Clemente Soto Vélez (1905-1993) was a Puerto Rican nationalist, poet, journalist and activist who mentored many generations of artists in Puerto Rico and New York City. Upon his death in 1993, he left a rich legacy that contributed to the cultural, social and economic life of Puerto Ricans in New York and Latinos everywhere.
In 1995 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (also known as Loisaida), author Edgardo Vega Yunqé and actor-director Nelson Landrieu founded the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center (also known as the "CSV") to continue Clemente's legacy. Among his many accomplishments, Clemente founded literary and community organizations, including the Puerto Rican Merchants Association, to help storeowners protect their rights as pioneering entrepreneurs. Clemente Soto Vélez’s life and work exemplify his deep concern for the well being of Puerto Ricans and other Latinos, and demonstrate his firm belief in self-sufficiency and community empowerment. As a member of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, he fought for the dignity and sovereignty of Puerto Rico, alongside Pedro Albizu Campos and Juan Antonio Corretjer. Clemente had been jailed in federal prison with Corretjer and Albizu. After his release he set roots in New York City during the early 1940s, where he reained until his death in 1993. His 1979 collection, La tierra prometida (The Promised Land) is an uncompromising denunciation of the United States imperialist exploitation of Puerto Rico.
Clemente Soto Vélez remains one of the most prominent of Puerto Rico's poets, who wrote with a powerfully passionate social vision, in the tradition of Neruda.
Writings By and About Clemente Soto Vélez
Clemente Soto Vélez and Amanda Vélez Papers at the Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños at Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) (includes more detailed biography in Spanish) La Tierra Prometida by Clemente Soto Vélez (San Juan: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1979) Obra poética by Clemente Soto Vélez (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1989) Simposio Clemente Soto Vélez (San Juan, Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña; 1. ed edition, 1990) Kaligrafiando: Conversaciones con Clemente Soto Velez by Marithelma Costa and Alvin Joaquin Figueroa (Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico: La Editorial Universidad de Puerto Rico; 1. ed edition, January 1990) The Blood that Keeps Singing (a bilingual edition translated into Spanish by Martín Espada & Camilo Pérez-Bustillo) by Clemente Soto Vélez (Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2001)
