Born in
Béjar,
Province of Salamanca, Santonja was active in the
Communist Party of Spain (PCE) in his youth, for which he was arrested in the late years of
Francoist Spain. He fled to France but moved back soon after, stating that he could not stand the French people. In the 1970s, he also expressed sympathy for
Herri Batasuna, the political arm of
ETA. He was a close friend of communist poet
Rafael Alberti and an advisor to his eponymous foundation. ==References==