The Puerto Rican Literature Project

Ramón Pérez Pérez was a poet and trovador born in 1872 in the barrio of La Monserrate in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. After his early elementary school years, he dropped out to work in the tobacco factory La Incógnita, apprenticing in the cigar-making trade under his father’s tutelage. Pérez Pérez held the position of Keeper of the Seals in the Respectable Masonic Lodge Obreros Unidos número 281. He left the tobacco trade due to injustices committed by the companies. In 1905, Pérez Pérez co-founded the Socialist Party. During various electoral periods, he worked as the panel secretary. In 1915, he was named civil registry clerk for the Arecibo Municipal Administration, and in 1918, he was named secretary of the Arecibo school board. The majority of the songs and guarachas Pérez Pérez wrote featured music composed by Graciano Rojas. 

Works Cited

Limón de Arce, José. Trovadores populares de Arecibo. 1888, Archivo General de Puerto Rico, Instituto de Cultura, San Juan. Manuscrito.