2
O
viedo
| C
ampoamor
T
heatre
| 5
th
O
ctober
1985
I am the first person born in Asturias to receive one of the Prince of Asturias Awards. Owing to
that circumstance, I may be forgiven for making a specific reference to Asturias, a land that one day
long ago, sixty years ago now, I first saw as a compendium and image of the whole earth. If the fact
of having been born here, in this city, in Oviedo, has significance for me, it is because it was in fact
the world that came to me precisely in this place, materializing before my astonished infant eyes
as an unprecedented and magical apparition. Here in Asturias, I first saw all the wonders of the
universe that are within our reach: mountains and rivers, the sea, animals and plants, the sky and
the rain —especially the rain–. Here I discovered the meaning of love, even more valuable when
its light stood out against the sombre background of misery and hatred. Here I became acquainted
with not only the beauty of the earth, but also the great human virtues: the solidarity, selflessness,
generosity and dedication of men determined to fight for justice and freedom.
Everything I saw and lived later, in my adulthood, never ceased to be a mere representation of
that first, striking presence: the virginal appearance of the world that was indelibly etched in my
spirit as an inevitable reference to understand the totality of things and events which life was to
confront me with later.
Latin America and Spain have experienced a truly unique historical relationship. Colonized
by Spain, we have fought against that colonial situation, in a struggle which, strictly speaking,
did not seem to be considered as a conflict between the two peoples, but as a battle between
political philosophies that fought each other in the domestic sphere of both peoples. Our wars of
independence were part of an ideal struggle against absolutismwhich was also being fought within
Spain itself. The outline of a struggle between colonizers and the colonized, which could have
pitted us against each other, was diluted in a battle of principles which, to the contrary, brought
us together. We were not peoples who fought each other, but peoples who were enduring parallel
processes of internal conflicts.
Hence, both in the colonial period and in that of independence, Spain was a constant reference
point for us, though not always of the same sign.
We are associated with you, hence, in one and the same cultural dialectic. There is a global
Spanish-American culture that is common to our mistakes and our successes, our setbacks and
our progress. Is a greater degree of identification conceivable between two peoples?
We are also joined by the common conviction that the democratic systemwill be incomplete and
unstable as long as it lacks a basis of social justice, which means not only equitable distribution of
wealth, but also framing this distribution within a production system that is effective in generating
wealth to distribute.
Spain today demonstrates a thoughtful effort to harmonize these objectives, which is a sign not
only of political mastery, but also of willingness to renew its own culture.
It can be said that such renovation is also our focus, aimed at the twofold objectives of
moralizing and rationalizing relationships between man and his environment, on the one hand,
bringing down unjust privileges and, on the other, overcoming the ideological immobility that
impedes the perception of reality in a process of change.
Raul Alfonsín Foulkes was President
of Argentina from 1983 to 1989.
—
Excerpt from the speech given on the
occasion of receiving the Prince of
Asturias Award for Ibero-American
Cooperation on 5/10/1985.
Excerpt from the speech given on the
occasion of receiving the Prince of
Asturias Award for Literature
on 5/10/1985.
Laureates. Excerpts
Ángel González
—
Prince of Asturias
Award for Literature
1985
Raúl Alfonsín Foulkes
—
Prince of Asturias Award
for Ibero-American
Cooperation 1985
