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Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez just started a blog a few days
ago. Virtually unknown in the United States due to the U.S. blockade of
Cuba, Silvio is an international superstar who has filled stadiums from
Cataluña to Chile. He is an ardent but not uncritical supporter of the
Cuban Revolution.
Unlike blogs that appear in the name of other celebrities, there is no
doubt this is really Silvio's blog, instead of being the brainchild of
publicists and record promoters. The personal and even intimate nature
of his first two posts leave no doubt.
Below is his third post. It is a poem titled "a flower for roque" about
the late Salvadoran poet and revolutionist Roque Dalton. Following is
some background on Dalton relevant to the poem as well as an explanation
of a current controversy surrounding him, and below that the poem.
* * *
Dalton was assassinated on May 10, 1975, by a hit squad of his own
comrades of the ERP which included Joaquín Villalobos, Jorge Melendez
and possibly others. The ERP leadership accused him of being a CIA agent
because he had political differences.
Villalobos was a very prominent commander of the FMLN in the 1980's but
became a renegade after the end of the war and became an adviser to the
most servile Washington client presidents in Latin America, Colombia's
Uribe and now Mexico's Calderón.
Meléndez has been an FMLN deputy and is now Director of Civil Defense in
Mauricio Funes's government. Funes is a very well-known and admired
journalist who was nominated by the FMLN in last year's election even
though he had not previously been associated with the organization.
Funes for the first time proclaimed an official commemoration of Roque
Dalton, but the sons of the poet accused him of hypocrisy because one of
his assassins is a member if Funes's government. They demanded that the
official commemoration be canceled and that Funes and Mexico's Calderón
fire Meléndez and Villalobos.
Funes responded that Dalton's legacy belonged to all Salvadoreans and he
could not fire Melendez who had not been charged, much less convicted,
of any crime.
Adding salt to the wound was a recent interview with Melendez where he
said he did not remember an assassination of Dalton but rather a
"political trial." That term in Spanish is what the trial of an
impeachment is called, for example before a legislature, but exactly
what Melendez means by the term is not clear to me. He added that he was
proud of having been a leader of the ERP. He did not express regrets or
remorse for Dalton's death.
Before becoming a renegade, Villalobos gave an interview to one of
Dalton's sons who is a journalist where he confessed that he
participated in the killing and also named Meléndez, expressing regret
and calling it the worst mistake of his life.
Dalton lived for a time in Cuba and was held in very high regard by the
younger writers, artists and intellectuals around Casa de las Américas,
including Silvio Rodríguez, who has written about him several times.
* * *
SEGUNDA CITA
http://segundacita.blogspot.com/
JUEVES 13 DE MAYO DE 2010
flor para roque
No sé si le habrá dolido
el tiro que lo mató,
pero sé que su asesino
matándolo se murió.
No sé dónde lo pusieron
a dormir el desamor.
Hoy debo mirar al cielo
si quiero darle una flor.
Aída, Juanjo y Jorgito,
de cinco quedaron tres.
¿Dónde están Roque y Roquito?
¿Cuándo comienza después?
Roque Dalton fue mi amigo.
Él era un poco mayor
y ahora me resulta un hijo
necesitado de amor.
No es venganza lo que quiero,
sino dejar una flor
donde escondieron los huesos
de un héroe de El Salvador.
PUBLICADO POR SILVIO RODRÍGUEZ DOMÍNGUEZ
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