Sandino

So I had no idea this happened but apparently the U.S. government invaded and occupied Nicaragua for about 20 years in the early 1900s because we wanted to build a canal there. A Nicaraguan General named Augusto Sandino led a guerilla war against us, and when we left, we put a close friend of the U.S. named Somoza in charge of the army. He was supposed to lead the Nicaraguan government along with Sandino and the newly elected (and largely powerless) President Sacasa. Somoza promptly had Sandino assassinated and began a 40 year dynasty of corruption and brutality (we sure know how to pick 'em).

Anyway, Sandino became a big deal national hero and the party that bears his namesake (the Sandinistas) were the ones who eventually overthrew the Somoza regime in 1979 after a bloody civil war. I checked out a museum in memory of the Estelí people who died. Here's a photo of Juan Carlos, the brother of one of the museum staff members, who died fighting the Somoza army at age 15.