An Urgent Plea for Action

January 18, 2006 Two years ago, as the result of an international campaign mounted by poets, writers and intellectuals from more than 100 countries, Argentinian poet Juan Gelman was reunited with his granddaughter, who had been taken from her mother only days after she was born in 1976. The whereabouts of Gelman’s daughter-in-law, however, still remain unknown. A new email-campaign has now been launched to find out about her fate. Gabriel García Márquez, Wole Soyinka, Günter Grass, José Saramago and hundreds of other eminent writers have already lent their support to it. Read the letter of the campaign organizers, Fernando Rendón and Tobias Burghardt, below, and find out what you can do.


Dear readers,

The Argentinian poet Juan Gelman has readers throughout the world who admire hiswork and who have witnessed his extraordinary, humane efforts on a personaland collective level to obtain information that will clarify the fate of those who disappeared in the Southern Cone countries during the period of themilitary dictatorships. Two years ago, his battle to achieve justice withregard to their names, their works and their lives resulted in the recovery ofhis granddaughter, who was ripped from the arms of his mother María ClaudiaGarcía Irureta Goyena de Gelman just days after she was born in 1976 by the criminals who were engaged in carrying out the infamous Condor Plan.

Despite the happy news concerning the appearance of his granddaughter, whichwas in part the result of an international campaign supported by poets,writers and intellectuals from more than 100 countries, the whereabouts ofGelman’s daughter-in-law are still unknown.

The time has come to begin a new international campaign with writers, poets,artists and friends from all over the world to get Dr. Jorge Batlle Ibáñez,President of Uruguay, to respond to Juan Gelman’s just and insistent question.

We invite you to copy and sign the letter below to express your solidarity with this cause and then to circulate this letter electronically among your friendsuntil we achieve the justice we seek.

With fraternal greetings,

Fernando Rendón
Tobias Burghardt

Send signed letters back to Fernando Rendón at fearn@epm.net.co, or sign directly on the website of Juan Gelman.



Medellín (Colombia) and Stuttgart (Germany), November 4, 2002.

Mr. President:

Many of the 570 poets, writers, intellectuals and artists from 103 countriesof the five continents – thereunder the following four Nobel-Prizes ofLiterature: Gabriel García Márquez, Günter Grass, José Saramago and WoleSoyinka - who have signed this letter below have already had the honor ofcommunicating with you on March 21, 2000 to ask you to support the efforts ofJuan Gelman to find his granddaughter and reveal the fate of hisdaughter-in-law María Claudia García Irureta Goyena de Gelman, who disappearedin Uruguay. The first concern has been resolved and you should be commendedfor confirming it. Nevertheless, despite the fact that more than two and a half years have passed, we still have not received an answer to our request that the fate of María Claudia be thoroughly investigated.

We reiterate our urgent and total support of the need to clarify thewhereabouts of María Claudia and to find her remains so that she can be buriedwith human dignity. Each and every person who disappeared wanders through thevoid and seeks a place to rest in peace. No one can deny any human being thisinalienable right. Mr. President, it is your honorable duty and within yourpower to facilitate all the knowledge at your disposal to reaffirm this rightwith conviction. As you know, María Claudia is the daughter-in-law of thecelebrated Argentine poet Juan Gelman, one of the greatest contemporarywriters in the Spanish language.

The infamous case of María Claudia has achieved international notoriety: inAugust, 1976, she was kidnapped in Buenos Aires with her husband Marcelo Ariel Gelman by the Argentine military dictatorship. In October of that year, eight and a half months pregnant, she was taken to Montevideo by the Uruguayan military and imprisoned in a clandestine detention center in a building used by the Service of Defense Information (known by its acronym in Spanish SID) in Montevideo. At the beginning of 1977, after her baby was stolen from her, she was murdered by an identified member of the Metropolitan Police of Uruguay.

Mr. President, we know that in your capacity as Commander in Chief of theArmed Forces of Uruguay you are permitted by the Constitution to ascertainwhat some members of the military and police of your country have beendesperately trying to hide for more than a quarter of a century. Above all, we are familiar with your honorable family antecedents and your concern with regardto closing the wounds in Uruguayan society that remain open. Again, werespectfully appeal to you follow through on our petition so that the remainsof Juan Gelman’s daughter-in-law, who disappeared in your country, can begiven a civilized burial.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow form a single body: the body of men and womenthroughout the centuries. Art and poetry are proof of this fundamental ideal.For this reason, we, poets and writers, intellectuals and artists from allover the world, hope that you, Mr. President, do whatever is necessary toaccomplish what we are asking of you.

We await your reply, Mr. President, and send you our respect and best wishes.

We, the undersigned, affirm our support for this petition:

Hamid Skif, poet (Argelia); Tomás Eloy Martínez, writer; Alfaguara-Prize 2002;Horacio Verbitsky, writer and journalist, president of the Centro de EstudiosLegales y Sociales - CELS; Noé Jitrik, writer; Tununa Mercado, writer; LeónRozitchner, philosoph and writer; Ana María Shúa, writer; Griselda Gámbaro,drama; Roberto Cossa, drama; Diana Bellesi, poet; Liliana Lukin, poet; MirtaRosenberg, poet; Marcelo Pichón Riviere, poet; Rodolfo Alonso, poet; GracielaAráoz, poet and essayist; Víctor Redondo, poet, editor y president of theWriters Union from Argentina SEA; María Rosa Lojo, poet; Mario Sampaolessi,poet; Susana Cella, poet and narrator; Daniel Freidemberg, poet; DanielSamoilovich, poet and director of the Diario de Poesía; César Bisso, poet;Alejandro Schmidt, poet; Manuel Ruano, poet and director of the poetrymagazine Quevedo; Daniel Chirom, poet and editor of the review El Jabalí;Rogelio Ramos Signes, writer; Malena Chirasa, poet; Ketty Alejandrina Lis,poet; Leopoldo Castilla, poet; Kato Molinari, poet; Jorge Ariel Madrazo, poetand journalist; Reynaldo Sietecase, poet; Florencia Abbate, poet y essayist;Oscar A. Agú, poet; Tulio Galantini and Liliana Campazzo, Society of Poetsfrom the End of the World; Carlos Barbarito, poet; Javier Cófreces, poet andeditor of the review La Danza del Ratón; Héctor A. Piccoli, poet, translatorand university teacher; José Mataloni, composer; Pablo Ingberg, poet,novelist, translator (Argentina), Nancy de Vries, coordinator of AmnestyInternational in the Caribbean (Aruba); Corall Hull, poet; Lauren Williams,poet; Dorothy Porter, poet; Beate Josephi, poet; John Kinsella, poet andcritic (Australia); Karl-Markus Gauss, essayist and director of the reviewLiteratur und Kritik; Erich Hackl, writer and translator; Bernhard Widder,poet and translator (Austria); Qassim Haddad, poet (Bahrain); FazalShahabuddin, poet and editor; Aminur Arman, poet, writer and critic(Bangladesh); Adisa Andwele, poet and singer (Barbados); Franck De Crits,poet; Marc Dugardin, poet; Stefaan van dem Bremt, poet and translator; StefanHertmans, poet (Belgium); Pedro Shimose, poet and journalist (Bolivia);Dragoslav Dedovic, poet (Bosnia and Herzegovina); Barolong Seboni, poet(Botswana); Ferreira Gullar, poet and university teacher; Cláudia Ahimsa,poet; Anibal Beça, poet and compositor; Humberto Mello, poet and director ofThe International Poetry Festival of Rio de Janeiro; Gloria Rodriguez,translator; Moacir Werneck de Castro, journalist and writer; Jair Krischke,activist for the human rights and president of the Movement of Justice andHuman Rigths; Zé do Rock, writer; Nélida Piñon, poet (Brazil); Kiril Kadiiski,poet (Bulgaria); Sophie Heidi Kam, poet (Burkina Faso); Ung Sreng Kong, writer(Cambodia); Paul Dakeyó, poet and editor (Cameroon); Louise Warren, poet;Jean-Marc Desgent, poet; José Acquelin, poet; Andréa Raymond, poet ; GuyMarchamps, poet, Claude Beausoleil, poet ; Élise Turcotte, poet; NicoleBrossard, poet; Bernard Pozier, poet (Canada); Ariel Dorfman, writer; VolodiaTeitelboim, writer; Elicura Chihuailaf, poet -Mapuche Nation-; Eduardo Llanos,poet; Omar Lara, poet, translator and co-director of the magazine Trilce;Mauricio Otero, poet; Sergio Mansilla Torres, poet, teacher of literature;Sergio Badilla Castillo, poet, university teacher; Alonso Azócar Avendaño,university teacher; Josefa Ruiz-Tagle Espinosa; Cecilia Valdés, poet; JulioEspinoza, writer; Magda Sepúlveda Eriz, teacher of literature; Ramón DíazEterovic, writer; José Antonio Román, psychologist; Juan Epple, writer;Alberto Kurapel, poet; Lila Calderón, poet; Antonio Silva Acevedo, poet;Hernán Lavín Cerda, poet; Ludwig Zeller, poet and painter; Manuel AntonioGarretón, sociologist (Chile); Cai Tianxin, poet and university teacher; LingYue, poet; Sang Ke, poet; Sen Zi, poet; Song Lin, poet; Yu Gang, poet; ZhangShuguang, poet; Zhou Zan, poet; Zhu Zhu, poet; Zang Di, poet and critic(China); Gabriel García Márquez, novelist and journalist, Nobel-Prize ofLiterature; Vito Apshana, poet –Wayuu Nation-; Guillermo González Uribe,writer and director of the magazine Número; William Ospina, poet and essayist;Renata Durán, poet and writer; Gabriel Jaime Franco, poet; Javier Naranjo,poet; Rafael Patiño, poet; Jairo Guzmán, poet; Luis Eduardo Rendón, poet;Gloria Chvatal, painter; Rafael Quiroz, painter; Maruja Vieira, poet; NicolásSuescún, poet and translator; Gabriel Jaime Caro, poet and editor; NeftalíSandoval, writer; Federico Díaz Granados, poet; Carlos Jiménez, writer anduniversity teacher; Winston Morales, poet; Melina Pezzotti Escobar, poet;Laureano Alba, poet; Nelson Romero, poet; María Eugenia Vázquez Perdomo,writer; Piedad Bonnett, writer; Gloria Guardia de Alfaro, writer; Yorlady RuizLópez, poet; Ángela García, poet; Myriam Montoya, poet; Luisa Aguilar, poet;José Guillermo Anjel, university teacher and writer; Ricardo Cano Gaviria,writer (Colombia); Kama Kamanda, poet (Congo); Osvaldo Sauma, poet; LuisChaves, poet and editor; Ricardo Ulloa Garay, poet; José María Zonta, poet;Alfonso Chase, poet (Costa Rica); Drazen Katunaric, poet, essayist and editor;Pavlica Bajsic, writer and author of radio (Croatia); Roberto FernándezRetamar, poet and essayist; Pablo Armando Fernández, poet and writer; NancyMorejón, poet and essayist; Norberto Codina, poet and editor; Luisa Campuzano,critic and editor; Luis Toledo Sande, essayist and critic; Jorge Fornet,essayist and critic; Lesbia Vent Dumois, painter; Vivian Martínez Tabares,actress and essayist; Arturo Arango, writer; Rogelio Rodríguez Coronel,essayist and literary critic; Víctor Rodríguez Núñez, poet and universityteacher; Alex Fleites, poet; Reina María Rodríguez, poet and writer; IsabelEspinosa, composer; Reynaldo García Blanco, poet; José Kozer, poet; JulioTravieso Serrano, writer; Efraín Rodríguez Santana, poet; Luis Lorente, poet;Jorge Luis Arzola, writer; Rogelio Saunders, writer; Rolando Sánchez Mejías,poet (Cuba); Neshe Yashin, poet (Cyprius); Josef Hruby´, poet and translator;Tomás Kafka, writer, translator and cultural promotor (Czech Republic);Marianne Larsen, poet; Morten Södergard, poet (Denmark); Abdourahman A.Waberi, writer (Djibouti); León Félix Batista, poet (Dominican Republic);Jorge Enrique Adoum, poet; Miguel Donoso Pareja, writer; Antonio Preciado,poet; Iván Oñate, poet (Ecuador); Nassar Abadía Nassar, poet (Egypt); FedericoHernández Aguilar, poet and writer; Otoniel Guevara, poet and editor; MarioNoel Rodríguez, poet and cultural promoter; Nora Mendez, poet singer andauthor; Federico Hernández, poet (El Salvador); Andres Ehin, poet; PeeterSauter, writer (Estonia); Eira Stenberg, poet; Jukka Koskelainen, poet andtranslator; Tua Försström, poet; Anni Sumari, poet (Finland); ChristianSalmon, Executive Director of the International Writers Parliament; NicoleLaurent-Catrice, poet and organizer of the International Poetry FestivalTombés de la Nuit in Brittany; Bénédicte Brusset, organizer of theInternational Itinerary Poetry Festival of Africa; Luis del Río Donoso, poet;Oscar Vasquez Pedemonte, engineer; Alain Touraine, sociologist, y SophieThonon, jurist; François-Xavier Renucci, teacher; Ana Vasquez-Bronfman, writer(France); Lenrie Peters, writer (Gambia); Günter Grass, writer, Nobel-Prize ofLiterature; Joachim Sartorius, poet, translator and director of the Festivalsof Berlin; Michael Krüger, poet and editor; Gerhard Falkner, poet; EstherDischereit, poet and writer; Uwe Kolbe, poet; Michael Speier, poet, translatorand editor of the poetry review Park and the Paul Celan-Yearbook; JonaBurghardt, translator; Michael Zöllner, editor and translator; UlrichSchreiber, director of the Berlin Literature Festival y president of theFoundation Peter Weiss; Regina Dyck, director of the Bremen Poetry Festival;Kathrin Bergenthal, script author; Petra Bernecker, university teacher, KarlKohut, university teacher; Sabine Döhl, teacher; Barbara Häusler, journalist;Peter Kultzen, lecturer; Patricia Reimann, lecturer; Silke Kleemann,translator; Michael Krämer, journalist, Inkota-Network; Christian Rauer,translator; Lutz Rathenow, poet and narrator; Michael Augustin, poet andtranslator; Elke Schmitter, writer, journalist and critic; PeterSchultze-Kraft, translator and anthologist (Germany); Ersi Sotiropoulos, poet;Veroniki Dalakoura, poet (Greece); Ernest Pepin, poet (Guadalupe); FranciscoMorales Santos, poet; Adolfo Mendez Vides, writer and poet; Juan Carlos Lemus,poet (Guatemala); Georges Casterra, poet and director of the review Boutures(Haiti); Francesca Randazzo, poet (Honduras); Péter Kántor, poet andtranslator (Hungary); Birgitta Jonsdóttir, poet (Iceland); Sujata Bhatt, poet;Kailash Vajpeyi, poet (India); SAID, poet and Adelbert-von-Chamisso-Prize(Iran); Wisam Hashem, writer (Iraq); Gabriel Rosenstock, poet (Irelanda);Shlomo Avayou, poet, translator and writer; Margalit Matitiahu, poet andgeneral secretary of the Writer Association of Israel (Israel); PaoloRuffilli, poet; Claudio Pozzani, poet and director of the International PoetryFestival of Geneva; Humberto Mangani, poet, Director of the InternationalPoetry Festival of Sidaja, Trieste; Guiseppe Conte, poet; Raffaello Bisso,writer; Darío Alvisi, poet (Italy); Lorna Goodison, poet (Jamaica); TaijinTendo, poet and painter; Marie Sunahara, poet (Japan); Jared Angira, poet(Kenya); Roald Dobrovenskij, writer; Velta Kaltina, poet (Latvia); MathiasOspelt, poet and cabaretist (Liechtenstein); Saulius Kondrotas, writer;Eugenijus Alisanka, poet (Lithuania); Jean Portante, poet (Luxembourg); NicoleCage-Florentiny, poet (Martinique); Lindsey Collen, poet (Mauritius); HomeroAridjis, poet and novelist, president of the International PEN; AlejandroAura, poet, writer and playwright; Natalia Toledo, poet -Zapoteca Nation-;Elsa Cross, poet; Lina Zerón, poet; Luis Cortés Bargalló, writer; LeticiaHuijara, writer; Julieta Egurrola, writer; Jesús Ochoa, writer; EugeniaLeñero, writer; Germaine Gómez Haro, writer; Verónica Loera, writer; MaríaEugenia Hernández, writer; Irma Villaseñor Salto, writer; José Alfredo Pineda,writer; María Luisa Mártínez Passarge, writer; María Vázquez Valdez; writer;Enzia Verducchi, writer; David Huerta, poet; Verónica Murguía, writer; JuanVilloro, writer; Felipe Eherenberg, painter; Silvia Pratt, writer; ArnoldoKraus, writer; Marcela Sánchez Mota, writer; Eduardo Hurtado; José VicenteAnaya, writer; Margarito Cuellar, poet; Héctor Carreto, writer; EduardoLangagne, writer; Francisco Martínez Negrete, writer; Fabio Morábito, writer;José Ángel Leyva, writer; Julián Herbert, writer; Eugenia Echeverría, writer;Carlos García Tort, writer; Alicia García Verruga, writer; Ana García Verruga,writer; María Eugenia Aguilar, writer; Ernesto Camou Healy, writer; ErikaDoring, writer; Jorge Fuentes Morúa, writer; Guillermo Michel, writer;Verónica Volkow, poet; Guadalupe Angeles, writer; Myriam Moscona, poet andjournalist; Armando Alanís Pulido, poet; Coral Bracho; poet; Marco AntonioCampos, poet; Luis Armenta Malpica, poet; Armando Oviedo, poet; Juan EmigdioPérez, poet; Jorge Ruiz Dueñas, poet; Roxana Elvridge-Thomas, poet; AlejandroSandoval Avila, poet; Marianne Toussaint, poet; Enriqueta Ochoa, poet; Maríade Lourdes Rangel; Ricardo Yánez, poet; Sergio Briceño, poet; Óscar Santos,poet; Verónica Zamora, poet; Claudia Santa-Ana, poet; Gabriel Díaz, poet;Francisco Fernández Granados, poet; Claudia Posadas, periodista; HugoGutiérrez Vega, poet; José Vicente Anaya, poet; Raúl Mejía, writer; BenjamínValdivia, poet; Gloria Gervitz, poet; Víctor Sandoval, poet; Vicente Quirarte,poet; Arturo Molina García, journalist; Francisco Torres Cordova, poet andjournalist; Sanda Racotta, cultural promotor; Paulina Campderá, culturalpromotor; Daniel Leyva, writer; Carmen Alardín, poet; Mario Gutiérrez,cultural promotor; José Luis Rivas, poet; Minerva Margarita Villareal, poet;Ana Aridjis, poet; Ricardo Castillo, poet; Margarita Murga; Isabel Huerta;Antonio Deltoro, poet; Benito Taibo, poet; Imelda Martorell, promotoracultural; Ivonne Gutiérrez, editor; Laura González Durán, poet and translator;Gaspar Aguilera Díaz, poet; Marco Antonio Regalado, writer; Ursus Juárez,writer; Lázaro Cárdenas Batel, anthropologist (Mexico); Vasile Garnet, poetand editor, director of the poetry review Contrafort (Moldova); GalsanTschinag, poet and narrator (Mongolia); Hassan El-Ouazzani, poet; Jala ElHakmaoui, poet; Aziz Azrai, poet; Mohammed Bechkar, poet; Jamal Al Moussaoui,poet; Kamal Akhlaki, poet; Khalid Dhiba, poet; Abdelhak Mifrani, poet; DrissEl Miliani, poet; Mourad El Kadiri, poet; Mohammed Ahmed Hafid, poet; Aziz ElHssaini, poet; Nouredine Zouitni, poet (Morocco); Branislav Prelevich, poetand translator (Montenegro); Hans C. Ten Berge, poet; Tatjana Daan, directorof Poetry International of Rotterdam (Netherlands); David Howard, writer (NewZealand); Ernesto Cardenal, poet; Ana Quiros, writer; Angela Saballos, writer;Vidaluz Meneses, poet; Claribel Alegría, poet; Isolda Hurtado, writer;Fernando A. Silva, writer; Luis Marina Acosta, writer; Martha Isabel Cranshaw,writer; María Isabel Argüello Martínez (Nicaragua); Wole Soyinka, poet,Nobel-Prize of Literature (Nigeria); Hanne Aga, poet (Norway); Kishwar Naheed,poet (Pakistan); Pablo Menacho, poet; Consuelo Tomás, poet; Alexander Zanches,poet; Carlos Wynter Melo, writer; Dimas Pitty, poet (Panama); Susy Delgado,poet and cultural journalist (Paraguay); Isaac Goldemberg, poet, novelist,professor of the New York University and director from the Latin AmericanWriter Institute of New York; Arturo Corcuera, poet; Carlos López de Gregori,poet; Renato Sandoval, poet; José Miguel Oviedo, poet (Peru); KrystynaRadowska, poet (Poland); José Saramago, writer, Nobel-Prize of Literature;Casimiro de Brito, poet and President of the Pen Club, Rosa Alice Branco,poet; Inês Pedrosa, writer and journalist; Fernando Pinto do Amaral, poet;Fernando Aguiar, poet; Eduardo Pitta, poet; José Carlos Marques, poet andeditor of the poetry review DiVersos; Maria de Nazaré Sanches, aphorist andtranslator (Portugal); Yván Silén, poet (Puerto Rico); Kwang-Kyu Kim, poet anduniversity teacher; Heyong Chong, translator and university teacher (Republikof Korea); Petru Cardu, poet and editor, president of the literary commune ofVrs*ac - KOV; Carolina Ilica, poet, translator and director of the PoetryNights in Curtea de Arges; Dimitru M. Ion, poet, translator and editor; PeterShrager, poet; Valeriu Stancu, poet (Romania); Anzhelina Polonskaya, poet;Alan Tschertschessow, writer; Irina Bogdaschevski, writer (RussianFederation); Mahmoudan Hawad, poet (Sahara Central); Sia Figiel, poet andsinger; Dan Taulapapa McMullin, poet (Samoa); María Conceicao Lima, poet andjournalist (Sao Tomé and Príncipe); Mamadou Traoré Diop, poet (Senegal);Zlatko Krasni, poet and translator; Moma Dimic, poet and director of theMeeting of Poets and Writers in Belgrade (Serbia); Syl Cheney Coker, poet(Sierra Leone); Brano Hochel, writer, translator; president of the SlovakianCommunity of Writers (Slovakia); Ales Steger, poet; Brano Mozetic, poet,translator and editor; Esad Babacic, poet and journalist; Regina Krizaj,dancer from the ballet of the National Theater; Iztok Osojnik, poet andorganizer of the Vilenica Literary Festival (Slovenia); Breyten Breytenbach,writer and painter, director of Goreé-Institut (South Africa); AntonioColinas, poet; Luis García Montero, poet; Manuel Moya, poet; María Novo, poetplastic artist; Manuela Temporelli, Coordinator and director of the TertuliaPoética del Ateneo 1º de Mayo de Madrid; Florencia Abbate, poet and essayist;Antonio Miravent Martín, Conceal Spokesman of the United Left in Ayamonte–Huelva-; Jesús Ruiperéz García, architect; Carlos Piera, poet; Ángel CamposPámpano, poet and translator; Enrique Falcón, poet; Juan Pastor, poet andeditor; Víctor M. Diaz, poet; Jorge Riechman, poet and social investigator;Juan Carlos Mestre, poet; Mariano Peyrou, poet; José María Gómez Valero, poetand writer; Antonio Méndez Rubio, university teacher; David Eloy Rodríguez,poet and writer; Malika Embarek López, translator; Osías Stutman, poet andscientific; José Albelda, painter, essayist and university teacher; MarthaViñals, tapestry; José Viñals, poet; José A. Sánchez, university teacher;Manuel Rico, writer and critic; Dionisio Cañas, poet; Mireia Pol, writer;Francisco Plata, poet; Virgilio Tortosa, poet; Antonio Martínez Peris; DavidMartínez Peris; Raül Martínez Peris; Sergio Martínez Peris; Salvador RosellCrespo, poet; Juan Diego González Muñoz, poet; Enrique Pérez Tomás, poet;Alejandro Garros De Vicente, poet; Gabriel Viñals Guzmán, poet; María ÁngelesMaeso, poet; Luis González-Adalid, editor; Pedro J. de la Peña, poet; AntonioPorpetta, poet; Ricardo Bellveser, poet; J. L. Rodríguez García, writer anduniversity teacher; Andolin Eguzkitza, poet; Mada Alderete Vincent, poet,journalist and teacher; Oscar Carpintero, university teacher; Francisco JoséCruz, writer; Ferrán Fernández, poet, university teacher and editor; ConchaGarcía, poet; Jesús García Sánchez, Editorial Visor; Biel Mesquida, poet;Susanna Rafart, poet; Elisabete Tolaretxipi, poet; Enric Casasses, poet;Federico Arbós; Instituto Cervantes in Casablanca, Moroc; Pilar del Río,journalist and translator; Tomás Segovia, poet; Julio Llamazares; writer;Manuel Rivas, writer; Ana Vírseda de Andrés, writer; Rosa Lentini, poet(Spain); Ramya Sirasinghe, poet (Sri Lanka); Jit Naraim, poet (Suriname); EvaRunefelt, poet; Lasse Söderberg, poet, translator and director of the FestivalPoesidagarna of Malmö; Bengt Berg, poet; Agneta Pleijel, writer (Sweden);Thomas Hürlimann, novelist; Egon Ammann, editor; Alberto Nessi, poet(Switzerland); Adonis, poet; Suleman Taufiq, poet and translator (Syrian ArabRepublic); Euphrase Kezilahabi, poet (Tanzania); Tugrul Tanyol, poet; AdnanÖzer, poet (Turkey); Vasyl Makhno, poet and translator; Okzana Zabuzhko, poet(Ukraine); Tom Raworth, poet, translator and teacher; Herbie Butterfield ,professor, University of Essex; Claire Pye, translator (United Kingdom ofGreat Britain); Eliot Weinberger, essayist, editor and translator; RobertCreeley, poet and teacher; Anne Waldmann, poet and performer; Amanda Powell,poet and translator; Margaret Randall, poet and translator; Al Aronowitz,writer, editor and journalist; Katherine Heeden, university teacher; RicardoLeón Peña-Villa, poet and writer; Sheila Candelario, writer and universityteacher; Amiri Baraka, poet; Marylisa W. DeDomenicis, poet; Eliot Greenspan,writer; Norman Mailer, writer (United States of America); Mario Benedetti,poet; Eduardo Galeano, writer; Roberto Mascaró, poet; Luis Bravo, poet; MarthaCanfield, poet and university teacher; Sergio Altesor, writer; Héctor Rosales,poet; Clemente Padín, poet and performer; Rafael Courtoisie, poet; EduardoMilán, poet; Ida Vitale, poet; Enrique Fierro, poet and university teacher;Sergio Infante, writer and university teacher; Eduardo Espina, poet (Uruguay);Juan Sánchez Peláez, poet; María Antonieta Flores, poet; Gonzalo Fragui, poetand editor; María Angélica León, philosopher; Santos López, poet; ArturoGutiérrez Plaza, poet and essayist; Vladimir Vera, writer; Igor Barreto, poet;Alicia Torres, poet and translator; Yolanda Pantin, poet; Luis Gerardo MármolBosch, poet and university teacher; Carmen Verde Arocha, poet and essayist,general manager of the Casa de la Poesía Pérez Bonalde; Blanca Elena Pantin,poet and journalist; Juan Riquelme, writer and director of the review Babel(Venezuela); Nguyen Chi Trung, poet and translator (Viet Nam).


Organizers:
Fernando Rendón, poet, director of the International Festival of Poetry in Medellín and the Latin American poetry journal PROMETEO (Colombia).
Address: fearn@epm.net.co, Festival Medellín website
Tobias Burghardt, poet, essayist and translator of poetry (Germany).
Address: tob@z.zgs.de, website Juan Gelman