The journalist and writer Antonio Burgos has died at the age of 80 in Seville, where he became one of the most important chroniclers in recent decades. Burgos died as a result of a respiratory illness.
His professional career is closely linked to ABC, a newspaper where he started in 1966 and of which he became deputy director in 1984. However, he also worked for magazines such as Hermano Lobo, La Codorniz, Triunfo and Cuadernos para el Diálogo and wrote articles and forums in Diario 16 and El Mundo.
His journalistic background was recognized last week by the Andalusian government with the Andalusian Journalism Prize for Professional Career, an award that will be given to him posthumously on Tuesday, December 26th. He was born in Seville in 1943 and also holds the title of favorite son of Andalusia.
Burgos is not only a columnist, but also the author of numerous books such as Word in the Void, Secret Guide to Seville, Seville Had to Be, Looking at the Sea I Dreamed, Jazmines in the Buttonhole and Cats Without Borders. In his essay Andalusia, Third World? Burgos roughly and directly described the inequality and poverty in southern Spain during the late Franco era. His description of the underdeveloped Andalusia had a strong influence and laid the foundation for the rebirth of the Andalusian sentiment – which Burgos vigorously defended – and which over time achieved its autonomy.
It is this diversity of Andalusia that Burgos was able to address in his chronicles and articles and that made him a teacher for many Andalusian journalists. Tirelessly until his last days, he continued to publish his column El Recuadro in ABC and had time to be part of the jury for the Romero Murube Awards, which this newspaper also awards and which reward articles related to Seville, a city with which one maintained a constant idyll.
A lover of tradition, he was not only a Holy Week preacher in Seville, but also a preacher and lyricist for the Carnival of Cádiz, where he is also an adopted son.
The son of a “bracero,” as he himself boasted, he completed his studies in philosophy and literature at the University of Seville and in Romance philology at the Complutense de Madrid. During the Franco regime he was involved in groups with democratic beliefs, which formed the origins of the Andalusian Party.
A staunch defender of the monarchy, his views have not been spared from controversy, earning him complaints filed by the LGTBI group for homophobia and the disapproval of the Women's Institute for sexist and degrading statements made towards several ministers in the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the He was very critical of him and even referred to his daughters and his wife in some articles.