April 8, 2023, 4:00 AM
April 8, 2023, 4:00 AM
He condor of the andes It is the highest distinction that the Bolivian State confers on citizens or institutions for their eminent services rendered to the nation. In the cultural and artistic field, the composer Gilberto Rojas Enriquez in 1956, the creator of Las Flaviadas, Flavio Machicado Viscarra in 1986, the charango master Ernesto Cavour in 2013 and the folkloric group Ch’ila Jatun in 2014 have already received important recognition. The last time it was delivered in 2022 by President Luis Arce to the Chuquisacan singer-songwriter and poet Matilde Casazola.
In November 2015, when inaugurating in Sucre an exhibition of photographs “about stories that the city forgot and the walls keep”, the sculptor, ceramicist, muralist and painter Lorgio Vaca He said that “the artist works but does not expect reward. The artist gives himself freely and simply”.
In the same act, technicians from the Ministry of Culture made it known that from 1930 to 1990 90 murals had been identified in the country, of which more than 30 bear the creative seal of the artist who has painted the most works in Bolivia.
With an original style, Lorgio Vaca has become an iconic figure of Santa Cruz art and one of the greatest muralists in the country and in Latin America. ‘The feat of the Bolivian East’ that he captured in 1970 over 240 meters in length is one of his greatest works. It is located in the Arenal Park where a mysterious explosion destroyed it in 2010 and which Vaca reconstructed ‘conscientiously’, piece after piece, with exceptional care, leaving this magnificent work as a cultural and patrimonial legacy for the new generations.
With the encouragement of the Plurinational Cultural Center and the BCB Foundation, a collection of signatures is promoted so that Lorgio is awarded the Condor of the Andes.
An acknowledgment that “out of gratitude and justice deserves a cruceño” who painted the country and drew its history from his social commitment and his integrating vision”, justified the proponents of the consecrated artist who will turn 93 on September 24. Therefore, the merits achieved in his vast career by Lorgio Vaca for a recognition of the national State that should not wait for more processing or more time, are redundant and shine.
