[3] He joined the Society of Jesus of Veruela, Zaragoza in 1949, made his perpetual vows in 1951, and studied Humanities and Greco-Roman Literature (1951–53) there.
[5] While doing another licenciate course in Philosophy at the Universidad Civil de Barcelona, Espinal gave classes of Greek literature and Latin poetry to Jesuits.
[5] Espinal was a film professor at the Higher University of San Andrés and the Universidad Católica Boliviana,[1][4] and worked for Radio Fides.
[10] In the headquarters of the newspaper Presencia Espinal joined a December 1977 hunger strike led by Domitila Chúngara,[1] requesting amnesty for exiled labour and political leaders.
[13] Other say that the reason was that he informed against efforts to censor a public exhibition of Jorge Sanjinés's film El coraje del pueblo,[14] a documentary that denounced the massacre of 67.
[7] In 1982, Bolivian historian Carlos Mesa published the book El cine boliviano según Luis Espinal.
[16][17] The 2007 documentary Lucho: Gastar la vida por los demais, directed by Nelson Martínez, explored the life of Espinal.
[18][19] In 1985, the song "A Luis Espinal" appeared on their debut album El Huerto by the Bolivian group Rumisonko, based in Washington, DC.
[7] Espinal gained international notoriety as the author of a crucifix that incorporated the hammer and sickle after Bolivian president Evo Morales gave a replica of it to Pope Francis.