A Revolutionary City...
Leon, Nicaragua is the city where the Nicaraguan Revolution of the late 1970s was born. It is a city of poets and political activists, birthplace of the legendary Ruben Diario, and of another poet (whose name escapes me at the moment), who dressed up as a waiter and assasinated the first dictator Samoza as he dined in a garden restaurant. Visitors to Leon can still sit and drink in that restaurant, now a nightclub open until dawn. Leon is an artistic and intellectual center, full of murals that act as history books and political statements. For example, next to the wall documenting the revolution is a painting of Sandino standing on the head of uncle sam who has the body of a dog. Interesting place to be a US citizen. Not once have I felt any animosity towards myself as an individual, but people will freely express their dislike for the US involvement in Nicaragua, then and now.
Today I took a tour from my hotel, which was quite unorthodox. Titled 'History and Revolution', it is lead by a Dutch guy who came to live in Nicaragua via the most dangerous and violent slums of Guatemala City. He lived for a year and a half working with street children there, and says thanks to that experience and the fact that he listened to the sounds of street war every night for all of those months, he can now distinguish what kind of a gun a gunshot comes from. He can also tell stories of finding limbs of dismembered people lying on his doorstep, among other horrors. In short, he is a person who has seen a lot of pain, violence and suffering firsthand and cares a lot about people knowing the truth about how history has unfolded here, and the state in which people live as a result.
We began at a church in Soraiva, once an indigenous village, now a part of the city of Leon. This church is one of the oldest buildings in Latin America, built by the Spanish, who installed a huge glowing sun, the centerpiece of indigenous worship, above the alter to woo the indigenous people into the church. We then visited a sacred tamarind tree in the middle of that section of the city where the great chief was hanged by the Spanish. Apparently a deal was struck initially where the land under the city of Leon was rented from the Indians. This was followed for 4 years, until the Spansh violated the agreement and hanged the chief. Today that contract is still used for political leverage, although soraiva is technically a part of the city members of the tribe do not pay city taxes and there is a commossion of 18 chiefs that take decisions on behalf of the community. These chiefs also command quite a bit of land and members of the community can request plots of land, which remain in their family for as long as family members actively work the land. If the land is left fallow, the chiefs can reclaim it, or redistribute it.
From this section of the city we traveled to the hills outside where El Fortin, the former fortress and then prison/torture center of the Somoza regime is located, right beside the cities dump. We looked at the dump first. People could be seen climbing, digging and sorting through the mountains of garbage. These people literally live in the dump, finding pieces of scrap metal that can be sold, and scraps of still edible food. It is a tragic site. Moving onto the fort things didn't get much better. He showed us the rooms where hundreds of people were imprisoned together in very small cells, without food. He described the most common torture methods used at this site. He himself has met three of the survivors liberated during the revolution, who shared some of their stories with him.
The revolution began on July, 5 with the storming of the prison in Leon. The prisoners there were released, and then the Guerillas moved up into the hills to free the prisoners at El Fortin. The uprising lasted 14 days. Of course much was to come after, including the US involvement. Our guide felt strongly that in many ways the US is responsible for the fact that Nicaragua has fallen from being the richest Central American country to the poorest. Needless to say, he is no friend of Ronald Reagan. He described the Iran-Contra affair, how the US was supporting Iraq against Iran and also supplying Iran with the weapons they used to fight Iraq. He also said that money for the war was earned by recieving payments from druglords to turn a blind eye to the importation of cocaine into the United States. The war waged on Nicaragua was an illegal war, against a democratically elected government, that has contributed greatly to the present state of the country. This is of course a very different history from what we learn at home. He says commonly people from the United States take issue with the version of history presented on the tour. According to him, history is very rarely pretty, polite or flattering.
One interesting piece of information about the revolutionaries, is that many women were involved and fought on the front lines. Even now in Nicaragua, women hold jobs most commonly held by men. Today the head of police in the country is a woman, as well as the second in command of the army. Interesting since the 'machista' attitude is also still alive and thriving.
Today I took a tour from my hotel, which was quite unorthodox. Titled 'History and Revolution', it is lead by a Dutch guy who came to live in Nicaragua via the most dangerous and violent slums of Guatemala City. He lived for a year and a half working with street children there, and says thanks to that experience and the fact that he listened to the sounds of street war every night for all of those months, he can now distinguish what kind of a gun a gunshot comes from. He can also tell stories of finding limbs of dismembered people lying on his doorstep, among other horrors. In short, he is a person who has seen a lot of pain, violence and suffering firsthand and cares a lot about people knowing the truth about how history has unfolded here, and the state in which people live as a result.
We began at a church in Soraiva, once an indigenous village, now a part of the city of Leon. This church is one of the oldest buildings in Latin America, built by the Spanish, who installed a huge glowing sun, the centerpiece of indigenous worship, above the alter to woo the indigenous people into the church. We then visited a sacred tamarind tree in the middle of that section of the city where the great chief was hanged by the Spanish. Apparently a deal was struck initially where the land under the city of Leon was rented from the Indians. This was followed for 4 years, until the Spansh violated the agreement and hanged the chief. Today that contract is still used for political leverage, although soraiva is technically a part of the city members of the tribe do not pay city taxes and there is a commossion of 18 chiefs that take decisions on behalf of the community. These chiefs also command quite a bit of land and members of the community can request plots of land, which remain in their family for as long as family members actively work the land. If the land is left fallow, the chiefs can reclaim it, or redistribute it.
From this section of the city we traveled to the hills outside where El Fortin, the former fortress and then prison/torture center of the Somoza regime is located, right beside the cities dump. We looked at the dump first. People could be seen climbing, digging and sorting through the mountains of garbage. These people literally live in the dump, finding pieces of scrap metal that can be sold, and scraps of still edible food. It is a tragic site. Moving onto the fort things didn't get much better. He showed us the rooms where hundreds of people were imprisoned together in very small cells, without food. He described the most common torture methods used at this site. He himself has met three of the survivors liberated during the revolution, who shared some of their stories with him.
The revolution began on July, 5 with the storming of the prison in Leon. The prisoners there were released, and then the Guerillas moved up into the hills to free the prisoners at El Fortin. The uprising lasted 14 days. Of course much was to come after, including the US involvement. Our guide felt strongly that in many ways the US is responsible for the fact that Nicaragua has fallen from being the richest Central American country to the poorest. Needless to say, he is no friend of Ronald Reagan. He described the Iran-Contra affair, how the US was supporting Iraq against Iran and also supplying Iran with the weapons they used to fight Iraq. He also said that money for the war was earned by recieving payments from druglords to turn a blind eye to the importation of cocaine into the United States. The war waged on Nicaragua was an illegal war, against a democratically elected government, that has contributed greatly to the present state of the country. This is of course a very different history from what we learn at home. He says commonly people from the United States take issue with the version of history presented on the tour. According to him, history is very rarely pretty, polite or flattering.
One interesting piece of information about the revolutionaries, is that many women were involved and fought on the front lines. Even now in Nicaragua, women hold jobs most commonly held by men. Today the head of police in the country is a woman, as well as the second in command of the army. Interesting since the 'machista' attitude is also still alive and thriving.
posted by Eva Hathaway at 4:25 PM
2 Comments:
that is totally interesting - and the fact that women hold those positions of power in "male" fields. How do you find women's rights in the rest of the country? Is it the same machismo attitudes? Isolde
Thanks for writing this.
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