DANIEL HERNANDEZ-SALAZAR Fotografo / Photographer: RECONOCIMIENTOS / AWARDS

Jonathan Mann Award 1998
to Daniel Hernández-Salazar

Presentation of the 1998 IAPAC
Jonathan Mann Award to Daniel Hernández

Gordon Nary

Gordon Nary was Editor of the Journal and Executive Director of
The International Association of Phisicians in AIDS Care, IAPAC.

Presented at IAPAC's Second International Conference on
Healthcare Resource Allocation for HIV/AIDS
and Other Life-Threatening Illnesses,
November 15-18, 1998

The award of our association's first Jonathan Mann Award for Human Rights to an artist may surprise some who might have assumed that the award should go to one of Dr. Mann's colleagues who shared his vision and his mission. After all, what does art have to do with human rights or healthcare? Artists, just as physicians, scientists, ethicists, and economists, just as all of us, seek the truth.

Truth as the epistomologists will tell us is a parallel expression of goodness, unity, and beauty. The epistomologists' exposition of the four manifestations of reality are the One, the Good, the True, and the Beautiful -- the same manifestations attributed to God by many theologians.

There are some of us who are graced with a vision of oneness -- of the unity of life -- of the connection between the elements of the natural order. Those who are graced with this gift intuitively understand some of the mysteries of the divine plan, of the natural order, and of the consequences of our failure to understand and respond to these connections. Jonathan Mann was one of those graced with the vision of oneness. It took Jonathan Mann to lead us to a better understanding of the relationship between human rights and AIDS, between human rights and healthcare, and of the consequences of failing to respond to those relationships. Dr. Mann was also graced with the gift of communication. He possessed a singular clarity of message -- a voice
and a style that conjures atavistic memories of Old Testament prophets in its power and conviction.

There are some of us graced with a sense of goodness, and these men and women are compelled to share that goodness with others. Desmond Tutu comes to mind . There are others who are driven to find the truth and to share that truth to benefit the rest of us. Jonas Salk comes to mind. Then there are the artists who are graced and sometimes cursed with the realization of the truth inherent in beauty and the beauty inherent in truth. Like the teacher, the saint, and the scientist, they are compelled to share their gift with the rest of us who often cannot see what they see, or understand what is so intuitive to them.

But great artists like great teachers, great saints, and great scientists achieve their greatness because of their unique ability to share their vision with the rest of us - to let us see what they see. They are compelled to communicate their vision to us.

Daniel Hernández saw the truth in the atrocities committed during the Guatemalan civil war in the bodies that he helped uncover from their secret graves. Daniel Hernández saw the face of God in the remains of the men, women, and children massacred by the Guatemalan army. Daniel Hernández saw the fear in the eyes of his countrymen when confronted by the truth. Daniel Hernández took his truth and his vision of God and translated them through his gifts into images of such singular power that they demand justice and the primacy of human rights in Guatemala -- images that have become icons in the history of the human rights movement. This is the vision of Daniel Hernández.

I am honored to present the 1998 Jonathan Mann Human Rights Award to Daniel Hernández.
_____________________________ O_____________________________
Letter from José Silva, Deputy Director of IAPAC informing Daniel Hernández Salazar of his selection as recipient of the first Jonathan Mann Humanitas Award:

Program of the Second International Conference on Healthcare ResourceAllocation for HIV/AIDS and Other Life Threatening Illneses, organized by IAPC in Cancún, México on November 15-18 1998:

Official program announcement of the recipients of 1998 Dag Hammarskjold and Jonathan Mann Awards:

Mexican news paper REFORMA's article on Hernández 1998 Jonathan Mann Award:

Guatemalan news paper SIGLO 21 article on Hernández 1998 Jonathan Mann Award:

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Ordre des Arts et des Lettres /

Orden de las Artes y las Letras /

Order of Arts and Letters

Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Décoration décernée par Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication de la République Française à Daniel Hernández-Salazar pour son travail de création artistique au service des Droits de l'Homme.

14 julliet 2005

Caballero de la Orden de las Artes y las Letras

Condecoración concedida por Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Ministro de la Cultura y de la Comunicacion de la República Francesa a Daniel Hernández-Salazar por su trabajo de creación artística a servicio de los Derechos Humanos.

14 de julio de 2005.

Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters

Decoration given by Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, Minister of Culture and Comunication from the French Republic to Daniel Hernández-Salazar for his work of artistic creation in service of Human Rights.

July 14 2005.

Gilles Vidal(+), Embajador de Francia en Guatemala lee el currículum de Daniel Hernández-Salazar / Gilles Vidal(+) Ambassador of France to Guatemala reads Daniel Hernandez-Salazar curriculum.

El Embajador de Francia en Guatemala, Gilles Vidal (+) coloca la medalla a Daniel Hernández-Salazar al nombrarle Caballero de la Orden de las Artes y las Letras. / Gilles Vidal (+) Ambassador of France decorates Daniel Hernandez-Salazar as Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.