• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 06 / 26 / 2011

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2011.06.25 - 12:33:36 / radiorebelde.icrt.cu. Buey Arriba, Granma. - Cuban authorities and authorities of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) are interested in preserving the traditions of mule drivers on the island.

The statement was made on Friday by Grisel Fraga, from the National Council of Cultural Heritage, at the 9th Meeting of Mule Drivers and Mountain Fables, which began on Thursday and will end on Saturday at the municipality of Buey Arriba, located at the Sierra Maestra Mountains, the highest in the country.

Fraga added that UNESCO representatives praised the culture of mule drivers, after listening to the lecture given by Ledesme Garces, a researcher with the museum at Buey Arriba, during the Latin American Meeting of Community Heritage held in western Pinar del Rio province in 2010.

It’s important, he said, to study and promote this trade, in addition to training suitable replacements for the task, essential for the transportation of cargo in mountainous areas.

Attending the event on Friday were Doctor Raul Izquierdo, president of the Institute of History of Cuba, and mule drivers who helped or joined the Rebel Army at the end of the 1950’s, like Misael Enamorado, Edilberto Liens, Delio Perez and Jacinto Guevara.

On the occasion an exhibition of mule team tacks and their drivers and of blacksmith’s tools was inaugurated.

Some of the participants rode mules and horses from Buey Arriba to La Otilia community, where Ernesto Che Guevara established a command post in 1958, to open the meeting on Thursday.

The final day of the event will include a parade of mule teams, a competition of putting and removing tacks, and an agricultural and livestock fair. (ACN)