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Benjamin Santamaria

About the Author

Benjamín Santamaría, “El Rey Mono,” born in Mexico City, is an accom­plished writer, journalist, poet, actor, teacher and longstanding activist for the human rights of children. A recent Convention refugee in Canada, he fled Mexico in the summer of 2002. He published two books in Spanish aimed at raising youth awareness of social justice issues: Don’t Forget, Mexico 68 and The Rights of Boys and Girls (Only For Those Under 18 Years Old), a friendly version of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 1997, he was appointed the first Ombudsman for the children of Mexico. Since coming to Canada, Santamaría has been Writer-in-Residence at Champlain College at Trent University, and Writer-in-Exile in Residence at George Brown College, a post he now holds at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. While in Canada, Benjamín is committed to building a bridge of support and understanding between Canadian and Latin American children.

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