MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) --Pablo Antonio Cuadra, a Nicaraguan poet whose
seven-decade career was marked by his opposition to the U.S. invasion of his
country, has died. He was 89.

Cuadra, who died January 2 of a respiratory illness, founded and directed some of
Nicaragua's most influential literary reviews and served as editor of the newspaper
La Prensa.

He helped found the literary movement known as "The Vanguard," which
championed popular culture and local influences.

Cuadra wrote "Nicaraguan Poems" in 1934 as U.S. troops entered the country to
fight nationalist rebel leader Augusto Cesar Sandino. He was among intellectuals who
opposed the Somoza family dictatorship that ruled Nicaragua for decades thereafter.

In 1956, Cuadra was briefly jailed for his opposition to that regime, and La Prensa
was frequently the target of government censorship.

Sandino's legacy served as inspiration for the 1979 Sandinista revolution, but Cuadra
did not support the Sandinistas once in power.

He is survived by his wife, Adilia, and several children. His remains were buried
January 4 in his native city of Granada, 30 miles east of Managua.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press