Chiapas writer Eraclio Zepeda dies at 78

Chiapas writer Eraclio Zepeda Ramos died this morning due to a respiratory illness, relatives and friends reported.

He was 78 years old and will be buried in Tuxtla Guitiérrez tomorrow at 10:00 hrs.

Zepeda was also a politician, journalist and university professor. Last year he received the Belisario Dominguez Medal, awarded by the Senate, and the 2014 National Prize for Arts and Sciences in the field of literature and linguistics, in recognition of his humanistic and literary contribution .

The author of “Benzulul”, “Asalto nocturno” and “Tocar el fuego”, among other literary works, was born on March 24, 1937. As a teenager he went to Mexico City to study at the military school, where he met writers Jaime Labastida, Jaime Augusto Shelley and the Chiapas poets Óscar Oliva and Juan Bañuelos, with whom he founded the literary group La Espiga Amotinada in 1960.

"The solution of political problems should not only come from the government, but from society as a whole with a critical attitude towards the pursuit of development," Zepeda used to say.