Early life Artel was born in
Cartagena de Indias, near the Plaza de la Trinidad, the son of Miguel de Arcos Orozco and Aurora Coneo. He was raised in an intellectual household, heavily influenced by his aunts, Carmen and Severina de Arcos. Carmen de Arcos, the first professional nurse in Colombia with training in
France and
Jamaica, directed the Municipal Maternity Clinic and organized literary gatherings that shaped Artel’s early intellectual development.
Education He studied at the Instituto Politécnico de Martínez Olier, graduating with a baccalaureate in philosophy and letters. In 1945 he obtained a law degree from the
Universidad de Cartagena with a thesis entitled
Defensa Preventiva del Estado o el Derecho penal, which addressed issues related to Colombian popular culture. Despite completing his legal studies, he never practiced law, instead pursuing journalism, travel, and literature as his primary occupations.
Professional career Artel served as Chief of Public Instruction in the Department of Bolívar and as a police inspector in Santa Elena, a district of
Medellín. From an early age, he was persecuted and imprisoned for his leftist ideals. Following the violence of the
Bogotazo in 1948, he went into exile, living in Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico,
Panama, and the
United States. In Mexico, he worked as a journalist and founded the newspaper
El Porvenir. In Panama, he became Director of Information and Publications at the
University of Panama. In the United States, he was linked to several academic institutions, collaborated with
Reader’s Digest, and served as a consultant for the
United Nations. After returning from exile in 1972, Artel held academic positions in Spanish and law at Colombian universities. He later became Director of the Library of the
Universidad del Atlántico and co-founded the Corporación Educativa Mayor del Desarrollo Simón Bolívar in
Barranquilla. For years, he published the column
Señales de humo in
El Colombiano. He spent his final years between Panama and Barranquilla and died in Malambo, Atlántico, on 20 August 1994. == Works ==