Francisco Matos Paoli (March 9, 1915 – July 10, 2000), was a Puerto Rican poet, critic, and essayist who in 1977 was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. His books were rooted in three major literary movements in Latin America: Romanticism, Modernism, and Postmodernism.
Paoli was also a Secretary General of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party and a Puerto Rican patriot. In 1950 he was imprisoned for having a Puerto Rican flag in his home, and for speaking on behalf of Puerto Rico's independence.
Early years
Matos Paoli was one of nine siblings born and raised on the family farm in the town of Lares, a town which is historically known for El Grito de Lares, Puerto Rico's first rebellion for independence.
His mother died in 1930 when he was 15 years old. The death of his mother compelled him to write his first collection of poems, titled Signario de Lágrimas, which was published in 1931.
Matos Paoli received his primary and secondary education in his hometown. In high school he dedicated most of his time to reading classical literature. It was during his youth that he met Pedro Albizu Campos and became inspired to join the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party in its struggle for Puerto Rico's independence.
In 1933, Matos Paoli met fourteen-year-old Lolita Lebrón, during the celebration of her baptism into the Catholic faith. Soon, Matos Paoli became Lebron's first boy friend and they would often write letters to each other where they exchanged the poetry that they wrote. Matos Paolí's family opposed their relationship because they considered Lebrón a jíbara (peasant). Her father also opposed this relationship and ordered her to stop writing to Paoli. However, they both continued to write to each other until he moved to San Juan to continue his education.
Matos Paoli enrolled at the Polytechnical School of the University of Puerto Rico and earned his bachelor's degree in education with a major in Spanish. Lebrón, who became a nationalist herself and led the 1954 attack against the United States House of Representatives, moved to San Juan, where she studied sewing and continued her romantic relationship with Matos Paoli. The relationship ended when Matos Paoli continued his postgraduate studies in the UPR and moved to Paris, France, for a year to study comparative literature at the Sorbonne. In 1937, he published his second collection of poems titled Cardo Labriego. During this time he met Isabel Freire Meléndez, a fellow independence advocate who in 1942 became his wife. After he earned his master's degree in Spanish literature, he returned to Puerto Rico and in 1943 began a professorship in the Humanities Department of his alma mater, the University of Puerto Rico. He also became involved in spiritualism and founded a spiritualist center called Luz y Progreso (Light and Progress).
Nationalist and poet
Paoli's political activities and beliefs influenced his literary work. On May 21, 1948, a bill was introduced before the Puerto Rican Senate which would restrain the rights of the independence and nationalist movements on the archipelago. The Senate, which at the time was controlled by the Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) and presided by Luis Muñoz Marín, approved the bill. This bill, which resembled the anti-communist Smith Act passed in the United States in 1940, became known as the Ley de la Mordaza (Gag Law, technically "Law 53 of 1948") when the U.S.-appointed governor of Puerto Rico, Jesús T. Piñero, signed it into law on June 10, 1948. Under this new law it became a crime to print, publish, sell, or exhibit any material intended to paralyze or destroy the insular government; or to organize any society, group or assembly of people with a similar destructive intent. It made it illegal to sing a patriotic song, and reinforced the 1898 law that had made it illegal to display the Flag of Puerto Rico, with anyone found guilty of disobeying the law in any way being subject to a sentence of up to ten years imprisonment, a fine of up to US$10,000 (), or both, for each offence. According to Dr. Leopoldo Figueroa, a non-PPD member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, the law was repressive and was in violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution which guarantees Freedom of Speech. He pointed out that the law as such was a violation of the civil rights of the people of Puerto Rico. In 1949, the Nationalist Party held an assembly in the town of Arecibo and named Paoli Secretary General of the party. Some of his duties as Secretary General of the party included the presentation of patriotic speeches. Due to the Gag Law, these duties placed Paoli on a collision course with the U.S. government.