Luís Espinal Camps (1932–1980), also known by the nickname "Lucho"[1][2] and by the Catalan name Lluís Espinal i Camps, was a Spanish Jesuit priest, poet, journalist, filmmaker, and film critic.

Biography

Born on 2 February 1932 in Sant Fruitós de Bages, Catalonia, Spain,[1][3] Espinal aspired to be a priest since he was a child.[4] Espinal was educated at the minor seminary of San Jose in Roquetes, Baix Ebre between 1944 and 1949.[3] 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.[3][5][6] He studied Philosophy at the Facultad Eclesiástica of San Cugat del Vallés from 1953 to 1956.[5] While doing another licenciate course in Philosophy at the Universidad Civil de Barcelona, Espinal gave classes of Greek literature and Latin poetry to Jesuits.[5] He studied Theology (1959–63) at the Facultad Eclesiástica of San Cugat del Vallés,[5] and was ordained priest in 1962.[3] He later obtained a degree in film and television from the Italian Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (1964–65).[3]

Espinal moved to La Paz, Bolivia as a missionary in 1968.[1] In Bolivia, he lived alongside the families of miners during the dictatorship of Luis García Meza.[7] There, he was a human-rights activist,[8] and cofounded the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights.[1][6] In the headquarters of the newspaper Presencia he joined a December 1977 hunger strike led by Domitila Chúngara,[1] requesting amnesty for exiled labour and political leaders.[9] Espinal was killed by a right-wing paramilitary death squad in March 1980.[8][10] He was kidnapped by the paramilitaries on 21 March and was tortured.[1][7] His bounded and gagged body was only found by peasants the next day on the road to Chacaltaya.[1][7] Some sources say Espinal was killed because he would publicize the cocaine traffic done by military personnel.[11] 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,[12] a documentary that denounced the massacre of 67.[13]

Aside of being a priest and activist, Espinal was also a poet, journalist and filmmaker.[7] He worked for a brief period in Spanish television until moving to Bolivia;[1] he directed the social issues-themed Cuestión urgente[4] (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.[5][6] In Bolivia, he directed a similar program,[4] En carne viva (lit. "In living flesh"[14]), a series of 20-minute documentaries for Televisión Boliviana (TVB).[2] The show lasted from 1970 to 1971, when Espinal was sent off from TVB because he interviewed the Ñancahuazú Guerrilla.[5] He was a film professor at the Higher University of San Andrés and the Universidad Católica Boliviana,[1][4] and worked for Radio Fides.[1] Espinal was also a film critic for the newspapers Presencia, Última hora and Aquí,[1][2] a member of film company Ukamu, and wrote ten books about cinema.[1] He gained Bolivian citizenship in 1970, and was one of the most informed critics of film, television and radio in the country.[1] He was murdered in La Paz, in 1980, by a Bolivian-government death squad.[15]

Legacy

Espinal's funeral on March 24 was reportedly attended by over 7,000 people in a manifestation against the regime.[1][7] A posthumous book written by Espinal, Oraciones a quemarropa (lit. "Point-blank Prayers"), was published containing his poetic prose and prayers.[1] In his homage, the Catalonia's Society of Jesus created the Luis Espinal Camps Foundation.[1] For Espinal's contribution to cinema and human rights, Morales declared in 2007 the "Bolivian Cinema Day" to be commemorated on 21 March.[7] In 1982, Bolivian historian Carlos Mesa published the book El cine boliviano según Luis Espinal.[2] Bolivian writer Alfonso Gumucio Dagron wrote a biography of Espinal in 1985.[16][17] The 2007 documentary Lucho: Gastar la vida por los demais, directed by Nelson Martínez, explored the life of Espinal.[18][19]

In July 2015 Pope Francis visited the site where Espinal was killed.[7] 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.[20] The Pope said the Jesuit "preached the Gospel, the Gospel that bothered them, and because of this they got rid of him".[21] Vatican representative Frederico Lombardi said that the object stands for open dialogue and his commitment to freedom.[20] However, Espinal's friend, Xavier Albó, said it symbolised that the Church should be in dialogue with Marxism, peasants and miners.[20]

Filmography

Films

• Bartolomeo Colleoni (1966) – assistant director, assistant editor[2]
• Noche iluminada (1966) – writer[2]
• Pistolas para la paz (1969) – director, writer[2]
• Sangre en el Chaco (1974) – writer[2]
• Chuquiago (1977) – writer[12]
• Qué hacemos (1977) – writer[2]
• El embrujo de mi tierra (1978) – writer[2]
• La Guerra del Pacífico (1979) – writer[2]

Television

• En carne viva (1970–1971) segments:[2]
  • La Cárcel
  • La prostitución
  • La droga
  • La violencia
  • Inmigración
  • Hijos sin nombre
  • Educación sexual
  • Madre soltera
  • Alcoholismo
  • Sacerdotes obreros
  • Delincuencia juvenil
  • Inferioridad femenina

See also

References

На других языках

[es] Luis Espinal Camps

[ru] Эспиналь, Луис