Jaime Galarza Zavala

Jaime Alejandro Galarza Zavala (Cuenca, July 28, 1930 – Quito, July 20, 2023) was an Ecuadorian writer, poet, journalist and polítician. He published over 20 books, including books of poetry and non-fiction books, among which are: El yugo feudal (1962), Piratas del golfo (1973), Los Campesinos de Loja y Zamora (1973), El festín del petróleo (1974), Quienes mataron a Roldós (1982), Petróleo de nuestra muerte (1983). He served as the national vice president of the House of Ecuadorian Culture from 2008-2012. In 2007 President Rafael Correa awarded Galarza the Eugenio Espejo National Culture Prize. Among his friends were Julio Cortazar and Ernesto Che Guevara.

Publishing The Oil Feast, being a political prisoner, and getting help from Julio Cortazar

In 1972 Jaime Galarza Zavala published El festín del petróleo (The Oil Feast), which accused and implicated various high-level Ecuadorian politicians of corruption. Due to the publication of El festín del petróleo, Galarza was arrested by the so-called “Nationalist and Revolutionary” Government of General Guillermo Rodríguez Lara (Military Dictator/President of Ecuador 1972-1976).

The famous Argentine writer Julio Cortazar visited Quito, Ecuador between Jan 20-24, 1973 where he attended the launch of the magazine Frente Cultural Bufanda del Sol and presented his book El libro de Manuel, which analyzes Latin American politics. On his first day in Ecuador Cortazar visited Galarza, whose poetry and essays he so admired, at the Garcia Moreno Prison. Cortazar then wrote a letter to General Guillermo Rodríguez Lara expressing solidarity with Galarza and asking for his release. The letter was co-signed by other important literary figures and intellectuals such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Gabriel García Márquez, Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Regis Debray, and Miguel Ángel Asturias. This attention greatly improved Galarza’s situation; he was moved to a better cell and the treatment of him was improved.

These events are narrated by Julio Cortazar in a letter sent to the Argentinian writer Francisco Urondo and published in Liberation in 1973. Cortazar concludes thusly: “I left, of course, but I left knowing that somehow I was not leaving, and that Jaime also went with me in that area of ​​the heart that is forever safe from fences, bars and hatred.”

Thanks to Julio Cortazar’s letter a few months later Galarza’s trial and sentence were annulled and he was set free.

Excerpts from the letter by Julio Cortazar to General Guillermo Rodríguez Lara

Personal Life

In 1953, Galarza, age 23, married Maria Luis Riera, with whom he had 5 daughters and a son.

Jaime Galarza Zavala’s Interview with Philip Agee

Philip Agee was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) case officer and writer of the 1975 best-selling book, Inside the Company: CIA Diary. Among his assertions and claims, Agee describes his first overseas assignment in 1960 to Ecuador, where his primary mission was to force a diplomatic break between Ecuador and Cuba. He wrote that the technique he used included bribery, intimidation, bugging, and forgery. Agee spent four years in Ecuador penetrating Ecuadorian politics. He stated that his actions subverted and destroyed the political fabric of Ecuador.

In 1975 Jaime Galarza Zavala interviewed Philip Agee in London. The interview was published the same year as Jaime Galarza entrevista a Philip Agee. A later book titled La CIA contra America Latina, Caso especial: Ecuador was published in 2014 containing 3 parts: the original interview conducted by Jaime Galarza Zavala in 1975, a speech by Philip Agee at The Anti-Imperialist Tribunal of Our Americas (TANA) taped by Jaime Galarza Zavala in 1983, and a new interview conducted by the Ecuadorian journalist Francisco Herrera Aráuz in 2006.

Jaime Galarza Zavala speaks about who may have killed Jaime Roldos

In 1981 the President of Ecuador Jaime Roldos Aguilera, his wife and cabinet members were killed in a mysterious plane crash. In 1982 Jaime Galarza Zavala published a book titled Quiénes mataron a Roldós (Who Killed Roldos). In the following video, Galarza talks about who may have killed Jaime Roldos, and about his asking investigators to re-open the case 38 years later. Most Ecuadorians believe Roldos was assassinated by the CIA. Four other leftist Latin American leaders, including President Omar Torrijos of Panama, died in mysterious plane crashes within a 3 month period. In the video, Galarza says that apart from the CIA, the Mossad of Israel may have also been involved.

Interview with the Ecuadorian writer Jaime Galarza Zavala

Ecuadorian writer and journalist Jaime Galarza Zavala speaks about the presence of the CIA in Ecuador

Jaime Galarza Zabala: La Caja de Pandora

Honors and acknowledgments

• Honorary Doctorate (honoris causa) from the Superior Politecnic School of Chimborazo.
• Eugenio Espejo National Culture Prize bestowed by President Rafael Correa of Ecuador (2007-2017) in 2007.
• Battle of Pichincha Award bestowed by the Provincial Government of Pichincha in 2010.
• Vicente Rocafuerte Prize bestowed by the National Assembly 2011.

Selected works