CUBAN President Miguel Diaz-Canel condemned the commodification of art on Saturday, calling for the defence of the country’s history and culture from capitalist intervention.

“We have to defend cultural development and artistic creation from banalities, vulgarities and paradigms that some try to impose from the outside. And that can be achieved from dialogue, debate, discourse,” he said

Mr Diaz-Canel was speaking during the closing ceremony of the first national conference of the Culture Workers Union, at which he condemned counter-revolutionary pressures to keep the government away from culture.

“There is a growing tendency of speaking about ‘art consumption’ — trying to turn art into a commodity and putting personal enrichment before the development of authenticity,” he said.

The president highlighted the impact of the US-imposed economic blockade, branding it “the greatest obstacle for development in Cuba.”

Culture Workers Union general secretary Nereyda Lopez Labrada stressed the importance of unity between culture and liberty and their responsibility in building Cuba’s future.