A report from the Romulo Gallegos Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies referred that the award-winning work, published by El Perro y la Rana (2023), “presents a very current and useful Marxism/anti-Marxism contrast, while tracing the course and diverse interpretations of Marxism in Latin America.” This work allows readers to understand the evolution and current state of our own reality.

In his work, Guadarrama Gonzalez explores the history of philosophy to show how it has been used to reinforce the primacy of Europe as a cultural and intellectual model that should be cultivated and imitated throughout the rest of the Western world, the article notes. The jury recognized that, in the face of this mental colonialism, the author “reaffirms Marx’s theses and delves into the true causes of our continent’s socioeconomic problems.”

He also agrees with other liberating proposals regarding the need for people to assert their right to establish their own cultural references and decide their own destiny, the verdict stated.

This year, in its 13th edition, the judging panel awarded honorable mentions to several authors, including Atilio Boron and Paula Klacko for Segundo Turno (Second Turn), The Resurgence of the Progressive Cycle in Latin America and the Caribbean; and Jorge Sanjines for Film and Society (Pinves Foundation).

Also to Jose Guadalupe Gandarilla, for Totality of Capital, Theorization, Criticism, and Decolonial Approach. Towards the Decolonization of Knowledge. TEA Thought; and to Ramon Grosfoguel, for Decolonial Thoughts from Latin America; as well as to Sergio Rodriguez Gelfenstein, for China in the 21st Century: The Awakening of a Giant; and Vladimir Acosta, for Leaving the Colony.

The Libertador Prize for Critical Thought was created in 2005 by President Hugo Chavez and is considered the most important recognition of counter-hegemonic thought awarded in the Spanish language, according to the source.

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