BRIEFS: Culture

Inac to sponsor restorations in portobelo

LA PRENSA

decaying:The 16th century Fort San Lorenzo is one of the Colón monuments slated for restoration.1044285

The board of directors of the Patronato Portobelo in the Colón Free Zone began taking charge of rescuing the historic monuments in the district of Portobelo and San Lorenzo.

The Patronato has seed capital of $50,000, a portion of the special appropriation that the Asamblea Nacional approved for the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (Inac) earlier this year. The Patronato Portobelo and the Patronato de Panamá La Vieja will jointly support the work of Cuban restorer Eusebio Leal.

Anel Omar Rodriguez, Inac’s national director, said that the Instituto is looking to rebuild historic structures in Portobelo and San Lorenzo. He added that they are looking for a “more adequate budget” than the $14.7 million allotted for the project, but did not specify how much more would be needed.

Regarding other cultural matters in Colón, Ernesto Polanco has renounced his position as director of Colón’s Centro de Estudios Superiores de Bellas Artes y Folclore del Inac, alleging he’d suffered “injustice and mistreatment” after not receiving the salary promised him. Polanco has been director of the Center since last March.

“We have put a lot of love into our work, and we joined efforts because Colón deserves better things,” he said. “But we can’t continue [our work] at the expense of our families’ needs.”

Polanco said that he will continue working as a professor of folklore at the institution.

His resignation came in the midst of a hostile teacher strike in protest of the lack of security at the Centro after thieves made off with air conditioners, windows and other items.