Throughout the past three millennia of modernized civilization, an incessant battle has been raging on between two obdurate forces— each entirely dependent on the other’s needs and desires; the battle between the government and the people that it presides over. There have been numerous heroic names and faces that have stood out amongst the crowd, people who risked life and reputation to stand up against the government for the sake of what they thought was best for the rest of the population. Marcus Brutus, Mao Zedong, Che Guevara, are just a couple of examples. Despite their actions, there is always speculation and differentiating opinions as to whether these men are criminals or heroes.
Another man whose deeds are often questioned is the …show more content…
At the age of 26, in 1921, Sandino fled the country after he attempted and failed to murder a young man named Dagoberta Rivas. He spent the next few years travelling from Nicaragua to various Central American countries like Honduras to Guatemala and ended up in Mexico. Mexico was undergoing it’s own revolution at the time, so this is probably where Sandino got his first exposure to the taste of nationalism. During his stay in Mexico, he met different people with a variety of political views such as anarchists, communists, anti-imperialists, and socialists. These people influenced his political views dramatically, further strengthening his nationalist beliefs and instilling a deep-running resentment of the United …show more content…
Around this time in Nicaragua, the United States had many soldiers and officials stationed there to “protect the interest of the US”. Upon seeing this, Sandino, who was a devout nationalist, became outraged at all of the US-interference in his own country. He claimed that the United States was guilty of “imperialism” and looked for any possible way to get them out of there. He focused on the US Marine intervention that had been in place since 1910 and declared war with them. Sandino created a small militia of peasants and farmers, using guerilla war tactics to attack their enemies. They were constantly on the run, hiding in small villages and in the depths of forests. Regardless of the efforts made by the Marines, Sandino and his men were never caught. This bloody and grueling battle lasted for seven years until 1933 when the Marines were pulled out after being in Nicaragua for almost twenty-three years. This was seen as a colossal victory for Sandino and his guerilla troops. Prior to their departure however, the Marines decided that it would be best to form a US-armed, US-trained National Guard for Nicaragua in order to help preserve the safety of the country. They left General Anastasio Somoza, a graduate of West Point, in charge of the National Guard, expecting him to be an apolitical-style