August C. Sandino (pictured below) is a legend in Nicaragua for standing up to US political and military involvement in Nicaragua, and fighting for the rights and freedom of the poor. Sandino’s guerillas – Sandinistas – fought the US-trained Guardia Nacional led by Anastasio Somoza Garcia (a nasty piece of work).
Sandino was brutally murdered by Somoza having been invited to dinner for a peace conference in February 1934. The US and CIA supported Somoza’s regime in Nicaragua, a regime that achieved very little except make the Somoza family incredibly rich and the rest of the country very poor, until, in 1979,the revolution finally succeeded when the Sandinistas marched into Managua victorious.
The rest is history, the US had a tantrum, illegally sold weapons to Iran & ploughed the proceeds into the ‘Contras’ (Somoza’s ex Guardia Nacional now in exile) resulting in the infamous Iran-Contra Affair.
You don’t have to spend long in Nicaragua to understand that Sandino’s spirit very much lives on…
[This photo was taken at the Sandino Lives exhibition in Managua, Nicaragua]
Thank you for summing up this history so succinctly! It usually takes me about 20 minutes to explain. FSLN!!!!
I find this story or summary to be inaccurate.
Sandino did not fight for the poor. He used the poor to get the US out of the Nicaragua. He was taught to hate “american imperialism” by communists or Marxists in Mexico. Prior to that he worked for American companies, then he turns to bite the hand that fed him.
You say he was “brutally” murdered… So all the people that he killed was not done in a brutal way? He continued killing people even after the two parties of the country had come to a peace agreement. All he wanted to do was achieve his “calling”. He thought he was put on Earth to save his people from the evil american imperialist. All he did was continue a war for power which continued even after he was assassinated.
The U.S. did not make Somoza richer while Somoza led its citizens to poverty. The 1972 earthquake destroyed a vibrant and affluent city. Nicaragua was the wealthiest country of Central America until its civil war. The sandinistas did win the war, but they had the country in extreme poverty until the liberal (anti communist) party won elections. That was not two or three years that the Sandinistas stayed in power after the war. They were in power for a whole decade. Sucking the country dry! When the Sandinistas took control of the capital and the country they were broke. They had no money! Take a look at them now… Mr. Ortega (current president and
Sandinista) has a convoy of brand new Mercedes Benz.
So please if you are a Sandinista sympathizer and you are going to tell the story of Sandino tell the whole truth. The same way one can say that Somoza was a dictator and Moncada was a cunning politician; Sandino was a rebel bandit that all he did was seek power and kill people over an ideology.
Some people say that communist, socialist, marxist or even nationalist fight for the poor and fight for equality. All they do is use people for an ideology that is unsustainable. Cuba is the perfect example. So yes these communists do fight for equality… They believe everyone should be equally poor.
Sandino was not a communist by the way. Actually he kept communist at bay.