Roque Dalton

Roque Dalton (14 May 1935 – 10 May 1975) was a leftist Salvadoran poet and journalist. He is one of Latin America's most compelling poets. He wrote emotionally strong and image-loaded works dealing with life, death, love, and politics.

He was the son of Winnall Dalton, an American outlaw from Kansas known as one of the Dalton brothers, famous for their career as bank robbers in the American South. After escaping sucessfully from the United States, Winnall Dalton settled in El Salvador and married a Salvadoran nurse. His ill-gotten fortune allowed him to provide his children (among them Roque) 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 to study law in the National University of 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 for Socialism.

When he returned to El Salvador, he enrolled himself in law school in the National University of El Salvador and in 1955 he founded El Círculo Literario Universitario (The University Literary Circle), which put together the country's most recognized literary figures.

Roque Dalton was already politically active in El Salavdor when the Cuban revolution started in 1959. This year he was arrested and was alledgedly sentenced to be executed by a firing squad. The day before his execution, Col. José María Lemus was overthrown from presidency, and because of this, Roque's life was spared. Once he was freed from jail, he travelled to Mexico in exile and wrote much of the material that appeared in his books "El Turno del Ofendido"(The Injured Party's Turn) and "La Ventana en el Rostro" (The Window in my Face).

In 1961 he travelled to Havana, where he was welcomed by the Casa de las Américas (or House of the Americas), a gathering place for many exiled leftist Latin American writers. Dalton returned clandestinely to El Salvador in 1965 but was soon caught prisoner again. He awaited execution in Cojutepeque, but once again he was miraculously saved. There was an earthquake and the wall from 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 he was in Prague, he wrote his internationally acclaimed "Taberna y Otros Lugares" (Tavern and Other Places). He also produced a landmark biography of Miguel Mármol, a prominent Salvadoran communist that participated in the 1932 Salvadoran peasant uprising and was living in exile in Prague.

In 1970 Roque Dalton had become a recognized figure in the Salvadoran left. He tried hard to become a revolutionary soldier, reason for which he participated in military training camps in Cuba on repeated occasions. He once wrote "Politics are taken up at the risk of life, or else you don't talk about it".

When he felt ready as a soldier, he sought admission in the Salvadoran Marxist-Leninist army FPL – Fuerzas Popular para la Liberación (or Popular Liberation Front). However, the organization's leader, Commandant Marcial, rejected his application, arguing that Roque's role in the revolution was as a poet, and not as a foot soldier. Because of this, he applied to join ERP – Ejérito Revolucionario del Pueblo (or People's Revolutionary Army). Roque Dalton's military career also included cooperation with Guatemalan revolutionaries in creating EGP – Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres (or Guerrilla Army of the Poor).

According to a legend, Roque Dalton underwent plastic surgery during this time. He did this in order to be able to return clandestinely to El Salvador. According to the Salvadoran writer, Claribel Alegría, he had to disguise his long nose and flapping ears. He grew a mustache, started using eye glasses and went around with a different hairdo.

Once an active member in ERP, Dalton stressed the importance of establishing bonds with the mass organizations from civil society. Some of the other members of the guerrilla army disagreed with him. They accused him of trying to divide ERP. This group condemmened him to death, and executed him the 10th of May 1975, only four days before Roque became 40 years old. Another version of facts suggests that Roque was mistakenly accused of operating as a double agent for the CIA, reason for which he was executed. It is plausible that the Salvadoran government spread this false rumour about him, as it was a common strategy used by the Salvadoran intelligence for getting rid of political opponents.

Bibliography

POETRY

- Mía junto a los pájaros, San Salvador, 1957

- La ventana en el rostro, México, 1961

- El mar, La Habana, 1962

- El turno del ofendido, La Habana, 1962

- Los testimonios, La Habana 1964

- Poemas. Antología, San Salvador, 1968

- Taberna y otros lugares, Premio Casa de las Américas, La Habana 1969

- Los pequeños infiernos, Barcelona 1970

Translations to English:

- "Small Hours of the Night", translated by Jonathan Cohen, James Graham, Ralph Nelson, Paul Pines, Hardie St. Martin and David Unger. Edited by Hardie St. Martin, Curbstone Press. 1996

ESSAYS

- César Vallejo, La Habana, 1963

- El intelectual y la sociedad, 1969

- ¿Revolución en la revolución? y la crítica de la derecha, La Habana, 1970

- Miguel Mármol y los sucesos de 1932 en El Salvador, 1972

- Las historias prohibidas del Pulgarcito, México, 1974

Links

http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?prmID=304

http://www.curbstone.org/authdetail.cfm?AuthID=53

http://www.yclusa.org/article/articleview/1569/1/294