Heberto Castillo
Encyclopedia
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
civil engineer
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
and political activist.
Castillo was born in Ixhuatlán de Madero
Ixhuatlán de Madero
Ixhuatlán de Madero is a Municipality in Veracruz, Mexico. It is located in north zone of the State of Veracruz, about 376 km from state capital Xalapa. It has a surface of 598.81 km2...
, Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
, and received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the National Autonomous University
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is a university in Mexico. UNAM was founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous...
. An accomplished engineer, he taught several courses at the UNAM and at the National Polytechnic Institute
National Polytechnic Institute
The National Polytechnic Institute colloquially known as the Polytechnic is one of the largest public universities in Mexico with 153.027 students at the high school, undergraduate and postgraduate levels...
, wrote several textbooks and invented the tridilosa
Tridilosa
Tridilosa is a very light and resistant, materials-efficient 3-D structure, made from steel and concrete and widely used in civil engineering...
.
He became a political activist and got involved in several workers' rights struggles, leading to imprisonment by the federal government in the infamous Lecumberri Penitentiary
Palacio de Lecumberri
The Palacio de Lecumberri is a large building, formerly a prison, in the northeast of Mexico City, Mexico, which now houses the General National Archive ....
. Castillo was one of the first among leading left-wing
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
politicians to express dismay at the dictatorial
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
nature of Soviet-bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
governments, starting a movement towards a social democracy
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...
-based left wing and away from a Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
-based left leaning opposition in Mexico.
During his lifetime he co-founded three political parties
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
: the Mexican Workers' Party
Mexican Workers' Party
The Mexican Workers' Party was an old Mexican political party of left, that had legal registration in the 1980s, its main political figures were Heberto Castillo and Demetrio Vallejo....
(Partido Mexicano de los Trabajadores, PMT), the Mexican Socialist Party
Mexican Socialist Party
The Socialist Mexican Party was the former left-wing Mexican political party immediate antecedent of the present Party of the Democratic Revolution, it was the last effort of unification of the different Mexican parties of left and the last political party that the socialist word in its name was...
(Partido Mexicano Socialista, PMS) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution
Party of the Democratic Revolution
The Party of the Democratic Revolution is a democratic socialist party in Mexico and one of 2 Mexican affiliates of the Socialist International...
(Partido de la Revolución Democrática, PRD). In his last years in politics he became a staunch critic of the Zapatista
Zapatista Army of National Liberation
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is a revolutionary leftist group based in Chiapas, the southernmost state of Mexico....
rebellion in Chiapas
Chiapas
Chiapas officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas is one of the 31 states that, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 118 municipalities and its capital city is Tuxtla Gutierrez. Other important cites in Chiapas include San Cristóbal de las...
and, crucially, voluntarily withdrew from the presidential race in 1988
Mexican general election, 1988
General elections were held in Mexico on July 6, 1988. The presidential elections were won by Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who received 50.7% of the vote, the lowest for a winning candidate since direct elections were introduced for the presidency in 1917...
to support the unified candidacy of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas
Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas Solórzano is a prominent Mexican politician. He was a former Head of Government of the Federal District and a founder of the Party of the Democratic Revolution .-Biography:...
.
He died on April 5, 1997 in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
and received the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor
Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor
The Order of the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor is the highest award bestowed by the Mexican government...
(postmortem) that same year.