The Third International Congress of the Spanish Language (''Tercer Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española'') was a cultural event that took place in Rosario,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, on November 17-19, 2004. The main topics of the Congress were three: ideological and sociological aspects of linguistic identity; identity and language in literary creation; and the internationalization of Spanish. It was the first time this Congress was celebrated in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

; the previous ones were held in

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(

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

) and

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

(

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). Given its importance, the governor of Santa Fe,

Jorge Obeid Jorge Alberto Obeid (24 November 1947 – 28 January 2014) was an Argentine Justicialist Party (PJ) politician who was twice governor of Santa Fe Province and member of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies. Early life and education Obeid was born i ...

, decreed a public holiday for the opening day. The main base of the activities of the Congress was El Círculo Theater, especially restored for the occasion. It started with a welcome session presented by heads of State and writers. The Congress itself comprised a series of lectures and parallel cultural activities. It included a homage to the Argentine writer

Ernesto Sábato Ernesto Sabato (June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary wo ...

. A dictionary of linguistic doubts (''Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas'') was introduced, and the Cervantes Institute presented a new linguistic competence certificate for Spanish as a foreign language. Commemorating the fourth centennial of the first publishing of ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of West ...

'', a brand-new special edition was released by the Real Academia Española and Editorial Santillana, with the support of the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language. Its 12,000 copies were reported sold out in less than a month.

Guests and lecturers

Representing

, the Congress was attended by the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Juan Carlos I and the Queen Sofía; Argentine

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...

represented the national government. The presidents of Colombia and

, as well as other important representatives of Spanish-speaking countries, were also present. As guest lecturers there were the writers

Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), ''Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christopher ...

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE ComSE GColCa (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which hec ...

Ernesto Cardenal Ernesto Cardenal Martínez (20 January 1925 – 1 March 2020) was a Nicaraguan Catholic priest, poet, and politician. He was a liberation theologian and the founder of the primitivist art community in the Solentiname Islands, where he lived fo ...

, and

. The Rosario-born novelist, comics artist and humorist

Roberto Fontanarrosa Roberto Alfredo Fontanarrosa, known popularly as ''El Negro'' Fontanarrosa (November 26, 1944 in Rosario – July 19, 2007), was an Argentine cartoonist, comics artist and writer. During his extended career, Fontanarrosa became one of the m ...

broke the ice in a debate about the importance of insults in interpersonal communication.

Criticism

{{See also, Black legend (Spain) The Congress met opposition on the part of activist groups representing some linguistic and ethnic minorities, and became a focus for the confluence of many movements related to the left, from anti-globalization sympathizers to revisionists of the historic role of Spain and the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

in the colonization of the

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(and the ensuing decline of native languages and cultures). The beginning of the Congress was protested by a large demonstration. In line with these protests, there was another gathering, the '' Congreso de laS LenguaS'', to discuss linguistic and cultural diversity in the region. It was presided by

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.

Sources

''In Spanish unless otherwise noted:''
Educ.ar
– Educational portal of the Argentine State.
Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española
in the website of Liceus.com.
Diario Hoy
La Plata, Argentina, 18 December 2004.
Rosario en el éxito soñado
RosarioNet, 21 November 2004.
Por el Congreso de la Lengua, habrá asueto administrativo.
SinMordaza.com, 12 November 2004.
Congreso de laS LenguaS
Culture in Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine culture