The Sandinistas

[Red, Green, and Gold]

I'm just looking for some opinions - After doing a bit of research, I'm not quite sure what to think.
Though the Sandinistas were leftist and against the U$, the government seems to have failed a bit... and the people didn't seem to like the Sandinistas all too much.

[LuZhiming]

Obviously the revolution that toppled the Somoza's was necessary(Unless of course brutal dictators and death squads are acceptable.). The Sandinistas were complimented in about 1983 by the World Bank for their great accomplishments in health. They made some excellent advancements in education as well. I do criticize the Sandinistas efforts to integrate the Miskitos with the urban population. I really think they should have left them alone. In terms of Human Rights, the country had greatly improved from the ruler under the Somoza's. However, the Sandinistas had lessened some political freedoms from what they were during the beginning of the Revolution (Including having political prisoners) due to the civil war. I criticize this action even thought it was while under considerable pressure. The Sandinistas also brought Democracy to Nicaragua, people tend to forget that Daniel Ortega was democratically elected in 1984. The Sandinistas were also law abiding and very willing to negotiate with 'their' enemies. The great relations with Cuba and Grenada are also worth mentioning, and complimenting.

Overall though, the Sandinistas never got a fair chance. They suffered economic warfare from the U.S. and its clients, and the Contras attacking "soft targets" were literally destroying the country. This had a lot to do with Ortega not winning the election of 1989, where the U.S. literally told Nicaraguans that the Contras would continue attacking Nicaragua if Ortega was elected. It's not a surprise Ortega lost the election. The exact same happened in the recent election that the Sandinistas were close to winning.

[komon]

sandinistas were ok only ortega is now head of a diving club.
like LuZhiming says bad time bad place.....

[BlackHandRedStar]

The Sandinistas accompished much to defeat the imperialist puppet, but they failed because they became pushy and killed many. But in the end, without the Sandinistas, there would be no democracy and Nicaragua would still be an imperialist playground.

[praxis1966]

They didn't fail due to killing too many people. They failed because the U$ government supported the right-wing guerrillas in their effort at counter-revolution. Iran-Contra Affair anybody?

In any event, I've long said that this was the only example the world has ever seen of a true socialist democracy.

[Agent provocateur]

Originally posted by [email protected] Green, and Gold,Feb 17 2004, 01:11 PM
I'm just looking for some opinions - After doing a bit of research, I'm not quite sure what to think.
Though the Sandinistas were leftist and against the U$, the government seems to have failed a bit... and the people didn't seem to like the Sandinistas all too much.
Why don't you stop reading that right-wing bullshit and read the truth!!!!!!!


http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episo...erviews/ortega/ (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/18/interviews/ortega/)

http://www.zmag.org/chomsky/sam/sam-2-03.html


http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/johnson/sandino.jpg


X

That Friend (by Pablo Neruda, Song of Protest)



Later Sandino crossed the jungle,

he unloaded his sacred gunpowder

against assaulting sailors

grown and paid for in New York:

the earth burned, the foliage resounded:

the Yankee did not expect what was happening:

he dressed very well for war

shining shoes and weapons

but through experience he soon learned

who Sandino and Nicaragua were:

it was a tomb of blond thieves:

air, tree, road, water

Sandino' s guerrillas came forth

even from the whiskey that was opened,

which sickened with quick death

the glorious Louisiana fighters

accustomed to hanging blacks

with superhuman valor:

two thousand hooded men busy

with one black man, a rope and a tree.

Affairs were different here:

Sandino attacked and waited,

Sandino was the coming night,

he was the light from the sea that killed.

Sandino was a tower with flags,

Sandino was a rifle with hopes.

These were very different lessons,

at West Point learning was clean:

they were never taught at school

that he who kills could also die:

the North Americans did not learn

that we love our sad beloved land

and that we will defend the flags

that with pain and love were created.

If they did not learn this in Philadelphia

they found it out through blood in Nicaragua:

the captain of the people waited there:

Augusto C. Sandino he was called.

And in this song his name will remain

full of wonder like a sudden blaze

so that it can give us light and fire

in the continuation of his battles.



XI

Treason

For peace, on a sad night

General Sandino was invited

to dine, to celebrate his courage,

with the "American" Ambassador

(for the name of the whole continent

these pirates have usurped).

General Sandino was joyous:

wine and drinks raised to his health:

the Yankees were returning to their land

desolately defeated

and the banquet sealed with honors

the struggle of Sandino and his brothers.

The assassin waited at the table.

He was a mysterious spineless being

raising his cup time and again

while in his pocket resounded

the thirty horrendous dollars of the crime.

O feast of bloodied wine!

O night, O false moonlit paths!

O pale stars that did not speak!

O land mute and blind by night!

Earth that did not restrain his horse!

O treasonous night that betrayed

the tower of honor into evil hands!

O banquet of silver and agony!

O shadow of premeditated treason!

O pavilion of light that flourised,

since then defeated and mourned!



XII

Death

Sandino stood up not knowing

that his victory had ended

as the Ambassador pointed him out

thus fulfilling his part of the pact:

everything was arranged for the crime

between the assassin and the North American.

And at the door as they embraced him

they bade him farewell condemning him.

Congratulations! And Sandino took his leave

walking with the executioner and death.

[Agent provocateur]

by Pablo Neruda from his collection of verse Canto General

XXXVII

It was when the crosses

were buried

in our land--- they were spent,

invalid, professional.

The dollar came with agressive teeth

to bite territory,

in America's pastoral throat.

It seized Panama with powerful jaws,

sank its fangs into the fresh earth,

wallowed in mud, whisky, blood,

and swore in a President with a frock coat:

"Give us this day our

daily bribe."

Later, steel came,

and the canal segregated residences,

the masters here, the servants there.

They rushed to Nicaragua.

They disembarked, dressed in white,

firing dollars and bullets.

But there a captain rose forth,

saying: "No, here you're not putting

your concessions, your bottle."

They promised him a portrait

of the President, with gloves,

ribbons, and patent leather

shoes, recently acquired.

Sandino took off his boots,

plunged into the quivering swamps,

wore the wet ribbon

of freedom in the jungle,

and bullet by bullet, he answered

the "civilizers."

North American fury

was indescribable: documented

ambassadors convinced

the world that their love was

Nicaragua, sooner or later

order must reach

its sleepy intestines.

Sandino hanged the intruders.

The Wall Street heroes

were devoured by the swamp,

a thunderbolt struck them down,

more than one machete followed them,

a noose awakened them

like a serpent in the night,

and hanging from a tree they were

carried off slowly

by blue beetles

and devouring vines.

Sandino was in the silence,

in the Plaza of the People,

everywhere Sandino,

killing North Americans,

executing invaders.

And when the air corps came,

the offensive of the armed

forces, the incision of

pulverizing powers,

Sandino, with his guerrillas,

was a jungle specter,

a coiled tree

or a sleeping tortoise

or a gliding river.

But tree, tortoise, current

were avenging death,

jungle sysyems,

the spider's mortal symptoms.

(In 1948

a guerrilla

from Greece, Sparta column,

was the urn of light attacked

by the dollar's mercenaries.

From the mountains he fired

on the octupi from Chicago

and, like Sandino, the stalwart man

from Nicaragua, he was named

"the mountain bandit.")

But when fire, blood,

and dollar didn't destroy

Sandino's proud tower,

the Wall Street guerrillas

made peace, invited

the guerrilla to celebrate,

and a newly hired traitor

shot him with his rifle.

His name is Somoza. To this day

he's ruling in Nicaragua:

the thirty dollars grew

and multiplied in his belly.

This is the story of Sandino,

captain from Nicaragua,

heartbreaking incarnation

of our sand betrayed,

divided and assailed,

martyred and sacked.