Arequipa will not be the seat of the IX International Congress of the Spanish Language

The director of the Royal Spanish Academy, Santiago Muñoz Machado, has just announced that the IX International Congress of the Spanish Language (CILE), scheduled for the end of March in the Peruvian city of Arequipa, will finally be held in Cádiz, given the political instability from the South American country.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
22 December 2022 Thursday 04:42
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Arequipa will not be the seat of the IX International Congress of the Spanish Language

The director of the Royal Spanish Academy, Santiago Muñoz Machado, has just announced that the IX International Congress of the Spanish Language (CILE), scheduled for the end of March in the Peruvian city of Arequipa, will finally be held in Cádiz, given the political instability from the South American country.

The city of Arequipa has not had any luck when it comes to organizing one of these language congresses. The hometown of the writer and politician Mario Vargas Llosa has applied several times to host such a great cultural event, but the circumstances have not been favorable.

Peru is experiencing a crisis that broke out on December 7, when then-President Pedro Castillo announced the closure of Congress, the formation of an emergency executive that was to govern by decree, the reorganization of the justice system, and the call for a constituent Assembly.

This "self-coup d'état" has unleashed protests and riots throughout the country, which have already claimed almost thirty deaths and which discourage holding the congress at the National University of San Agustín de Arequipa.

Faced with such a political and social crisis, the Instituto Cervantes, the RAE and the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (Asale) have decided to change the venue of the ninth congress, which will be held on the same scheduled dates, from March 27 to 30, 2023, now in the Spanish city of Cádiz.

Just as the fourth CILE, held in 2007 in Cartagena (Colombia) with a heartfelt tribute to Gabriel García Márquez, was a great success, the hometown of Vargas Llosa has not been able to honor its illustrious son with one of these great celebrations of the Spanish language.

Peru has lived a turbulent political life, since the time of Alberto Fujimori, who won the 1990 presidential elections against Vargas Llosa himself. At the time, Fujimori also carried out a self-coup, but years later he had the support of the writer "to save Peru" when he ran for election again, the last time in 2021.