July 19th - 29th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution

What was the Sandinista Revolution, and why it matters:

- Nicaragua was ruled by a corrupt family dynasty, the Somozas, for 45 years (1934 -1979), a family that amassed over $400 million while the country languished in poverty.

- Somocismo equaled U.S. power. In other words, it inherently squashed the needs and aspirations of the majority of Nicaraguans. And it could never have lasted without millions of foreign dollars, training, logistical support, and the 20 year Marine occupation that preceeded it.

- After more than a decade of civil war against the Somozas, mounted by various revolutionary organizations (with the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) coming to be the most powerful) the Sandinista Army marched on the capital after Anastasio Somoza Debayle, the original military dictator's son, had fled the country.

- Pursuing a revolutionary agenda of land redistribution, medical reform, a massive literacy campaign, and attempting to establish an agricultural and economic structure based on self-sufficiency rather than colonial dependency, the Sandinista government offered the first chance of real change for this long oppressed place.

(The tragic story of Nicaragua's history is really much longer than just the period of "Somocismo." The Sandinista Revolution offered the chance of overcoming the legacy of colonialism, an enormously bitter burden the country has suffered under in various forms since the 1520s.)

(Then Reagan pumped millions into the terroristic "Contra War" and ruined everything)
SIGH...

A smoking bus of Sandinista supporters leaving Granada for the celebration in Managua, Nicaragua's capital.

Mel and I were lucky enough to be in the country for the 29th anniversary of this momentus event, the only successful large scale revolution that has occured in mainland Central America. It was a crazy/incredible event, with speakers coming from all over Latin America. Hugo Chavez (Venezuela's president), Guatemala's vice president, Cuba's vice president, Salvador Allende's (former president of Chile) grandson, Che Guevara's daughter...

 

 

 Complete and utter spectacle. Constant fireworks even before dark, masses of red hats and shirts. FSLN FSLN FSLN FSLN. ESTE PODER PUEBLO! LA GENTE NO SE DETIENE! Ortega Ortega Ortega!!! At least 50,000 Nicaraguense. Mel stuck out a little bit, I stuck out like a morning tent. Probably the only white male there, plus the long hair and beard.

¡Vivan Los Niños!

 

This man could barely stand.

Then came nighttime.

And everything became even more spectacular. 

 

And 3 people tried to pickpocket my mini-notebook.

There is much I could say. My spanish is still too mediocre to easily understand political speeches. The event was inspiring in a way, and sad in a way. The Sandinista Party, and Daniel Ortega, seems to me are not nearly the same thing as in the 70s and 80s. Power struggles and party politics warp things. The U.S. imposed its terms of acceptable political action through massive violence in the 80s. That limited things to a huge extent. Also...though Chavez and Ortega and others are at least anti-capitalist...it´s still apparent that the language of politics never quite manages to be honest. "¡Somos el pueblo!" (We are the people!) I heard Chavez cry out at some point during his 2 hour too long speech. Political leaders always try to define history and reality in a way that will garner support, not necessarily in a way that enlightens the people. Chavez rode in on a helicopter, not an overstuffed chicken bus. He´s standing on stage, not squished in with fall-down drunks, theifs, and poor/beautiful eyes drastically ranging from brilliantly bright to despondent. Later, he will sleep on a comfortable bed, not a sidewalk or ravaged mattress beside a dirt floor. Political, cultural, social reality doesn't seem to have space for practical gatherings to celebrate a past of amazing possibilities in a healthy and fully honest way. The proclamations of these leftist leaders are far closer to what the world needs than what you could ever find in a large political forum in the U.S. But...

Something very important has been lost.

Hmm...really though, what do I know. Not much at all.

Granada is here

Namesake of my favorite city in southern Spain.

Granada = Beautiful

Though Nicaragua´s own can´t quite rival the Andalucian splendor, this place is quite nice too. Much smaller than Managua (110,000 vs. a million), it felt much more tranquil and personal. Like the aforementioned city it rests right on a lakeside; the northwest coast of Lake Nicararagua (the largest in Central America, with fresh-water sharks!). It´s a very touristy city so that was interesting...the central area is much cleaner than Managua looks, but one day Mel and I walked to the outskirts to where people actually live, and it reminded us more of real Nicaragua than the central park and its surrounding hostel-filled streets.

Photo I wish I could have taken:

As Mel and I walk down a dirt street strewn with trash, despite a nearby sign pleading ¨No Botar La Basura¨a dark, barefooted old Nicaraguense trudges in front of us. His balding head is adorned with a dirty blue hat, and on his back a T-shirt proclaims ¨I Love My Country¨ under a big fat flag of red ´n white stripes cornered by fifty stars.

Things

- Oldest city in the Americas that is still in its original location (though Francisco Cordoba´s original Granada of 1524, center of slave trade and Spanish conquest, is no longer what stands, since it was burned down thanks to the archetypal American go-getter William Walker in 1857).

- When ¨General¨ Charles Henningsen burned the city on Walker´s orders, he left a sign that read: GRANADA WAS HERE.

- Leon was founded by Cordoba at the same time as Granada, and for the next three centuries a rivalry between the two cities raged over which was the capital. Rich creole merchants arguing with eachother over power; a well-known story. Since Granada lies right on Lake Nicaragua, which connects to the Carribean coast via Rio del San Juan, a wealthy merchant class cropped up rather quickly. So historically Granada has been the ¨Conservative¨ city and Leon the ¨Liberal¨ city.

Views of the City from La Catedral Merced

(completed in 1784)

 

View of Merced from the roof of Oasis (our hostel)

El Parque Central

Toward el malecón (waterfront)

 

 

Green encroached by Grey

El Mercado Municipal (in pouring rain)

Thanks to...

Oasis hostel for your free coffee, hammocks, and pool

Street kid named Moses for not robbing us

Rodger, poor in pockets but rich in soul, for being our Granadian guardian angel

Managua Murals - Idio deconstructivism

These amazing Murals are all along the walls outside of La UCA (Universidad Centroamericana) campus. I found all of them beautiful, and loved that so many screamed out intense social and/or political messages.

Ignorance is the people´s worst sin,

and the boss´s greatest weapon

There is my Nicaragua

Little Nicaragua...

After rock, paper, scissors...

(PLC = Partido Liberal Consitucionalista

ALN = Alianza Liberal Nacionalista)

.

Life takes turns...and it depends on you

to keep your integrity intact

 Grey Matter

Nicaragua

Nicaragua... Mel and I have been here for almost a month now. Um...

This is Melissa, Mel to most. Mel Sandoval. She is rad.

...

Flying out of the Big Manzana

We arrived in Managua on July 15th after a lovely night of sleeping on the airport floor, before which we spent some quality-time wondering if we would, seriously, be sleeping on the floor, and laughing at an automatic door that spat out pre-recorded, asinine greetings such as:

"Hey there gorgeous...you look great today."
"I hope you have a fulfilling day."
"Nice shoes..."

If only I had recorded it. The voice...oh God. Whatever woman they commissioned to say those things had to have taken a month-long intensive insincerity course. Thank you Fort Laderdale Airport, estranged step-child of the Second Seminole War.

Managua: Previously an indigenous settlement along the southern coast of Lake Managua. Destroyed by Francisco de Cordoba in the early 1520s for having the gumption to resist slavery. Capital city of Nicaragua since 1857 when William Walker, this American "filibuster" i.e. psycho-megalomaniac who wanted to rule all of Central America, had the previous capital, Granada, torched. (If there is anything constant about this country´s modern history, it´s the murderous meddling of outsiders, from Spain, to Britain, to the U.S.)

It's home to about 1 million people, one fifth of the total population of Nicaragua. About half of this whole country live on less than a dollar a day, and basically have no food security. The massive poverty is obvious in the city - trash all over the place, homeless youth and adults, tent villages constructed from garbage bags and wood, towns of corrugated tin. Warnings aside, we never had any negative experiences in the city. Parts of it are beautiful, but, like most cities, I found it overwhelmingly crowded and cut off from mama

earth at times. And grinding poverty hurts my soul...so having it in my face constantly is difficult. Makes thinking seem more important than it might when I´m surrounded by friends, joy, and abundance in New England. Not that everything´s dandy there either, but in my circles yea, more or less. And people are generally better off than is possible to appreciate without seeing 3rd world realities. I don´t really have pictures of these things; I would feel like a jerk taking those shots.

Witness for Peace - Nicaragua at a Glance

The first place we visited in Managua was La Plaza de La Republica. Full of gawdy Pink signs advertizing the upcoming 29th anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution.

 
La Concha Acustica 

El Malecon (the pier). Just beyond La Concha. Sunset over the beautiful Lake Managua, which God help you, you better not swim in. Sewage has been steadily pouring in since 1927. Plus, right next to the lakefront lies a 100 acre dump called La Chureca, teeming 30 feet high with half a century worth of trash and constantly on fire.

Two young ladies sat nearby us, and we almost left without befriending them. Thankfully, we said hi, they realized we spoke Spanish, and we ended up arranging to meet up the next day and play soccer. Gladis and her niece Roxanne. They brought a scraggly, half inflated soccer ball and we were soon joined by several random, highly talented guys for a good hour of concrete futbol. Soccer reminds me that I am not in shape. And that I have asthma. Hm. Fun times nonetheless. And afterward we got to visit the girls´ family nearby. They were super poor; dirt floor, tin roof, little furniture...cinderblock-shack half sheltering such a warm and lovely family.  I was really struck by their openness and generosity, and I wish they had email, or a phone, or a mailing address...

Parque Ruben Dario

 

Roxanne far left, Gladis far right, Katherine, Rosa, and Ezekial in between.

...
 

Managuan Art

This is by BLU, who is crazy, and amazing. Chiquita Banana-Monster fed gun conveyor belt.

La Catedral Nueva

(built sometime in the 90s...very square, grey, and gross. All in all, fairly aesthetically unpleasing except from a distance)

"Fuera Colonialismo Yanquí" (out with Yankee Imperialism)

Having learned much more about Nicaragua´s brutal history and the enormous role the U.S. government has played in it, rarely in a positive way, being here sometimes feels quite strange. I stand out most everywhere, and get just as many stares as my gorgeous girlfriend (and I don't think it´s because of my beautiful beard). The overriding sentiment, due to the experience of reality outside of the United States, is that the U.S. is a greedy, imperialist nation. What I have constantly heard though, from thoughtful Nicaraguans I've spoken to, and from the politicians, is that there is a clear understanding that the U.S. government and its citizens are two very different things. Carlos Fonseca, the father of the Sandinista Revolution, stressed that, as does Daniel Ortega, the current FSLN (Sandinista National Liberation Front) president (back in power after falling out in 84). I would love if Americans generally could rise to such an understanding towards "enemy" states. And keep in mind that every country we´ve fought post WWII has been dirt poor, and that poverty and oppressive dictatorships often bring about guerilla warfare, and that guerilla warfare vs. our massive industrial-military apparatus equals huge civilian casualties...