Eduardo del Rio AKA "Rius" 1934 - 2017

Photo of Rius from El Universal.

Prolific Mexican social/political cartoonist and writer Eduardo del Rio, better known by his pen name of Rius, died in Tepoztlan yesterday. He was 83.

A popular activist with left-wing views, Rius wrote over 100 popular books, including his seminal FOR BEGINNERS series of books (MARX FOR BEGINNERS, etc.), as well as MANUAL DEL PERFECTO ATEO (Manual of the perfect atheist), the publication of which caused excommunication by the Mexican Catholic Church.

From the newspaper La Jornada quoted in Prensa Latina:

Rius was among the greatest creators of the Mexican caricature and made humor a way of life, he outlined a goal and he fulfilled it: to develop caricature. So in each of his comic books he broke with solemnity to deal humorously with issues of philosophy, capitalism, Marxism, history, religion and even vegetarian nutrition.

Our mutual cartoonist friend Felipe "Feggo" Galindo wrote on his Facebook page yesterday:

Today I got great news and sad ones. The great is that I was able to accomplish another trip around the sun, along my wife Andrea Arroyo, my partner in this amazing adventure we call life. The sad news is that today, my friend, mentor and colleague Rius (Eduardo del Rio) Mexican Master Cartoonist, left this baffling world, one that he questioned, made laugh and informed with his more than a hundred illustrated books, among them the pivotal For Beginners series (Marx, Cuba, Philosophy, Trotsky, Che, etc.) and ripped-off countless of times by publishing houses worldwide; his comic strips (Los Supermachos, Los Agachados), contributed or edited many magazines (La Garrapata, El Chamuco, El Chahuistle, etc.) His thousands of cartoons criticized hundreds of Mexican politicians and several presidents, Uncle Sam and the merciless capitalism. With clear and effortless irreverent humor. Initially inspired by the simple lines of The New Yorker's Saul Steinberg, he later used that simplicity to inspire generations of cartoonists worldwide (including me) but with a political and humanist content. I was able to visit him last year and also a few weeks ago at his home in Tepoztlán with colleagues Rapé and Hernández. Rest in peace in Humor Heaven, because the religious one didn't matter to him.