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1 Having migrated from Mexico and northern Central America, the Chorotega, Maribio, Nicarao, Nasuhuat-Pipil and Nahuatl - people of Nicaragua were culturally and linguistic similar to the Aztec and Maya.1 Whereas the Nicaraguan Caribbean areas were inhabited by Sumos, Miskitos and Ramas, tribes who migrated north from what is now Colombia or Venezuela, as they speak dialects related to Chibcha spoken by people in northern Colombia.2 In Managua near the crater lake of Acahualinca are well preserved human and animal footprints of what appears to be the remains of a mass fleeing of a volcanic eruption 6,000 years ago. The peaceful native peoples of Nicaragua were decimated by the Spanish conquest.
1. pg. 14, Rascally Signs in Sacred Places by David E. Whisnant, Chapel Hill, 1995
2 "According to the narrative by Nicaraguan conquistador Gil Gonzalez Davila: Diriangen arrived at the encounter with five hundred men, musicians playing, flags flying, women adorned with gold. Pausing to serenade Gonzalez, who asked them who they were and why they came, they explained that they wanted to be baptized as Christians, and would return in three days. It was a ruse, however; Diriangen proved himself a fierce opponent of the conquest... Thus emerged the array of political-cultural postures of unyielding resistance, accomodation, collaboration, and ambivalent vacillation that were to characterize Nicaragua's entire future experience with a perennial series of invaders, adventurers, and entrepreneurs from beyond its borders." pg. 27, Rascally Signs in Sacred Places by David E. Whisnant, Chapel Hill 1995
3 However in 1524, Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba founded the towns Granada and Leon, setting up the bloody rivalry between conservatives and liberals that has existed throughout the history of Nicaragua. Before long Nicaraguan natives were being shipped to Peru as slaves to work the gold mines. An estimated 200,000 native Nicaraguans were exported as slaves to South America from 1528 to 1540.1 Once the colonial project in Nicaragua itself began, the Spanish used a tribute system - la encomienda to extract labor and payments from indigenous people. "First used against the Moors in Spain, the ecomineda system of allocating native labor to Spanish colonists was established by the Laws of Burgos in 1503... Encomienda Indians planted, tended, and harvested crops; worked in the mines and shipyards; made pitch and tar; worked as household servants and spun and wove cloth... The largest encomiendas were those of Governor Francisco de Casteñeda; the scandalously predatory Rodrigo de Contreras, Pedro de los Rios in Leon, Benito Diaz in Granada and the greedy and vicious Yseo de Santiago - the only woman, widow of original Leon settler Mateo de Lezcano."2 It is clear that this color/race divide between those of largely Spanish descent versus indios has barely changed.
1. Klaus, Erich - Nicaragua National History
4 To all good Catholic Nicaraguan's whether in Masaya, Leon, Granada, San Francisco, Miami or anywhere else, December 8th means lots of yelling and noise making to celebrate the Virgin Mary. La Griteria para La Purisima would involve a series or prayers and songs with a ruckus for a chorus. I never kept up with the songs and prayers, but was a fervent chorus member with my handy wooden and colorful noisemaker. Besides an afternoon of yelping, I could look forward to a bunch of booty - apples and oranges pierced with flags of the Virgin as well as colored paper flags with cut out patters, cajeta, sopa borracha and best of all my noise maker. La Purisima is a celebration entirely introduced by the Spanish. It is believed that the first priest to go to Nicaragua was Diego de Aguero, who arrived with the conquistador Gil Gonzalez Davila in 1523. Amongst the religious orders to establish a presence were the Mercedarians, Jeronimos, Dominicans and Franciscans. Last to arrive were the Jesuits in 1616. "Conducting their work under the direct authority of the pope, and with an exclusively missionary purpose, the Jesuits were more inclined to try to understand Indian religion. By the time they arrived, however, it was for the most part too late; the conquest and aggressive Christianization had been underway for more than ninety years, and much irreversible damage to Indian culture had long since been done."1 Until recently, Nicaragua had always been an overwhelmingly Catholic country, but in the 80s there has been an influx of Protestant Evangalism, in part due to missionary excursions. 1. Whisnant, David E., Rascally Signs in Sacred Places, Chapel Hill, 1995.
5 As the play opens, the governor halts the songs and dances the Indians are performing for the Royal Council because they are beneath the dignity of the Council, and orders that no one be permitted in the province without his permission. The chief says his people have no fit clothing, and blames Gueguence, whom the governor summons before him. Then the governor challenges Gueguence for his lack of a permit, Gueguence diverts him by claiming to have great riches. Doubting the claim, however, the governor questions both of Gueguence's sons. The older tells him it is the truth; the younger says it is all a lie. To prove his honesty, Gueguence offers to show the governor what he has in his tent-shop. The impossible things he shows irritate the governor, and Gueguence changes the subject by bragging on his older son. The governor is intrigued, and asks the three to dance for him. As they perform a masquerade called 'el macho raton' (the mule), Gueguence asks for the hand of the governor's daughter. The governor sends for her and other young women, but his secretary cautions that the prospective son-in-law must be dressed elegantly. Gueguence hastily explains that he asked for his older son, who then begins to inspect the your women, each of whom he disparagingly rejects. He is so charmed by the governor's daughter that he marries her, however. The mules are then brought in, and Gueguence examines them one by one, seizing the opportunity to make a series of vulgar jokes. The sons then mount the mules and leave, and the royal party tells Gueguence to begone. The colonial officials are repeatedly burlesqued and satirized through intentional misunderstanding, feigned deafness, double entendres, obscene jokes, and slapstick action." - Whisnant, David E., Rascally Signs in Sacred Places, Chapel Hill, 1995
6 In 1854, the General Fruto Chamorro adopted a new constitution and made himself president for a four year term. A short-lived positivist pact between Granada and Leon established Managua as the capital of the country, since it was located between the two old cities. But once again a civil war followed between the elites of Leon and Granada, a historical Liberal-Conservative struggle that continued into the 20th century. A civil war that included the invitation of U.S. filibuster William Walker by the Leon Liberals, the bloody Battle of Rivas and the burning of Granada by Walker and his men. Of course as well all know the mid-19th century was hardly an end to civil war and revolution in Nicaragua.
7 Landing late in June, Walker's troops were routed in their first engagement, but within four months had taken Granada, forced the Legitimist commander to surrender, executed the country's minister of foreign affairs, and installed a puppet government. Aided at first by Commodore Vanderbilt's Accessory Transit Company, and local elites began to have their doubts about the wisdom of his exploits - doubts shared increasingly by the Conservative governments of Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica, the last of which soon dispatched its own troops against him. Through a rigged election in late June 1856, Walker proclaimed himself president of Nicaragua and was inaugurated in the plaza at Granada, while a band played 'Yankee Doodle.' An immediately promulgated set of edicts proclaimed English co-equal with Spanish as an official language; instituted vagrancy laws, which forced campesinos into low-paying jobs; legalized indentured servitude and chattel slavery (slavery was outlawed in Nicaragua since the 1830s); promulgated land registration laws intended, as he candidly admitted, 'to place a large portion of the land...in the hands of the white race.' Less than two months after his inauguration, Walker's troops were defeated by a Legitimist force bolstered by sixty Indian archers from Matagalpa. That engagement produced one of Nicaragua's earliest cultural heroes, Andres Castro, who - after finding his carbine inoperative - dispatched a filibuster with a rock. Depressed and frustrated by further defeats, Walker torched the indigenous neighborhood Monimbo near Masaya, and then destroyed Granada. ...Following a series of military reverses after the sacking of Granada, the remnants of Walkers' increasingly ill, hungry, and demoralized troops fought for another six months, urged on by his fanatical exhortations, but in May 1857 the bulk of his troops surrendered. A few months after Walker returned to general acclaim in the United States, DeBow's Review called him 'a man incapable of sordid or selfish motives,' an emissary of 'a superior culture and civilization.' A second exhibition aborted and a third, equally unsuccessful, ended with a hero's welcome in Mobile. Finally landing again in Honduras in 1860, Walker was captured by British troops and turned over to Honduran troops, who shot him." - Whisnant, David E., Rascally Signs in Sacred Places, pgs 74-76, Chapel Hill, 1995
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Ruben Dario (1867-1916)
TO ROOSEVELT
You are strong, proud model of your race;
You think that life is a fire,
The United States is grand and powerful.
But our own America, which has had poets
And though you have everything, you are lacking one thing: Translated by Lysander Kemp, University of Texas, Austin, 1988
9 The William Walker war lead to "Thirty Years" of Conservative rule that was characterized by political stability that came to an end when Conservative President Roberto Sacasa attempted to stay in power following the end of his term which led to a revolution. Two brief revolts led by General José Santos Zelaya with a coalition of liberals and dissident conservatives established the presidency of Liberal Zelaya (1893-1909). "Zelaya's administration was also responsible for an agreement ending the Nicaraguan dispute with Britain over sovereignty of the Caribbean coast. Aided by the mediation of the United States and strong support from the other Central American republics, control over the Caribbean coast region was finally awarded to Nicaragua in 1894. Sovereignty did not bring the government in Managua control over this region however; the Caribbean coast remained culturally separate and inaccessible to the western part of the country. Although his reputation was boosted by resolution of the centuries-old dispute with Britain, Zelaya was regarded with suspicion abroad. His imperialistic ambitions in Central America, as well as his vocal rebukes of United States intervention and influence in Central America, won him little support. Zelaya's nationalist anti-United States stance drove him to call upon the Germans and Japanese to compete with the United States for rights to a canal route. Opposition to these schemes from the conservative faction, mostly landowners, led Zelaya to increase repression. In 1903 a major conservative rebellion, led by Emiliano Chamorro Vargas, broke out. Another uprising in 1909, this time aided by British money and the United States marines, was successful in driving Zelaya from power."1 It was from this point on that the modern U.S. presence and dominance established itself and remained in place until the end of the Somoza regime. 1. Klaus, Erich, "Nicaragua National History", 2003
10 Constant battling for power between Conservatives and Liberals, resulted in the prolonged presence of U.S. marines and the establishment of the National Guard by retired U.S. Army Major Calvin B. Carter. This foreign presence is what ignited the guerilla warfare of Sandino. "An illegitimate son of a wealthy landowner and a mestizo servant, Sandino had left his father's home early in his youth and traveled to Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. During his three-year stay in Tampico, Mexico, Sandino had acquired a strong sense of Nicaraguan nationalism and pride in his mestizo heritage. At the urging of his father, Sandino had returned to Nicaragua in 1926 and settled in the department of Nueva Segovia, where he worked at a gold mine owned by a United States company. Sandino, who lectured the mine workers about social inequalities and the need to change the political system, soon organized his own army, consisting mostly of peasants and workers, and joined the liberals fighting against the conservative regime of Emiliano Chamorro. Highly distrusted by leader of liberal rebels General José Moncada, Sandino set up hit-and-run operations against conservative forces independently of Moncada's liberal army. After the United States mediated the agreement between liberal forces and the conservative regime, Sandino, calling Moncada a traitor and denouncing United States intervention, reorganized his forces as the Army for the Defense of Nicaraguan Sovereignty (Ejército Defensor de la Soberanía de Nicaragua-EDSN). Sandino then staged an independent guerrilla campaign against the government and United States forces. Although Sandino's original intentions were to restore constitutional government under Sacasa, after the Pact of Espino Negro agreement his objective became the defense of Nicaraguan sovereignty against the United States. Receiving his main support from the rural population, Sandino resumed his battle against United States troops. At the height of his guerrilla campaign, Sandino claimed to have some 3,000 soldiers in his army, although official figures estimated the number at only 300. Sandino's guerrilla war caused significant damage in the Caribbean coast and mining regions. After debating whether to continue direct fighting against Sandino's forces, the United States opted to develop the nonpartisan Nicaraguan National Guard to contain internal violence. The National Guard would soon become the most important power in Nicaraguan politics."1 Sandino had agreed to stop fighting with the exit of U.S. Marines from Nicaragua and agreed to a meeting with President Juan Bautista Sacasa in Managua. In 1934 as part of the negotiations with Sacasa, Sandino demanded the disbanding of the National Guard due to its connection to the U.S. military. The chief director of the National Guard was rising political persona, Anastasio "Tacho" Somoza Garcia. Somoza García ordered the assassination of Sandino. "On February 21, 1934, while leaving the presidential palace after a dinner with President Sacasa, Sandino and two of his generals were arrested by National Guard officers acting under Somoza García's instructions. They were then taken to the airfield, executed, and buried in unmarked graves... After Sandino's execution, the National Guard launched a ruthless campaign against Sandino's supporters. In less than a month, Sandino's army was totally destroyed."2 1, 2. Klaus, Erich, "Nicaragua National History," 2003
11 "In April 1847, the U.S. Congress let the first contract to transport mail to the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua by steamship, and a few months later the first steamship actually reached Nicaraguan waters. The discovery of gold in California in 1848 galvanized entrepreneurs who saw quick profits to be gained from transporting fortune-hunters up the San Juan River and across Lake Nicaragua rather than around Cape Horn. The torrent of transit passengers who crossed Nicaragua brought their money as well as their culture, much of which had lasting impact upon local ways."1 U.S. military presence in Nicaragua has been consistent over the last century: 1894, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1910, 1912-25 (form the National Guard), 1926-33 Marines to quell revolutionaries and avoid Leftist rise as in Mexico - establishment of Somoza Regime, 1981-90 U.S. sponsors Contra War against Sandinista Government. 1. Whisnant, David E., Rascally Signs in Sacred Places, pgs 74-76, Chapel Hill, 1995
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The Somoza Dynasty, 2 of 3 (photos)
13 "By the early 1970s, the group had gained enough support from peasants and students groups to launch limited military initiatives. On December 27, 1974, a group of FSLN guerrillas seized the home of a former government official and took as hostages a handful of leading Nicaraguan officials, many of whom were Somoza relatives. With the mediation of Archbishop Obando y Bravo, the government and the guerrillas reached an agreement on December 30 that humiliated and further debilitated the Somoza regime. The guerrillas received US$1 million ransom, had a government declaration read over the radio and printed in La Prensa, and succeeded in getting fourteen Sandinista prisoners released from jail and flown to Cuba along with the kidnappers. The guerrilla movement's prestige soared because of this successful operation... The Somoza government responded to the increased opposition with further censorship, intimidation, torture, and murder."1 In 1975, the National Guard killed Fonseca, but the revolution was initiated. 1. Klaus, Erich, "Nicaragua National History", 2003, 14 Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal is considered by many as the pivot toward revolution in Nicaragua and the final demise of the Somoza Dynasty. On his way to work as director of La Prensa, the largest Nicaraguan newspaper, Pedro Juaquin was gunned down. His murder lead to violent riots against the Somoza regime. As early as during his college years as a law student, Pedro Joaquin was jailed for anti-Somoza demonstrations. When La Prensa was shutdown by the Somoza regime, the Chamorro family fled to Mexico where Pedro Joaquin studied journalism. He returned to Nicaragua in 1948 and following his father's death in 1952 he became editor of La Prensa. As publisher and editor of La Prensa he used the newspaper to push for democracy and to question and undermine the power of the Somoza regime. In 1959 he assembeled an expedition to overthrow Somoza. They were captured and Pedro Joaquin was jailed for nine years. In 1978, on his way to work, a car pulled next to him and machine gunned him to death.
"Following Chamorro's murder, an estimated 30,000 people rioted in the streets of Managua." from costarica-net-guide.com 15 I believe that it may have been 1982 when my cousin Yamíl was sent to stay with us in San Francisco, because his parents felt that he was to young to participate in the Alphabetization of the peasantry - a requirement of all kids above the age of 14 or 16. He arrived so angry that he had been sent to the land of the Yankí Imperialista, that he refused to enjoy anything we had to offer. Even when we went to Disneyland, he tried to hide how much fun he was having. Years later after the end of the deception of the Sandinista government, Yamíl finally admitted how much he enjoyed his time in California. The Sandinista youth of the 80s, in retrospect seem to have been brainwashed by the popular fervor of the revolution. So much so that kids, including my cousin Mauricio would try to sneak of to fight the Contra, before the required age. Daniel José Ortega Saavedra, leader of the Third Way, one of the three factions of the FSLN took control of Nicaragua not long after the end of the revolution. The Carter administration tried to work with the FSLN policies, unfortunately once the Reagan administration took over, the U.S. government tried to isolate the Sandinista government, suspending all aid to the country and placing an embargo on Nicaragua and financially supporting the Contra revolution. It is the Contra war that consumed the Nicaraguan budget, and led to the faulter of the Sandinistas. However Ortega with every election since his loss to Violeta Chamorro has tried to retake the presidency. Here again, we see this corrupt desire for the leaders of Nicaragua to not be satisfied with a single term, but to desire control over the country. 16 The wife of national martyr, Pedro Joaqín Chamorro, Violeta Chamorro was the first female president of Nicaragua. Pedro Joaqín Chamorro director of La Prensa, the long standing Nicaraguan newspaper, lived and died for the truth. A man who demanded an end to the Somoza dynasty was assassinated by the National Guard in 1978. It was his death that fueled the surge of the popular revolution that finally brought to an end the reign of the Somoza family. In 1980, disappointed by what Violeta perceived as a power grab by the Sandinistas, she resigned from the revolutionary coalition. To later head the National Opposition Union (UNO) who were united in their opposition to the Sandinistas. In 1990, Violeta Barrios de Chamorro carried 55 percent of the popular vote against Daniel Ortega's 41 percent. 17 How does a fat thieving pig like El Gordo Aleman take over a country? Apparently he bought his way into power, but you'd think people would know better. When the first McDonald's opened in the country since the Sandinista Revolution, there was Arnoldo with a champagne bottle to celebrate the opening. When Nicaragua's foreign debt was excused, Arnoldo called a national holliday and threw a big party. When Arnoldo wanted a private highway from the capital to his mansion, he used national funds to build it. During his six years in office Arnoldo Aleman looted at least $100 million from the second poorest country of the Americas, second to Haiti. The damage may never be fixed, but fortunately once in office President Enrique Bolaños who was to be a puppet of Aleman, brought charges upon Aleman placed him under house arrest and has managed to get back some of the looted money. 18 Today, it seems that a good man has been voted into the Nicaraguan presidency, but his term has been mired in internal political fighting - this is one of the histories of this country. Is it the country's national poverty that causes short-sighted, greedy and politically hungry individuals to take power in Nicaragua. Why can't the country establish a functional democracy with checks and balances. Why must international governments constantly monitor the occurences in this small country. Why is Nicaragua amongst the poorest countries of the Americas? Now Daniel Ortega is demanding to take back Nicaragua, will the people allow this? |
| FALLOUT is a 2005 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.(aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. |