Oliverio Castañeda de León (October 12, 1955 – October 20, 1978) was a

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

oriented student leader, who fought for

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

and was

assassinated Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

at the age of 23 in

Guatemala City Guatemala City (, also known colloquially by the nickname Guate), is the Capital city, national capital and largest city of the Guatemala, Republic of Guatemala. It is also the Municipalities of Guatemala, municipal capital of the Guatemala Depa ...

during the

regime In politics, a regime (also spelled régime) is a system of government that determines access to public office, and the extent of power held by officials. The two broad categories of regimes are democratic and autocratic. A key similarity acros ...

of General Romeo Lucas García.

Activism

Castañeda was born in Guatemala City, into a

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

family. He started attending the Department of

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at the

Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala The Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC, ''University of San Carlos of Guatemala'') is the largest and oldest university of Guatemala; it is also the fourth founded in the Americas. Established in the Kingdom of Guatemala during the Spa ...

(USAC) in 1975, and became a dynamic member of the

Students' Association A students' union or student union, is a student organization present in many colleges, universities, and high schools. In higher education, the students' union is often accorded its own building on the campus, dedicated to social, organizatio ...

(''Asociación de Estudiantes Universitarios'', AEU) of the USAC, to which he was elected

secretary general Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

on May 22, 1978. He was highly involved in

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

activities, and organized many protest marches against the government in response to state-sponsored

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

violations. In September 1978 he helped organize a

general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

to protest sharp increases in

public transportation Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

fares. The government responded harshly, arresting dozens of protesters and injuring many more. As a result of the campaign, the government agreed to the protesters' demands, including the establishment of a

subsidy A subsidy, subvention or government incentive is a type of government expenditure for individuals and households, as well as businesses with the aim of stabilizing the economy. It ensures that individuals and households are viable by having acc ...

. On October 6, a former directive of the Mail and Telegraph Workers'

Syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French word ''syndic ...

was assassinated by a death squad.

Assassination

On October 19, the eve of a traditional march to commemorate the 1944 Revolution, a

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a d ...

against 39

citizens Citizenship is a membership and allegiance to a sovereign state. Though citizenship is often conflated with nationality in today's English-speaking world, international law does not usually use the term ''citizenship'' to refer to nationality; ...

was made by the self-proclaimed

Anti-Communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

Army (''Ejército Secreto Anticomunista'', ESA), a list including Oliverio Castañeda's name. Due to the recent events, measures had been adopted to protect Castañeda even before these threats. However, he and other leaders decided to participate in the October 20 March. The march concluded without incidents in the ''Parque Centenario'' near the government palace (''Palacio Nacional''), where Castañeda gave a speech in which he pointed out violations to human rights involving state security forces. The famous final words of his speech, ''"They can kill our leaders, but as long as there are people, there will be revolution"'', were tragically visionary. Around 1 p.m., he and a group of students walked away from the park and when they crossed the ''Sexta Avenida'', a major street of Guatemala City, one block away from the ''Palacio Nacional'', several gunshots started, and a man got off a car opening fire with a machine gun against Castañeda. The latter was reached by a

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

and fell, and after that another man coming out of another vehicle stopped and gave him the

coup de grâce A coup de grâce (; ) is an act of mercy killing in which a person or animal is struck with a melee weapon or shot with a projectile to end their suffering from mortal wounds with or without their consent. Its meaning has extended to refer to ...

. The perpetrators left the crime scene without the intervention of any policemen in the surroundings, and Castañeda died shortly after that due to the several lethal

wound A wound is any disruption of or damage to living tissue, such as skin, mucous membranes, or organs. Wounds can either be the sudden result of direct trauma (mechanical, thermal, chemical), or can develop slowly over time due to underlying diseas ...

s. Other people were injured during the shooting. The finishing shot was an

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports the proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the proposition is truth, true. The exact definition and role of evidence vary across different fields. In epistemology, evidence is what J ...

that Castañeda had been the victim of a

deliberate An intention is a mental state in which a person commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the '' ...

attack, in the same context as other similar cases affecting student leaders, and was linked to a government speech accusing the USAC of

subversive Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to sabotage the established social order and its structures of power, authority, tradition, hierarchy, and socia ...

activity.

Consequences

The

impunity Impunity is the ability to act with exemption from punishments, losses, or other negative consequences. In the international law of human rights, impunity is failure to bring perpetrators of human rights violations to justice and, as such, itsel ...

of this

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

, and the lack of investigation from state authorities led the Guatemalan

Historical Clarification Commission The Commission for Historical Clarification (; abbreviated CEH) was a Guatemalan government commission established in 1994 in order to investigate atrocities and human rights violations committed during the Guatemalan Civil War, which began in 1962 ...

(''Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico'', CEH) to consider Castañeda's death a violation of human rights, and to presume the Intelligence Division of the ''Estado Mayor Presidencial'' to be responsible for it. The Universidad de San Carlos's students' association was soon after renamed ''Asociación de Estudiantes Universitarios" Oliverio Castañeda de León"''. The segment of the street in which he was killed was renamed "Oliverio Castañeda de León" in his honor in 2003. 30 years after Oliverio Castañeda's murder, the president of Guatemala Alvaro Colom awarded him the country's highest award, the "Orden del Quetzal". The president asked his family for forgiveness on behalf of the Guatemalan government and expressed: "A medal can't bring even a second of his life back, but will serve to give testimony of his life". The award was received by his mother and other members of his family.

Activism

Assassination

Consequences

Sources