Identity area
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Person
Authorized form of name
Acosta, Agustín, 1886-1979
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Description area
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History
Agustín Acosta (1886-1979) was a Cuban post-modernist poet and politician active in the 20th century. Born in Matanzas, Cuba, in November 1886, he completed his preliminary studies in Matanzas and early on in his career started working as a telegraph operator for a Cuban railroad line, acting as head of the telegraph service from 1909 to 1920.
Acosta graduated with a law degree from the University of Havana in 1918, and went on to become a notary in 1921, exercising this profession in Jagüey Grande, Matanzas, until he was politically imprisoned during the dictatorship of Gerardo Machado. After the fall of the Machadato, Acosta served as provisional governor of Matanzas from 1933 to 1934. His other political offices included cabinet secretary to Carlos Mendieta, senator (1936-1944) and president of the Partido Unión Nacionalista (1936-1937).
A poet and a statesman, Acosta contributed both prose and poetry to various Cuban publications, most notably El Fígaro, El Cubano Libre, Socialand Carteles. Some of his well-known works of poetry include Ala(1915), La zafra(1926), Los camellos distantes(1936) and Caminos de hierro (1963), as well as multiple essays on José Martí.
Acosta left Cuba in 1972, living in Miami until his death in 1979.