Los relámpagos de agosto (officially translated as The Lightning of August)[1] was the first novel written by Mexican author Jorge Ibargüengoitia.

Published for the first time in 1964, the text parodies the memories written by veterans of the 1910 Mexican Revolution and the armed revolts that continued to destabilize the country for the next two decades.

[3] Since many of those veterans had joined the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) —a political organization that had ruled Mexico by rigging elections and engaging in massive corruption and cronyism for most of the 20th century[4]— the topic was still considered off-limits by the governing regime (and the literary critics that sympathized with it) at the time of its publication.

[9] Except in a few instances where the passage at hand is not controversial, most characters, cities, and even states are entirely fictional, as the author tried to avert a direct confrontation with members of the ruling party.

[11] The first edition consisted of 10,000 copies printed in May 1964 by Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba, celebrating its winning entry for best novel in its annual prize.