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Roque Dalton
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Roque Dalton
Roque Antonio Dalton García (14 May 1935 – 10 May 1975), known professionally as Roque Dalton, was a Salvadoran poet, essayist, journalist, political activist, and intellectual. He is considered one of Latin America's most compelling poets and one of the greatest Salvadoran writers of the 20th century.
The son of an American émigré and a Salvadoran nurse, he attended the University of Chile and the University of El Salvador, where he studied law. While at the latter, he began writing poetry, founded the University Literary Circle with Guatemalan poet Otto René Castillo, and associated with other members of the Committed Generation. A Marxist-Leninist, he joined the Communist Party of El Salvador in 1957 and visited the Soviet Union in the same year. He was subsequently arrested for inciting revolt during the presidency of José María Lemus.
After his imprisonment, Dalton lived in exile in Cuba, where he developed his career as a writer and most of his poetry was published. He later served as a correspondent for The International Review: Problems of Peace and Socialism based out of Prague, and in 1969 won the Casa de las Américas Poetry Prize for his book Taberna y Otros Lugares.
In the final years of his life Dalton returned to El Salvador and became involved in the armed struggle against the government, joining the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) in 1973. For his criticisms of ERP leadership, he was executed by his peers in 1975. Posthumously, he has been recognized as Hijo Meritísimo and Poeta Meritísimo by the Salvadoran government and received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of El Salvador in 2012.
Dalton was the son of Winnall Dalton and María García Medrano. Winnall Dalton emigrated[clarification needed] to Mexico, and came to El Salvador in the early 1920s. Winnall Dalton married Aida Ulloa, and gaining control of his wife's large farm dedicated his life to agriculture. He survived an assassination attempt. The nurse who took care of Winnall Dalton in the Salvadoran hospital, María García Medrano, later gave birth to Roque Dalton. Her hard work and good luck allowed her to provide their children a high-quality education.
Roque graduated from Externado San José, an exclusive Jesuit school for boys in San Salvador. Afterwards he was sent by his father to Santiago, Chile to study law in the Universidad de Chile. There, he established close relationships to leftist students and attended lectures with the Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Around this time, he developed a great interest in socialism.
When he returned to El Salvador, he was accepted by the law school of the Universidad de El Salvador (UES), and in 1955 he and the Guatemalan poet Otto René Castillo founded Círculo Literario Universitario, which published some of Central America's most recognized literary figures.
In 1961 he travelled to Havana, where he was welcomed by Casa de las Américas, a gathering place for many exiled leftist Latin American writers. Dalton returned clandestinely to El Salvador in 1965 but was soon caught and taken prisoner. He awaited execution in Cojutepeque, but was miraculously saved. There was an earthquake and the wall of his prison cell fell down. Dalton took advantage of this and escaped. He slipped into a passing religious procession and managed to meet his fellow revolutionaries, who helped him escape to Cuba again. He was then sent to Prague as a correspondent for The International Review: Problems for Peace and Socialism. While in Prague, he wrote his internationally acclaimed Taberna y Otros Lugares. He also produced a landmark biography of Miguel Mármol, a prominent Salvadoran communist who had participated in the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising and was living in exile in Prague.
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Roque Dalton
Roque Antonio Dalton García (14 May 1935 – 10 May 1975), known professionally as Roque Dalton, was a Salvadoran poet, essayist, journalist, political activist, and intellectual. He is considered one of Latin America's most compelling poets and one of the greatest Salvadoran writers of the 20th century.
The son of an American émigré and a Salvadoran nurse, he attended the University of Chile and the University of El Salvador, where he studied law. While at the latter, he began writing poetry, founded the University Literary Circle with Guatemalan poet Otto René Castillo, and associated with other members of the Committed Generation. A Marxist-Leninist, he joined the Communist Party of El Salvador in 1957 and visited the Soviet Union in the same year. He was subsequently arrested for inciting revolt during the presidency of José María Lemus.
After his imprisonment, Dalton lived in exile in Cuba, where he developed his career as a writer and most of his poetry was published. He later served as a correspondent for The International Review: Problems of Peace and Socialism based out of Prague, and in 1969 won the Casa de las Américas Poetry Prize for his book Taberna y Otros Lugares.
In the final years of his life Dalton returned to El Salvador and became involved in the armed struggle against the government, joining the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) in 1973. For his criticisms of ERP leadership, he was executed by his peers in 1975. Posthumously, he has been recognized as Hijo Meritísimo and Poeta Meritísimo by the Salvadoran government and received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of El Salvador in 2012.
Dalton was the son of Winnall Dalton and María García Medrano. Winnall Dalton emigrated[clarification needed] to Mexico, and came to El Salvador in the early 1920s. Winnall Dalton married Aida Ulloa, and gaining control of his wife's large farm dedicated his life to agriculture. He survived an assassination attempt. The nurse who took care of Winnall Dalton in the Salvadoran hospital, María García Medrano, later gave birth to Roque Dalton. Her hard work and good luck allowed her to provide their children a high-quality education.
Roque graduated from Externado San José, an exclusive Jesuit school for boys in San Salvador. Afterwards he was sent by his father to Santiago, Chile to study law in the Universidad de Chile. There, he established close relationships to leftist students and attended lectures with the Mexican artist Diego Rivera. Around this time, he developed a great interest in socialism.
When he returned to El Salvador, he was accepted by the law school of the Universidad de El Salvador (UES), and in 1955 he and the Guatemalan poet Otto René Castillo founded Círculo Literario Universitario, which published some of Central America's most recognized literary figures.
In 1961 he travelled to Havana, where he was welcomed by Casa de las Américas, a gathering place for many exiled leftist Latin American writers. Dalton returned clandestinely to El Salvador in 1965 but was soon caught and taken prisoner. He awaited execution in Cojutepeque, but was miraculously saved. There was an earthquake and the wall of his prison cell fell down. Dalton took advantage of this and escaped. He slipped into a passing religious procession and managed to meet his fellow revolutionaries, who helped him escape to Cuba again. He was then sent to Prague as a correspondent for The International Review: Problems for Peace and Socialism. While in Prague, he wrote his internationally acclaimed Taberna y Otros Lugares. He also produced a landmark biography of Miguel Mármol, a prominent Salvadoran communist who had participated in the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising and was living in exile in Prague.
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