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 century". After an attraction to fascism in the 1930s, he became a strong supporter of the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1977. Early life Coronel Urtecho was born on 28 February 1906, in Granada, Nicaragua, the son of Manuel Coronel Matus and Blanca Urtecho Avilés. His father, an influential politician, writer and journalist, hold relevant positions under the government of president José Santos Zelaya, such as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Governance, and Minister of Culture and Education. In 1910, Matus died under unclear circumstances shortly after the United States exiled Zelaya and invaded Nicaragua. Some theorists believe Matus was killed by members of the Conservative party in a political hunt after Zelaya's fall, while other, less-accepted theories, believe he committed suicide. Coronel Urtecho since 6 years old at the time of his father's death, and never completely recovered from this loss. Coronel Urtecho attended Jesuit High School, Colegio Centro América, where he published his first poems and literary analysis. Jesuit Catholic education deeply influenced him, and he remained in contact with the Society of Jesus for life. Following his graduation from high school, Coronel Urtecho, his mother, and his sister moved to San Francisco. While living in California, he discovered North American poetry, and became a great admirer of many of its authors, such as Walt Whitman, Edgar Allan Poe and Ezra Pound, who he would eventually translate into Spanish. Vanguard movement He returned to Granada in 1927, and started publishing in the local newspaper Nicaraguan Daily. A fan of the burlesque and a man of a refined sense of humour, at his 20th Coronel published in his most sarcastic tone the poem “Ode to Ruben Dario” in which he publicly establishes a break from Modernism. Rebel in the content, the poem though is still traditional in its lyric. His “position is both rejection and adhesion, is the disciple’s insurrection against the admired teacher”. About a year later, he led with Luis Alberto Cabrales and Joaquín Pasos Argüello the foundation of the Vanguard Literary Movement, with other young Nicaraguan writers, among them Manolo Cuadra y Pablo Antonio Cuadra, the youngest of the group. The movement developed between 1927 and 1933, renewing and influencing