Augusto Céspedes Patzi (6 February 1904,

Cochabamba Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...

– 9 May 1997,

La Paz La Paz, officially Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Aymara language, Aymara: Chuqi Yapu ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With 755,732 residents as of 2024, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities by populati ...

) was a

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

n writer, politician, diplomat, and journalist. He was the brother-in-law of writer Carlos Montenegro.

Career

Céspedes studied law and received his degree in La Paz. In 1927, he was a founder of the Nationalist Party. He was a leader in the

Revolutionary Nationalist Movement The Revolutionary Nationalist Movement ( , MNR) is a centre-right, conservative political party in Bolivia. It was the leading force behind the Bolivian National Revolution from 1952 to 1964. It influenced much of the country's history since 19 ...

(MNR). He worked as a journalist on the front in the

Chaco War The Chaco War (, Daniel Salamanca Daniel Domingo Salamanca Urey (8 July 1869 – 17 July 1935) was a Bolivian lawyer and politician who served as the 33rd president of Bolivia from 1931 to 1934. He was overthrown in a ''coup d'état'' on 27 November 1934, during the country' ...

Germán Busch Becerra Germán () is a male given name in Spanish speaking countries. It is a cognate to French Germain, and is a variant of Latin Germanus. Surname * Domingo Germán (born 1992), baseball player * Esteban Germán (born 1978), Dominican professional ...

, and

Gualberto Villarroel Gualberto Villarroel López (15 December 1908 – 21 July 1946) was a Bolivians, Bolivian military officer who served as the 39th president of Bolivia from 1943 to 1946. A reformist, sometimes compared with Argentina's Juan Perón, he is non ...

. Among his many other stories and novels, '' Metal del Diablo'', a fictionalized portrait of the tin tycoon,

Simón I. Patiño Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

has probably been the most successful. He was a noted politician, serving as a deputy in Bolivian legislatures (three times:

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

, 1944, and 1956), and in diplomatic offices. He served as Bolivia's

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

in 1945, and to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1953, and distinguished himself as Ambassador to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Selected Works

* 1936: ''Sangre de Mestizos'' (short stories) * 1946: ''Metal del diablo'' (novel) * 1956: ''El dictador suicida'' (history) * 1966: ''El presidente colgado'' (history) * 1968: ''Trópico enamorado'' (novel) * 1975: ''Crónicas heroicas de una guerra estúpida'' (journalism)

Awards

* 1957: National Literature Prize

External links

"Augusto Céspedes o la pasión de narrar"
por

Jaime Iturri Salmón Jaime is a common Spanish and Portuguese male given name for Jacob (name), James (name), Jamie, or Jacques. In Occitania Jacobus became ''Jacome'' and later ''Jacme''. In east Spain, ''Jacme'' became ''Jaime'', in Aragon it became ''Chaime'', and i ...

.
Biografía de CéspedesPolémica entre Jorge Abelardo Ramos, Augusto Céspedes, Guillermo Lora y Antezana E.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cespedes, Augusto 1904 births 1997 deaths Bolivian male writers Bolivian politicians Ambassadors of Bolivia to Paraguay Ambassadors of Bolivia to Italy Permanent delegates of Bolivia to UNESCO Revolutionary Nationalist Movement politicians People from Cochabamba