Professor and former rector of Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM), Gonzàlez Casanova is reputed for his campaign against racism, apartheid and social exclusion and in defence of the values and cultural identity of the peoples of Latin America.

He is a well-known international scholar, coordinator of the “Prospects for Latin America” project sponsored by UNAM and United Nations University, and a member of institutions such as the International Committee for Social Science Information and Documentation, the International Social Sciences Journal and the New York Academy of Sciences. He has won several prizes and has honorary doctorates from eight universities around the world.

He has published 40 books on social and political science since 1948, including the celebrated Democracy in Mexico (1965).

The Martí Prize was created in 1994 by UNESCO’s Executive Board on an initiative from Cuba to honour an individual or institution having contributed to the unity and integration of the countries of Latin American and the Caribbean and to the preservation of their identities, cultural traditions and historical values.

The Prize, usually $5,000, is this year (to mark the 150th anniversary of Martí’s birth) worth $15,000 dollars. Past winners include Dominican historian Celsa Albert Bautista (1995) and Ecuadoran painter Oswaldo Guayasamín (1999).


Journalists wishing to attend the award ceremony should register with the UNESCO Press Service, tel: +33 (0)1 45 68 17 47