By Katherine Hoyt 

[This article was first published by the Nicaragua Network on July 19, 2009, the thirtieth anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution. We republish it now for the 45th anniversary.]

(Katherine Hoyt is retired co-coordinator of the Nicaragua Network/Alliance for Global Justice. She lived for 16 years in Nicaragua between 1966 and 1984.)

Right after Bayardo [Dr. Bayardo Gonzalez of Matagalpa, Nicaragua] and I were married in 1967, my father had told us, “When ‘comes the revolution,’ you send us the kids!”  At that time, the Somoza family looked well-entrenched in power with no revolution in sight and we certainly had no kids. But, of course, the revolution did come and we did send the kids.

We kept their Pan American tickets ready and their passports with exit visas stamped in them. We listened to “Radio Sandino” every night at 11:00p.m. for the announcement of the “final general strike.” We also received instructions on how to build air raid shelters and what supplies to have on hand.

By now the three FSLN tendencies, into which the Front had divided beginning in 1975, had reunited and, as Humberto Ortega later said, three other very important factors were present which made possible the victory: 1) The people were prepared and ready for a massive popular uprising; 2) The private sector was completely fed up with Somoza and was ready to support another general strike; and most importantly, 3) The FSLN, in a culmination of its eighteen years of struggle, was politically and militarily ready to lead the offensive.

On Mother’s Day, May 30, 1979, the announcement came: the final general strike would start June 4th. The next morning, I called Pan American Airlines and made the earliest reservations that I could: June 4th. My father would fly down to Los Angeles to pick up the children and fly with them to Seattle. Victoria was ten, and the twins were six. Victoria was a little mother to her brother and sister. Only years later did the children tell me how traumatic they found being separated from both of us and how they worried about being left orphans.

After we watched the children’s plane take off, Bayardo and I put our emergency bags over our shoulders and walked out to the highway. We wanted to spend the final offensive in Matagalpa but with no public transportation operating, we knew we might have to stay in Managua. We were lucky: a private car stopped and gave us a ride all the way home. On that first day of the strike all stores, businesses and doctors’ offices were closed, but it was quiet so we visited friends and relatives. On June 5, however, at 5:00 p.m., Sandinistas entered the city from the east and fighting began. Bayardo had gone out to visit friends. When he called, I said he should stay where he was and not try to get home. I have always believed that, if the children had still been with me, he would have tried to make it home and might have died on that first day.

Later that day I crossed the street to stay with Elbia Bravo who intended to remain in the city in her home behind her store. She had told us that we were welcome to stay with her and since I was alone, it seemed a good idea. We were four women: Doña Elbia, her mother Doña Licha, the young maid Angela, and I. By Thursday, we could hear what sounded like snipers on our roofs but didn’t know what side they were on. For the first time a jet plane flew over the city strafing the houses. When it was far away, the noise was bum, bum, bum, bum, and then an echo bum, bum, bum, bum. But if it was right on top of you then it was simply BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM. At Elbia’s house, as at our house, we were somewhat protected from strafing and rockets by the platform of the second story. People who lived in one-story houses with tile or tin roofs either had already made some kind of air raid shelter or quickly made one in these first days of the fighting. We ate, read and slept.

On Friday afternoon June 8, Elbia’s house received its first hit by a mortar shell against one of the back bedrooms. The room filled with glass shrapnel from the windows. We were all in the living room at the time and no one was hurt. The next day Elbia and I went up to one of the apartments that she rented on her second floor to see where another mortar had hit. It had made a substantial hole in the wall. (Luckily, the tenants had evacuated for farms outside the city.) It was then that we heard the plane overheard and the explosion behind her house at what had to be the fire department. We listened in horror to the screams and then to the sirens as an ambulance took victims to the hospital. We found out later that eight civilians had died and many more were wounded in the attack.

On Sunday, June 10, I crossed the street over to our house to feed the animals. There was fighting on the rooftops and hot lead (literally hot lead) fell into the kitchen. I crouched under the kitchen table until the fire fight ended. Later, Sandinista fighters told me that there were members of the National Guard on the roofs and that I had been putting my life in danger by crossing the street to feed our dog and cat. There were hard fought battles that week in Matagalpa to take San Jose Church in the south-central part of town and the old San Jose School building as well as the Social Club. We could tell that the fighting was intense but we couldn’t tell where or, more importantly, who was winning.

The next day planes flew overhead, strafing and dropping bombs all morning and most of the afternoon. At one point in the afternoon, I had occasion to look across the street at our house. The door was open and our German Shepherd was standing in the doorway looking out. I went over quickly to put him back in, realizing that someone might kill him. Nicaraguans believed that dogs that ate dead human flesh would get rabies and therefore any dog that was running free during battles when there were dead bodies lying out in the open was presumed to be rabid. I was quite certain that our dog had not bitten any dead bodies, but I wanted to get him inside before anybody else decided that he had and shot him. When I went into the house, I saw the reason why the door was open: there were 24 Molotov cocktails made from Flor de Caña rum bottles in two neat rows on the floor of the dining room and several red and black masks on the living room sofa. I said to myself, “They’re here.”

Compañero Maceo, who had taken his nom de guerre from the Cuban independence fighter Antonio Maceo, was the responsable, that is, the one in charge, of the Sandinista brigade. He and another compañero, or compa as they called themselves, had supper with us that evening. At one point, Maceo said to me, “We’ll be using your house. You’ll have to pardon the mess.” Thus began our relationship with an outstanding group of young people who lived in our house for two months. They were Terceristas, members of the Third or Insurrectional Tendency that had been formed by Daniel and Humberto Ortega and others. The Terceristas believed that a broad multi-class coalition of the Nicaraguan people could be brought together under the leadership of the FSLN and could overthrow the dictatorship. The three tendencies within the FSLN had reunited only a few weeks before the final offensive so each still retained a separate command structure for its troops. Our nephew Jose (about whose whereabouts I still knew nothing at this time) turned out to be the responsable of the fighters of the Prolonged Popular Warfare tendency. His command post was on the other side of the block. Our block was strategic for the Sandinistas as they moved house by house toward the command post of the National Guard on the park next to the Cathedral.

The short-wave radio was our life-line. It was how we learned what was going on in the rest of Nicaragua. Radio Netherlands had the best news, followed by Radio Exterior de España. We also listened to the BBC, Radio Moscow, Radio Havana and the Voice of America. We heard reports that the fighting continued in Managua. Thousands were said to be dead from the bombing of residential neighborhoods. Fleeing North Americans could not get to the airport. The building of La Prensa newspaper was reported to be burning. Somoza was also bombing other opposition business and industrial sites on the North Highway out of Managua.

We were being shelled by mortars from a hill outside the city. Often the shelling came at night. On June 12, the storeroom next to where I was sleeping was hit. The noise was deafening. A ten-inch hole was blown out of the wall, the brick turned into an enormous quantity of red dust which covered everything in that and nearby rooms. After that, I lay sleepless in bed next to an exposed outside wall for a long time listening to the whoosh of each mortar as it was launched and counting the seconds until each explosion. The time between launch and explosion averaged 19 seconds.

We began cooking for the compas with food that they brought for us and themselves. Often a young man would sit with us and help us sort the pebbles and twigs out of the beans before we cooked them. Cooking, washing and other tasks were divided equally among men and women fighters when they were in the mountains. It was only when they came among civilians that we civilian women began taking over the cooking. We had time to talk with the compas, also. Maceo had been one of the leaders in the battle of Jinotega and told us about that unsuccessful effort that had not been worth the loss of the great peasant comandante German Pomares. “In Jinotega,” Maceo said, “we couldn’t get even a glass of water. In Matagalpa, we are stuffed with food!”

On their way down from Jinotega to Matagalpa, the compas passed through the tuberculosis sanitarium at Aranjuez. Maceo said that he spent two hours talking with an old man trying to convince him that he shouldn’t try to accompany them in the taking of Matagalpa. He told the story in admiration of the old man’s courage and valor. I heard the story thinking of a young man’s respect and caring for the old and sick. Down the highway from Aranjuez, at the entrance to the Hacienda Selva Negra, that same group of Sandinistas set up an ambush for the National Guard. Many National Guard soldiers were killed and the Sandinistas obtained needed weapons. The tank they destroyed remains on that spot as a monument to the battle.

On the night of the 14th, we women all slept in Elbia’s bedroom because it was a protected interior room. That night the compas broke through the double wall that separated Elbia’s house from the Perla Theater next door that had been held by the National Guard. The expected firefight did not materialize, however. The Guardia had abandoned the building.

I got news of Bayardo from the compas. He was working at a field hospital that the Sandinistas had set up at a Catholic orphanage and school. The first hospital that the doctors had tried to set up in a private clinic had been bombed and had to be abandoned. The orphanage was a better building. The doctors and the wounded would be safer there, I thought. But the Sandinistas monitored National Guard radio communications and heard orders being given to pilots to bomb the hospital. According to rumor, one pilot refused and deserted, taking his plane. Bayardo, a long-standing enemy of the National Guard, heard that orders to bomb our house had been picked up as well.

Short-wave radio news reports told us that on June 16, the FSLN took the National Guard post in Leon. The U.S. was urging no arms aid to either side in Nicaragua. On the 17th, we heard the news that the FSLN had called five people to form a provisional government. They were Daniel Ortega, Sergio Ramirez, Violeta de Chamorro, Moises Hassan and Alfonso Robelo.

Occasionally Bayardo could get away from the hospital to spend the night with me. One morning we were still eating breakfast when the bombing began. First the Perla Theater next door was hit. The compas came rushing into Elbia’s house through the hole in the wall. Then, seconds later, we were hit. We all headed for the door. I was the first to cross the street to our house with our dog on his leash followed by the other women and then the men. As I crossed, I looked back and saw Elbia’s second story and the supermarket next door on the south side totally engulfed in flames. The compas had been debating whether to distribute all the food in the supermarket or to leave it there for use as needed. Now it was gone. We could hear cans exploding from the heat inside the store. The bomb had been an incendiary device of some kind, possibly napalm.

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Briefs
By Nan McCurdy

Poll: Overwhelming Majority Trusts Ortega and Country’s Direction
The latest survey of the firm M & R Consultores, released on July 10, indicates that 83.2 percent of the population consider that President Daniel Ortega is leading the country in the right direction. The poll puts the approval of the Sandinista leader’s government at 82.4% and the hope generated by the government at 91.8 percent. Eighty percent consider that Ortega is seeking unity and reconciliation. Eighty-two percent consider that the President’s government is democratic and in accordance with the laws of the country. Vice President Rosario Murillo said, “At the door of the 45th Anniversary, we received an excellent survey that positions the government of the ‘People President’ with extraordinary numbers that disprove all the pettiness of those who see Nicaragua with eyes and heart damaged by hatred. It totally disproves their fallacy.” See more details: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/abrumadora-mayoria-confia-en-daniel-y-el-rumbo-del-pais/ (La Primerisima, 10 July 2024)

Estelí Celebrates 45th Anniversary of its Liberation
On July 16th, Sandinistas greeted the 45th anniversary of the liberation of the city of Estelí with a series of activities, including speeches and a parade of mounted riders.

Pablo Aráuz, a brave Estelí guerrilla fighter known as the “Molotov Man,” recalled that it was precisely on the day of the liberation of the city that the historic photo that went around the world was taken of him. “Because it was the day to get the Somocista Guard out and achieve the July 16th liberation of Estelí.” Estelí Mayor Francisco Valenzuela stated that the July 16th cavalcade is a tradition of the people to accompany the triumph. “Today we are here paying tribute to Commander Francisco Rivera “El Zorro,” the leader of the three insurrections in Estelí, whom many of you accompanied in this libertarian journey of revolution, of freedom, of the three times heroic city of Estelí,” he said.  The mayor added that it is also a tribute to the Heroes and Martyrs of the Revolution and to the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which continues to transform the country. The parade of horseback riders held in the morning had the representation of all the rural communities of the municipality, men and women who mobilized to share the day of revolutionary celebration. See photos: https://radiolaprimerisima.com/esteli-conmemora-45-aniversario-de-su-liberacion/
(La Primerisima, 16 July 2024)

Nicaragua and China Agree on New Cooperation Projects
On July 10 representatives of the Government of Nicaragua and the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), signed a series of agreements to expand cooperation between the two nations. The documents signed were a memorandum of understanding and an economic and technical cooperation agreement between the two nations as well as an exchange of notes on the supply of buses for Nicaraguan public transportation. Currently, CIDCA is actively cooperating with Nicaragua in the sectors of health, energy, housing, food security, transportation and human resources training.

The documents were signed for the Chinese cooperation agency by Luo Zhaohui, President of the Agency, and for Nicaragua by Laureano Ortega, Murillo Presidential Advisor. The signing took place within the framework of the Forum for Shared Global Action organized by China. The Nicaraguan delegation is composed of Laureano Ortega Murillo, Presidential Advisor; Valdrack Jaentschke, Minister Advisor to the President for International Affairs; and Michael Campbell, Nicaraguan Ambassador to China. (La Primerisima, 12 July 2024)

PGR Assumes Functions of INIFOM to Strengthen Municipal Management
The Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (Procurador General de la República-PRG) will assume responsibility for strengthening the administration of the municipalities, after the repeal by the National Assembly of the law that created the Nicaraguan Institute for Municipal Development (INIFOM). The government attorney for the municipalities will be in charge of financial aspects, legal advice and investments, planning, follow-up and evaluation in the implementation of municipal strategies.  All patrimony, movable and immovable assets that belong to INIFOM are now property of the national government and will be administered by the PGR. The President of the National Assembly, Dr. Gustavo Porras, said that the approval of this initiative is based on a transformation process carried out by the Sandinista Government to make the state’s functions more efficient. “This is part of a cycle of transformation and remodeling of the state in this area, a change in which we gave powers to the PGR to create its own Attorney’s Offices and we also endorse the creation of the Attorney’s Office for Municipalities. This is part of a process where we are reforming and moving from a state designed in the liberal model to a national state at the service of the people, that is to say, a revolutionary state in evolution,” he explained. (La Primerisima, 12 July 2024)

President Ortega Publishes Decree Declaring Youth a National Patrimony
As announced last June 20 by Vice President Rosario Murillo, President Daniel Ortega has declared “the courageous and valuable youth of our blessed Homeland as National Heritage of Nicaragua”. In June, Vice President Murillo explained that with the Decree (signed this past Sunday, July 14) President Ortega would enhance the role of the Nicaraguan youth as protagonists in the national liberation struggles. The Decree is “in salute to the history of victories of the Nicaraguan people, and in particular of the Nicaraguan youth of all times, declaring the Nicaraguan youth, that ‘divine treasure’ in the words of the father and magical master of the Nicaraguan soul, Rubén Darío, declaring the Nicaraguan youth of all times as National Patrimony of Nicaragua,” Murillo said. (La Primerisima, 14 July 2024)

Nicaragua One of the Highest in Gender Equity
Nicaragua ranks sixth in gender equality, according to the World Economic Forum, which recognizes that the inequality gap between men and women is closing in the country. The other countries in the top ten, according to the report, are Iceland, Finland, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, and Namibia. (Informe Pastran, 16 July 2024)

Scholarships Awarded to University Students at the Campus in Madriz
The National Autonomous University of Nicaragua-León, through the University in the Countryside Program, awarded 280 students from the municipality of San José de Cusmapa, Madriz, with the Bernardino Díaz Ochoa Scholarship to encourage their academic performance. This scholarship has as its main objective to support students with their transportation expenses, thus facilitating their access to education and the continuity of their studies. The scholarships represent a significant effort by UNAN-León to improve educational achievement in rural areas and to ensure that students have the necessary tools to achieve academic success. (La Primerisima, 14 July 2024)

Strengthening Urban Transportation
The renewal of Managua’s public transportation bus fleet with Russian and Chinese manufactured vehicles has increased the number of users from 800,000 to one million passengers per day. The government received a new fleet of Chinese buses as part of the initiatives of the Sandinista government to transform the public transportation model in the capital. 250 new units of Yutong buses manufactured in the People’s Republic of China will be delivered to different transportation cooperatives to complete 1,100 units, guaranteeing improved conditions for users in all districts, municipalities and new urbanizations in the Department of Managua. Fare will be maintained at C$ 2.50, about $.07 US dollars per passenger, the cheapest in the world. The government, since 2007 has renewed the public transport fleet and kept the fare subsidy intact to benefit users. At the end of last week, a Nicaraguan government delegation signed new cooperation agreements with China and among them is guaranteed the supply of more buses for the renovation of service at national level. This year alone the arrival of 2,000 units of Chinese Yutong buses is planned. (Informe Pastran, 15 July 2024)