Sandino's Army - Defender of National Sovereignty
After independence from Spain was won, the history of Nicaragua, along with other Central American countries, was marked by a series of civil wars between liberals and conservatives. In Nicaragua, the situation was more extreme. Soldiers, drawn from the poorest sectors of society, died defending the interests of the liberal landholding bourgeoisie of Leon or the conservative entrepreneur bourgeoisie of Granada. Neither of these two armies created or consolidated national sentiment.
In the latter part of the 19th century, when US intervention began over the possible location of the interoceanic canal and when US businesses "discovered" Central America, the fighting armies in Nicaragua were either supported or opposed by the U.S., according to its needs. By the beginning of the 20th century, U.S. warships were off the Nicaraguan coast in open support for the government and troops of the Conservative party, which literally sold Nicaragua to the United States for $3 million. By the 1920s, the "peacekeeping" forces of the U.S. marines had landed on Nicaraguan soil.
It was at this historical and political moment when Sandino's army, called the Defender of National Sovereignty, was formed. The head of this army understood, as no one else did at the time, that a truly independent Nicaragua would not be born out of civil wars between the powerful sectors, but rather from a war of national independence. The general who led this anti imperialist struggle and who sought to vindicate the poor indigenous peoples, the campesinos and the workers, was himself a poor artisan of mestizo extraction: Augusto Cesar Sandino.
Sandino's army was founded in El Chipote in the northern hills of the Segovias on September 2, 1927. Hundreds of campesinos' signatures (or thumbprints from those who could not write) approved the founding document. These guerrilleros waged their first attack, an ambush, on September 9 in the small town of Las Flores.
Sandino's army reached its height between 1931 and 1932, both in the number of troops and in its military actions. In the almost six years of fighting against the U.S. invaders, its numbers varied between 2,000 and 6,000 men, divided into eight guerrilla columns. Each column was headed by a general, the majority of whom were campesinos or artisans from the region. Each column had a specific field of operations in which battles were waged. In each area, the army also organized the population to defend themselves. Funds were collected, agricultural cooperatives were formed and literacy classes were set up for the soldiers and the campesinos.
The participation of other Central Americans in Sandino's army and the international echo which this unequal war had around the world reflect the importance of this military experience and aid the understanding of the current situation in Nicaragua.
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