Ramon Marin

Ramón Marín
Ramón Marín Solá, circa 1870
Born	12 January 1832 Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Died	13 September 1902 San Juan, Puerto Rico
Nationality	Puerto Rican
Occupation	Historian, journalist, educator, politician, writer
Spouse(s)	María Amalia Castilla Candelaria Marien
Children	Vicente, Ramón, Américo, Alejandro, and Eduardo; Amalia and Aurora

Ramón Marín Solá (12 January 1832 – 13 September 1902) was a nineteenth-century Puerto Rican educator, journalist, politician, and historian. He is best remembered for his 1875 historical masterpiece, "Las fiestas populares de Ponce."

Ramón Marín Solá was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, on 2 January 1832 and died in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 13 September 1902. His parents were Vicente Marín and his slave Rosa. He studied at Arecibo's Liceo San Felipe and in 1850, at 18 years of age, he moved to Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, to work as a teacher.

It was during his time as a teacher in Cabo Rojo that Ramón Marín started his career as a writer. Marín's first publication took place on 20 August 1853, in the "El Ponceño" news weekly, a publication from Ponce, Puerto Rico. He submitted several other writings that were also published. In 1856 Marín Sola graduated as a teacher.

In 1860, Marín moved to Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, where he founded a school. In 1866 Marín Sola established at his school in Yabucoa the first school for adults in the Island. While in Yabucoa, Marín was a survivor of the 1867 San Narciso Hurricane.

Marín moved to the city of Ponce during the tumultuous years of the late 1860s, joining freedom-lovers Manuel Gregorio Tavárez and Manuel Zeno Gandia.

On 21 May 1874 Marín founded his first newspaper "El Avisador." In May 1875 he published his second paper in Ponce, "La Crónica de Ponce", later renamed "La Crónica". In 1880 Marín also became the director of Roman Baldorioty de Castro's paper, the first paper founded to defend the autonomist ideals of the time. In December 1885, Ramón Marín published a 72-page pamphlet titled "Las Fiestas Populares de Ponce".

In October 1881, Marín cofounded with Mario Braschi "El Pueblo", an evening paper printed every other day. Papers during those years did not last long due to the colonial government's oppression of the freedom of the press. On 7 October 1887, he founded "El Popular", also as a result of the oppression of the colonial government.