LOG: PANAMA. CULTURE AND POLITICS IN THE FRAMEWORK OF A REGIONAL MEETING DRIVEN BY CAF

Artishock Revista covered the CAF Festival 'Voces por nuestra región: Cultura que mueve el mundo,' held in Panama in January 2026. The event, organized by CAF – Banco de Desarrollo de América Latina y el Caribe, aimed to reposition Latin American and Caribbean culture as a strategic axis for sustainable development. It featured panels, sectoral forums, and co-creation spaces designed to activate alliances and strengthen regional networks for artists and cultural projects.

The festival matters because it highlights a major institutional push to integrate culture into regional development policy. Key figures like Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchú Tum and curator Keyna Eleison argued for culture as a tool for social justice, historical reparation, and the international legitimization of Indigenous and contemporary artistic practices. Their discussions underscore a significant shift toward recognizing ancestral knowledge and Indigenous contemporary arts within mainstream cultural debates and policies.