Nicaraguan History 101

If you are like me and really didn’t learn much about Nicaraguan history in High School/College – did they even teach it? here’s your ten minute history review. And if you are in the movie making business, here’s your Oscar winning script; a script spanning four continents and featuring numerous tyrants and rebellions; not one, not two, but five (if I’m counting right). Add in violence and war, although unfortunately no big love scenes, even though I’m sure there had to be some loving going on somewhere in country. So anyway, here’s your run down. And if you want to go straight to the source for all the greasy details read this book…Blood of Brothers by Stephen Kinzer. You will be amazed.

We all know how the story starts (as far as takeovers go) for most of South America and even North America at that. The Spanish come with their guns and colds and wipe out the Indians and make all who are left speak Spanish and eat Mexican food – ok, just in Mexico. So that basically was the fate of Nicaragua until 1821 when all the Central American countries united for a United States of Central America. This fell apart a few years later and Nicaragua became the ruler of its own independent country. Well until America stepped in, particularly the adventurer William Walker, who took manifest destiny to heart, seeing internal conflict as an opportunity for him to grab up his own small country. With a ragtag bunch of other Americans he came down to Nicaragua, forced his way to power, and in 1856 held corrupted elections where he magically came out on top.

Obviously, the home town folks didn’t like the idea of this gringo ruling their country so they kicked him out, but not before Walker could burn to the ground everything he had built. So for forty years after, power was shared between a handful of wealthy Nicaraguans, until our next star of this tale appears. Jose Zelaya was his name and he was a reformer, a change maker, an Obama or even a McCain if you believe it to be, and he brought the goods. Zelaya did great things for Nica, among them funding for education and infrastructure, grating rights to all citizens including women, and outlawing slavery. But unfortunately he was a little to Nationalistic for American mining and timber interests, and even began talks with the Germans, Japanese, and British for a competing trans-isthmian Canal.

Well American president Taft had something to say about all of this even going so far as calling Zelaya a “medieval despot”. Through the Knox Note in 1909 the US demanded Zelaya’s resignation calling for a government “capable of responding to demands…”etc, etc. Zelaya got the point, packed his bags, and left for exile. US marines came in and did the next logical thing, installed a new government that knew, if you will, who their daddy was. As before, the locals didn’t like this American intervention so much either, and one of them, Zeledon decided to organize and fight back knowing good and well he was signing his own death warrant. He died, and his rebellion was quieted, but his spirit and ideas were carried on in the national and international superstar of Augusto Cesar Sandino.

Sandino was born a poor Nicaraguan and went to work for United Fruit and a US petroleum company in Mexico. Like the nerdy kid in school, he and his country were generally picked on by Mexicans and other Central Americans, for living under and allowing the rule of the North American Big Daddy. Sandino took this to heart and being inspired by the rebellion started by Zeledon began to fight back, to “recover its national sovereignty, stolen from us by the Yankee Empire.” After much fight back and afforded luck by the oncoming Great Depression the US retreated in 1932. So Sandino won and in turn brokered a peace deal with the American puppet and president Sacasa. But before the marines left, they installed Anastacio Somoza as jefe of the National Guard.

Somoza, not unlike most of the rest of us, wanted power and wealth and decided to do something about it - and I guess it’s easier when you have the National Guard under your command. Anyway, after Sandino and President Sacasa had a festival sort of ball one evening, the NG stops Sandino on ride home, kidnaps him, takes him to an airport runway and shoots him. This puts Somoza in good position to nudge out Sacasa, which he does, then calls for elections, which he wins in 1936. Somehow only 169 people found the courage to vote against him.

“He’s a son of a bitch, but he’s ours,” were Roosevelt’s comments upon Somoza’s lavish reception in Washington soon after all the smoke settled. Upon completing his 5 year term, and given Nicaragua’s constitution bans re election, Somoza hand picked a friend, Arguello, and held corrupt elections to get him elected. Once elected Arguello throws his hands up, or washes them clean, and says he has no commitments with anyone. Of course Somoza doesn’t like to hear this, so he calls up his army lead a coup and reinstates himself as dictator.

Well to shorten things, three Somozas ruled Nicaragua with much US support, until 1979. To be sure, they were all dictators – doing much of what dictators normally do: amassing much wealth and power by “controlling railroad and steamship lines, factories, fishing fleets, gold mines, lumber companies, and Nicaraguas largest brewery.” They also traded in drugs, gambling, and prostitution for fun. They censored the press while torturing and killing dissidents appropriately.

After the country had enough of this, which I can imagine they did, they became more sympathetic to a growing nationalistic movement, with Marxist leanings, called the Sandinistas. These Sandinistas fought their way into power and were set on “destroying a system that had created so much injustice.” They redistributed farm lands, launched literacy campaigns, and even kicked out my favorite organization the Peace Corps for a mistrust of motives. Although after so much past American influence, I don’t know if I can fault their misconceived beliefs.

So this book, Blood of Brothers, spends over 200 pages on the years ’79 to ’90. But the basics of all of it is this: the US didn’t like the Sandinistas, so the CIA funded and trained (clandestinely at first) an anti-revolutionary movement (contras) and pretty much an all out civil war. Add to this a devastating earthquake in ’72 and you have the basis for a country that went from being one of the most developed in all of Central America at the turn of the 20^th century to being the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere at this current time.

So our story of tyranny and rebellion ends in 1988 with a peace deal brokered by Costa Rica’s President and Nobel Laureate Oscar Arias. This established the democratically elected government that still functions today in Nicaragua.

I have never been to a country so recently torn by civil war and I'm interested to see for myself what Nicaragua looks like and feels like today. I can not really image.

Here's your wiki...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua