Huberto Alvarado

Huberto Alvarado Arellano (1927 - 1974), was a Guatemalan poet, essayist and political figure. He was born in 1927 and died in 1974 at the hands of paramilitary death squads.

His interest in politics stemmed from his experiences in the Guatemalan Revolution of 1944-1945, which were marked by his immersion in leftist politics. He was soon named Secretary General of the Guatemalan Alliance of Democratic Youth.

At the same time, Alvarado engaged in notable cultural and literary production, mainly through the Saker-ti ("Dawn") group, of which he had been a founder. Saker-Tí was a colective of young writers committed to democratic values and to revaluing Guatemala's native cultural legacy. The group wound up joining the Communist Party en masse. Alvarado was later elected Secretary General of the Guatemalan Party of Labor, as the Communist Party of Guatemala was called after 1952.

On 17 June 1954, the elected government of reformist Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown by an invasion of reactionary expatriates who entered Guatemala from Honduran territory, with US help and coordination. After the fall of the democratic government, the first measure passed by the new regime was the banning of the Party of Labor. Alvarado was then forced into exile, first in Ecuador, and later in Mexico.

Alvarado soon returned to Guatemala and managed to live relatively quietly until he was again persecuted and jailed. An international campaign secured his release and subsequent return to exile in Mexico.

Alvarado -who was at this time serving as Secretary General of the Party of Labor, after its previous Secretary General, had been captured and executed at the orders Pres. Carlos Arana- returned to his homeland in 1974. He would not live out the year.

On 20 December 1974 Huberto Alvarado's tortured and mutilated body was dumped by death squads on the outskirts of Guatemala City.

Writings

1974: With Respect to Social Classes in the Guatemalan Revolution of October