Rómulo Gallegos
Rómulo Gallegos | |
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President of Venezuela | |
In office 17 February 1948 – 24 November 1948 | |
Preceded by | Rómulo Betancourt |
Succeeded by | Carlos Delgado Chalbaud |
Senator for life | |
In office 23 January 1961 – 5 April 1969 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire 2 August 1884 Acción Democrática |
Spouse | Teotiste Arocha Egui (1888–1950) |
Signature | |
Rómulo Ángel del Monte Carmelo Gallegos Freire (2 August 1884 – 5 April 1969)[1][2][3] was a Venezuelan novelist and politician. For a period of nine months during 1948, he governed as the first freely elected president in Venezuela's history.[4] He was removed from power by military officers in the 1948 Venezuelan coup.[5]
Rómulo Gallegos is considered the most relevant Venezuelan novelist of the 20th century, and a prominent figure in Latin American literature.[6]
Early life and writings
Rómulo Gallegos was born in Caracas to Rómulo Gallegos Osío and Rita Freire Guruceaga, into a family of humble origin. He began his work as a schoolteacher, writer, classical music enthusiast, and journalist in 1903. His novel Doña Bárbara was first published in 1929, and it was because of the book's criticisms of the regime of longtime dictator Juan Vicente Gómez that he was forced to flee the country. He took refuge in Spain, where he continued to write: his acclaimed novels Cantaclaro (1934) and Canaima (1935) date from this period. He returned to Venezuela in 1936 and was appointed Minister of Public Education.
Political career
In 1937 he was elected to
Gallegos was awarded the
From 1960 to 1963, he was a Commissioner of the newly created Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (created by OAS in Washington on 18 August 1959), and he was also its first President (1960) a position he held until 1963.
Administration
Cabinet of Rómulo Gallegos[8] | ||
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Ministry | Name | Períod |
Internal Relations | Eligio Anzola Anzola | February – November, 1948 |
External relationships | Andrés Eloy Blanco | |
Treasury | Manuel Pérez Guerrero | |
Defense | Carlos Delgado Chalbaud | |
Development | Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo | |
Public Works | Edgar Pardo Stolk | |
Education | Luis Beltrán Prieto Figueroa | |
Jobs | Raúl Leoni | |
Communications | Leonardo Ruiz Pineda | |
Agriculture & Livestock | Ricardo Montilla | |
Health & Social Care | Edmundo Fernández | |
Office | Gonzalo Barrios |
Accolades
He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1960, largely due to the efforts of Miguel Otero Silva, and gained widespread support in Latin America,[9] but ultimately lost out to Saint-John Perse. The Rómulo Gallegos International Novel Prize was created in his honor on 6 August 1964 by a presidential decree, enacted by Venezuelan president Raúl Leoni. The declared purpose of the prize is to "perpetuate and honor the work of the eminent novelist and also to stimulate the creative activity of Spanish language writers." It is awarded by the government of Venezuela, through the offices of the Rómulo Gallegos Center for Latin American Studies (Celarg). The first prize was given in 1967. It was awarded every five years until 1987, when it became a biannual award. The award includes a cash prize of €100,000 making it among the richest literary prizes in the world.
Personal life and death
Gallegos was married to Teotiste Arocha Egui, who served as
In 2016 his grave was desecrated by thieves, who stole the marble and his remains. His granddaughter took Twitter to express her frustration: "Here in Venezuela, not even the remains of an ex-president can be kept away from the hands of crime."
Published works
Venezuelan Presidential election 1947
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Results | ||||||||
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- El último Solar (1920) (alternative title:Reinaldo Solar)
- La trepadora (1925)
- Doña Bárbara (1929)
- Cantaclaro (1934)
- ISBN 0-8061-2119-X)
- Pobre negro (1937)
- El forastero (1942)
- Sobre la misma tierra (1943)
- La rebelión (1946)
- La brizna de paja en el viento (1952)
- Una posición en la vida (1954)
- El último patriota (1957)
- El piano viejo
See also
- Presidents of Venezuela
- List of Venezuelans
Further reading
- Gallegos: Doña Bárbara / Donald Leslie Shaw., 1972
- Rómulo Gallegos: an Oklahoma encounter and the writing of the last novel / Lowell Dunham., 1974
- Nine essays on Rómulo Gallegos / Hugo Rodríguez-Alcalá., 1979
- Three Spanish American novelists a European view / Cyril A Jones., 1967
- Sociopolitical aspects of the novels of Rómulo Gallegos / Earl Leon Cardon., 1962
- The function of symbol in the novels of Rómulo Gallegos / Jeannine Elizabeth Hyde., 1964
References
- ^ Fundación Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos Rómulo Gallegos
- ^ Profile of Rómulo Gallegos
- ^ Geni.com
- ^ "68 años de las primeras elecciones libres en Venezuela – El Aragüeño". 16 October 2018. Archived from the original on 16 October 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- S2CID 143931136.
- ^ "Hoy hace 136 años nació Rómulo Gallegos el novelista venezolano más relevante del siglo XX". El Carabobeño (in Spanish). 2 August 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
- ^ Real Academia Española / Academia Venezolana de la Lengua Archived 30 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Gaceta Oficial de Venezuela, período 1948.
- ^ Jeannine Hyde (1960), "Rómulo Gallegos and the Nobel Prize in 1960", Hispania, Vol. 43, No. 2 (May, 1960), pp. 241–242
- DUNHAM, LOWELL. 1990: "Cartas familiares de Rómulo Gallegos". Cuadernos Lagoven. Lagoven, S.A. Caracas – Venezuela.
- MORON, GUILLERMO. 1979: "Los presidentes de Venezuela 1811–1979". Meneven, S.A. Caracas – Venezuela.
- ROMERO MARTÍNEZ, VINICIO. 1987: "Mis mejores amigos". Editorial Larense. Caracas – Venezuela.
- SUBERO, EFRAÍN. 1984: "Aproximación sociologica a la obra de Rómulo Gallegos homenaje en el centenario de su nacimiento".Cuadernos Lagoven. Lagoven, S.A. Caracas – Venezuela.