Otto René Castillo (April 25, 1934 – March 23, 1967) was a

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

, guerrilla fighter and

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

Early life and activism

Castillo was born in

Quetzaltenango Quetzaltenango (, also known by its Maya name Xelajú or Xela ) is both the seat of the namesake Department and municipality, in Guatemala. The city is located in a mountain valley at an elevation of above sea level at its lowest part. It may ...

on April 25, 1934, to middle-class parents. Active in progressive politics as a high school student, Castillo went into exile in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

in 1954 after the overthrow of Guatemalan

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Jacobo Arbenz Jacobo is both a surname and a given name of Spanish origin. Based on the name Jacob. Notable people with the name include: Surname: * Alfredo Jacobo (born 1982), Olympic breaststroke swimmer from Mexico * Cesar Chavez Jacobo, Dominican profession ...

by a

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

-orchestrated coup d'etat."In

954 Year 954 ( CMLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – A Hungarian army led by Bulcsú crosses the Rhine. He camps at Worms in th ...

US intervention put an end to the Guatemalan democratic experiment, and the country's cultural leaders fled into exile."
Arias, Arturo. “Literary Production and Political Crisis in Central America.” ''International Political Science Review'', Vol. 12, No. 1, The Politics of Art/Art et politique (January 1991), pp. 15–28. In El Salvador, Castillo met Salvadoran poet

Roque Dalton Roque is an American variant of croquet played on a hard, smooth surface. Popular in the first quarter of the 20th century and billed "the Game of the Century" by its enthusiasts, it was an Olympic sport in the 1904 Summer Games, replacing cr ...

and founded an influential literary circle. He spent the next several years in and out of exile, including a period of time spent in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. A handful of younger writers—those who were just beginning to publish or had not yet done so—headed for El Salvador, joining up with young Salvadorans sharing the same concerns. The Salvadorans had already gathered around the most charismatic figure among them: Roque Dalton. ... One of the recently arrived Guatemalans, Otto Rene Castillo, quickly captured Dalton's attention and became the group's ideologue. During the 1960s, these young writers joined up in Mexico with the group of writers that had left Guatemala in 1954.

Family

Otto Rene Castillo never married in Guatemala, but during his stay in East Germany, he fathered three sons. Documentary filmmaker Karl-Heinz Mund, together with Werner Kohlert made a short commemorative documentary about Castillo, entitled ''Ganz Berlin ist in deinen Augen...'' (''Todo Berlin esta en tus ojos...''), produced by DEFA Studio fuer Dokumentarfilme in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Publications and death

The early to mid-1960s saw the publication of the only two volumes of work put into print during Castillo's lifetime, ''Poema Tecún Umán'' and ''Vámonos patria a caminar''. In 1966, he clandestinely returned to Guatemala and joined the guerrilla struggle with the

Rebel Armed Forces The Rebel Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas Rebeldes, FAR) was a Guatemalan guerrilla organization established in 1961 and lasting until the peace agreements in 1996. In the late 1960s, the Guatemalan government began a United States-backed coun ...

, where he served as the chief of propaganda and education. After operating in the

Sierra de las Minas Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range i ...

for several months, he was captured by government forces and taken to

Zacapa Zacapa () is the departmental capital municipality of Zacapa Department, one of the 22 Departments of Guatemala. It is located approximately from Guatemala City. Sports Football club Deportivo Zacapa competes in Guatemala's top division and p ...

barracks alongside his comrade, Nora Paíz Cárcamo in March 1967. There they were interrogated, tortured, and burned alive."In March 1967 Otto Rene Castillo was captured, tortured for four days, and burned alive." Paige, Jeffery M. "Social Theory and Peasant Revolution in Vietnam and Guatemala", ''Theory and Society'', Vol. 12, No. 6 (November 1983), pp. 699–737.

References

External links

Poems of Otto Rene Castillo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Otto Rene 20th-century Guatemalan poets 20th-century male writers Guatemalan male poets 1934 births 1967 deaths People from Quetzaltenango