THE TRUTH will grant its awards next Friday in Cartagena in a public recognition of effort, sacrifice and excellence
THE TRUTH will award next Friday at the El Batel Auditorium in Cartagena the ‘Best’ prizes of the year 2021 to the effort, sacrifice and excellence of people and professional groups in the Region of Murcia. These awards, which are awarded every two years by the Newsroom of the newspaper, have a special value in this edition. They are, as stated by the director of LA VERDAD, Alberto Aguirre de Cárcer, “a recognition of epic feats of medicine and sports, of spectacular traditions that combine legend, party and history, or of cultural manifestations as evocative as cinema.”
The group of health workers will receive one of the prizes of this edition. A way of publicly thanking doctors, nurses, assistants and pharmacists in the Region of Murcia, who during the pandemic have not ceased to be on the front line caring for Covid patients, and, moreover, from the first moment. The well-deserved applause at 8 o’clock cannot be forgotten.
Mohamed Katir is another of those distinguished with ‘The Best’. At 23 years old, the athlete from Mule is the great revelation of the season in European athletics. In 33 days he broke three historical Spanish records (1,500, 3,000 and 5,000) and achieved an Olympic diploma in Tokyo.
The Cartagena International Film Festival (FICC) is the oldest film competition in the Region and one of the oldest in Spain. This 2021 turns 50. The FICC has been since 1972, in its distant beginnings as Naval and Sea Film Week, showing the best films that are made each year and highlighting Cartagena in the film scene.
The Caravaca de la Cruz Wine Horses are a popular and extraordinary celebration finally included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) recognized the values of this cultural event that is held every May 2 and is part of the festivities in honor of the Santísima and Vera Cruz.
Year and a half of fighting the pandemic
Health collective
Health workers from the Reina Sofía hospital in Murcia applaud the last patient who left the Covid plant in June 2021. /
When fear and uncertainty erupted overnight from the pandemic, they were our heroes. Doctors, nurses, assistants and pharmacists stayed in the front line caring for Covid patients when there were hardly any masks, the PPE suits were completely insufficient and the protection measures were improvised. In the worst moments of the health crisis, they demonstrated their great professionalism and risked their lives in hospitals, health and social health centers and pharmacy offices, many times being also victims of the virus. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 4,880 public and private health workers have been infected in the Region: 1,300 nursing assistants, 1,250 nurses, 620 doctors, 180 orderlies, 190 health technicians, 150 physiotherapists, 80 pharmacists and dozens of professionals from different categories.
Five SMS workers have died from Covid: two doctors, a nurse, a Nursing assistant and a documentary maker. Four doctors who worked in the private sector have also lost their lives, according to information gathered by LA VERDAD journalist Javier Pérez Parra, who followed the evolution of the pandemic since the first case occurred. They will receive the Prize, in representation of all of them, the presidents of the Medical, Nursing and Pharmaceutical colleges.
Revelation athlete of the year
Mohamed Katir
The athlete Mohamed Katir, pride of Mula. /
There is not a single athlete in this country who in the last three decades has done what Mohamed Katir has been able to achieve this last summer, born in Alcazarquivir, Morocco, 23 years ago, although as a child he moved to live with his family to Mule. Fermín Cacho, Juan Carlos Higuero, Martín Fiz, Arturo Casado, Manuel Pancorbo, Reyes Estévez, Abel Antón and even finally Isaac Viciosa have surrendered to the successes of a boy who breaks the mold, despite the fact that he came “out of nowhere.” 33 days were enough to shake the history of Spanish athletics. They are, as Sports editor Francisco J. Moya recalls, those that passed between the Florence meeting of the Diamond League and the Gateshead meeting. Three historical national records and one name: Mohamed Katir, June 10, July 9, July 13. Florence, Oslo, London. 5,000 m, 1,500 m, 3,000 m. «In 2022 I am going to seek an international medal, above the records. This year I have made very good marks, but I have lacked finishing in a great championship. The games? I got an Olympic diploma and that is something that few athletes can say. I knew that achieving the medal was going to be very difficult, ”Gabi Lorente’s pupil, the Fuente Álamo coach who has put him to fly, recounted with total ease. LA TRUTH celebrates Katir’s success with the ‘Best’ award of 2021 for a spectacular career, in the year in which she made her debut in the Olympic Games, being with the best in the world. The future is his and from 2022 he will be one of the candidates for victory in the most prestigious events on the world calendar.
50 years supporting film culture
Cartagena International Film Festival
Ginés García Millán, honored at the FICC in 2018. /
The FICC (Cartagena International Film Festival) has been since 1972, in its distant beginnings as Naval and Sea Film Week, showing the best films made each year. Exceptional films such as ‘El postero y Pablo Neruda’, ‘Mustang’, ‘Thelma’ and ‘Otra ronda’ have passed through its screens. And it has awarded figures such as Javier Gutiérrez, Marta Nieto and Ginés García Millán, highlighting Cartagena in the national film scene.
Half a century is a lifetime for a festival, says the critic Carlos Martínez. More than a thousand films screened, thousands of spectators who have seen them, hundreds of activities, dozens of filmmakers who have started their careers here. Five decades of cinema that are worth highlighting with the award ‘The Best’ of THE TRUTH. Its president, Nacho Ros; its director, Esther Baeza, and its production manager, Reyes Pizarro, are the visible heads of the Cartagena Film Festival Association, an example of veneration for the universal cinematographic language.
World Heritage Site
The Caravaca Wine Horses
Young men on the run in the latest edition of the Wine Horses. /
The Wine Horses are a multifaceted celebration in which fantastic embroidery, a legendary career and the passion of a town, Caravaca de la Cruz, who live and dream of being able to celebrate their rituals in honor of the Vera Cruz every year. The beauty of the horse, the art of embroidery to harness it and the dexterity of the young men, together with the strength of the animal, for the race, are the most significant elements of this celebration, which has been growing without ceasing to be a faithful reflection of the historical tradition and of the rituals that are celebrated every spring in Caravaca since the first third of the 13th century to honor the Vera Cruz. THE TRUTH is added with the ‘The Best’ award of 2021 for recognition as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, a long-sought statement that was resisted until the end.
The Wine Horses have their origin in the ceremony of the blessing of the wine and the flowers by the Sacred Relic. The first documentary references appear in the seventeenth century. Since then they have evolved to present themselves as a triple contest full of strength, beauty and emotion: bareback horse, where the figure and bearing of the animal are valued; that of harnessing, which praises the beauty and quality of the pieces and their suitability for the horse that carries them; and racing, where dexterity and speed meet the relentless verdict of the stopwatch. The correspondent for LA VERDAD in Caravaca, Juan F. Robles, recalls that the international celebration has reached the 21st century, maintaining its most genuine roots.
.