Roque Dalton, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetRoque Dalton
Salvadoran journalist and poet
Date of Birth: 14-May-1935
Place of Birth: San Salvador, San Salvador Department, El Salvador
Date of Death: 10-May-1975
Profession: writer, poet, politician, journalist
Nationality: El Salvador
Zodiac Sign: Taurus 
About Roque Dalton
- Roque Antonio Dalton GarcĂa (San Salvador, El Salvador, 14 May 1935 – Quezaltepeque, El Salvador, 10 May 1975), born Roque Antonio GarcĂa, better known as Roque Dalton, 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. Even though he never received an academic degree, he took part in higher education at the University of Chile and the University of El Salvador, where he studied law.
- He also visited the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
- While in Chile, he began to study Marxism and on returning to El Salvador, he became a significant player in local politics.
- He began working with 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 JosĂ© MarĂa Lemus. In 1961, he was exiled from El Salvador, spending 1961 in Mexico, then moving to Cuba – where most of his poetry was published and where he completed his development as an author, but also in Mexico and Czechoslovakia.
- In Cuba, he became involved in the culture and 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 was becoming an influential leader of the armed group.
- As a consequence, the leadership of the ERP decided to execute him.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.
- 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 MeritĂsimo" and "Poeta MeritĂsimo" by the Salvadoran government and an honorary doctorate degree from the Universidad de El Salvador.
Read more at Wikipedia
See Also
- Famous People's Birthdays on 14 May, El Salvador
- Famous People's Birthdays in May, El Salvador
- Famous writer's Birthdays on 14 May, El Salvador
- Famous writer's Birthdays in May, El Salvador
- Famous poet's Birthdays on 14 May, El Salvador
- Famous poet's Birthdays in May, El Salvador
- Famous politician's Birthdays on 14 May, El Salvador
- Famous politician's Birthdays in May, El Salvador
- Famous journalist's Birthdays on 14 May, El Salvador
- Famous journalist's Birthdays in May, El Salvador