Finnay school to study for the bachaillerato, a post-secondary degree. There, he became friends with Vecinte Feliú, another future member of the Nueva Trova movement. The following year, amid social tension due to Cuba's usurpation of businesses and the United States' embargo, his parents separated once again, this time indefinitely. Argelia, who at this time worked at home as a hairdresser, married a man named Rolando and moved to 456 Gervasio Street, near Dagoberto. Silvio took an interest in classical music during this time. In January 1961, the United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba following the election of president John F. Kennedy, who authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to invade the country. On April 15, bombings began in Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and San Antonio de los Baños, to which the family had recently returned despite the protests of Silvio, who had recently joined his school's militia. The return to his hometown was an opportunity for Silvio to assume new responsibilities, passing from adolescence to young adulthood. Young Adulthood Though still a minor, he participated as a member of the Conrado Benítez Literacy Brigades in the Escambray Mountains. There, he helped give the campesinos classes in history, geography, grammar, and mathematics, as well as explaining demands of the new regime. In 1961, during one of the campaigns, Rodríguez ingested a toxic plant, suffering second-degree burns that forced him to return to Havana. Once again in the capital, he met the caricaturists Virgilio Martínez and José Luis Posada, who worked for Mella, a communist magazine. He began to collaborate with the magazine in early 1962. He met the writers Víctor Casaus and Luis Rogelio Nogueras, who would later write a book, Silvio: que levante la mano la guitarra, later adapted into a film of the same name. Rodríguez began to read the works of Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Guillén, Edgar Allen Poe, and Walt Whitman. In the magazine, Rodríguez became well known for his work as illustrator for the series El hueco. One of his colleagues, Lázaro Fundora, played the guitar as a hobby and taught Rodríguez the first chords of the instrument that would become a key part of his future work. In 1963, with the birth of his second sister, Anabell López, the daughter of his mother and Rolando, Rodríguez began his studies in painting at the School of San Alejandro, in Havana. He also returned