Manuel Felipe Rugeles

As a poet he belonged to the so-called Generation of 1918. As a result of criticisms made to the regime of General Juan Vicente Gomez, he was imprisoned in the castle San Carlos of Zulia and later exiled to Colombia in 1929. In 1936, after the death of Gomez, Rugeles returned to Venezuela. He married the Venezuelan composer Ana Mercedes Asuaje de Rugeles and they had one son, the conductor Alfredo Rugeles. Manuel Rugeles served as Secretary of the Venezuelan delegation before the Organization of American States (O.A.S.) in Washington (1948) and was cultural advisor of the Embassy of Venezuela in Buenos Aires. In 1953 he was director of Culture and Arts of the Ministry of Education and director of the National Magazine of Culture (1953–1957). During the last years of his life he founded and directed a children's magazine, Pico-Pico. His book of poems ¡Canta Piruelo! is consecrated as one of the best in Venezuelan children's literature. He won the National Prize for Literature in 1955.