Carlos Fonseca was the founder of the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN), generally known as the Sandinistas. Fonseca died in 1976 while fighting the Somoza army that three years later the Sandinista's toppled from power. Today we visited Niquinohomo, the birthplace and hometown of Augusto Cesar Sandino, a hero and martyr in Nicaragua and the namesake for the later Sandinista movement. Sandino was shot by Somoza Garcia, the first of the three Somoza's who would dictate over Nicaragua until brought to an end by the revolution led by Fonseca in Sandino's honour. In the Niquinohomo Parque Central there is a huge statue of Sandino that looms over the town and he is recognized with smaller statues in Granada and several other places in Nicaragua. Yet we have not seen a Fonseca statue.
In 1979 a month after the revolution was successful, more than a hundred thousand people gathered in Plaza de Revolucion in Managua to honor Fonseca. Now, thirty one years later Daniel Ortega, one of the leading junta figures in the revolution is again running for President with a campaign slogan "Remember the Triumph 31 Years Ago." Yet, Carlos Fonseca appears to be lost in the background, even though he was the ideological and strategic leader of the FSLN and the revolution.
I am further befuddled by his absence as I liken his radical role in the Nicaraguan revolution to Che Guevarra's role in the Cuba revolution twenty-years prior. I vividly remember visiting Cuba in 1997 and being overwhelmed that Che (as he is referred) wearing his signature beret was on statues, t-shirts, murals, coffee cups and various other ephemera all over the country.
I will keep asking where is Fonseca and am hoping to gain a clearer picture as we travel around Nicaragua. I would appreciate any insights.
Posted by David
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| Augusto Sandino |
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