On July 6, 2015, during the 35th edition of the famous Caribbean Festival – Fire Festival (Festival del Caribe-Fiesta del Fuego) which tooks place, like every year, in the city of Santiago de Cuba, 12 members of the Caribbean States Association (CSA) signed an agreement for the creation of the “Carnivals Network” (Red de Carnavales).
This project is born in August, 2013, on the occasion of the Meeting of the Caribbean Carnivals which took place in Barranquilla in Colombia. It was Alfonso Múnera Cavadia, at that time general secretary of the Caribbean States Association who chaired the presentation of this “Carnivals Network” in the second largest city in Cuba – Santiago de Cuba – during the 35th Caribbean Festival-Fire Festival (Festival del Caribe-Fiesta del Fuego), in July 2015.
The main objectives on short notice of the “Network” is : creation of a Virtual Museum of Carnivals ; realization of an inventory of the festival heritage ; exchange of knowledges between the countries ; research concerning common origins of the carnival in the Caribbean.
Thanks to these various carnivals in the area which will be structured by the network, the CSA hopes to contribute to the construction of a unique Caribbean identity of which its different identities are its wealth but it also wants that carnival, in addition to being a factor of social integration and a space of cultural and artistic expression, is a tourist product, so a legitimate way for the inhabitants of these countries de earn their living.
The twelve countries and carnivals which signed this agreement of cooperation on carnival are :
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Bahamas (Carnival Junkanoo)
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Colombia (Carnaval de Barranquilla and Carnaval de Río Sucio,Caldas)
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Cuba (Carnaval de Santiago de Cuba)
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Grenada (Granada Spicemas)
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Guatemala (Carnaval de Mazatenango)
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Haiti (Haitian Défilé Kanaval)
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Martinique (Carnaval de Martinique)
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Mexico (Carnaval de Cozumel)
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Nicaragua (Carnaval Alegría por la Vida)
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Panama (Carnicol de la City)
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Dominican Republic (Carnaval de República Dominicana)
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Trinidad and Tobago (Carnival of Trinidad and Tobago)
The technical secretariat of “Carnivals Network” is located in Barranquilla and the Meeting of the Caribbean Carnivals will be held every two years in one of the signatory countries.
