Virgilio Rodríguez Beteta

Virgilio Rodríguez Beteta (1885–1967) was a Guatemalan lawyer, historian, diplomat and writer.

Beteta was born in Guatemala City on March 10, 1885, son of General Luis and Luz Rodriguez Beteta Laredo. He was a descendant of the discoverer of California, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. He graduated as a lawyer at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala.

In his first marriage, with Elisa Macal Asturias, he had two children, writer Virgilio Rodríguez Macal and a daughter, Martha. From his second marriage to Marta Josefina Herrera, he had one child, Roberto Rodríguez-Herrera Beteta, an airplane pilot and composer of music for marimba. From his third marriage with Carmen Martínez Arboleda, he had another child, Luz Maria Rodriguez-Martinez Beteta, a journalist, mountaineer and Industrial Psychologist.

Beteta lived for extended periods in Honduras, Switzerland, Spain, Chile and Colombia, working in senior diplomatic positions representing Guatemala. He died in his hometown at the age of 82 years.

Beteta Rodríguez was interested in history, politics and the culture of Guatemala. In 1917 he wrote the libretto for the opera Quiché Vinak. Along with Adrian Recinos, he founded the legal journal The Law, and was also one of the founders of the Society of Geography and History, now the Academy of Geography and History of Guatemala. He directed the Diario de Centro America.

He agreed to represent Guatemala as ambassador to the governments of Honduras, Spain, Chile and Colombia, as well as ambassador to the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. His old age was devoted to historical research and political science and he publishing a series of books on a variety of topics in these disciplines.

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