Otto-Raúl González

Who was Otto-Raúl González?

Otto-Raúl González was a Guatemalan writer, poet, and lawyer. A longtime communist ideologue, during the social revolution of the administration of Jacobo Arbenz he was appointed undersecretary of the land reform program. González welcomed Che Guevara to Guatemala and gave him a government job. However, he had to flee his country following the 1954 overthrow of the government and for two years lived in Ecuador then went to Mexico.

González obtained a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Many decades later, he was allowed back to Guatemala by President Vinicio Cerezo. During his liftetime, González published more than 60 books with a number translated to several different languages. He was awarded the Premio Nacional de Poesía Jaime Sabines from Mexico and the 1990 Guatemala National Prize in Literature.