Rigoberto López Pérez
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rigoberto López Pérez | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | May 13, 1929 León, Nicaragua |
| Died | September 21, 1956 León, Nicaragua |
| Occupation | Poet, composer |
| Nationality | Nicaraguan |
|
Influences
|
|
Rigoberto López Pérez (May 13, 1929 – September 21, 1956) was a Nicaraguan poet and music composer. He was the assassin of Anastasio Somoza García, the longtime dictator of Nicaragua.
On September 21, 1981, 25 years after his death, the government of Nicaragua declared Rigoberto López Pérez a National Hero by means of Decree no. 825.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Early life
López was born and raised in León, Nicaragua; son of Soledad López and Francisco Pérez. López published his first poem, "Confesión de un Soldado" (Confesion of a Soldier), at the age of 17 in 1946. In 1948 he formed part of a 6-member musical group called "Buenos Aires". That same year he learned to play the violin, which he played in the group. López composed music, mostly romantic, including "Claridad" and "Si el vino me hace llorar" which Buenos Aires released on a radio station called Radio Colonial.[2]
Lopéz's musical influences were those such as Beethoven; Rubén Darío, a Nicaraguan poet, often referred to as the "Father of Modernism", was a major literary influence to him. Lopéz would often collaborate in publications such as "El Cronista" and "El Centroamericano".[3]
López's girlfriend, Amparo Zelaya Castro, was the sister of Armando Zelaya, a journalist who drove López to the Casa del Obrero where he later shot Somoza.[2]
[edit] Assassination of Somoza
On September 21, 1956, López was able to infiltrate a party in the Club Social de Obreros de León that was attended by President Somoza and shot him in the chest. Lopéz was instantly killed in a hail of bullets and Somoza died a few days later in the Panama Canal Zone hospital. Somoza's son, Luis Somoza Debayle, replaced his father as president and dictator.
[edit] Legacy
In 1979, Nicaragua's national stadium in Managua, used as a venue for baseball and football as well as concerts and other events, was named after Lopéz, but on November 20, 1998, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the stadium, then-President Arnoldo Alemán issued a decree changing the stadium's name to Estadio Nacional Dennis Martínez.[4]
In 2006 a monument dedicated to López was built in his honor in Managua.
[edit] References
- ^ Sanchez, Edwin. "Alemán cometió enorme agravio", El Nuevo Diario. Retrieved on 2007-11-05. (Spanish)
- ^ a b Briones, Ignacio. "Rigoberto: Notas para una Biografía", Bolsa de Noticias. Retrieved on 2007-11-05. (Spanish)
- ^ López, Wilmer. "La Poesía Armada de Rigoberto López Pérez", El Nuevo Diario. Retrieved on 2007-11-05. (Spanish)
- ^ "Baseball Stadium Gets New Name", Revista Envío. Retrieved on 2007-11-05.
[edit] External links
- (Spanish) The will of Rigoberto López Pérez
- (Spanish) Rigoberto: Notas para una Biografía
- (Spanish) Rigoberto López Pérez's Death Letter Addressed to his Mother
- Portrait of Pérez
- Photos of the Rigoberto López Pérez Monument
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
