Various municipal and state dignitaries were on hand as four new statues of “illustrious” citizens of Jalisco were unveiled in downtown Guadalajara this week.
The new inductees into the Rotunda of Illustrious Jalisco Citizens are composers Consuelo Velázquez and José “Pepe” Guízar Morfín, engineer Guillermo González Camarena and lawyer, politician and journalist Luis Manuel Rojas.
Velázquez (1916-2005) composed the classic song “Bésame mucho,” “Amar y vivir” and “Cachito,” while Guízar (1906-1980) is famed for the songs “Guadalajara” and “Chapala,” as well as many other popular mariachi tunes. González Camarena (1917-1965) was the inventor of a color-wheel type of color television. As a federal legislator, Rojas (1870-1949) was a key backer of President Francisco I. Madero at the start of the Mexican Revolution, and later became the head of the National Library and director of the newspaper El Universal.