Tomás Eloy Martínez

Tomás Eloy Martínez (born July 16, 1934 in Tucumán) is an Argentine journalist and writer. He obtained a degree in Spanish and Latin American literature from the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, and an MA at the University of Paris.

From 1957 to 1961 he was a film critic in Buenos Aires for the La Nación newspaper, and he then was editor in chief (1962-69) of the magazine "Primera Plana". From 1969 to 1970 he worked as a reporter in Paris. In 1970 he and many former writers of "Primera Plana" worked at the magazine "Panorama", where Martínez was the director.

On 15 August 1972 he learned of the uprising of political prisoners in the jail at Rawson, Chubut Province. "Panorama" was the only publication in Buenos Aires that reported the correct story of the affair in Rawson, which differed significantly from the official version of the "de facto" Argentine government. On 22 August he was fired at the behest of the government, whereupon he went to Rawson and the neighboring city of Trelew where he reported the Massacre of Trelew in his book "The Passion According to Trelew". The book was banned by the Argentine dictatorship.

For three years (1972-75) Martínez was in charge of the cultural supplement of La Nación, after which he lived in exile (1975-83) in Caracas, Venezuela, where he remained active as a journalist, founding the newspaper "El Diario". In his book "The Memoirs of the General" he recounts that he was threatened by the "AAA", the Alianza Anticomunista Argentina , and on one occasion gunmen held a pistol to the head of his 3-year-old son because they were witnesses to a crime which Martinez believes was an operation of the "AAA". He subsequently started the newspaper "Siglo 21" in Guadalajara, Mexico, and created the literary supplement "Primer Plano" for the newspaper "Página/12" in Buenos Aires.

Martínez has also been a teacher and lecturer. He taught (1984-87) at the University of Maryland. In 1995, he took a position as distinguished professor and director of the Latin American Studies program at Rutgers University, New Jersey. He lives in nearby Highland Park, New Jersey. He also has a home in Buenos Aires. He writes columns for "La Nación" and the "New York Times" syndicate, and his articles have appeared in many newspapers and journals in Latin America.

He has published a number of books, one of which, "Santa Evita", has been translated into 32 languages and published in 50 countries. He was awarded the Guggenheim and Woodrow Wilson scholarships and won the Alfaguara award for the novel "Flight of the Queen" for the year 2002. His works deal primarily (but not exclusively) with Argentina during and after the rule of Juan Perón and his wife, Eva Duarte de Perón (Evita).

Main Publications

*"Sacred" (1969)
*"The Passion According to Trelew" (1973, reissued in 1997)
*"The Perón Novel" (1985)
*"The Hand of the Master" (1991)
*"Santa Evita" (1995)
*"The Memoirs of the General" (1996)
*"Common Place - Death" (1998)
*"The Argentine Dream" (1999)
*"True Fictions" (2000)
*"The Flight of the Queen" (2002)
*"Requiem for a Lost Country" (2003)
*"The Lives of the General" (2004)
*"The Tango Singer" (2004)
*"La Mano del Amo" (2007)