Salvadoran Filmmaker Reflects on Family Tragedy and Disillusionment with Cuba

Jorge Dalton, a filmmaker from El Salvador and son of renowned poet Roque Dalton, shared his poignant story in an interview with CiberCuba. He recounted the heart-wrenching experience of losing his father, who was murdered in 1975 by the same leftist guerrilla group he belonged to. Raised in Cuba, Jorge also expressed his disillusionment with the island nation, which began once he started working within its cultural apparatus.

When journalist Tania Costa asked about coping with the family tragedy and the weight of the Dalton name, the director of "En un rincón del alma" starkly described his father's fate. "My father was killed by the leftist organization he was part of because he challenged their dogmas," he stated.

Roque Dalton attempted to spark an internal ideological debate within the People's Revolutionary Army, a move not tolerated by his peers. They accused him of collaborating with the enemy and being a CIA agent — allegations that, Jorge notes, are similarly used against dissenters in Cuba — leading to his execution.

"He was sentenced to death, murdered in a safe house, and his body was disappeared," Jorge recounted.

Restoring Roque Dalton's Legacy in El Salvador

The agony did not end there. Jorge Dalton revealed that during El Salvador's decade of leftist governments, there was an effort to erase his father's memory. "They tried to humiliate my father, to minimize him, to bury him every day, and to erase him even more. They were scoundrels and miserable," he lamented.

Nevertheless, El Salvador is now reclaiming Roque Dalton's legacy. On May 14th, the National Library will host the largest exhibition ever dedicated to the poet, something that was never possible under the previous leftist governments.

Disenchantment with Cuba's Regime

When asked about his father's potential view on Díaz-Canel's repressive Cuba, Jorge drew parallels between his father and José Martí: both died in May, were mocked by the leaders of their movements, and were poets above all. "Poets, my dear friend, do not survive on battlefields. I believe that is a truth as evident as a theme," he reflected.

Discussing his own ties with Cuba, the filmmaker — who grew up on the island and started his career at the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television — described a gradual disenchantment. As a child, he would cheer for Fidel Castro at public rallies, but his professional experiences revealed harsh realities.

"I began to face censorship, like many intellectuals, and realized there were things I was completely wrong about and blind to," he recalled.

The firsthand experience with the regime's cultural machinery was transformative. "It was only when I started working that I saw the country was on an irreversible path. And that's where we are now," he concluded.

Jorge Dalton's documentary "En un rincón del alma" explores over fifty years of the Cuban Revolution through the personal history of late writer Eliseo Alberto Diego. He observes that his family and many friends share the same disillusionment, "despite the support we once had and our belief in the revolution and all it represented."

The filmmaker goes further, describing the Cuban regime as "a leftist military government that violates the most basic human rights," and insists that "the State Security organs must disappear from the face of Cuba."

Roque Dalton's poetry remains vibrant in Cuba and throughout Latin America, yet his son warns that the force that silenced him — the power intolerant of internal dissent — is the same that rules the island today.