José Robles

José Robles Pazos (Santiago de Compostela, 1897–1937) was a Spanish academic and independent left-wing activist. Born to an aristocratic family, Robles embraced left-wing views which forced him to leave Spain and go into exile in the United States.

In the 1920s, he was teaching at Johns Hopkins University and became a friend and Spanish language translator for writer John Dos Passos, who at the time also supported the radical left. His translation of Manhattan Transfer is still considered to be exemplary. He also translated some works of Sinclair Lewis.

At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Robles was on vacation in Spain. He supported the cause of the Spanish Republic, but his independent and outspoken views brought him in conflict with the Soviet Union's emissaries, who were gaining increasing control of the Republican government.

In early 1937 Robles disappeared. The American left-wing journalist Josephine Herbst, then on a visit to the Civil War front, found out that he had been arrested and shot as an alleged "spy for Francoists", and conveyed this information to Ernest Hemingway and Dos Passos who were in Madrid. The exact circumstances of his death were never clarified, and the charge of his having spied for the Fascists was doubted. Rather, it was suggested that he was among many sincere left-wingers (for example, Andrés Nin) killed by Soviet NKVD agents, led by Alexander Orlov, for their independent stance at the time.

José Robles (cyclist)

José Angel Florencio Robles López (born October 8, 1964 in Cundinamarca) is a retired male road racing cyclist from Colombia. He competed for his native country at the 1992 Summer Olympics, finishing in 49th place in the Men's Individual Road Race. Colombia competed with three cyclists in this event; the other ones being Héctor Palacio (52nd) and Libardo Niño (76th). He was nicknamed El Panamericano during his career.

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