Lawyer, Magistrate and Poet born in Popayán (Colombia). Writer by vocation, both in verse and prose. His poetic production was published dispersedly in different publications in the country and the Latin American area, and has been studied by national and foreign critics and writers, among whom it is worth highlighting ALAN S. TRUEBLOOD, Professor at Brown University, for whom Rodríguez Arce is Possessor of “a broad and sonorous poetic vein, with a rhythm that is often slow and calm as suits the world that is reflected in his poetry…” 

Poet included in the “Hispano-American Poetic Panorama 2”, of the Buenos Aires Editorial Fund of La Plata, Buenos Aires (Argentina). He was also distinguished in France with the “Main Prize” – foreign section – of the Annual Literary Contest of the Literary Academy of Floral Games of Nantes-France, which earned him to be designated as ‘Honorary Member’ of said Academy by his Steering Committee. 

Author of books, analyses, critical studies and essays, he was recognized as a lecturer and speaker of great eloquence and perfection in the use of language. He represented his region and his city in multiple cultural spheres. Born in Popayán (Colombia) on September 3, 1937, he died in Bogotá on September 10, 2011. 

He is survived by his wife, Alice Pouget de Rodríguez, a French citizen, Parisian, Hispanist from the Sorbona University, who came to live in Popayán through her marriage, and who was co-founder of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Cauca and a full professor there during thirty-six years until his retirement, and with whom he had his two children: Juan Manuel Rodríguez Pouget (doctor surgeon and epidemiologist) and Sophia Rodríguez Pouget (journalist and writer). 

Awarded posthumously in 2025 by the Order of the Congress of the Republic of Colombia, in the rank of Knight, for his professional career, his service to the city of Popayán and the Department of Cauca, and his prolific literary output.