The Congress of the Spanish Language will be in Cádiz instead of Arequipa given the situation in Peru

The Spanish city of Cádiz will host in March 2023 the IX International Congress of the Spanish Languageafter resigning the 23 language academies to celebrate it as planned in the Peruvian city of Arequipa, given the situation in Peru.

Although the concern began weeks ago, the problem “has accelerated and the Peruvian authorities themselves considered whether Arequipa offered sufficient security and tranquility conditions to hold the congress without incident,” explained the director of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) on Thursday. ), Santiago Munoz.

The decision was made unanimously on Wednesday by the language academies and this Thursday the RAE academics were informed in an extraordinary plenary session.

In these meetings it was also agreed that Arequipa will host the subsequent congress, the tenth. The concern began with the crisis that broke out in Peru on December 7, when then-President Pedro Castillo announced that he was ordering the closure of Congress, a statement that was widely interpreted as an attempted coup d’état.

Since December 11, the protests have entered a spiral of violence with 27 deaths, at least two of them in the Arequipa region. And although Peru had declared the congress of national interest, “the Peruvian government itself is aware that the best circumstances are not in place for it to be held there,” Muñoz said in Madrid during an appearance in which the director of the conference participated by videoconference. Peruvian Academy of Language, Eduardo Hopkins.

“In Peru we were prepared for this congress”, but “we have to consider from a prudent perspective whether it is pertinent or not. Talking with the other academics, the unanimous decision was made to change the venue” and “as the Peruvian Academy of Language we have requested that the next congress be in Arequipa; We don’t want to give up that possibility and we’ve received a positive response,” Hopkins said.

The political situation in Peru, the fact that the congress was to be held in March since it has had some postponements and that it will be inaugurated by the kings of Spain, who have an agenda that must be respected, have led to this decision.

In addition, a good number of participants, revealed Muñoz, had expressed their concern to the academy and there could have been resignations of speakers that would have weakened this appointment. And although at first the possibility of Arequipa and Cádiz sharing the organization was considered, in the end it has been decided that it be only the Spanish city, with the same program that was planned and that will revolve around interculturality and miscegenation.

The decision has been communicated to the Spanish Government, which is responsible for financing, and has shown its availability to meet the costs. The House of the King of Spain has also expressed its availability, according to the director of the RAE.

This will be the second time that Spain hosts this meeting between the different language academies of Spanish-speaking countries, which has been held every three years since it met in the Mexican city of Zacatecas in 1997.

Since then it has held editions in Valladolid (Spain, 2001), Rosario (Argentina, 2004), Cartagena de Indias (Colombia, 2007), Valparaíso (Chile, 2010), Panama City (Panama, 2013), Puerto Rico (2016) and Cordoba (Argentina, 2019).