Nationality Bolivian | ||
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Born 2 February 1932 ( 1932-02-02 ) Sant Fruitós de Bages, Catalonia Died 21 March 1980(1980-03-21) (aged 48)
La Paz, Bolivia Occupation Jesuit priest, poet, journalist, filmmaker, film critic Assassinated 21 March 1980, La Paz, Bolivia Other names Lucho Espinal, Lluís Espinal i Camps | ||
Luís Espinal Camps (1932–1980), also known by the nickname "Lucho" and by the Catalan name Lluís Espinal i Camps, was a Spanish Jesuit priest, poet, journalist, filmmaker, and film critic.
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Biography
Born on 2 February 1932 in Sant Fruitós de Bages, Catalonia, Spain, Espinal aspired to be a priest since he was a child. Espinal was educated at the minor seminary of San Jose in Roquetes, Baix Ebre between 1944 and 1949. He joined the Society of Jesus of Veruela, Zaragoza in 1949, made his perpetual vows in 1951, and studied Humanities and Greco-Roman Literature (1951–53) there. He studied Philosophy at the Facultad Eclesiástica of San Cugat del Vallés from 1953 to 1956. While doing another licenciate course in Philosophy at the Universidad Civil de Barcelona, Espinal gave classes of Greek literature and Latin poetry to Jesuits. He studied Theology (1959–63) at the Facultad Eclesiástica of San Cugat del Vallés, and was ordained priest in 1962. He later obtained a degree in film and television from the Italian Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (1964–65).
Espinal moved to La Paz, Bolivia as a missionary in 1968. In Bolivia, he lived alongside the families of miners during the dictatorship of Luis García Meza. There, he was a human-rights activist, and cofounded the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights. In the headquarters of the newspaper Presencia he joined a December 1977 hunger strike led by Domitila Chúngara, requesting amnesty for exiled labour and political leaders. Espinal was killed by a right-wing paramilitary death squad in March 1980. He was kidnapped by the paramilitaries on 21 March and was tortured. His bounded and gagged body was only found by peasants the next day on the road to Chacaltaya. Some sources say Espinal was killed because he would publicize the cocaine traffic done by military personnel. Other say that the reason was that he informed against efforts to censor a public exhibition of Jorge Sanjinés's film El coraje del pueblo, a documentary that denounced the massacre of 67.
Aside of being a priest and activist, Espinal was also a poet, journalist and filmmaker. He worked for a brief period in Spanish television until moving to Bolivia; he directed the social issues-themed Cuestión urgente (lit. "Urgent Issue"). In December 1967, he left the country in a protest against Francisco Franco's dictatorship censor on him and his program channel, TVE. In Bolivia, he directed a similar program, En carne viva (lit. "In the Flesh"), a series of 20-minute documentaries for Televisión Boliviana (TVB). The show lasted from 1970 to 1971, when Espinal was sent off from TVB because he interviewed the Ñancahuazú Guerrilla. He was a film professor at the Higher University of San Andrés and the Universidad Católica Boliviana, and was a radialist for Radio Fides. Espinal was also a film critic for the newspapers Presencia, Última hora and Aquí, a member of film company Ukamu, and wrote ten books about cinema. He gained Bolivian citizenship in 1970, and was one of the most informed critics of film, television and radio in the country. He was murdered in La Paz, in 1980, by a Bolivian-government death squad.
Legacy
Espinal's funeral on March 24 was reportedly attended by over 7,000 people in a manifestation against the regime. A posthumous book written by Espinal, Oraciones a quemarropa (lit. "Point-blank Prayers"), was published containing his poetic prose and prayers. In his homage, the Catalonia's Society of Jesus created the Luis Espinal Camps Foundation. For Espinal's contribution to cinema and human rights, Morales declared in 2007 the "Bolivian Cinema Day" to be commemorated on 21 March. In 1982, Bolivian historian Carlos Mesa published the book El cine boliviano según Luis Espinal. Bolivian writer Alfonso Gumucio Dagron wrote an Espinal's biography in 1985. The 2007 documentary Lucho: Gastar la vida por los demais, directed by Nelson Martínez, explored the life of Espinal.
In July 2015 Pope Francis visited the site where Espinal was killed. Espinal gained international notoriety as the author of a crucifix that incorporated the hammer and sickle after Bolivian president Evo Morales gave a replica of it to Pope Francis. The Pope said the Jesuit "preached the Gospel, the Gospel that bothered them, and because of this they got rid of him". Vatican representant, Frederico Lombardi, said the object stands for open dialogue and his commitment to freedom. However, Espinal's friend, Xavier Albo, said it symbolised that the Church should be in dialogue with Marxism, peasants and miners.