Saleta PathRamón Valenzuela Otero was born October 3rd, 1914 at Casa da Viña, in the parish of Manduas, Silleda Council. From his youth he studied in Compostela, then he went onto Pontevedra, where he discovered his artistic talent and social commitment. In the years of the Republic he had a close association with the Seminario de Estudos Galegos and Partido Galeguista, becoming its leader in the region of Deza from 1935. In the summer of 1936 he was taken prisoner, and was forced to join the rebel army, but on December 8th of 1937 he escaped to join the partisan side.
After the war, he was interned in the Argelès concentration camp in France. He regained his freedom and collaborated with the French army as an officer of the Spanish Republican Army. Also in France he met the person who would become his inseparable partner, Mariví Villaverde. With the start of World War II he remained in the republican struggle against fascism acting for the Peripheral Information Service. He was arrested and taken to prison in Donostia, to Avila prison, and sentenced to twenty years and a day.
He was released from prison in 1944, under the regime of extenuated liberty and was banned from teaching. In 1949 he was granted a pardon and exiled to Buenos Aires with his family. There, he was Castelao's secretary and divulges the literature, drama and Galician culture. He wrote his first novel, "Non agardei por ninguén" and the play "As bágoas do demo".
In 1966 he was exiled again, this time to Madrid. He worked as a teacher and promoter of Galician history and geography, collaborated with the university, and wrote the anthology of stories "O Naranxo"...
He gave the controversial conference A Political History of Galeguismo at the Universidade de Compostela in 1975. With the so-called transition, in 1978, he was rehabilitated as a primary teacher in Madrid. He was a candidate for the Communist Party of Galicia in the first elections to the State Courts. In 1980 he completed his second novel, "Era tempo de apandar" and he died on Oct. 27th. He is buried in the cemetery of Adina in Portonovo (Sanxenxo).
"Xa descansado encamiñei ao coto solitario de San Queitán. No cume de San Queitán había unha hermida pequeniña que de lonxe non se vía, porque estaba rodeada de vellos carballos e altos castiñeiros que nunca se escotaran. Había dous mil anos que fora castro celta e tiña un só camiño
de acceso. Soamente o día do santo dicía alí misa o Crego de Abades."
"Espertamos cando xa ía alta a mañá. Ouvíase o esvarar barullento do río da Deza que daba a impresión de que o silencio fora mayor. Un silencio activo. O punto de partida do silencio. O tempo nunca estivera mais calado na carballeira de San Queitán. Os carros que asubiaban cos eixos polas congostras de Bazar, semellaban almas herexes camiño dun purgatorio aldeán. Os autos que de vez en cando subían a empinada costa de Sulago
eran escándalo adulterino e remachón daquela paz milenaria.
¿Qué eramos nosoutros, oito guerrilleiros, armados de pistolas e incluso dous fusís Mauser?
Eu quería que fósemos unha reencarnación de guerrilleiros celtas enriza daquel castro que os nosos antepasados abandonaran hai dous mil anos, e saberíame ben o comenzar a danzar, coma eles, unha danza circular en
salutación ao novo astro que xurdía polo teito de Carrio.
Andaran os tempos que transformaran as espadas en armas de fogo, pero no noso peito bulía o mesmo espírito de defensores da Terra que nos rodeaba e do curuto que tiñamos por Castelo.
Mais na capeliña antita estaba San Quietan no seu niño de Carrizo que nos sorría con cara coloradita e redondos ollos picareiros. El e mais a capela estaban alí dende había tres sécalos, ou quizás catro, e xa tiñan tomado posesión. Nosoutros eramos os intrusos perturbadores, e tan escandalosos como os motores que rascaban por enriza da costa de Sulago na paz cóncava do val de Merza".
