Augusto César Sandino (May 18, 1895 - February 20, 1934) was a leader of the Nicaraguan resistance to U.S. military presence in Nicaragua.

Sandino, born Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino in the Nicaraguan village of Niquinohomo (department of Masaya), was the son of Gregorio Sandino, a coffee grower, and Margarita Calderón, one of the employees on his father's plantation.

In 1921, after attempting to murder the son of a prominent conservative townsperson, he fled to Honduras, Guatemala, and eventually Mexico. There he became involved with various religious groups, the Freemasons, and anti-imperialist, anarchist, and communist revolutionaries. He returned to Nicaragua in 1926 and became involved in the resistance to the U.S.-backed conservative regime. His emblem showed a U.S. Marine being beheaded. Despite great effort, the U.S. military never was able to catch or kill him, although he felt it necessary at one point to stage a fake funeral for himself, as an American plane observed from above.

After the United States forces left Nicaragua, he put down his arms, and only asked to set up farmer-owned cooperatives in a portion of northeast Nicaragua as a reward for his efforts. During talks with the government, he was captured after dining with President Juan Bautista Sacasa and assassinated in Managua in 1934 by the National Guard of Anastasio Somoza García. The latter's son and heir to the dictatorship, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, was overthrown by a revolutionary group led by Carlos Fonseca, Tomas Borge and Daniel Ortega among others, which took the name of Sandinistas. The movement was formed in 1961, and took their name from Sandino.

Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, in Managua, is named for him.

Quotes

• Addressed to the American forces in Nicaragua: "Come on you pack of drug fiends, come on and murder us on our own land. I am waiting for you on my feet at the head of my patriotic soldiers, and I don't care how many of you there are. You should know that when this happens, the destruction of your mighty power will make the Capitol shake in Washington, and your blood will redden the white dome that crowns the famous White House where you plot your crimes." (quoted in Zimmermann)

References

• Zimmermann, Matilde. Sandinista: Carlos Fonseca and the Nicaraguan Revolution. Duke University Press (2000).

External links

• Augusto C. Sandino, 1895-1934
• A.C. Sandino Biography in Spanish