Manuel Francisco Galich López (

Ciudad de Guatemala Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

, 30 November 1913 –

La Habana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, 31 August 1984) was a Guatemalan

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

.John Shillington Grappling with Atrocity: Guatemalan Theater in the 1990s - 2002 0838639305 Page 42 "Manuel Galich (1913-1984) Manuel Galich was a prolific playwright as well as a left- wing professor and politician. His playwriting evolved from historical drama and costumbristas to nationalistic plays. Carrillo describes him as "un dramaturge ..." He was born in Guatemala to María Isabel López Santa Cruz and Luis Dionisio Galich Urquía and was one of four children. In 1928 he received a scholarship and was accepted into the Escuela Normal para Varones, where he began his secondary schooling. Due to a strike at the Escuela Normal, he was transferred to the Instituto Nacional Central para Varones. There he obtained a masters in

Primary Education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first ...

and a bachelor's degree in Science in Letter. Manuel's artistic gifts were confirmed this year as he wrote and directed his first play titled ''Los conspiradores,'' which began his development as a playwright. One year later he imparted chairs of

Pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

Grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...

, and

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

in the Escuela Normal Central para Varones and in the Instituto Normal Central para Señoritas Belén. In 1933 Manuel Galich entered into the

Universidad Nacional A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. Some national universities are associated with national cultural or po ...

from which he graduated as a lawyer. Two years after graduation he was appointed as Vocal II for the College of Lawyers before the Joint Directive of Faculty for the Legal and Social Sciences. From a very early age Manuel Galich was involved in

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

. During his time as teaching, Manuel Galich wrote theatre pieces with his students as the assembly. He began as an actor when he was eleven years old and also did work as a member of the “radioteatro” (radio theatre) for the official radio TGW of Guatemala. After some time he became an author of very valuable works of theatre. Manuel Galich was one of the most representative young people fighting against the dictatorships of both

Jorge Ubico Castañeda Jorge Ubico Castañeda (10 November 1878 – 14 June 1946), nicknamed Number Five or also Central America's Napoleon, was a Guatemalan dictator. A general in the Armed Forces of Guatemala, Guatemalan army, he was President of Guatemala, electe ...

and

Federico Ponce Vaides Juan Federico Ponce Vaides (26 August 1889 – 16 November 1956) was the acting President of Guatemala from 4 July 1944 to 20 October 1944. He was overthrown by a popular uprising on 20 October 1944 that began the Guatemalan Revolution. Life ...

. He also served as a revolutionary during the Revolution of October 20, 1944. In his book ''Del pánico al ataque'' tells of the fights his generation had to fight against the dictatorship. From 1944 to 1954 he held various positions including President of the Congress, Minister of Education,

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

, and ambassador to

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

during the

Jacobo Árbenz Juan Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán (; 14 September 191327 January 1971) was a Guatemalan military officer and politician who served as the 25th President of Guatemala. He was Minister of National Defense from 1944 to 1950, and the second democraticall ...

government.

References

1984 deaths 1913 births Guatemalan dramatists and playwrights Male dramatists and playwrights Presidents of the Congress of Guatemala Guatemalan diplomats 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Guatemalan writers 20th-century male writers 20th-century diplomats Guatemalan male writers Foreign ministers of Guatemala Guatemalan expatriates in Cuba {{Guatemala-bio-stub