My Grandfather

My grandfather, the poet and politician Andrés Eloy Blanco, is the axis of my project. He was born in Cumaná, Venezuela, in 1896. He was a prominent poet, whose works, constantly in dialogue with the average Venezuelan citizen, resonated deeply beyond the intellectual elites, and has come to be known as “the people’s poet.” He also cultivated playwriting and the essay form, and participated in various periodicals with other Venezuelan intellectuals of the time. From a young age he was involved in political activism, opposing dictator Juan Vicente Gómez, which cost him years of imprisonment and forced isolation, and later as co-founder of the political party Acción Democrática, which led Gallegos to the Presidency in 1947. He was involved in municipal government in the 30s, and was later the President of the National Constituent Assembly of 1946-47. He was known for being extremely charismatic, cordial and quick-witted, smoothing out tensions and conflicts in the Assembly with jokes when he was not delivering speeches that are now collected as part of his ‘legislative’ phase. All in all, he was a well-known, well-loved figure, and this would influence the configuration of a community of exiles around him and Gallegos in Mexico.

At the time of the military coup, my grandfather was Gallegos’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was forced to go into exile in Mexico directly afterwards; he was in Paris at the time, leading the Venezuelan delegation at the United Nations. He was joined by his family in Cuba (a chosen site of transit for other exiles as well), and traveled by sea to Mexico. He would only ever set foot in his homeland one more time, on a special, highly-surveilled visit granted for him to visit his dying mother.