Roque Dalton

Winnall Dalton emigrated 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

After returning to El Salvador in 1965, he was arrested and interrogated by an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.

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.

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.

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 Meritísimo" and "Poeta Meritísimo" by the Salvadoran government and an honorary doctorate degree from the Universidad de El Salvador.

Dalton was the son of Winnall Dalton and María García Medrano.