MiCultura advances in strengthening the Centre for Historical, Anthropological and Cultural Research

Panama, 11 March 2020. The Ministry of Culture takes strong steps to strengthen the Association of Public Interest for the Centre for Historical, Anthropological and Cultural Research, bringing its founding members together to a meeting at which its Board of Directors was elected and its statutes adopted.

According to the Minister of Culture, Carlos Aguilar Navarro, this meeting of representatives of government, academia and private company is an historic step that allows us to give back to research how important they have been at the time of Dr. Reina Torres de Araúz, matching us with the scientific challenges and realities of the 21st century.

The research centre of the Ministry of Culture contributes to the goal of making Panama the "hub of hubs" of research from the region as Panama an enabling strategic place where researchers from across the region converge with the task of thinking and rethinking the place of Latin America in global history and culture.

"The creation of the Research Center in the form of Public Interest Association (AIP) aims to re-investigate, as in the days of Dr. Reina Torres de Araúz, but to suit the scientific challenges and realities of the 21st century, where research funds will be awarded by contest and researchers will publish in indexed journals and in books evaluated by academic peers," the Minister explained at the meeting.

The Founding Representation of the Center for Historical Research, Anthropological and Cultural AIP are represented by SENACYT, the National Archives of Panama's Public Registry, the National Bank of Panama represented by Mr. Aura Ferrer, the Ministry of Social Development, the National Council of Private Enterprise, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Centre, the Niko's Group and the Association of Anthropology and History of Panama.

Dr. Marixa Lasso, National Research and Publications Director at the Ministry of Culture, has been a key component in creating a research centre that conforms to new realities, best global practices and methodologies for this discipline.

Thanks to this centre, historians, anthropologologists, ethnusicologists and art histologists will have a place to study our past and our culture.

For Dr. Lasso, this centre allows, for instance, that the quality of our museums will rise exponentially because their exhibitions will be based on quality historic research and thus cultural tourism routes will improve their offer while they are based on good research.

"The inclusion and strength of our society benefits if we know and appreciate the wealth of our history and our culture," adds Lasso.

Founding members of the Centre for Historical, Anthropological and Cultural Research AIP

•Ministerio de Cultura, represented by his Minister, Carlos Aguilar Navarro

• SENACYT, represented by its Secretary General, Dr. Victor Sánchez Urrutia.

• The Panama National Archives Section of the Public Registry, represented by the Director of the National Archive, the engineer Gustavo Cerrud.

• The National Bank of Panama represented by Mr. Aura Ferrer.

The Ministry of Social Development represented by Dr. Margarita Vásquez.

• The National Council for Private Enterprise represented by its president, Mr. Julio de La Lashra.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Center represented by its director, Dr. Matthew Larsen.

• The Niko's Group represented by Mr. Nikolás Liakopulos Falcón.

• The Association of Anthropology and History of Panama represented by its president, Dr. Tomas Mendizábal.