Roque Dalton: The Guerrilla Poet (+Christmas)
Internet photo
Published at: 14/05/2024 08:58 AM
Roque Dalton was born on May 14, 1935. He was
a poet, essayist, writer and journalist who went down in the history of El Salvador because of
his decisive participation in the revolutionary guerrillas.
The Salvadoran poet (1935-1975) visited several countries, either for
exile or for studies, but there was a decisive one for him: Chile.
There he changed his religious and ideological position to one more prone to the most disadvantaged classes
. Years later he would join
his country's Communist Party.
“I contacted the communists, I had
communist friends, and at first without knowing that they were, then with a little more
awareness, at least I took a step forward in Chile and from being a conservative
Catholic I became a progressive Catholic, a social-Christian,” he said.
His guerrilla activity led him to meet great figures
of the Latin American left, such as the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro,
or the renowned Argentinian writer Julio Cortázar.
“For me, Roque is the very rare example
of a man in whom literary capacity and poetic capacity come from a
very young age mixed or combined with a deep sense of
connaturalness with his own people, with their history and their destiny,
” said the author of Rayuela.
Dalton wrote more than five
works, including The Turn of the Offended One, which won the
honorable mention in the Casa de las Américas contest, and Taberna and other places he received
the Casa de las Américas award.
On May 10, 1975, the Salvadoran poet was assassinated by members of the ERP (People's Revolutionary Army). Their struggle and legacy are kept alive by the hearts of Salvadorans.
Mazo News Team