In the central park in Niquinohomo, Nicaragua, there is a statue of a man.
He’s dressed in working man’s clothes of the 20th century. Long-brimmed hat. Jacket and boots. His hands are clasped around his belt buckle. He stares ahead… determined.
His name is Augusto Sandino.
The man who would lead the six-year rebellion against the US occupation of Nicaragua.
The man who would become a legend across the country… and also far from the shores of Central America.
Sandino was born on May 18, 1895.
The so-called illegitimate son of a wealthy coffee merchant and his indigenous servant.
Sandino lived with his mother until he was nine years old, and then his father took him in and arranged for his education.
He helped his dad. Learned the coffee merchant business and started buying and selling on his own.
As he grew, he became a successful small-time merchant himself, selling grains, beans, and rice.
But in his mid-20s, something went wrong.
There was a dispute over a business deal.
They say he shot someone and had to flee. An illegitimate son would be hauled in on charges.
So he traveled to Honduras and Guatemala. He worked for the US banana juggernaut United Fruit.
He lived in Mexico on the heels of the Mexican Revolution. He met radical labor groups. Anarchists and communist revolutionaries. He became inspired.
But in 1926, a civil war broke out in Nicaragua, and he returned home.
He joined the Liberal Army. He became a general.
And when the civil war ended the following year, Sandino was one of the only liberal generals who refused to lay down his weapons. He had 29 men.
See… Nicaragua was still under US occupation. At the time, the United States had occupied the country for roughly 15 years.
The United States said it was helping Nicaragua maintain political stability.
In reality, the US sought two things. One, dollar diplomacy. The US government was doing the bidding of US corporations, looking to bank off of Nicaragua’s natural resources. And two, the United States had built the Panama Canal. And it didn’t want a foreign power challenging the US shipping dominance and building another one in neighboring Nicaragua.
And so, when the United States imposed the terms of the agreement to end Nicaragua’s Civil War… Sandino said no.
He wanted the US Marines out of Nicaragua.
“I will not sell out, nor will I give up,” he said. “I want Patria o muerte—a free country or death.”
His guerrilla war for Nicaragua’s freedom against the United States would become the stuff of legends across the world.
Sandino took his army to the Segovias, the mountains of northwestern Nicaragua, and began his insurgency.
Small, but powerful.
Tactical hits and runs against the US marines.
They attacked US-owned mines. US-owned plantations.
Peasants and miners joined. The insurgency grew.
And the US began to use airplanes to support troops on the ground.
But they could not catch Sandino.
In one message sent secretly by Sandino in 1929, he says, “I will not abandon my resistance until the pirate invaders… assassins of weak peoples are expelled from my country. I will make them realize that their crimes will cost them dear… Nicaragua shall not be the patrimony of Imperialists. I will fight for my cause as long as my heart beats.”
The United States called him a bandit. Much of Latin America called him a hero.
One of the world’s first anti-imperialist heroes of the 20th century.
There were pro-Sandino movements across the world.
When Chinese nationalists fought their own war in the late ’20s against a puppet regime, they marched with portraits of Sandino.
And he won.
After a protracted guerrilla war, the United States withdrew the last US marines from the country in early 1933.
But the following year, Sandino traveled to Managua for talks with president Juan Bautista Sacasa.
After the meeting, his car was ambushed, and Sandino, his brother, and two of his top generals were killed by members of the US-trained National Guard.
They were acting on orders from General Anastasio Somoza García.
Two years later, Somoza Garcia would stage a coup and install a US-backed dictatorship and family dynasty that would rule Nicaragua for more than four decades.
Sandino, the man, the legend, and his revolutionary struggle, would continue to inspire.
And that is why his name was chosen for the Sandinistas, Nicaragua’s revolutionary guerrilla army that would fight and finally defeat the Somoza dictatorship in 1979.
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Augusto Sandino was born May 18, 1895. 130 years go.
His legacy lives on.
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Hi folks, thanks for listening. As always, I’m your host Michael Fox.
I’ve included some links in the show notes to reporting from my podcast Under the Shadow about Sandino, the Nicaraguan revolution and the US backlash. Definitely check them out.
Also, you can check out exclusive pictures from Sandino’s hometown, Niquinohomo, Nicaragua, in my Patreon. That’s patreon.com/mfox.
This is episode 34 of Stories of Resistance, a new podcast series co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Each week, I bring you stories of resistance and hope like this. Inspiration for dark times. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment or leave a review.
As always, thanks for listening. See you next time.
This is episode 34 of Stories of Resistance—a podcast co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange’s Human Rights in Action program. Each week, we’ll bring you stories of resistance like this. Inspiration for dark times.
If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review.
You can check out exclusive pictures from Sandino’s hometown, Niquinohomo, Nicaragua, in Michael Fox’s Patreon. There you can also follow his reporting and support at www.patreon.com/mfox.
Written and produced by Michael Fox.
Resources:
Below are links to Michael’s episodes on Nicaragua from his podcast Under the Shadow.
THE GRINGO WHO TRIED TO RULE CENTRAL AMERICA | UNDER THE SHADOW, EPISODE 8: https://therealnews.com/nicaragua-william-walker-under-the-shadow-episode-8
NICARAGUA. SANDINO | UNDER THE SHADOW, EPISODE 9: https://therealnews.com/nicaragua-sandino-under-the-shadow-episode-9
NICARAGUA, 1980S. REVOLUTION | UNDER THE SHADOW, EPISODE 10, PART 1: https://therealnews.com/nicaragua-1980s-revolution-under-the-shadow-episode-10-part-1
NICARAGUA, 1980S. CONTRA WAR | UNDER THE SHADOW, EPISODE 10, PART 2: https://therealnews.com/nicaragua-reagan-iran-contra-sandinista-revolution
This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Michael Fox.