Valencia, where yesterday he was witnessing the end of the Fallas, including the Cremà.
The one who has entered into the matter has been the Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, who has pointed out that this is “one more example of how the Government of Spain is going to be a containment dam for the retrograde policies of the Popular Party and Vox in the Valencian Community”.
For Barrera, this happens because “far from seeking cultural and artistic merit from our authors, what they do is instrumentalize their figures,” for what he considers the “political project of the Catalan Countries.”
Asked about the activities in honor of the centenary of Vicent Andrés Estellés, Barrera pointed out that “not everything is an institutional declaration” and reproached the Botànic that “there have been a lot of Valencian authors who, in recent years, have had their centenary, and they haven’t celebrated anything.”
