The Minister of Foreign Affairs, the directors of the Instituto Cervantes and the RAE and the Mayor of Cádiz sign the declaration to hold the 9th Spanish Language Congress in that city

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; the Director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero; the Director of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) and President of the Association of Spanish Language Academies (ASALE), Santiago Muñoz Machado, and the Mayor of Cádiz, José María González Santos, this afternoon signed the institutional declaration confirming the choice of Cádiz as the venue for the 9th International Congress of the Spanish Language (CILE) from 27 to 30 March.

The Ministry's headquarters in the recently refurbished Plaza del Marqués de Salamanca was the setting chosen to present this triennial event, in a ceremony which was also attended by the Andalusian Regional Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, Arturo Bernal, and the President of the Provincial Council of Cádiz, Juan Carlos Ruiz.

The dates have remained the same, as has the theme "Spanish language, miscegenation and interculturality", which was chosen for the Congress that was to be held in Arequipa (Peru). However, due to the situation of instability and tension in that country, the city where the Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa was born has been discarded, and Cadiz, which had been proposed to host the next congress in 2025, has been chosen.

According to the institutional declaration signed today, the celebration in Arequipa was postponed on two occasions in 2022 due to the difficulties associated with covid and "the difficult political situation in Peru". It adds that "given the seriousness of the events that took place in Peru on 7 December 2022", ASALE decided on 21 December to approve the move to Cádiz, and the extraordinary plenary session of the RAE the following day "ratified this decision, in agreement with the Instituto Cervantes, which is confirmed by this institutional declaration".

This will be the second time that an International Language Congress has taken place in Spain, 22 years after it was held in Valladolid in 2001, when José María Aznar was President of the Government. The other previous congresses have been held in Zacatecas (Mexico, 1997), Rosario (Argentina, 2004), Cartagena de Indias (Colombia, 2007), Valparaíso (Chile, 2010, held online due to the previous earthquake), Panama City (2013), San Juan de Puerto Rico (2016) and Córdoba (Argentina, 2019).

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, expressed his great satisfaction at the choice of Cádiz. For his part, the director of the Cervantes Institute predicted that "it is going to be a great congress".

García Montero recalled that the first congress was held in 1997 in Zacatecas (Mexico) thanks to a Cádiz native, the Marquis of Tamarón, in a conclave in which the Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez called for the "abolition of spelling" and other grammatical rules. After that unexpected proposal and the controversy that ensued, in the following edition in 2001 the Royal Spanish Academy joined the organisation, hand in hand with the Cervantes Institute. The poet from Granada ironically said that "it is not advisable to let writers off the hook".

Luis García Montero thanked the Minister and the Secretary of State for their work to ensure that the Congress would be held in Cádiz, which was, he said, "the only alternative, the most solid and mature".

As for the slogan, he said that miscegenation and interculturality spoke of the relations between Spain and Latin America, but also of Cadiz as a bridge and a protagonist. It is an issue, he added, that "is worthwhile", because "we live in a world of closed identities, and to consider interculturalism and miscegenation is to consider the richness of coexistence".

"We want the Bay of Cadiz to be the protagonist" and the streets to be flooded with a great cultural programme, which will include a great opening concert with flamenco greats and Peruvian cajoneros, as well as a closing concert with groups in the co-official languages of Spain who will interact with Cadiz bands.

The director of the RAE, Santiago Muñoz Machado, announced that the academic programme planned for Arequipa will be maintained in general terms, although "adapting it to the reality of Cádiz" and adding matters of historical interest and international repercussions such as the liberal Constitution of Cádiz of 1812.

The Mayor of Cádiz, José María González Santos, Kichi, thanked those responsible for the trust placed in his city to host the conclave on the Spanish language, and predicted that it will be "a round trip".

Some of the leading names among the participants in the Congress, which is organised by the Cervantes Institute together with the RAE and the Association of Spanish Language Academies (ASALE), will be announced shortly. Academics, journalists, writers, publishers and other figures related to the world of language and culture usually take part in these international meetings, which play a very important role in fostering the promotion and unity of the language, as well as the dialogue of the entire Hispanic cultural community.

Submitted by José Antonio Sierra, Hispanismo advisor.