"City Of Eternal Spring”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31206, 2 November 1966, Page 7

"City Of Eternal Spring”

(N’.Z.P. A.-Reuter) CARACAS (Venezuela). Caracas, the “city of the eternal spring,” is already in the throes of celebrations to mark its foundation in 1567. About £178,000 is being spent on the 400th anniversary fes.tivities which, including national and international events, will continue until the end of next year. The biggest celebrations that the capital has known began on July 25 after its 399th birthday; a campaign appealing to citizens to clean up their city is now under way.

Special matchboxes have been circulated to advertise the event, and 250,000 posters are being sent to airports, travel agencies and hotels. An exhibition illustrating the dynamism and vigour of the capital is touring the Dutch West Indies before being sent to the Venezuelan tourist offices in New York and Washington. A special commemorative issue of stamps will be released later this year. Officials hope that the 400th anniversary will provide a badly-needed fillip to the Venezuelan tourist industry, and that in particular

there will be more visitors from the United States. The main celebrations come next year with an opera season, an American theatre festival, a bull-fighting festival, and an international athletics festival.

Invitations are being sent to governments, mayors, and prominent personalities throughout the world to take part in the celebration. British Embassy officials in Caracas have been approached with suggestions that the Beatles and Richard Burton and his wife, Elizabeth Taylor, might attend. The capital hopes to stage Latin America's first Son et Luminere (Luz y Sonido). The planned setting for this spectacle is the central Bolivar square and the date April 19, anniversary of the day in 1810 when Venezuela won independence from Spain.

During 1967, a number of international congresses will be held in Caracas. One will be the world congress of blood donors, and the InterAmerican Education Council will also meet in Caracas. There will be an international book contest named after Venezuela’s leading author and former President, Romula Gallegos, and an inter-American competition on economic themes. Other events will include an exhibition of painting, a film festival, a song festival, and a parade of vintage cars.

Also, there will be a “Miss Quater-centenary.” In December, a girl born in the capital will be chosen “to symbolise the beauty, grace and presence of Caracas in its four centuries.”