Salvador Castañeda Álvarez, a Mexican writer and cultural functionary, died on April 1, 2026, at the age of 79.
Born on an ejido in the municipality of Matamoros, Coahuila, on July 31, 1946, he studied geological engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and agronomy at Patrice Lumumba Peoples’ Friendship University in Moscow. After returning to Mexico, he helped found the Movimiento de Acción Revolucionaria guerrilla group and was later incarcerated for seven years in Lecumberri Prison.
He discovered his vocation as a writer during his imprisonment. In 1978, he received an INBA scholarship for narrative writing, and his first published work, ¿Por qué no dijiste todo?, won the Juan Grijalbo Novel Prize in 1979.
Salvador Castañeda Álvarez, 79, Mexican writer.