Ibarz's wry perspective on Latin America was reflected in some of his comments on receiving the Maria Moors Cabot Prize: "I've been running around this part of the world for 28 years and I can't complain. I've never lacked for news. I remember a day in 1992 after a group of Spanish correspondents and I had witnessed the last of El Salvador's guerrillas destroy their weapons. We talked about the end of the guerrilla war in the bloodiest region of the Americas. With the end of the conflict, my colleagues were uncertain about their future. I told them: 'God is generous. He will provide us with good new material for our stories.' God apparently was listening. Hours later, we were waken up with news of an unprecedented coup attempt in Venezuela. The day that the civil wars in the Americas ended, Hugo Chávez didn't allow even five hours of peace and quiet to the continent."