Joaquín Gutiérrez Mangel

• Name — Joaquín Gutiérrez • Honorific Prefix — Don • Birth Name — Joaquín Gutiérrez Mangel • Born — 30 March 1918 • Birthplace — Limón, Costa Rica • Citizenship — Costa Rica, Chile • Died — 16 October 2000 • Place of death — San José, Costa Rica • Occupation — Writer, journalist • Language — Spanish • Period — 1937–1999 • Genre — Fantasy, children's, socialist realism • Movement — '40s Generation • Notable Works — Cocorí, Puerto Limón (Port Limón), Murámonos Federico (Let's Die, Federico), La Hoja de Aire (The Sheet Made of Air) • Spouse — Elena Nascimento • Children — 2, including Elena Gutiérrez • Relatives — Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez (granddaughter) • Awards — Magón National Prize for Culture, Rapa Nui Prize for Literature, José Martí World Literature Prize

Born to Paul Gutiérrez and Estela Mangel Rosas in Limón on the Caribbean coast, the geographic area that inspired Cocorí, Gutiérrez moved to San José when he was nine years old and studied at Buenaventura Corrales Elementary and then the Colegio Seminario (Seminary School). While attending Liceo de Costa Rica (Costa Rica High School), Gutiérrez and five other students founded a group called the Leftist Student Wing. In 1934, he graduated from Liceo de Costa Rica. He began studying law but was expelled during a student strike. Gutiérrez's father sent him to New York to study English for a year. During his year in New York, he cultivated a friendship with Costa Rican communist Manuel Mora, one of the leaders of the Costa Rican Civil War. In 1937, he published his first book, Poesías ("Poems"). His second book of poetry was published in 1938, titled Jicaral. In 1939, at the age of twenty-one, Gutiérrez was named Costa Rica's national chess champion and he traveled to Argentina to compete in the World Chess Championships; however, the outbreak of World War II prevented him from further competing. He worked for a time at the Central Bank of Costa Rica and joined the People's Vanguard Party, a communist party.

Shortly thereafter, Gutiérrez traveled to Chile. He was attracted by the election of Pedro Aguirre Cerda, Chile's first leftist president. He returned to Costa Rica but was drawn back to Chile by a job offer from Editorial Nascimiento, one of Chile's largest publishing houses. He began working there while also contributing to Frente Popular (People's Front) and El Siglo (The Century), two leftist newspapers. In 1941, Gutiérrez was awarded the Rapa Nui Prize for Literature in Chile. Gutiérrez's communist sympathies increased during this time. He even arranged for Soviet spy Iosif Grigulevich to obtain a falsified Costa Rican passport in 1949, under the name Teodoro B. Castro. Grigulevich would go on to represent Costa Rica diplomatically while being involved in an assassination attempt against Josip Broz Tito. While in Chile, Gutiérrez worked as a translator for several news agencies, including Reuters, UPI, and the Associated Press. He continued his work as an editor and journalist and eventually started traveling as a correspondent. In 1962, Gutiérrez went to the Soviet Union where he reported from various regions within the communist country. He chronicled the space race and the internal political struggles between Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev. Gutiérrez also traveled to Vietnam to interview Ho Chi Minh in an article titled "With Uncle Ho," as well as other Vietnamese leaders. He returned to Chile to continue working as a translator and journalist. Chilean President Salvador Allende put Gutiérrez in charge of Editora Nacional Quimantú, a publisher that focused on literature for the working class in that country. In 1972, when Augusto Pinochet deposed Allende and began a military dictatorship, Gutiérrez returned to Costa Rica. He continued his literary career and even began teaching at the University of Costa Rica. While writing his own books and stories, he also translated and published Shakespeare's King Lear in 1981, Macbeth in 1986, Julius Caesar in 1994, as well as Hamlet. He wanted to add a Latin-American voice to the translations, as opposed to the more peninsular approach traditionally taken toward Shakespeare. Later, Gutiérrez translated the works of Mao Zedong from English to Spanish. Gutiérrez remained politically active, even running for vice-president two times with Pueblo Unido (People's United), a leftist coalition party. Until his last few months, Gutiérrez continued writing.

Gutiérrez was married to Elena Nascimento, a Chilean. Gutiérrez and Nascimento had two daughters including Elena Gutiérrez, a Chilean-Costa Rican ballet dancer, choreographer and founder of the National Dance Company of Costa Rica. Through his daughter Elena, Gutiérrez was the grandfather of Ishtar Yasin Gutiérrez, an Iraqi Chilean-Costa Rican director, screenwriter, producer and actress. Gutiérrez died of heart failure in 2000 at 82 years old following a respiratory infection. He is buried at the Cementario General (General Cemetery) in downtown San José.

• Poesía, 1937, San José (Costa Rica) • Jicaral, 1938, San José (Costa Rica) • Cocorí, 1947, Santiago (Chile) • Manglar, 1947, Santiago (Chile) • Puerto Limón, novela, 1950, Santiago (Chile) • Del Mapocho al Vístula, 1953, Santiago (Chile) • La hoja de aire, 1968, Santiago (Chile) • Murámonos, Federico, 1973, San José (Costa Rica) • Volveremos, 1974 • Te conozco mascarita, 1977, Santiago (Chile) • Te acordarás, hermano, 1978, Havana (Cuba) • Chinto Pinto, 1982, San José (Costa Rica) • Vietnam: Crónicas de guerra, 1988, San José (Costa Rica) • Obras completas, 1998–2003, San José (Costa Rica) • Crónicas de otro mundo, Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica, 1999, San José (Costa Rica) • Los azules días, memorias, Editorial Universidad de Costa Rica, 1999, San José (Costa Rica)

The authorities additionally record the heading Joaquin Gutierrez Mangel. His recorded language was Spanish. One child is recorded: Elena Gutiérrez.