Clemente Soto Vélez

Clemente Soto Vélez (1905-1993) was a Puerto Rican poet and independence activist who was imprisoned alongside Pedro Albizu Campos for seditious conspiracy. Born in Lares — the birthplace of Puerto Rico's first revolution — he was a founding member of the literary movement 'El Atalayismo' (The Watchtower).

As a young man, Soto Vélez joined the Nationalist Party and served as its secretary of organization. In 1936, he was arrested and convicted of seditious conspiracy along with Albizu Campos and other Nationalist leaders. He spent seven years in federal prison in Atlanta.

After his release, he moved to New York, where he became a central figure in the Puerto Rican cultural community. He mentored younger writers, organized cultural events, and continued writing poetry that fused surrealism with political commitment. His poetry collections — including 'Abrazo Interno,' 'Árboles,' and 'La Tierra Prometida' — are considered among the most important in Puerto Rican literature.

Soto Vélez's life trajectory — from revolutionary activist to political prisoner to cultural elder in exile — embodies the Puerto Rican independence movement's twentieth-century arc.