El Salvador: Tribute to Late Poet Marred by Sons’ Accusations

[Judi Lynn]

Tribute to Late Poet Marred by Sons’ Accusations
By Edgardo Ayala

SAN SALVADOR, May 7, 2010 (IPS) - As the 35th anniversary of Salvadoran poet and revolutionary Roque Dalton’s death approaches, his sons allege that two of his killers are currently working for the governments of El Salvador and Mexico, respectively, and have demanded their dismissal.

As well as being one of El Salvador’s most celebrated poets, Roque Dalton was also a committed political activist and a member of the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP), a leftist guerrilla organisation, in the 1970s.

On May 10, 1975, Dalton was gunned down by his own ERP comrades-in-arms, four days before his 40th birthday. His execution was ordered by the ERP leadership, which accused him of insubordination and of working for the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

It was subsequently determined that the accusations were false, and that his execution was a tragic error. The whereabouts of his remains are still unknown.

This week, the poet’s sons, filmmaker Jorge Dalton and journalist Juan José Dalton, called on Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes to fire Jorge Meléndez, the director of Civil Protection in the Ministry of the Interior, whom they allege to be one of their father’s killers.

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