Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and President of the Republic, attended the Línea y 18 Cultural Station in this capital today for the opening of the 34th edition of the Havana International Book Fair (FILH).

Also present were Alpidio Alonso Grau, Minister of Culture; Juan Rodríguez Cabrera, President of the Cuban Book Institute (ICL); and Víktor Koronelli, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Cuba, along with officials and representatives from the country's publishing houses and prominent figures of Cuban letters.

The event, running through August 16 before continuing its tour through the rest of the country and concluding on September 6 in Santiago de Cuba, pays tribute this year to the centennial of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro (1926–2016) and features the Russian Federation as the Guest Country of Honor.

More than 1,300 titles in various formats and over 2.4 million copies will be made available to readers of all ages, reaffirming the mass, popular character of Cuba's largest literary celebration.

The FILH program also reserves tributes to writers Marilyn Bobes and José Bell Lara, who will be the focus of the Colloquium on Life and Work, a space recognizing their contributions to critical thought and national literary creation.