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Cruz, Celia

(Encyclopedia)Cruz, Celia, 1929–2003, Cuban-American singer, b. Havana. The “Queen of Salsa” began singing as a teenager, and in 1950 joined Sonora Matancera, Cuba's most popular band. She left Cuba a year af...

Platt, Orville Hitchcock

(Encyclopedia)Platt, Orville Hitchcock, 1827–1905, U.S. Senator (1879–1905), b. Washington, Litchfield co., Conn. Platt held many public offices in Connecticut before he served in the U.S. Senate. He helped fra...

Alberdi, Juan Bautista

(Encyclopedia)Alberdi, Juan Bautista hwän boutēsˈtä älbārˈdē [key], 1810–84, Argentine political philosopher, patriot, and diplomat. He opposed Juan Manuel de Rosas, and after 1838 he spent years of exile...

Castro, Raúl

(Encyclopedia)Castro, Raúl (Raúl Castro Ruz) käsˈtrō [key], 1931–, Cuban revolutionary and government official, younger brother of Fidel Castro. A loyal supporter of his brother and a Communist, Raúl Castr...

Echeverría, Esteban

(Encyclopedia)Echeverría, Esteban āstāˈbän āˌchāvārēˈä [key], 1805–51, Argentine romantic poet, prose writer, and revolutionary propagandist. After five years in Europe he introduced romanticism in Ar...

Mármol, José

(Encyclopedia)Mármol, José hōsāˈ märˈmôl [key], 1817–71, Argentine writer of the romantic school. His invectives against Juan Manuel de Rosas earned him the nickname “the poetic hangman of Rosas.” He ...

Verdaguer, Jacinto

(Encyclopedia)Verdaguer, Jacinto zhäsēnˈtō vārdəgārˈ [key], 1845–1902, Catalan poet, considered the national poet of Catalonia and the most beloved poet of the Catalan Renaissance of the 19th cent. Religi...

Crespi, Juan

(Encyclopedia)Crespi, Juan krāsˈpē [key], 1721–82, Spanish explorer in the Southwest, a Franciscan. He came to America in 1749, and in 1767 he went to the peninsula of California in charge of Mission Purísim...

Colosio Murrieta, Luis Donaldo

(Encyclopedia)Colosio Murrieta, Luis Donaldo lo͞oēsˈ ᵺônälˈdō kôlôˈsyō mo͝oryāˈtä [key], 1948–94, Mexican politician and government official, b. Magdalena del Kino, Mex. He studied at the Univ. o...

Quiroga, Juan Facundo

(Encyclopedia)Quiroga, Juan Facundo kērōˈgä [key], 1790–1835, Argentine caudillo. One of the most brutal of the early gaucho chieftains, he was called el tigre de los llanos (the tiger of the plains). After ...