Artists Jose Rodriguez and Ronald Moran were waiting for me at the other side of the Las Chinamas border, between El Salvador and Guatemala. Jose Rodriguez, as great host, had done quite a bit of research and organizing to smoothen the entry process into the border; regardless, we still had to go through an hour of revisions, xeroxing, and stamping that included the strange request to go back to Guatemala to stamp one of the many documents. After a quick pupusa-eating stop near Tlaquepeque, we arrived to the Matías Delgado University where the SPU activities will take place, where a nervous Hugo Martinez Acuña (out host at the university) and a crew or reporters were anxiously waiting. The Mexican Embassy had prepared a cocktail reception for the SPU, with the attendance of the Mexican Ambassador herself and the cultural attaché. This was quite an unexpected honor, and it also was interesting to see that the protocolary dimension of the project had already been so firmly established even before we had set up our wares at this site.
The Mexican-Salvadoran theme was a constant today, with many professors speaking highly of their experiences in Mexico, speaking of José Vasconcelos and Mexican Art. Additionally, it came to my attention that the Mexican business world has quite a presence in El Salvador: Carlos Slim has many enterprises here, such as two Sanborn’s stores, there is a mall designed by Ricardo Legorreta, and much more. During a conversation with the historian Astrid Bahamond, who runs the Center for the Arts here, I asked her on whether there should be a more critical take on the influence of Mexican culture and commerce here. She replied: “here, the only time when Salvadorans hate Mexico is when Mexico defeats us in soccer”.
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Los artistas Jose Rodriguez y Ronald Morán me esperaban al otro lado del puente que marca la frontera de las Chinamas, entre El Salvador y Guatemala. Jose (Chepe) Rodríguez, como organizador ejemplar de la presencia de la EPD en El Salvador, hizo toda clase de instancias con las autoridades fronterizas para facilitar los trámites. Aún así, pasamos cerca de una hora en medio de revisiones fastidiosas de maletas, fotocopias, y requisitos de utilidad dudosa como el regresar a Guatemala a que nos sellaran uno de los múltiples documentos. Al final, y después de pararnos brevemente cerca de Tlaquepeque para comer algunas pupusas de bienvenida, llegamos a la universidad Matías Delgado, donde nos esperaban ansiosamente. Recibir tal recepción fue todo un honor inesperado, así como fue interesante ver que la dimensión protocolaria del proyecto fue tan bien asumida de antemano. El día entero de actividades estuvo dedicado al tema de la educación y el arte como lo habíamos propuesto con antelación. Muchos profesores que asistieron a la recepción hablaban constantemente con entusiasmo acerca de México, de su arte y de las ideas panamericanistas de Vasconcelos. Pregunté si no debería de haber un sentido crítico en El Salvador sobre la influencia, ya sea cultural o económica, que ejerce México. Astrid respondió: “aquí la gente solo se enoja con México si le ganan a El Salvador en el futbol”.