Pablo Antonio Cuadra (November 4, 1912 – January 2, 2002) was a

Nicaraguan Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

essayist,

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and literary critic, playwright, graphic artist and one of the most famous

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

s of

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

Early life and career

Cuadra was born on November 4, 1912 in

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicar ...

but spent the majority of his life in Granada, even studying high school at Colegio Centro America. Cuadra or PAC was the son of Carlos Cuadra Pasos and Merceditas Cardenal. Cuadra is a first cousin of the writer

Ernesto Cardenal Ernesto Cardenal Martínez (20 January 1925 – 1 March 2020) was a Nicaraguan Catholic priest, poet, and politician. He was a liberation theologian and the founder of the primitivist art community in the Solentiname Islands, where he lived fo ...

Marriage and family

Cuadra married Adilia Mercedes Bendaña Ramírez.

Vanguardia movement

In 1931 Cuadra, along with

José Coronel Urtecho José Coronel Urtecho (28 February 1906 – 19 March 1994) was a Nicaraguan poet, translator, essayist, critic, narrator, playwright, diplomat and historian. He has been described as "the most influential Nicaraguan thinker of the twentieth centu ...

, Joaquín Pasos, and other writers, founded the ''Vanguardia'' literary movement in Granada.

Later career

Cuadra's ''Poemas nicaragüenses'' was published in 1934. He opposed the American intervention against

Augusto César Sandino Augusto C. Sandino (; May 18, 1895 February 21, 1934), full name Augusto Nicolás Calderón de Sandino y José de María Sandino, was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the United States occupat ...

in the 1930s and broke with the

Somoza The Somoza family ( es, Familia Somoza) is a former political family that ruled Nicaragua for forty-three years from 1936 to 1979. Their family dictatorship was founded by Anastasio Somoza García and was continued by his two sons Luis Somoza D ...

dynasty in the 1940s. In 1954 he became co-director of ''

La Prensa ''La Prensa'' ("The Press") is a frequently used name for newspapers in the Spanish-speaking world. It may refer to: Argentina * ''La Prensa'' (Buenos Aires) * , a current publication of Caleta Olivia, Santa Cruz Bolivia * ''La Prensa'' (La Paz ...

'' newspaper alongside his cousin and partner,

Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal (23 September 1924 – 10 January 1978) was a Nicaraguan journalist and publisher. He was the editor of '' La Prensa'', the only significant opposition newspaper to the long rule of the Somoza family. He is a ...

. Chamorro was assassinated by Somoza supporters in 1978. Cuadra was briefly jailed in 1956 for his opposition to the Somoza's régime. In 1961 he became editor of the influential journal ''El Pez y La Serpiente'' (The Fish and the Serpent), which was highly influential in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. Cuadra became an outspoken advocate for Nicaragua's poor, embracing

liberation theology Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples". I ...

and other intellectual currents which the Somoza government considered subversive. He later criticized the post-1979

Sandinista National Liberation Front The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto Cé ...

régime for stifling the independence of Nicaragua's culture. For several years thereafter, he lived in self-imposed exile in Costa Rica and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. In 1995 Cuadra was Honored with an honorary doctorate degree Honorary Doctoral Degrees
at

Universidad Francisco Marroquín Francisco Marroquín University (Spanish: ''Universidad Francisco Marroquín''), also known by the abbreviation UFM, is a private, secular university in Guatemala City, Guatemala. It describes its mission as "to teach and disseminate the ethical ...

Death

He died on January 2, 2002, in Managua, following a respiratory illness. Cuadra was buried on January 4 in Granada, where he spent the majority of his life.

Awards

Cuadra won many literary honors, among them the Gabriela Mistral Inter-American Cultural Prize, awarded by the Organization of American States in 1991.

Published works

;Poetry *''Poemas nicaragüenses'' (1934) *''Canto temporal'' (1943) *''Poemas con un crepúsculo a cuestas'' (1949) *''La tierra prometida'' (1952) *''El jaguar y la luna'' (1959) *''Poesía'' (1964) *''Cantos de Cifar'' (1971) *''Esos rostros que asoman en la multitud'' (1976) *''Siete árboles contra el atardecer'' (1980) ;Stories *''Agosto'' (1970, 1972) *''Vuelva, Güegüense'' (1970) *''Cuentos escogidos'' (1999) ;Essays *''Hacia la cruz del sur'' (1936) *''Promisión de México y otros ensayos'' (1945) *''Entre la cruz y la espada'' (1946) *Torres de Dios (1958, 1985) *''El nicaragüense'' (1967) *''Otro rapto de Europa'' (1976) *''Aventura literaria del mestizaje'' (1987) ;Theater *''La Cegua'' (1950) *''Por los caminos van los campesinos'' (1957) *''El coro y la máscara'' (1991)

External links

Honorary Doctoral Degrees

Comprehensive Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuadra, Pablo Antonio 1912 births 2002 deaths People from Managua Nicaraguan people of Spanish descent Nicaraguan artists Nicaraguan essayists Male essayists Nicaraguan literary critics Nicaraguan male poets 20th-century Nicaraguan poets 20th-century essayists 20th-century male writers People educated at Colegio Centro América