Speech of H.E. Manuel Antonio Guzmán Hernández during the Press Conference on April 12th

VI VENEZUELAN WEEK IN MALAYSIA

PRESS CONFERENCE AT BERJAYA HOTEL

ON 12^TH APRIL 2011

Good evening… Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am very delighted to have your overwhelming support at this Press Conference.

A special welcome to our Honoured Guests, Mr. Adrian Chung…General Manager of Berjaya Hotel Kuala Lumpur, and Madame Mae S.K. Ho…Chief Operating Officer of Berjaya University College of Hospitality. 

My great appreciation to the representatives of the local and international Media for their presence here today.

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Please allow me to start by expressing my gratitude to all of you here at this press conference. The widespread coverage given by Malaysian media to the Venezuelan Week has highly contributed to its success and it is also one of the main factors which has made it possible for us to reach this sixth version.

This Embassy believes that the Venezuelan Week in Malaysia will be the best way to celebrate the Bicentennial of our Independence, and at the same time in particular to reinforce the ties between Venezuela and Malaysia through culture in its widest sense.

Since 2006 we have worked with great enthusiasm to make this side of the world familiar with Venezuelan music, dance, gastronomy, party, photography, fine arts, literature, politics and film industry.

This year, we chose April because 19^th April 1810 is so meaningful to us in terms of history and patriotism. On that date, people in Caracas declared their desire to get rid of colonialism by refusing to obey local authorities. More recently, on 13^th April 2002, Venezuelan community took to the streets to regain democracy, when, amid a coup d’état, President Chávez was kidnapped.

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In 2011 we are celebrating 200 years since the signing of our Independence Act and we are also glad to witness the friendship between Venezuela and Malaysia. The Venezuelan Week is a good opportunity to strengthen our relationship with Malaysian universities and the youth. Here, at the Berjaya University we will be holding a gastronomic festival for two weeks so that people can indulge themselves in the Venezuelan flavors.  Malaysians who really appreciate good food will have the opportunity to taste the most delicious Venezuelan delicacies. Thanks to the motivation of the Berjaya University and Berjaya Hotel in doing everything possible to make this festival a success. We also have been so lucky to count on a great chef, Carmen Rawstron who is a good friend and an excellent Venezuelan. She is launching her book “My Venezuelan Cuisine”, which makes the Embassy and the Venezuelan community in Kuala Lumpur feel so proud.

In line with our objective to strengthen the relationship with Malaysian universities, this year we will be holding several Venezuelan musical performances by students from the National Academy of Arts, Culture & Heritage (ASWARA) at different venues.

Once again, there will be a Venezuelan photographic exhibition which features

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the faces and landscapes of our country. In this occasion, the camera of Lil Quintero will show us part of the Venezuelan diversity and its unique characteristics.

Venezuela is going through a deep social and historic change, together with a great part of the Latin American region. Our people have decided to make their own journey to progress without supreme guardianship and such attitude has been the cause of many different reactions. Those who want to maintain the old domination and exploitation order are trying to distort this process in many ways. However, in the USA there are people and organizations which see this Latin American transformation towards social justice and sovereignty, from a different perspective. This is the case of Oliver Stone, a famous film maker and the author of the documentary “South of the Border”, which allows us to hear the voices of our own leaders and the other side of the coin. We will be having two film screening of this documentary followed by a discussion so that we will be able to deliberate over the current Latin American scenario.

The Venezuelan Week is also about celebration so on 23^rd April at Modesto’s CapSquare, the Caribbean music will stimulate happiness and desire to dance

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with the Latin American community and Malaysians are welcomed to join in the enjoyment of salsa, cumbia and some other catchy beats.

As we have mentioned earlier, the more we get to know each other the more we will be able to understand each other, and this is the way to build bridges with solidarity, cooperation, mutual respect and friendship. This is what we would like to achieve through the Venezuelan Week in Malaysia. Much of such achievement depends on your great help, dear journalists and photographers who are here today. Your kind assistance in every way to distribute information on the aforementioned events amongst the Malaysian public is a contribution to the reinforcement of brotherhood and particularly to strengthen the friendship between Malaysia and Venezuela.

Thank you so much. We look forward to seeing you in a few days.

H.E. Manuel Antonio Guzmán Hernández

Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Malaysia