Guatemala in the OTI Festival

The participation of Guatemala in the OTI Festival began at the third OTI Festival in 1974. The Guatemalan participating broadcaster was Televisiete, which was member of the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI). It participated in twenty-five editions after its debut, only missing the 1978 festival. Its best result was second achieved in 1974.

The participation of Ricardo Arjona, who represented Guatemala in 1987, is of particular note. Although he only managed to get the 12th place, he rose quickly to stardom.

Although Televisiete sent some well known names to the OTI Festival, it had a lusterless trajectory in the festival. It never managed to win the festival, and only placed second in 1974, in its debut entry.^[1] It managed to reach the top 10 again in 1976 and in 1980. Since then, it got only moderate placings.

Following the example of México, Chile and later Cuba, Televisiete also created its own national selection process. The Guatemalan National OTI festival was celebrated every year in Guatemala City since the debut in the festival.

As the other broadcaster which organized a preselection, the winner act, who would represent the country in the festival was elected by a professional jury who voted for their favourite performers.