Joaquín Zavala Solís (30 November 1835 in

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

– 30 December 1906 in Managua) was the

President of Nicaragua The co-presidents of Nicaragua (), officially known as the presidency of the Republic of Nicaragua (), are the heads of state and head of government, government of Nicaragua. The office was created in the Constitution of 1854. From 1825 until ...

from 1 March 1879 to 1 March 1883 and from 16 July to 15 September 1893. He was a member of the Conservative Party of Nicaragua. He is now remembered especially for having thwarted the request of the young

Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (18 January 1867 – 6 February 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as '' modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...

, later to become one of the most well-known Spanish-language poets, for a government scholarship to study in Europe. In 1882 Darío, then 15 years old, read some of his poetry to a group including the President - whereupon Zavala reportedly reproved him: "My son, if you so write against the religion of your fathers and their homeland now, what will become of you if you go to Europe and learn worse things?"Humberto C. Garza
Biografía de Rubén Darío
los-poetas.com. Accessed online 7 March 2007. "Hijo mío, si asi escribes ahora contra la religión de tus padres y de tu patria, que será si te vas a Europa a aprender cosas peores?"

References

1835 births 1906 deaths People from Managua Presidents of Nicaragua Conservative Party (Nicaragua) politicians 19th-century Nicaraguan people {{Nicaragua-politician-stub