Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna

Spanish poet; born in Portugal about the middle of the seventeenth century of Marano parents, who subsequently settled in southern France. He studied the humanities at a Spanish university. Persecuted and imprisoned by the Inquisition as a Marano, he languished for several years in captivity, finally succeeding in escaping. He then went to Jamaica, British West Indies, where he openly confessed Judaism.

Laguna is most recognized for converting biblical Psalms into poems. His book of poems, Espejo Fiel de Vidas (“The True Mirror of Life”), was the first book published in Jamaica under British rule in 1720.