Havana - The National Council of Cuban intellectuals analyzed challenges the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC) has ahead and the implementation of the island''s cultural policy, Granma newspaper reports today.

The successes and weaknesses of UNEAC's work were critically discussed at the meeting that concluded yesterday with the presence of First Vice President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, and Minister of Culture, Abel Prieto. The gathering served for intellectuals to express their criteria on the work done in different territories and fields of art.

At the meeting in the National Museum of Fine Arts, UNEAC President, Miguel Barnet presented a report that transcended the current direction and challenges of the organization, which plays a preponderant role in the update and implementation of Cuban cultural policy.

Diaz-Canel acknowledged that the organization has systematically worked to fulfill the agreements reached at its 8th Congress, and emphasized that the commissions worked actively and followed the main issues of ideological and cultural scope.

He also noted that the work of UNEAC rests on two fundamental elements: the proper functioning of cultural institutions, and the contribution of the artistic avant-garde.

If there is not an adequate functioning, the institutions become fractured and then it takes a lot of work for UNEAC to develop its role. The best ideology that can be developed in culture is that institutions, in these times, work well, said the first Cuban vice president.

The meeting was the first of its kind in the current year and the fifth of that institutional structure.