Roque Dalton

Roque Dalton
Roque Dalton (1969)
Born	Roque Antonio Dalton García (1935-05-14)14 May 1935 San Salvador, El Salvador
Died	10 May 1975(1975-05-10) (aged 39) San Salvador, El Salvador
Notable awards	Casa de las Américas (1969) Central American Prize of Poetry (1956, 1958, 1959, 1964) Hijo Meritísimo de El Salvador
Spouse	Aída Cañas
Children	3

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

He studied at the University of Chile and the University of El Salvador (where he studied law) without taking an academic degree. He also visited the National Autonomous University of Mexico. While in Chile, he began studying Marxism. Upon his return to El Salvador, he became a figure in local politics. He began writing poetry after helping found the University Literary Circle. He joined the Communist Party of El Salvador. He was imprisoned in 1959 and 1960 for inciting revolt during the presidency of José María Lemus.

In 1961, he was exiled from El Salvador. He spent time in Mexico, Czechoslovakia, and Cuba, where most of his poetry was published. In Cuba, he received military training after the Bay of Pigs Invasion. After returning to El Salvador in 1965, he was arrested and interrogated by an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1969, he returned to Cuba and then Prague to work as correspondent for The International Review: Problems of Peace and Socialism. In the same year, he won the Poetry Prize Casa de las Américas for his book Taberna y otros lugares.

After leaving Cuba, Dalton became involved in El Salvador's civil war, joining the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) in 1973. In the ERP, he found himself in a serious internal dispute with leader Alejandro Rivas Mira, who had become an influential leader of the armed group. As a consequence of the dispute, the leadership of the ERP decided to execute him.^[1]

He is remembered for his bohemian lifestyle and the jovial, irreverent personality reflected in his literary work, as well as his commitment to social causes in El Salvador.^[2] His work is diverse, going beyond the influences of his Marxist beliefs. He is considered one of the most influential Salvadoran writers. Posthumously, he has received recognition as "Hijo Meritísimo" and "Poeta Meritísimo" by the Salvadoran government and an honorary doctorate degree from the Universidad de El Salvador.^[3]