• Submitted by: admin
• Arts and Culture
• history
• Literature
• personalities
• Society
• South America
• 05 / 18 / 2009

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Benedetti was not well-known in the English-speaking world, though he was extremely popular throughout Latin America and Spain. He was born in Paso de los Toros, Uruguay, on September 14, 1920, and published his first book at the age of 30. He died on Sunday night after over a year of ill health.

His most famous novel, La Tregua, was published in 1960, and reissued 150 times in 20 languages. Benedetti once confessed that he wrote in order to share his ideas, emotions and thoughts with the rest of the world and not to become famous. In his 60-year career as a novelist, he published more than 80 novels, poems, plays and short stories.

From 1973 to 1985, during a period of military dictatorship in Uruguay, Benedetti lived in exile in Buenos Aires, Lima, Havana, and Spain. Following the restoration of democracy, he divided his time between Montevideo and Madrid.

More recently, on January 26, 2006, Benedetti became involved along with other internationally renowned figures in demanding sovereignty for Puerto Rico.

In November 2006, the Congress for the Independence of Puerto Rico approved a resolution in favor of the island-nation's right to assert its independence, as ratified unanimously by political parties from twenty-two Latin American countries.

Garcia Marquez's request for the recognition of Puerto Rico's independence was obtained at the behest of the Puerto Rican Independence Party.   
    
(en.rian.ru)