Jorge Mansilla, journalist writer and Bolivian ambassador died

Emir Olivares Alonso

Newspaper La Jornada
Tuesday, January 25, 2022, p. eleven

Bolivian journalist, writer, poet and diplomat Jorge Mansilla Torres, who was his country’s ambassador to Mexico (2006-2012), died yesterday at the age of 81.

The death occurred in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where the prominent diplomat – who spent several decades in exile in Mexico since the 1980s – spent his last years with heart disease.

Arriving for what would be his first term in the presidency of Bolivia, Evo Morales Ayma appointed the so-called Coconut Mantle, ambassador to Mexico.

“We received, with great sadness, the news of the death of brother Jorge Mansilla Torres Coconut MantleBolivian revolutionary, poet, writer and diplomat. With his pen he denounced social and political injustices and illuminated the path of the process of change. Peace in his grave,” Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora tweeted.

Meanwhile, Evo Morales said he was dismayed by the departure “of the brother Coconut Mantle”. He remarked that the diplomat and journalist was a great revolutionary committed to his people who knew how to defend democracy with his poetry and writings of dignity and courage.

Morales Ayma sent his solidarity to his family and to the generations of journalists who learned from him. “The brother Coconut Mantle He will be remembered as the poet who fought for the country with the dignity of his verses and the sincerity of his words. He was an excellent ambassador to Mexico and a great defender of the maritime cause. His texts are immortal songs to the freedom of our peoples”.

Mansilla Torres was born in Potosí, Bolivia, in April 1940. He studied at the Catholic University of La Paz. He defined himself as a hand of anti-capitalist good humor. He cultivated a long career in journalism: he was a broadcaster, editor, columnist, columnist, editorialist and editor. He made poetry and humorous pieces. His journey as a diplomat also gave him extensive recognition.

He was the author of at least six books of poetry; three biographical essays; three of humor; co-author-lyricist of three cantatas of Bolivian historical events. Artists from Bolivia and Mexico set 22 of his poems to music.

He worked as an announcer and producer of radio dramas in Bolivian stations such as Pío XII, Vanguardia, Altiplano and Illimani, during the 1960s and early 1970s. Exiled during successive dictatorial governments, he was a reporter and columnist in Peruvian newspapers. Express Y extra lime (1972-1977); collaborator of the Bolivian weekly Here, of La Paz (1978-80). Later, he was a writer, editorialist and editor in Excelsior, from Mexico (1981-2005).

His work was recognized with various awards. In 2019, he unanimously won the highest medal for culture in his country. In Mexico, he received the Efraín Huerta National Prize for Literature (1982) and for Journalism (1992), among others.

“Coconut Mantle he stood out for his uncompromising and permanent defense of democracy, freedom of expression and the right of the Bolivian people to be truthfully informed”, established the National Association of Journalists of Bolivia (ANPB), in a statement in which he lamented the death .