Deputy State Secretary for Hungarian Communities Abroad Zsuzsanna Répás found Hungarian cultural life to be lively on her tour of several South American countries, during which she made contact with Hungarian communities living there.

Deputy State Secretary Répás visited remote locations such as Coronel du Graty and Villa Angela in northern Argentina, where the descendants of Hungarian émigrés have lived for eighty years, preserving traditions and observing national holidays to this day. Practically nobody outside the older generations speaks Hungarian, and even they have limited knowledge of the language, having almost no contact with Hungary. They have waited a long time for meaningful contact with their country of origin, said Deputy State Secretary Répás on the telephone from Rio de Janeiro – one of the stops on her ten day tour.

The deputy state secretary took part in wreath-laying ceremonies, cultural events and meetings with local representatives of Hungarian communities in the two Argentine settlements mentioned above, in Santiago de Chile, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Asunción in Paraguay and in Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo in Brazil – the country with the largest Hungarian community in South America, numbering more than 100,000. In the latter city, which is the economic heart of Brazil, there are longstanding Hungarian institutions and schools.

Deputy State Secretary Répás noted how active Hungarians are in Uruguay, involving locals in Hungarian folk dance classes and thus introducing them to Hungary and Hungarian culture. Folk dance groups have been established in several age ranges and Hungary’s reputation has been enhanced, said Deputy State Secretary Répás.

Generally she found that among second and third generations there is interest in applying for places in Hungarian higher education, and also in learning and improving Hungarian language skills in Hungary.

(Prime Minister’s Office)