Havana - The book "Un texto absolutament vigente" (An Absolutely Current Text) gathers articles about the speech " Words to intellectuals" given by Fidel Castro in 1961 and stressed today the relevance of this address.

Historian Elier Ramírez Cadeño made a compilation of 16 articles by prestigious authors like Graziella Pogolotti, Armando Hart, Carlos Rafael Rodríguez, Lisandro Otero and Fernando Martínez Heredia.

During the book launch yesterday, a panel composed by the Director of Casa de las Américas Roberto Fernández Retamar, president of the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists Miguel Barnet and filmmaker Luis Morlotte referred to the validity of Fidel´s words in 1961.

Barnet referred to the genius Fidel used to discuss complex topics during the first year of the Revolution, the role of culture in that process and the need to promote arts.

Meanwhile, Fernández Retamar explained how based on those words they started to lay down the foundations for a cultural policy.

Since last June, Cuban artists, intellectuals and writers celebrated the 55th anniversary of the speech.

According to historian Eduardo Torres Cuevas, the address is a transcendental piece of the Cuban revolutionary process.

The speech contains messages of strength and vitality, and places the Cuban culture in teh first line of defense of the Revolution, he added.