As part of the celebrations for the Hispanity Day (Race Day) on October 12, Don Manuel Cacho Quesada, Spanish ambassador to Cuba, hosted a reception in his mansion for representatives of State-run institutions and organizations, national and foreign corporate people and the diplomatic corps stationed in Havana. Excelencias is pleased to share with its readers some views related to this observance in an exclusive interview with the Spanish diplomat.

«On the heels of the first decade of the 21st century, there’s no doubt that the relationship between Spain and Hispanic America –initiated in the late 15th century– is a healthy and enduring one in overall terms. «There’s been just about everything on this road, from colonization and dependence to rifts and warring traumas. But blood ties, tongues and cultures have remained inexorably intertwined and bound together. And that, so uncommon in the modern history of colonization, has endowed us with common identity features that acquire some special relevance in today’s globalized world. «With these common elements that we share, it’s not farfetched to believe that, following the political change, the Spanish economy broke away from its straps and our top companies started reaching out beyond our boundaries. Their initial horizon was not only the neighboring European nations and partners, but also the close Hispanic America. «That same change was followed, under very different economic circumstances, by the Spanish migrations of the first half of the 20th century, the last migratory wave toward Hispanic America after the outflows occurred during the colonial and postcolonial eras. «If we cling to the Cuban case –the last of our colonies in Hispanic America, together with Puerto Rico– we find the paradoxical circumstance that the largest displacement of Spaniards to the island nation came to pass by 1900, just a couple of years after the end of the bloody independence war. «In little more than three decades, the Pearl of the Antilles harbored over a million Spaniards hailing from virtually all Spanish regions, people who were driven by the common feeling of improving their economic lives and encouraged by strong ties between the two nations. «Far from building a «ghetto», the newcomers scattered all across Cuba, mixed up with the locals and joined the preexistent Cuban-Spanish social fabric. «This Spanish presence, so diluted and integrated to the Cuban lifestyle in its many political scenarios, is what actually contributed to the rich Hispanic-African-Caribbean melting pot that gave birth to the Cuban national identity. «Taken for granted that special Spanish-Cuban bond that goes beyond the political tribulations from one and the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, it’s easy to understand the hefty presence of Spanish companies on the island nation and the trade volume between our two countries, regardless of their having very different political and economic systems. «For over a decade, for instance, Spain has been the largest delegation attending the International Trade Fair that comes around every year in Havana. At the same time, it’s that sustained and large turnout what actually lets Spanish investors make up a legally recognized and unified association which is up to par with its Cuban counterpart. «Today, and despite the hardships caused by the economic and financial crisis worldwide that hits both Cuba and the Spanish companies doing business with the island nation, there’s a clear willingness on both sides to continue a relationship that’s proven to be mutually beneficial up to this very minute.» The Hispanity Day reception was sponsored by a number of Spanish companies with business operations on the island and was attended by the Latin American diplomatic corps stationed in Cuba, as well as diplomats from the European Union, Cuban representatives from different sectors and friends of Spain and its government.