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Luis González de Alba
(6 March 1944 - 2 October 2016) Mexico

Luis González de Alba

Writer for political issues, activist, journalist

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Luis González de Alba was born in the town of Charcas, in the state of San Luis Potosí, but at the age of ten his family emigrated to Guadalajara, Jalisco. He studied psychology at the UNAM, although he never practiced, since when he finished his studies he became involved in the student movement of 1968, and after this, he was mainly engaged in writing and his own business;for example, a sex shop and several gay bars. He was collaborator in diverse Mexican media, mainly developing the journalism of opinion and of popularization of the science. In addition to his participation in magazines and newspapers, he published novels, short stories, essays and poetry.

Upon completion of his studies he joined the National Strike Council, which led the student movement in Mexico in 1968. On October 2 of that year he was apprehended during the Tlatelolco rally and held in the Lecumberri jail for two years. There he studied Hebrew and wrote his first novel, The Days and the Years , in which he recounts his own testimony about the student movement in which he participated. After being released, he self-exiled in Chile for a year and later traveled through Argentina and Brazil.

Being openly homosexual, in 1975 he published in the magazine ¡Siempre! The first Mexican manifesto in defense of homosexuals, along with activist and theater director Nancy Cárdenas and writer Carlos Monsiváis. During the seventies and eighties hewas related to movements and adherents of the Mexican left, an ideology that he later abandoned to becomea staunch critic of it.

In 1983 he stopped publishing in Unomásuno to spend a sabbatical year in Paris, France. On his return he joined the group of journalists and writers who founded the newspaper La Jornada , led by Carlos Payán. He also participated in the founding of the political parties Socialist Unified of Mexico (PSUM), Mexican Socialist (PMS) and of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

Luis González de Alba committed suicide at the age of 72 at his home in Guadalajara, Jalisco, when the 48th anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre was commemorated. According to the forensic report, he died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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