Orlando Araujo: The Poet Who Fought for Social Justice (Natalicio)

Published at: 14/08/2025 09:02 AM

On August 14, 1928, the economist, philosopher, writer, poet and politician Orlando Araujo was born in Calderas, Barinas State, who with his lyrics denounced social injustices and reflected the misery in which the country lived.

He studied simultaneously at the schools of Economics and Letters at the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). He did a postgraduate degree in economics at Columbia University, in New York, and later joined teaching at the UCV. On the other hand, he worked at the Venezuelan Institute of Petrochemistry and was an advisor to the Pro-Venezuela Association.

He was an active left-wing militant, with an intense and sincere conviction that was reflected in his actions and works. Among the best known are A Dead Man Who Wasn't Yours (1968), Contemporary Venezuelan Narrative (1971), The Travels of Miguel Vicente Pata Caliente (1977) and Chronicles of Cane and Death (1982).

He was always at the forefront of the revolutionary causes of Chile and Nicaragua, of the Venezuelan communists and of the oppressed people in general. Few people know that he donated the amount of the National Prize for Literature - which he won in 1975 for Counterpunting Life and Death: An Essay on the Poetry of Alberto Arvelo Torrealba - to the Chilean resistance against the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. He had the strong conviction to change things in his country and, together with other intellectuals of the time, he was a member of the so-called Republic of the East.

He was editor-in-chief of the newspaper El Venezolano and director of the weekly Qué Pasa en Venezuela -insert of the magazine Deslinde- of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV).

Mazo News Team