Humberto Costantini

Humberto “Cacho” Costantini was born in Buenos Aires to Italian Jewish immigrants of Sephardic heritage. He spent most of his life in and around that city, earning his living primarily as a veterinarian. Costantini was a leftist and a sometime communist, although he was alienated by the Soviet line of the Argentine party. He was exiled to Mexico, returning to Argentina in 1984 to publish his existential and moral journey of the common man, La larga noche de Francisco Sanctis. After hours, and sometimes in very trying circumstances owing to his political activities, he worked at his other vocations: novelist, short-story writer, poet, and playwright. He won numerous literary prizes, most notably the Casa de Las Américas award for his novel De dioses, hombrecitos y policías (1979). Costantini also took a lively interest in the tango, as composer, singer, and dancer.