Gaspar Ilóm was born Rodrigo Asturias, son of Miguel Angel Asturias, the Guatemalan writer, activist and Nobel Prize winner for literature. Rodrigo adopted the name Gaspar Ilóm from a fictional character in his father’s novel Men of Maize. He became involved in the revolution in 1971 when he founded the ORPA, or Armed People’s Association. In 1982, the repressive Guatemalan government under Efraín Rios Montt began taking brutal steps to quash the rebellion, which had continued on and off since the 1950’s. The move backfired, as it caused the revolution to gain strength.
ORPA was one of four rebel groups that united to establish the National Guatemalan National Unity (URNG), and Ilóm was named its head. He generally directed his forces from exile in Mexico. Ilóm was the head of the URNG from the early 1980’s until 1996, when a peace treaty was finally signed. The URNG became converted into a legitimate political party and Ilóm ran for president, but was defeated. He died of a heart attack in 2005. His former adversary, retired general Otto Pérez Molina, upon learning of his death described him as “a brave man, with grand ideas, who did a great deal to bring about the end of the war.”