By IPS Correspondents
CARACAS, May 22 2001 (IPS)

The Rómulo Gallegos Centre for Latin American Studies (CELARG) was once a reference point for the region’s writers and academics. Efforts are underway in Venezuela to make sure the institution is able to recover its past stature.

Rigoberto Lanz, who was named president of the centre in mid- 2000, was categorical in his assessment of the centre: “We found an empty shell of an institutionà everything was reduced to survival mode pay only the staff and the electrical bills.”

CELARG, which is headquartered in a building in the eastern district of Caracas, organises the coveted “Rómulo Gallegos” award for the Latin American novel, with such notable winners as Colombia’s Gabriel García Márquez, Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa and Mexico’s Carlos Fuentes.

The institution and the award are named after Venezuela’s premier man of letters (1884-1969) who made his mark as a novelist, essayist and journalist as well as a politician.

“We want to transform the centre into a true landmark for Latin America, as is the Rómulo Gallegos prize itself,” said Lanz, who in March presented his plans for reforming CELARG to President Hugo Chávez and to the assistant minister of Culture, Manuel Espinoza.

Literary academics consulted by IPS pointed out that CELARG, in its heyday of the 1970s and early 1980s, served as a regional focal point with a highly qualified staff of full-time researchers, a carefully selected publishing output and a range of educational activities in the cultural sphere.

But as a result of the crisis affecting the country since then, worsening in the 1990s, the centre also went through a grey period. Its rooms were rented out for a wide variety of events and its output of academic works practically disappeared.

The institute’s president admitted that when he took over the reins he found “a very depressed organisation, one that had lost its path, condemned to survive by renting out its halls and serving as a venue for shows.”

“The researchers we have are poorly paid and training has been drastically cut,” he lamented.

Before Lanz arrived at CELARG, he held the directive post at the Centre for Post-Doctorate Studies at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV).

Observers agree that the renovation of CELARG must be understood as part of the “Bolivarian cultural revolution,” launched by Chávez last January, who invoked the name of Latin American liberator Simón Bolívar as he removed the directors of nearly 20 museums and cultural institutions throughout Venezuela.

Lanz’s arrival to the CELARG post occurred before Chávez made his surprise announcement of the cultural shake-up on his weekly radio programme, “Aló, Presidente.” Nevertheless, the plan to relaunch the institute is outlined in the government’s new cultural policy.

According to Lanz, the plan to “re-found” CELARG ’was the product of six months of work (in which) it was necessary to rethink the internal features based on the 14 articles included in the governmental decree on restructuring.”

He also pointed out that beyond the money CELARG receives from the state, which has so far been its only source of funding, a plan has been outlined for seeking alternative resources from multilateral organisations like the Andean Development Corporation and the World Bank.

In defining CELARG, Lanz assured that the adjective “Latin American,” which forms part of the name, “cannot be mere decorationà We are going to be serious, responsible and consistent about that.”

“We want it to be a research centre, not a party centre. CELARG is an institution for cultural studies in which literature plays a key role, but so does politics. We want to recover the centre’s production quality,” he said.

One of the lines of work that is currently being developed is promoting education about Latin America in Venezuelan schools.

The centre’s authorities reported that they are organising culturally focussed days in Caracas as part of the presentation of the Rómulo Gallegos prize in July.

They are also planning a world intellectual summit for this year, with US academic Noam Chomsky and Italian writer-philosopher Umberto Eco on the guest list.

In addition, the centre will begin to draft a diagnosis “to determine what is being studied worldwide about Latin America,” he explained.

As CELARG relaunches its Latin American trajectory, Lanz stresses his view that the institution “is a research centre, a place for cultural dynamism and public debate.”

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