Óscar Oliva in the morning

This Thursday morning, during the customary morning conference from the National Palace, headed by the President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, finally, after two years of delay without any explanation since the Federal Ministry of Culture For the postponement, the express ceremony of delivery of the National Arts and Literature Awards corresponding to 2020 and also those of 2021 was held.

The poet Óscar Mario Oliva Ruiz, awarded in the field of Linguistics and Literature for the 2021 edition, was in charge of addressing a few words on behalf of the winners of both editions.

As human beings, the poet pointed out, “(creators) need to renew ourselves over and over again, fully integrated into the process of transmission of culture and art with everything that this formidable leap in science and electronic media that we are experiencing represents. ; with our imagination attached to the harshest reality”.

And he continued: “we all know that in this universe everything is related to everything: individual work with collective work, philosophy with science, the fight for freedom with justice, poetry with music, our bodies with architecture of the cosmos, mythology with the most stark reality, for this reason, all women and men need our countries to live in peace, without wars, without murdered girls, without racism, without discrimination of any kind, without beaten migrants and many times murdered or killed in accidents caused by disregard for their lives”.

Post mortem to Alfredo López Austin

Of this ceremony, which lasted just 15 minutes, the postmortem delivery of the National Prize for Arts and Literature in the field of History, Social Sciences and Philosophy for the archaeologist Alfredo López Austin, who died on October 15, 2021, stood out. name, received the award Martha Rosario Luján, his widow.

The rest of the winners, all present and at the hands of President López Obrador, were, for the 2020 edition, the poet and essayist Adolfo Castañón Morán, in the field of Linguistics and Literature; the sculptor Manuel de Jesús Hernández “Hersúa”, in the field of Fine Arts, and the Michoacan master craftsman Mario Agustín Gaspar in Popular Arts and Traditions, in addition to the aforementioned Alfredo López Austin. Likewise, a special recognition was made to the renowned film producer Bertha Navarro.

For their part, those recognized in the 2021 edition were, in addition to the aforementioned poet Óscar Mario Oliva Ruiz, the musical director, educator and cultural promoter Sergio Ismael Cárdenas Tamez, in the Fine Arts; the jurist specialist in Human and constitutional Rights Fernando Alberto Lázaro Serrano Migallón, in History, Social Sciences and Philosophy, and the Collective Taller Leñateros, from San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, in the field of Popular Arts and Traditions, to which this newspaper paid a visit as part of the award announcement.

Explain why since morning

Accompanied by the federal Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto Guerrero, the president explained the reason for giving the award from the daily conference at the National Palace:

“Because a lot of people find out. We could hold a special ceremony for this purpose and it is not possible to communicate the same as when something is made known at this time and in this conference, which is a circular dialogue, ”he declared.