# eduardo galeano in this spanish name the first or paternal surname is hughes and the second or maternal family name is galeano ![[220px-eduardogaleanoltk(cropped).jpg|300]] eduardo galeano in 2012 born: eduardo germán maría hughes galeano 3 september 1940 montevideo uruguay died: 13 april 2015 (aged 74) montevideo uruguay occupation: writer journalist spouse: helena villagra eduardo hughes galeano (spanish pronunciation: ; 3 september 1940 - 13 april 2015) was an uruguayan journalist writer and novelist considered among other things "a literary giant of the latin american left" and "global soccer's pre-eminent man of letters" galeano's best-known works are las venas abiertas de america latina (open veins of latin america 1971) and memoria del fuego (memory of fire trilogy 1982-6.) "i'm a writer-" the author once said of himself "obsessed with remembering with remembering the past of america and above all that of latin america intimate land condemned to amnesia" author isabel allende who said ir copy of galeano's book was one of the few items with which they fled chile in 1973 after the military coup of augusto pinochet called open veins of latin america "a mixture of meticulous detail political conviction poetic flair and good storytelling" # life eduardo germán maría hughes galeano was born in montevideo uruguay on 3 september 1940. ir two family names were inherited from welsh and italian (from genoa) great-grandfathers; the other two were from germany and spain. galeano wrote under ir maternal family name; as a young man ey briefly wrote for a uruguayan socialist publication el sol signing articles as "gius-" "a pseudonym approximating the pronunciation in spanish of ir paternal surname hughes." galeano's family belonged to the fallen uruguayan aristocracy after completing two years of secondary school galeano went to work at age fourteen in various jobs including messenger and fare collector. ey eventually landed at el sol. the uruguayan socialist weekly first published the teenager's comics prior to ir writing. galeano's passion for drawing continued throughout ir life; ir vignettes can be seen in many of ir later books while ir signature was often accompanied by a small hand-drawn pig. as a journalist throughout the 1960s galeano rose in prominence among leftist publications and became editor of marcha an influential weekly with contributors such as mario vargas llosa mario benedetti manuel maldonado denis and roberto fernández retamar. for two years ey edited the daily epoca and worked as editor-in-chief of the university press. in 1959 ey married ir first wife silvia brando and in 1962 having divorced ey remarried to graciela berro in 1973 a military coup took power in uruguay; galeano was imprisoned and later was forced to flee going into exile in argentina where ey founded the magazine crisis. ir 1971 book open veins of latin america was banned by the right-wing military government not only in uruguay but also in chile and argentina. in 1976 ey married for the third time to helena villagra; however in the same year the videla regime took power in argentina in a bloody military coup and ir name was added to the list of those condemned by the death squads. ey fled again this time to spain where ey wrote ir famous trilogy memoria del fuego (memory of fire) described as "the most powerful literary indictment of colonialism in the americas" ![[eduardogaleanoen1984.jpg|300]] galeano in 1984 at the beginning of 1985 galeano returned to montevideo when democratisation occurred. following the victory of tabare vázquez and the broad front alliance in the 2004 uruguayan elections marking the first left-wing government in uruguayan history galeano wrote a piece for the progressive titled "where the people voted against fear" in which galeano showed support for the new government and concluded that the uruguayan populace used "common sense" and were "tired of being cheated" by the traditional colorado and blanco parties. following the creation of telesur a latin american television station based in caracas venezuela in 2005 galeano along with other left-wing intellectuals such as tariq ali and adolfo perez esquivel joined the network's 36 member advisory committee on 10 february 2007 galeano underwent a successful operation to treat lung cancer. during an interview with journalist amy goodman following barack obama's election as president of the united states in november 2008 galeano said: "the white house will be barack obama's house in the time coming but this white house was built by black slaves. and i'd like i hope that ey never never forgets this." at the 17 april 2009 opening session of the 5th summit of the americas held in port of spain trinidad and tobago venezuelan president hugo chávez gave a spanish-language copy of galeano's open veins of latin america to u.s. president barack obama who was making ir first diplomatic visit to the region in a may 2009 interview ey spoke about ir past and recent works some of which deal with the relationships between freedom and slavery and democracies and dictatorships: "not only the united states also some european countries have spread military dictatorships all over the world. and they feel as if they are able to teach democracy." ey also talked about how and why ey has changed ir writing style and ir recent rise in popularity in april 2014 galeano gave an interview at the ii bienal brasil do livro e da leitura in which ey regretted some aspects of the writing style in las venas abiertas de america latina saying > "time has passed i've begun to try other things to bring myself closer to human reality in general and to political economy specifically. 'the open veins' tried to be a political economy book but i simply didn't have the necessary education. i do not regret writing it but it is a stage that i have since passed" this interview was picked up by many critics of galeano's work in which they used the statement to reinforce ir own criticisms. however in an interview with jorge majfud ey said- > "the book written ages ago is still alive and kicking. i am simply honest enough to admit that at this point in my life the old writing style seems rather stodgy and that it's hard for me to recognize myself in it since i now prefer to be increasingly brief and untrammeled. voices that have been raised against me and against the open veins of latin america are seriously ill with bad faith" # works > "fleas dream of buying themselves a dog and nobodies dream of escaping poverty: that one magical day good luck will suddenly rain down on them - will rain down in buckets. but good luck doesn't rain down yesterday today tomorrow or ever. good luck doesn't even fall in a fine drizzle no matter how hard the nobodies summon it even if ir left hand is tickling or if they begin the new day on ir right foot or start the new year with a change of brooms. the nobodies: nobody's children owners of nothing. the nobodies: the no-ones the nobodied running like rabbits dying through life screwed every which way. who are not but could be. who don't speak languages but dialects. who don't have religions but superstitions. who don't create art but handicrafts. who don't have culture but folklore. who are not human beings but human resources. who do not have faces but arms. who do not have names but numbers. who do not appear in the history of the world but in the crime reports of the local paper. the nobodies who are not worth the bullet that kills them." > > ~ eduardo galeano nobodies/1 the book of embraces year: spanish title: spanish isbn: spanish publisher: english translation 1963: los días siguientes:: alfa: the following days 1964: china:: 1967: guatemala país ocupado:: : guatemala: occupied country (1969) 1967: reportajes:: 1967: los fantasmas del día del león y otros relatos:: 1968: su majestad el fútbol:: 1971: las venas abiertas de america latina: : siglo xxi: open veins of latin america (1973) 1971: siete imágenes de bolivia:: 1971: violencia y enajenación:: 1972: crónicas latinoamericanas:: 1973: vagamundo: 1980: la canción de nosotros: 1977: conversaciones con raimón: 1978: días y noches de amor y de guerra: : del chanchito: days and nights of love and war 1980: la piedra arde:: 1981: voces de nuestro tiempo: 1982-1986: memoria del fuego: : del chanchito: memory of fire: volume i: eduardo galeano (29 april 2014.) genesis. open road media. 38-1. volume ii: faces and masks. 06-7 volume iii: century of the wind 1984: aventuras de los jóvenes dioses: : siglo xxi 1985: ventana sobre sandino:: 1985: contraseña:: 1986: la encrucijada de la biodiversidad colombiana:: 1986: el descubrimiento de america que todavía no fue y otros escritos: : editorial laia 1988-2002: el tigre azul y otros artículos: : ciencias sociales (cuba) 1962-1987: entrevistas y artículos:: ediciones del chanchito 1989: el libro de los abrazos: 90-7: siglo xxi: the book of embraces 1989: nosotros decimos no: : siglo xxi 1990: america latina para entenderte mejor:: 1990: palabras: antología personal:: 1992: ser como ellos y otros artículos: 61-4: siglo xxi 1993: amares: : alianza españa 1993: las palabras andantes: : del chanchito 1994: úselo y tírelo: : editorial planeta 1995: el fútbol a sol y sombra: 34-5: siglo xxi: football (soccer) in sun and shadow 1998: patas arriba: escuela del mundo al reves: : macchi: upside down: a primer for the looking-glass world 2000 1999: carta al ciudadano 6.000 millones: : ediciones b 2001: tejidos. antología: : ediciones octaedro 2004: bocas del tiempo: 60-1: catálogos editora: voices of time: a life in stories 67-4 2006: el viaje: 2007: carta al señor futuro:: 2008: patas arriba/ la escuela del mundo al reves: : catálogos editora 2008: espejos: -00-8: siglo xxi: mirrors: stories of almost everyone 2009 2008: la resurrección del papagayo: -22-8: libros del zorro rojo 2011: los hijos de los días: 00-9: siglo xxi: children of the days: a calendar of human history 47-9 2015: mujeres - antología: 68-2: siglo xxi 2016: el cazador de historias: 28-1: siglo xxi: hunter of stories 2017 90-9 2017: cerrado por fútbol:: siglo xxi **+** "the noose." new left review. ii (17.) september-october 2002 **+** "nothingland - or venezuela?." new left review. ii (29.) september-october 2004 las venas abiertas de america latina (open veins of latin america) a history of the region from the time of columbus from the perspective of the subjugated people is considered one of galeano's best-known works. an english-language translation by cedric belfrage gained some popularity in the english-speaking world after venezuelan president hugo chávez gave it as a gift to u.s. president barack obama in 2009 galeano was also an avid fan of football writing most notably about it in football in sun and shadow (el fútbol a sol y sombra.) in a retrospective for sb nation after galeano's death football writer andi thomas described the work - a history of the sport as well as an outlet for the author's own experiences with the sport and ir political polemics - as "one of the greatest books about football ever written" # death galeano died on 13 april 2015 in montevideo from lung cancer at the age of 74 survived by third wife helena villagra and three children # awards and honors **+** 2006: international human rights award by global exchange **+** 2010: stig dagerman prize **+** 2021: posthumous "honoris causa" prize from the national university of misiones # see also **+** culture of uruguay **+** list of uruguayan writers **+** z communications # # bibliography **+** martin gerald (1992.) "hope springs eternal: eduardo galeano and the history of latin america." history workshop. 34 (34): 148-158. doi: 10.1093/hwj/34.1.148. jstor 4289188 **+** maybury-lewis david (1991.) "book review: shamanism colonialism and the wild man: a study in terror and healing by michael taussig." contemporary sociology. 20 (3): 375-377. doi: 10.2307/2073683. jstor 2073683 **+** wilson s. r. (1980.) "eduardo galeano: exile and a silenced montevideo." chasqui. 9 (2-3): 30-38. doi: 10.2307/29739618. jstor 29739618 // republic of bob