Leonel/Roque

John Walker is a professor of Spanish at Queen’s University.

The protagonists of this collection by political activist and poet Jim
Smith are Central American poets and revolutionaries. Leonel Rugama, a
20-year-old Sandinista, was shot by the Nicaraguan National Guard in
1970, 10 years before the Sandinista victory and the overthrow of the
Somoza dictatorship. The 40-year-old Roque Dalton (El Salvador) was
murdered by a rival revolutionary faction in 1975.

Jim Smith’s tribute to these two martyrs is difficult to define as a
genre. It is not history or biography or a political tract, although it
contains elements of each. At times it reminds the reader of the engagé
poetry of another Sandinista hero Smith knew and admired, the
revolutionary priest Ernesto Cardenal. Smith himself characterizes
Leonel/Roque as a serial poem sequence. The book is divided into four
parts. Part 1, “There,” is a poetic documentary of the abuses that
resulted in the deaths not only of Roque and Leonel but also of
Rigoberto Lуpez Pérez (who assassinated the older Somoza in 1956 and
was later beaten to death by military guards), Archbishop Romero, and
other political martyrs. Part 2, “Here,” expresses Smith’s
frustration and anguish in the face of his own futile political
activities in Canada. Part 3, “Leonel,” is an attempt to capture the
spirit of Leonel’s writings, while Part 4, “Roque,” presents a
sample of Dalton’s investigative poetry (e.g., the so-called Football
War between El Salvador and Honduras).

A glossary and useful notes round out this valuable Canadian
perspective on Central American politics and poetry.