Guatemalan artist Darío Escobar received the Carlos Mérida Award for the Arts. The ceremony took place in the Reception Hall of the National Palace of Culture. The award, granted by the Ministry of Culture, consists of a parchment and a cash prize. In an atypical act, like most in the year of the pandemic, Escobar was hosted by the head of the Ministry and other Guatemalan ministerial authorities. Rudy Cotton, director of the Carlos Mérida Museum, praised Darío: "he is the breaking point between modernity and contemporaneity", he said. Cotton also defined Escobar as the representative of Guatemala today -without leaving aside the history of art in the country, but rather as a representative of a specific moment. "May you continue to be the same one we all know," he said, while presenting the recognition as an encouragement to move forward on the road ahead.
For his part, Escobar took the floor after the presentation of the scroll. He spoke of how Guatemala, in the words of Mario Roberto Morales, was on the side of the great Latin American cultural capitals in terms of visual arts and literature despite all the circumstances. Darío also left some lines that review his own work. "I belong to a generation that after the signing of the peace it was his turn to talk to the rest of the world," he expounded. Thus, he defended that he always thought of talking about the country in "international terms". In this line, he also emphasized the visibility gained over the years and the possibility of doing what he likes.