The OTI Festival 1988 (, ) was the 17th edition of the OTI Festival, held on 19 November 1988 at the Teatro Nacional Cervantes in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and presented by Pinky and . It was organised by the (OTI) and host broadcaster Argentina Televisora Color (ATC).

Broadcasters from twenty-two countries participated in the festival. The winner was the song "", written by Carlos Castellón, and performed by representing Argentina; with "", written by Antonio Medina Boselli, and performed by representing Paraguay, placing second; and "", written by Juan Luis Guerra, and performed by Taty Salas representing the Dominican Republic, and "", written by , and performed by representing Peru, both placing third.

Location

The (OTI) designated Argentina Televisora Color (ATC) as the host broadcaster for the 17th edition of the OTI Festival. The broadcaster staged the event in Buenos Aires. The venue selected was the Teatro Nacional Cervantes, which is the national stage and comedy theatre of the country. It was opened in 1921 and was designed by Fernando Aranda Arias and Emilio Repetto.

On 14 November 1988, a cocktail reception was held at upon the arrival of the delegations, attended by all the participating artists, executives from the participating broadcasters, OTI officials, and numerous accredited journalists.

Participants Broadcasters from twenty-two countries participated in this edition of the OTI festival. The OTI members, public or private broadcasters from Spain, Portugal, and twenty Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Ibero-America signed up for the festival. From the countries that participated in the previous edition, Brazil and Canada did not return.

Some of the participating broadcasters, such as those representing Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and the United States, selected their entries through their regular national televised competitions. Other broadcasters decided to select their entry internally.

Three performing artists had represented the same country previously: had represented the Netherlands Antilles in 1977, had represented Paraguay in 1983, and Paulette had represented Panama in 1986.

+ Participants of the OTI Festival 1988 Country Broadcaster(s) Song Artist Songwriter(s) Language Conductor Argentina ATC "" Carlos Castellón Spanish Oscar Cardozo Ocampo Bolivia "" Mimi Nicolás Suárez Eyzaguirre Spanish Nicolás Suárez Eyzaguirre Chile "" Cecilia Castro Spanish Miguel Pizarro Colombia "" Harold Orozco Spanish Jaime Rodríguez Costa Rica "" Frank Victory Spanish Rodrigo Sáenz Dominican Republic "" Taty Salas Juan Luis Guerra Spanish Manuel Tejada Ecuador "" Ketty Pazmiño Ramiro Montalvo Spanish Ramiro Montalvo El Salvador TCS "" Walter Artiga Walter Artiga Spanish Oscar Cardozo Ocampo Guatemala "" Ricardo Arjona Ricardo Arjona Spanish Vinicio Quezada Honduras "" Gloria Janet Tony Sierra Spanish Oscar Cardozo Ocampo Mexico Televisa "" María del Sol Spanish Jesús Medel Netherlands Antilles ATM "" Ced Ride Spanish Erroll Colina Nicaragua SSTV "" Raúl Hernández Nelson Aragón Spanish Francisco Cedeño Panama "" Paulette Spanish Oscar Cardozo Ocampo Paraguay "" Antonio Medina Boselli Spanish Oscar Cardozo Ocampo Peru "" Spanish Jorge Tafur Portugal RTP "" Luís Filipe Portuguese Jaime Oliveira Puerto Rico Telemundo Puerto Rico "" Sandra Rogers Spanish Druco Gandía Spain TVE "" Spanish United States Univision "" Miguel Ángel Mejía Spanish Rodolfo Martínez Uruguay "" Daniel Mantero Daniel Mantero Spanish Julio Frade Venezuela "" Iñaki Spanish William Croes

Festival overview The festival was held on Saturday 19 November 1988, beginning at 20:00 DST (23:00 UTC). It was directed by Roberto O. Muñoz, and presented by Pinky and . The musical director was , who conducted the 40-piece orchestra when required.

The show was opened with Estela Raval performing a song composed for the occasion by Chico Novarro. Jaime Torres made a guest performance playing the charango. The hosts presented Raúl Velasco with an honorary plaque awarded by the OTI for his contributions to the OTI Festival throughout its history. While Pinky was doing one of the presentations, an anonymous intruder entered the stage and greeted her with two kisses.

The winner was the song "", written by Carlos Castellón, and performed by representing Argentina; with "", written by Antonio Medina Boselli, and performed by representing Paraguay, placing second; and "", written by Juan Luis Guerra, and performed by Taty Salas representing the Dominican Republic, and "", written by , and performed by representing Peru, both placing third. There was a trophy for each of the first three places. The first prize trophy was delivered by Guillermo Cañedo, president of OTI; the second prize trophy by Ricardo Porto, undersecretary of OTI mass communication; and the third prize trophy by Nicanor González, president of the OTI programs committee. The festival ended with a reprise of the winning entry.

+ Results of the OTI Festival 1988 Country Song Artist Points Place 1 Ecuador "" Ketty Pazmiño014 2 Bolivia "" Mimi014 3 Peru "" 163 4 Mexico "" María del Sol145 5 Honduras "" Gloria Janet014 6 Dominican Republic "" Taty Salas163 7 Venezuela "" Iñaki014 8 United States "" Miguel Ángel Mejía014 9 Costa Rica "" Frank Victory210 10 Argentina "" 261 11 El Salvador "" Walter Artiga014 12 Guatemala "" Ricardo Arjona112 13 Chile "" Cecilia Castro67 14 Colombia "" 67 15 Puerto Rico "" Sandra Rogers014 16 Panama "" Paulette014 17 Nicaragua "" Raúl Hernández112 18 Spain "" 210 19 Uruguay "" Daniel Mantero145 20 Paraguay "" 252 21 Netherlands Antilles "" Ced Ride014 22 Portugal "" Luís Filipe67

Song presenters Each of the competing entries was introduced to the audience by a celebrity:

none

Cristina Betiana Blum Orlando Netti unknown Lupita Ferrer Andrea del Boca

Iris Marga Lucía Miranda Pablito Ruiz

Juan José Camero Ambar La Fox Julio Numhauser Estela Raval Marta Bianchi Amelita Baltar Ethel Rojo Carmen Yazalde

Jury Each of the nine members of the single jury awarded 5–1 points to its five favourite songs, and wrote its vote anonymously on a ballot. The members of the jury were: Juan Carlos Calderón – songwriter Roberto Cantoral – singer-songwriter Susana Rinaldi – tango singer – singer-songwriter Antonio Cerviño – musician Casto Darío – singer Norma Aleandro – actress – conductor José José – singer

Detailed voting result Production used a computerized system to register the voting. The hosts announced in ascending order the results of each ballot, which were picked in random order. Viewers in the theater and at home were shown the results using a projector-board installed in the hall. During ballot 5, host Pinky accidentally announced the top result in first place, and it was registered 1 point to Uruguay instead of 5. To fix this, the computer generated random full results, and reverted them afterwards. After correctly registering one ballot, the points accumulated so far were displayed.

JuryClassification scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" scope="col" Points Place scope="rowgroup" rowspan="22" Ecuador014 Bolivia014 Peru314431163 Mexico33242145 Honduras014 Dominican Republic1555163 Venezuela014 United States014 Costa Rica2210 Argentina435554261 El Salvador014 Guatemala1112 Chile2467 Colombia4267 Puerto Rico014 Panama014 Nicaragua1112 Spain2210 Uruguay12533145 Paraguay542431123252 Netherlands Antilles014 Portugal5167

Broadcast The festival was broadcast in the 22 participating countries and in Aruba, where the corresponding OTI member broadcasters relayed the contest through their networks after receiving it live via satellite.

Known details on the broadcasts in each country, including the specific broadcasting stations and commentators are shown in the tables below.

+ Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) ATC TVN Andrea Tessa, Juan Carlos Duque, and Pancho Aranda UTV UCTV Televisa ATM TeleCuraçao and Bruno Masi RTP RTP1 TVE TVE 2 Carlos Herrera Univision

+ Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries and territories Country Broadcaster Channel(s) Commentator(s) TeleAruba

Notes

References