Buenos Aires, Argentina - April 25, 2024

After the somewhat delayed arrival of the head of the Buenos Aires government, Jorge Macri, to the central hall of La Rural, the inauguration of the 48th edition of the International Book Fair of Buenos Aires began on Thursday afternoon, which for the first time did not have the presence of any representative of the national government. However, in the speeches of the president of the Fundacion El Libro (FEL), Alejandro Vaccaro, and the writer Liliana Heker, the government, and especially its relationship with the world of culture, was very present.

In addition to Vaccaro and Heker, the Portuguese ambassador, Jose Ludovice, representing Lisbon, this year's guest of honour, and the head of the Buenos Aires government took to the stage. At the end of the ceremony, at the traditional ribbon cutting, the Buenos Aires Minister of Culture, Gabriela Ricardes, and the general director of the Fair, Ezequiel Martinez, joined in. It was a cordial closing for the photo, although throughout the event there was applause and booing at different times. Heker received a standing ovation from the first minute.

Vaccaro welcomed those present (the hall was packed) to the "great festival of books, culture and democracy" and said that at present culture was "hacked and affected by the attempt to defund it"; in view of this panorama, the Fair would become, according to him, "a cultural beacon in the midst of darkness". He considered that the government's economic measures were dragging the majority of the population into "a world far, far away from the paradise imagined by Borges" and that the book industry was returning to "gloomy figures"; he predicted that the level of book production in 2024 would be "very poor".

This footage illustrates people visiting the Buenos Aires Book Fair in Argentina.