City claims National Gov't intends to move Int'l Book Fair to Tecnópolis

Besides the subways, the transfer of funds, public hospital security and the Demarchi island, there may be a new conflict brewing between the National and City governments, this time involving the International Book Fair.

According to the City’s Culture Minister, Hernán Lombardi, the National Government “is trying to take the Buenos Aires International Book Fair away from the city in 2013.”

Lombardi assures that there are plans to move the fair from the La Rural expo in Palermo, where it is usually held, to the Tecnópolis science and technology theme park in Villa Martelli.

“I know some meetings have taken place. Unfortunately it looks as if there’s an unstoppable offensive against the City,” Lombardi said.

The alleged “meetings” involved National Government officials and the directors of the El Libro Foundation, in charge of organizing the fair each year.

“We want the Book Fair to remain in Buenos Aires, and I think that we must calmly stop these moves that are part of a permanent system to discriminate against the City,” he said in a radio interview.

“The El Libro Foundation finances itself through stand fees. In the City we celebrate the Night of the Books, which helps them make some money but not so much,” he warned.

Some believe it would be an option to set up the fair in Palermo every other year, starting in Tecnópolis in 2014.

“I think the organizers will stand firmly against this and they know that the Book Fair being set up in the City is a cultural tradition, a party that takes place every year,” he concluded.