Nellie Francisca Ernestina Campobello Luna, born María Francisca Moya Luna (b. November 7, 1900 – d. July 9, 1986), was a Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 writer. Like her half-sister Gloria

Gloria Campobello

Gloria Campobello Luna was a Mexican ballet dancer and choreographer. Her older half-sister Francisca was a well-known writer and dancer, known as Nellie Campobello.- Biography :...

, a well-known ballet dancer, she was also known as an enthusiastic dancer and choreographer.

Biography

Campobello was born in Ocampo, Durango

Ocampo, Durango

Ocampo is one of the 39 municipalities of Durango, in north-western Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Villa Ocampo. The municipality covers an area of 3,207.7 km².As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 9,222....

 the third of six children of Rafaela Luna, and her father was her mother's nephew Jesús Felipe Moya Luna, son of her sister Florencia. Probably this was a reason, why she concealed traces of her past. She handled also her year of birth indiscriminately as 1909 or 1913. She spent her childhood in Parral, Chihuahua

Parral, Chihuahua

Hidalgo del Parral, is a city and seat of the municipality of Hidalgo del Parral in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It is located in the southern part of the state, 220 km from the state capital, the city of Chihuahua, Chih....

 and her youth in the city of Chihuahua

Chihuahua, Chihuahua

The city of Chihuahua is the state capital of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It has a population of about 825,327. The predominant activity is industry, including domestic heavy, light industries, consumer goods production, and to a smaller extent maquiladoras.-History:It has been said that the...

, where she visited the Inglesa de la Colonia Rosales college. After her father was killed in the Battle of Ojinaga in 1914, her mother remarried the physician Stephen Campbell from Boston, whose last name the children assumed, and which was altered to Campobello by Nellie. In 1921, her mother died.

During the revolutionary years

Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...

 she came to Mexico City

Mexico City

Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...

, where she became later director of the national school of dance of the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes.

In 1985 she suddenly disappeared, as well as her belongings and paintings of Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera

Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez was a prominent Mexican painter born in Guanajuato, Guanajuato, an active communist, and husband of Frida Kahlo . His large wall works in fresco helped establish the Mexican Mural Movement in...

 and José Clemente Orozco

José Clemente Orozco

José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...

. In 1998, the Commission of Human rights of the Federal District discovered that Nellie died on July 9, 1986, and that she was buried in the Progreso de Obregón Cemetery of Hidalgo. Supposedly she was kidnapped by Claudio Fuentes Figueroa or Claudio Niño Cienfuentes and his spouse Maria Cristina Belmont. Many of her choreographies of indigenous dances were rescued. Her corpse was transferred to Durango

Durango

Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...

 in 1999.

She was never married, but had several affairs. It is traced, that she had a son (1919–1921) with Alfredo Chávez

Alfredo Chávez

Alfredo Chávez is a Mexican professional boxer and is considered one of the best prospects in the Welterweight division.-Pro career:...

, the later Governor of Chihuahua

Governor of Chihuahua

According to the Political Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua, Executive Power in that Mexican state resides with a single individual, the Constitutional Governor of the Free and Sovereign State of Chihuahua, who is chosen for a period of six years and cannot for any reason...

. Also Germán List Arzubide

Germán List Arzubide

Germán List Arzubide was a Mexican poet and revolutionary.Born in Puebla, he was an active participant in the Revolution, fighting alongside Emiliano Zapata as well as extolling him and other revolutionary leaders in his poetry...

told, that he felt in love with her.

Works

• Yo, poems, 1928
• Cartucho, 1931
• Las Manos de Mamá, novel, 1937
• Apuntes sobre la vida militar de Francisco Villa, 1940
• Ritmos Indígenas de México, 1940
• Tres poemas, 1957
• Mis Libros, 1960 (illustrated by José Clemente Orozco)