H.E. Agustín Vásquez Gómez, Ambassador of the Republic of El Salvador.
By Roy Lie A Tjam.
On 17 November 2017, The Latin America Table convened at the Groene Zaal of De Nieuwe of Littéraire Sociëteit De Witte, The Hague. It has been an honor to have H.E. Agustín Vásquez Gómez, Ambassador of the Republic of El Salvador and Mrs. Lidice Michelle Melara Minero, Dutch – Salvadorian artist and sociologist, as speakers.
Ambassador Agustín Vásquez Gómez had chosen a theme, “The art and culture of El Salvador in the world”.
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It was as if the audience was taken on a journey by Vásquez Gómez, a highly motivated tour guide, through a cultural endeavor. Gómez delivered an eye-catching and incredibly pleasant expose. He describes his country’s culture as simple, not complex; the Salvadorians are happy, friendly, smiling people.
Ambassador Vásquez Gómez touched on every segment of the Salvadorian society such as their form of government- 14 departments and 261 municipals. Each municipality has its own cultural particularity, dance, and artisans. Income is mainly from coffee. As for the geographical layout, there exists many volcanos. San Salvador is known as the Valle de las Hamacas, “the valley of the hammocks”, because of its frequent tremors, everything swings and sways as a hammock does.
Camilo Minero
Part of the program was dedicated to the life and artistic work of Camilo Minero, a great Salvadorian artist. Mrs. Melara Minero, granddaughter of Camilo Minero, delivered a presentation on her grandfather’s legacy because it happens to be that 2017 is the year of the centenary of Camilo Minero’s birth.
Camilo Minero was a painter who embodied themes of the realities of society within his work. He was a member of the circle La Generacion Comprometida -“the Committed Generation” implying that art and politics overlap, and are “committed” to, one another.
Minero showed the shortcomings of the world, especially for the working classes, as well as the unjust world for children, without neglecting the artistic quality and demonstrating his technical skills in each of his paintings.
His paintings have been exhibited in museums of Mexico, Nicaragua, France, Guatemala, Sweden, Honduras, Colombia, Japan, Costa Rica, Germany, Argentina, United States of America, Spain, Chile, Great Britain and El Salvador among others.
An collection of original paintings of Master Camilo Minero was displayed the evening of The Latin America Table. The presentations of both H.E. Vásquez Gómez and Mrs. Melara Minero concluded with Q&A sessions for each of them.
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Photography courtesy of the Embassy of El Salvador
