Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Education, INEHRM, and National Lottery Honor Rosario Castellanos with Commemorative Lottery Ticket

• "Rosario Castellanos was one of the first female intellectuals to hold a senior diplomatic post. She effectively represented our country's interests in Israel," said María Teresa Mercado Pérez, Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs
• "May this ticket travel across the country as Rosario Castellanos' words did: opening minds, raising awareness, and awakening hope," Olivia Salomón, Director General of the National Lottery
• The Special Zodiac Draw No. 1704 features a Grand Prize of 11 million pesos in one series and will take place on May 25

To mark the 100th anniversary of Rosario Castellanos' birth, the National Lottery, working jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' General Directorate of Diplomatic Historical Archives, the Ministries of Education and Culture, and the National Institute of Historical Studies of Mexican Revolutions (INEHRM), pays tribute to this Mexican pioneer with the unveiling of the Special Zodiac Draw No. 1704 ticket.

The commemorative ticket will be sold throughout Mexico at National Lottery sales points. It highlights the life of one of the pioneering figures of Mexican feminism. Rosario Castellanos advanced feminist ideals through her work as a writer, journalist, diplomat, and cultural advocate.

During the event, National Lottery Director General Olivia Salomón emphasized that Rosario Castellanos was a thinker who inspired profound reflection through her literature.

"She not only paved the way for women but raised awareness in a country that often refused to hear the female voice. Her work taught us that thinking is also resisting, that writing is also transforming," she said.

She added that the commemorative ticket embodies culture as an agent of social transformation. The tribute honors a visionary thinker whose contributions helped make possible Mexico's first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who named the "Rosario Castellanos" National University (UNRC) in her honor.

"Claudia Sheinbaum not only embodies this historic change but leads it with firmness and vision of state. She has placed substantive equality at the center of her national project and, as she has clearly stated, women have the right to a free life, a full life, we have the right to dream," she emphasized.

Government institutions support all women who fight, resist, and transform, Olivia Salomón stated. "May this ticket travel across the country as Rosario Castellanos' words did: opening minds, raising awareness, and awakening hope. The people of Mexico who hold this ticket in their hands should remember that substantive equality is no longer a distant goal, but a present we are building, every day, with actions."

She announced that 2.4 million tickets have been issued and are available for purchase throughout the country at outlets, local and regional organizations, and from street vendors.

Representing Foreign Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs María Teresa Mercado Pérez reflected on Rosario Castellanos' impact in a male-dominated society: "She was one of the first female intellectuals to hold a senior diplomatic post, and she effectively represented our country's interests in Israel. I am convinced that through her work and example, she was a forerunner who helped pave the way in the diplomatic field for generations of Mexican women who have followed her."

She highlighted the connection between Mexican Humanism as the cornerstone of the National Development Plan and the sensitivity and accessibility of Rosario Castellanos' diplomatic texts as Mexico's ambassador to Israel in 1971.

Representing Education Secretary Mario Delgado Carrillo, Deputy Secretary of Basic Education Angélica Noemí Juárez Pérez stressed the importance of keeping Rosario Castellanos' struggle for equity, justice, and social transformation alive as a means to guarantee everyone's access to education.

"It is vital to continue promoting critical, humanistic, and community-based education, in which we are all recognized as subjects with rights, capable of living a dignified life," she added before the guests gathered at the Jesús Terán auditorium of the Former College of Santa Cruz Tlatelolco.

In his remarks, Presidential Chief Advisor Jesús Ramírez Cuevas highlighted the talent, capacity, and sensitivity of a woman like Rosario Castellanos, who broke through in a world of men, in literature and diplomacy, leaving behind work of great power that speaks to the female spirit, always discontented with an unjust reality.

"Reading her books is the best tribute. Continuing her legacy of critique, because her works are not just literature, but also a challenge to a reality that must change... Thanks to people like Rosario Castellanos, we are aware of this history of defense, resistance, and the need to build a democratic, just country, where literature flourishes and where women now take their rightful, dignified place."

INEHRM Director General Felipe Ávila Espinosa said that the best way to honor Rosario Castellanos' memory is by reading, discussing, and valuing her work. He noted that her thinking remains alive and nourishes our reflection on Mexican reality and on today's women.

"Throughout her vast literary work, she continued her fight against the destiny that society assigns to women, encouraging them to be free to do, think, and say what they wanted, to have rights and their own will. Her defense of women's rights, including sexual freedom, grew stronger, as did her political criticism, not only against customs, masculine culture, the asymmetry of social relations, poverty and marginalization, female subordination, but also criticism against governmental regression," he said in this tribute marking the centenary of this Mexican pioneer's birth.

Rosario Castellanos' son, Gabriel Guerra Castellanos, said he was touched by the numerous tributes and events honoring his mother. He explaining that he does not usually speak "or take center stage at activities related to my mother," but that he had made an exception because these activities come from civil society, academia, reader groups, "and also from the Mexican State, and that is no small matter," he emphasized.

"A country that knows how to recognize those who formed part of its pantheon of minds, in the best sense of the expression, that knows how to recognize critical voices, because my mother's was certainly a critical voice of struggle, commitment, and demonstration," he added.

He concluded by saying, "I fervently hope that whoever wins this prize makes good use of their money and reads a lot, many Mexican authors and, of course, Rosario Castellanos."

The event was attended by the Director General of Cultural Diplomacy, Alejandra Barajas Moreno, the Director General of the Diplomatic Historical Archives, Gregorio Joaquín Lozano Trejo, and the Director General of the Mexican Postal Service, Violeta Abreu González.

Ticket Details

The Special Zodiac Draw No. 1704 offers a Grand Prize of 11 million pesos in one series and a total prize pool of 43 million pesos. It will take place on Sunday, May 25 at 8:00 PM.

The draw will be broadcast live on the National Lottery's institutional YouTube channel, Sorteos Tradicionales de la Loteria Nacional. You can now purchase your electronic tickets at alegrialoteria.com.