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= Pedro Santacilia =

Early Life
Pedro Santacilia was born in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba on June 24, 1826. He was born to a Cuban father, Don Joaquin de Santacilia, and a Dominican mother, Dona Isabel Palacios. Don Joaquin de Santacilia was a grenadier for the Spanish army and held negative views towards the Cuban government. Pedro Santacilia was able to attend his primary school years in Cuba. In 1836, when Santacilia was 10 years old, his father was exiled from Cuba due to his rising political ordeals against the Cuban government. Pedro Santacilia was forced to move to Spain with his father where he continued his general and secondary studies and produced some of his first literary writings. Nine years later Santacilia returned to Cuba and where he completed his education and began to focus more on writing and teaching. He began collaborating and writing for different newspapers in his hometown including: El Orden, Semanario Cubano, and El Redactor. Eventually, Santacilia, along with other Cuban writers, created the magazine Ensayos Litariorios, which translates to "Literary Essays". In these essays, Santacilia publishes works as a historian and scholar and "in which he became known for his writings in poetry and prose". Santacilia was also a contributor of several natural sciences journals and even published "Instruccion sobre el cultivo del cacao",("Instructions on Cultivating Cocoa"), in 1849. Pedro was a follower of Narciso Lopez, a Venezuelan filibuster, and aided him in his attempts to annex Cuba to the US and end Spanish colonialism in Cuba. Subsequently, Santacilia was imprisoned in 1951 for about a month due to his revolutionary propaganda, and pro-indendendece views towards Cuba. Like his father, Pedro Santacilia was then exiled to Spain shortly after being arrested.

Exile to Spain
Santacilia took up residence in Seville, Spain and was able to visit many cities around Spain, including: Malaga, Granada, and Cordoba. However, his life in Spain was short-lived when Santacilia was able to evade Spanish authorities and escape from Spain through Gibraltar in 1953. Pedro Santacilia made his way to New York where he quickly joined Junta Revolution Cubana, or the Cuban Revolutionary Club.

Life in the US
While in New York, Santacilia published two of his most notable and important literary works. In 1856, Santacilia published his first anthology series of his poems titled, El Arpa del Proscripto, ("The Proscribed Harp"). This collection of poetry consists of patriotic poems written by Santacilia supporting Cuban Independence from Spain. Shortly after, in 1858, Santacilia contributed two poems to El Laud del Desterrado, ("The Exiled's Lute"), a collection of nationalistic poems written by Cuban exiles. Featured in El Laud del Desterrado,is 'A España', notably one of Santacilia's most important and significant poems. Santacilia traces the historical trajectory of Spain from the point of view of a Cuban who has to cut through the ties of the cultural tradition that has formed him. The poem reads as a anti-colonialism piece and the goal "is no less than to call for revolution". El Laud del Desterrado has become a part of Cuba's literary history due to its patriotic purpose.

Political Career in Mexico
Shortly after the publication of “El Arpa del Proscripto and El Laud del Desterrado,” Santacilia relocated to New Orleans. Here he met future president of Mexico, Benito Juarez, who was banished from Mexico because he wanted to attempt to bring about political reform to his home country and drift away from the aristocratic rule of the Roman Catholic Church. Both Santacilia and Juarez bonded over similar struggles to influence change in their respective countries and soon became long-time friends. Santacilia supported Juarez’s cause and provided him with guns and other weapons to defend against Mexican conservatives while fighting in the civil war. In 1961, Santacilia moved to Mexico and joined his long-time friend. Benito Juarez appointed Santacilia as his personal secretary and Juarez even became father-in-law to Santacilia when Pedro married the daughter of Benito Juarez, Manuela Juarez. In 1879, Santacilia was recognized as the representative for the Cuban Revolution in Mexico.

Death
Pedro Santacilia died at the age of 84, on March 2, 1910, in Mexico City.

Bibiliography
Ensayos litetarios (Literary Essays), by Jose Joaquin Hernandez and Francisoc Baralt,Santiago de Cuba: La Real Sociedad Economica 1846).

Instruccion sobre el cultivo de cacao (Instructions on Cultivating Cocoa), by Pedro Santacilia (Puerto Principe: Imp. Fanal, 1849).

El Papa en el sigle XIX (The Pope in the Nineteenth Century), translated and notes by P. Santacilia, 2nd ed. (New Orleans: Imp. Sherman, Wharton and Co. 1855).

El arpa del proscripto (The proscribed Harp), by P. Santacilia (New York: L. Hansen, 1856).

"Salmo de David" (The Psalm of David), in El Laud Del Desterrado (New York 1858).

El laud del desterrado (The Exiled's Lute) (New York, 1858).

Del movimiento literario en Mexico (On the Literary movement in Mexico), Mexico, J. Fuentes and Co., 1867.