Tulio Manuel Cestero Leiva (10 July 1877, in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic – 27 October 1955) was a Dominican poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, politician and diplomat.

Biography

Cestero was born in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic, the son of Mariano Antonio Cestero Aybar and Mercedes Leiva and Puello. He did his first studies at the Colegio San Luis Gonzaga in

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

, a city where his parents took him to reside during his childhood. During his adolescence he was invlonced in national politics. He was a secretary of the president Horacio Vázquez and associate of President Carlos Morales Languasco, both of whom he accompanied on several of their armed campaigns. During the time period between 1928 and 1938, he represented the country at political conventions, signing international treaties on human rights conferences held in the United States, South America and the Caribbean. He was

Minister of Finance of the Dominican Republic The Ministry of Finance of the Dominican Republic is responsible for the public finances of the Dominican Republic. History The Ministry was established on 14 November 1844, nine months after the country attained independence. It was known orig ...

in 1933. He also wrote for Dominican newspapers El Teléfono, Listín Diario, La Campaña and El Hogar and for the magazine Letras y Ciencias.

Literary career

Remembered as one of Dominican Republic’s great

modernists Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

, his first venture into literature was as an essayist, with work ''Notas y escorzo''s (1898), which chronicles the life and work of the most notable members of the modernist literary movement. He also published the poems: ''Del amor'' (1901), ''El jardín de los sueños'' (1904) y ''Sangre de primavera'' (1908) and the play ''Cythera'' (1907). However, it is in creative prose where he manages to express his true qualities as a writer, especially in his book ''Ciudad romántica'' (1911) and the novel ''La Sangre'' (1913). Much of his work is characterized by the severity with which he depicted political and social problems in the Dominican Republic, where he openly denounced many of the crimes committed during the dictatorship of

Ulises Heureaux Ulises Hilarión Heureaux Leibert (; October 21, 1845 – July 26, 1899) nicknamed Lilís, was president of the Dominican Republic from September 1, 1882 to September 1, 1884, from January 6, 1887 to February 27, 1889 and again from April 30, 18 ...

. He died in

Santiago, Chile Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital (political), capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated Regions of Chile, region, t ...

on October 27, 1955.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cestero, Tulio Manuel 20th-century Dominican Republic poets Finance ministers of the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic male poets White Dominicans 1877 births 1955 deaths 20th-century male writers