Augusto Sandino (1895 - 1934)

Sat May 18, 1895

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Augusto César Sandino, born on this day in 1895, was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a working class rebellion against the U.S. military occupation of Nicaragua between 1927 and 1933. Despite U.S. Marines attempting to find Sandino for years, he was never captured by U.S. forces.

On February 21th, 1934, Sandino attended a round of talks with Sacasa, the newly elected Nicaraguan President. Upon leaving Sacasa’s Presidential Palace, Sandino and five others were stopped in their car at the main gate by local National Guardsmen and were ordered to leave their car.

The National Guardsmen, acting on orders from future Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza García, took Sandino, his brother Socrates, and his two generals to a crossroads section in Larreynaga and executed them.

Although Sandino was called a “bandit” by the United States government, his guerilla style warfare against U.S. forces made him a hero throughout much of Latin America, where he became a symbol of resistance to United States imperialism.

Sandino’s life served as an inspiration to both Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, and the Sandinista National Liberation Front, a revolutionary socialist party that overthrew the Somoza dynasty in 1979, is named in his honor.