Rodrigo Asturias Amado (30 October 1939 – 15 June 2005) was a Guatemalan guerrilla leader and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Biography

Asturias was born in

Guatemala City 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, ne ...

, the first-born son of

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...

-winning author Miguel Ángel Asturias. He studied law in Chile and travelled extensively through the

Southern Cone The Southern Cone ( es, Cono Sur, pt, Cone Sul) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bou ...

. He later taught at the University of Chile and the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigge ...

. Following the outbreak of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polic ...

, he joined the Guatemalan Workers Party (Partido Guatemalteco de los Trabajadores or PGT) guerrilla group. During this time he was arrested, tried, and jailed, after which he spent seven years in exile in

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

. He returned to Guatemala in 1971 and helped form the

Revolutionary Organization of the People in Arms The Organization of People in Arms or ORPA ( es, Organización del Pueblo en Armas) was a Guatemalan guerrilla organization active in Guatemala during the Guatemalan Civil War. A split-off from the FAR of the 1960s, ORPA was critical of earlier g ...

(Organización Revolucionaria del Pueblo en Armas, ORPA). He fought under the ''

nom de guerre A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

'' Gaspar Ilom, which he took from a character in ''

Hombres de maíz ''Men of Maize'' ( es, Hombres de maíz) is a 1949 novel by Guatemalan Nobel Prize in Literature winner Miguel Ángel Asturias. The novel is usually considered to be Asturias's masterpiece, yet remains one of the least understood novels produced ...

'', one of his father's novels. When four guerrilla groups, including these two, combined to create the

Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (in Spanish: ''Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca'', URNG-MAIZ or most commonly URNG) is a Guatemalan political party that started as a guerrilla movement but laid down its arms in 1996 and ...

(Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca, URNG) in 1982, Asturias emerged as one of the four leaders of its general command. He was the only one of the leaders not to participate in signing the peace agreement reached with the government in the early 1990s. Following the re-establishment of the constitutional order, Asturias fought the 2003 presidential election as the candidate of the URNG; his vice-presidential running mate was

Pablo Ceto Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul. People *Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer *Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer *Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer * Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist *Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer *Pablo Brenes ...

. In the first round ballot, he received 2.6% of the popular vote. He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

at his home in Guatemala City.

External links

Obituary
1939 births 2005 deaths People from Guatemala City Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity politicians Guatemalan revolutionaries {{Guatemala-politician-stub