The professor of Spanish Language at the University of Granada and director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, stated this Friday that he did not believe that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, would again remove Spanish from the White House website, as he did during his first term, nor would he «accuse Latinos of being dangerous criminals and Spanish as a language of the poor» because «it was said that the Latino population had supported Trump in many places and that a part of the US elites are of Latin origin.»
García Montero expressed these views to the media during his visit to the Jaume I University to receive the UJI Medal.
The director of the Cervantes Institute explained that they have strengthened the presence of the Cervantes Institute in Los Angeles by opening a center, as well as in Florida, while they are planning with the Academy of the Language the possibility of holding an upcoming international language congress in Washington «that can recognize that there are more than 60 million Spanish native speakers in the United States.»
Furthermore, he emphasized that next week he will have a meeting at the Cervantes Institute in New York with all the diplomatic corps of Latin American countries «to try to prevent hoaxes against Hispanics from spreading.»
«The mission of the Cervantes Institute is to promote Spanish culture and culture in Spanish, that is, we are very committed to promoting the cultures of Catalan, Basque, or Galician,» García Montero pointed out, adding that they are conducting studies that say «that it is not so true that Latinos have massively supported Trump.» «Defending Spanish in the United States is fighting against hoaxes,» he highlighted.
MEDAL
Asked what the UJI Medal means to him, which he received today for being «a reference in the defense of culture and democratic knowledge, as well as for his role as an activist for social transformation through civic values,» García Montero stated that he was «moved and very grateful,» as «the UJI is a point of reference in everything that research, transformation implies.»
«For me, receiving recognition as a poet is very important because I am convinced that the future lies in the integration of the sciences, technology, and humanities, and that is what makes it possible for universities to have a soul and work in science, in transformation, for the dignity of human beings and the community,» he emphasized.
The professor recalled that he has been a university professor since 1981 at the University of Granada, and added that he is convinced of the «fundamental» role that universities play in educating people «and in a world where education is as important as ever, but with more responsibilities given the current world situation.»
«Culture must be part of knowledge and, from the University of Granada, I always defend the importance of public education and I ask regional authorities not to forget the funding of public education, and now that I serve as director of the Cervantes Institute, when I see that culture is being neglected in some places, I try from my responsibility to help make up for the lack of attention to culture and the university that some regional authorities have,» he concluded.
