Satire, the ‘good humor of Cuence’ and political irony are personified in the Mascarada 2024 competition.

The volleyball match between former presidential candidates Yaku Pérez and Jan Topic, which did not take place after candidate Cuenca’s call during the presidential debate, took place during the traditional Mascaradas 2024 parade.

Thousands of visitors who lined Huayna Cápac Avenue enjoyed this and other sarcastic performances that were performed for six hours, from 5 to 11 p.m. on Saturday, January 6.

“Satire, the good mood of the people of Cuenza, the ingenuity of the participants, political irony were demonstrated, where the politician is imitated, criticized through the troops,” commented Rodrigo Matute, a member of the Union of Azuay Journalists (UPA).

This institution, together with the Amistad Club group, has been organizing this parade and traditional old-year competitions and masquerades for 47 years. For the first three decades Bolívar Street was held in the historic core, and for the last fifteen years this celebration has continued on Huayna Cápac Avenue.

Humor and culture in masquerades, traditional troupe of Cuenca

One of the award-winning performances was a costume of a man in a formal suit, with a rodent mask on his head, which showed the inscription: “If politicians go to prison, who rules us”.

Meanwhile, other people from Cuenza represented President Daniel Noboa with a presidential sash that read: “Quaker in power”, accompanied by personifications of his wife Lavinia Valbonesi and his friend, Manabita UFC fighter Marlon Vero, known as Chito Faith.

After the parade, the jury evaluated the presentations of about 1,500 participants; and this Sunday, January 7, thirteen winners of the competition were announced in five categories (institution, troops, family, children and individual). According to Matuta, the message they conveyed, their clothes and their participation in the group were evaluated.

The biggest prize, the golden mask, was won by the Vanegas family, whose members also won first place in the family category. They received a prize of $1,000. “In their national team, they participated in saving the tradition of competition in costumes, with dances,” Matute said, adding that the members of the Vanegas family are considered “old cultists of the Cuenca tradition.”

Dances, costumes and political satire, in the ‘masquerade’ in Cuenca

In the institutional category, the first three places went to the Sudamericano Institute, the American College, and the Ricaurte School, whose representatives won prizes of $4,000, $3,000, and $2,000, respectively.

Likewise, $1,500, $1,000, and $500 went to the groups Virgen del Socavón, Suprema Estación 9.61, and Vado-Artes Escénicas; the Vanegas and Merchán families received $1,000 and $500; students from the educational centers Colorines and Los Pinos received 500 and 200 dollars for the first two places in the children’s category; and René Martínez and Édgar Becerra gave them $200 and $100 respectively for their imitations in the individual competition.

In the case of the younger children, the students shared a message about the importance of keeping the environment and the city of Cuenca clean. They wore green suits, representing street cleaners, to encourage the practice of not throwing waste on public roads.

This event and competition for the elderly is organized every year with a budget of 30,000 USD, allocated by municipal ordinance for fifteen years. In addition to this amount, Matute said, some private companies participate in covering the missing costs of both celebrations.

Mascarada 2024 had a security contingent deployed by the council of Cuenca and included, for example, a command post at the intersection of Huayna Cápac Avenue and Sucre Street, 35 civilian traffic agents, 50 civil wardens, 15 uniformed police officers. Firemen. In addition, technicians with a drone monitored the event, and garbage containers were placed in the surrounding streets to keep the environment clean.