Francisco Puig y de la Puente, known as Julio Rosas, was a prominent writer of the 19th century Cuban literature. He was born in Havana, in 1839, and lived almost half of his life in the municipality of San Antonio de los Baños, province of Artemisa.
His anti-slavery works stood out for their content, form and style; and they were written in several press organs of the time, both local and national, as well as in Spain. He worked in several Hispanic newspapers and magazines in the European continent.
In Cuba, his literary activity began in Havana, in the newspaper "El Contribuyente", which reproduced his novel "Flor del corazón", related to the life of the aborigines. Other texts of the same genre are "La Choza de Julia", "El mulatico Julio", and "La Campana del Ingenio", in which he denounced the horrors of slavery in the sugar estates.
Julio Rosas founded the newspaper "Honor de Cuba" in San Antonio de los Baños, directed the literary weekly "La joven Cuba" and the newspaper "El Ariguanabo"; he published more than ten novels with abolitionist themes; and he edited the works: "Amor a la Patria" and "Un paseo por el río Ariguanabo". When he died, he left unpublished the biography of Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, and a part of the eight volumes of his novel "El café azul", which he thought to publish with the nickname: “Un Filántropo Abolicionista”.
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The adopted son of San Antonio de los Baños practiced teaching in this city. He founded, together with his colleague Juan Cantalapiedra, the free night school "La Luz", for the instruction of black children and adults. He created a school in the rural community of El Valle, and another in the urban area of the municipality. He served as a teacher of the first public school in the town, named Santa Cristina. Julio Rosas managed to realize a remarkable educational work, quality for which he deserved the qualification of: "the teacher of the ariguanabense youth".
Julio Rosas was opposed to the Spanish colonial regime and participated in conspiratorial activities against the metropolis. His political thought against slavery and the exceptional literary work committed to the independence cause, conditioned his exile, from where he contributed to the organization of the Cuban Revolutionary Party.
In 2005, the Historical Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of Cuba in San Antonio de los Baños, agreed to name the municipal library, Julio Rosas. With this designation, the undeserved oblivion is minimized and a debt of gratitude is paid to the distinguished patriot, writer and educator Julio Rosas, whom his countrymen will remember forever.
