Augusto César Sandino, a well-known leader of Nicaragua, wanted to free his country from the control of rich countries. As a young man, he took on the role of a revolutionary leader, and his skills as a leader won him many followers. He was a determined man who did what he set out to do and freed his country from foreign rule. He was a great speaker who could easily convince people of his goals and plans and get their help to do what he needed to do. This revolutionary cared a lot about his country, and even as a teenager he could tell how much damage was being done to Nicaragua by its foreign rulers. He was a very aggressive person, and when someone made fun of his mother, he got angry right away. His role as a guerrilla leader showed that he was also a rebel. The leader of the nationalists didn’t like the US Marines base in his country, so he fought hard to get the foreigners out of Nicaragua. He was very against the United Nations getting involved in the way his country was run. When the US military bases left his country, he knew that all of his efforts to start a revolution had paid off. This leader paid with his life for what he was trying to do when he was killed by the “National Guard.”
Early years and childhood
This revolutionary was born in Nicaragua on May 18, 1895. His name was Augusto Nicolás Sandino when he was born.
His father, Gregorio Sandino, was a wealthy Spanish landlord, and his mother, Margarita Calderón, worked as a housekeeper for Gregorio. Gregorio and Margarita had an illegal relationship, and Augusto was born out of wedlock.
As an illegitimate child, his father didn’t accept him as a child, so he grew up with his mother.
Augusto moved in with his father after he turned nine, and then he started school.
He went to school in his village when he was young, and then he went to an institute in Granada.
In 1912, the US military tried to anger the people who rebelled against Nicaragua’s President, Adolfo Daz. Augusto Sandino was in his country when this political chaos happened.
When he was young, he tried to kill the son of a well-known person because the boy had said something bad about his mother. César had to run away because he was accused of murder and was going to jail. He found refuge in Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Augusto Sandino’s Career
When he got to Mexico, he got a job at the Standard Oil refinery, which was near the port of Tampico. At that time, the end of the “Mexican Revolution” was getting close. Augusto saw how loyal Mexicans were to their country, which helped him come up with his own political and social ideas.
After the charges against him were dropped in 1926, César went back to his country. Later, he got a job as a clerk at a gold mine in San Albino, which was close to the border with Honduras.
At the same time, the Liberal Soldiers of Puerto Cabezas, a port in the Caribbean, were fighting a war against Nicaragua’s President, Adolfo Daz. Daz was then re-elected with the help of the United States.
Augusto worked at a gold mine, where he convinced people to fight for their rights and put together an army made up of gold miners. He led this army in an attack on the Conservative soldiers’ barracks near the San Albino gold mine.
After he led the armed attack, he went to see the leader of the revolution, José Mara Moncada Tapia, so he could join the revolt. Moncada did not trust Sandino, though, because he knew that Sandino had declared himself president. Moncado also knew about Sandino’s unsuccessful attack on the Conservative military base.
Even Juan Bautista Sacasa, who was Vice President of the Liberal Party but had to leave the country, didn’t give Sadino any weapons. But later, other Liberal group commanders gave the rebel a commission.
In 1927, Augusto went back to the Segovia Mountains, put together his army, which was mostly made up of farmers, and led a successful attack on government troops.
Mexico gave money to the Liberal army, which was almost on its way to taking over the capital, Managua when the US told Liberal General Moncada to stop fighting.
In 1927, the US and the Liberals signed the “Espino Negro” Accord, which says that both sides will hand over their weapons. Later, the US Marines set up a base in the country so that they could watch over the upcoming presidential elections. But César didn’t follow the agreement. He didn’t give up his weapons and went back to the Segovia Mountains.
This guerrilla leader went to war with the US in July of the same year. Later, when the US Marines and the newly formed Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional came to arrest Sandino, the guerrilla troops attacked them. But the other armies beat the people who supported Sandino, and this caused a lot of guerrilla soldiers to die.
Sandino called his guerrilla group “The Army in Defense of Nicaragua’s National Sovereignty,” and he called himself “Augusto César Sandino.” The US army tried many times but failed, to catch this rebel leader.
Later, César’s troops destroyed two huge mines called “Bonanza” and “La Luz” that were owned by Americans.
Sandino was after US Marines and North Americans living in Nicaragua who had the same “attitude” as President Coolidge.
He chose Honduran journalist, diplomat, and poet Froylán Turcios to be his group’s Foreign Representative and Liaison Officer.
Sandino wanted President Daz to step down, the “Bryan-Chamorro Treaty,” which gave the US permission to build a canal through Nicaragua, to be revoked, and US forces to leave his country. He also wanted elections to be run by Latin Americans.
He made his demand even stronger by asking that the “United Provinces of Central America” be brought back.
When José Maria Moncada became President of Nicaragua in 1928, it made things very hard for Sandino. But he didn’t give up on his mission.
He started to get help from the Soviet Union and the “Comintern,” which is a communist group (Communist International). Even the “Pan-American Anti-Imperialist League” put out statements in his favor.
This leader’s relationship with his foreign representative, Turcios, started to fall apart. In 1929, Turcios quit his job, which meant that there were fewer weapons and less foreign support. Soon, the US Marines began to win against the guerrilla army.
The leader of the revolution worked hard to get financial and military help from many different sources. After failing several times, he finally got help from Tony Eduardo Deluca, the leader of the “Purple Gang.” Deluca felt honored to help Sandino.
Augusto went into exile for a short time in Mexico, where he joined the “Magnetic-Spiritualist School of the Universal Commune” (EMECU), which was started by Buenos Aires. But when he felt there was danger there, he went back to Nicaragua.
In 1931, an earthquake destroyed Managua and made the government less strong. This gave the leader of the revolution a chance to take over many cities that belonged to the nation.
Due to the costs, the US had to pull its troops out of Nicaragua during the “Great Depression.” The “National Guard” then took over control of the country.
In 1933, the US Marines left Nicaragua, and Juan Bautista Sacasa became the country’s new president.
After that, Augusto promised not to attack any working-class Americans who came to his country, and he even gave the Americans a salute.
In 1934, this leader met with the new president Sacasa and told him that his troops would soon be told to give up their weapons. He still didn’t like the “National Guard,” and he still wanted this group to be dissolved.
Anastasio Somoza Garcia, who was in charge of the “National Guard,” gave the order to kill Sandino without first getting permission from President Sacasa.
Works of note
In 1926, this young man became a leader of the guerrillas and set up an army to fight the US military that was stationed in his country, Nicaragua. The revolutionary started a war against the US the next year, which he said was their enemy. Even the terms and conditions of the “Espino Negro” Accord were too much for him to agree to. After six years of constant rebellion, the US army could no longer control Nicaragua.
Personal History and Legacies
Augusto married Blanca Arauz around 1927. She was from the village of Jinotega and worked as a telegraphist.
Sandino’s dislike of the rich and foreign power made him a kind of “Robin Hood” to Nicaraguan leftists and many people in Latin America.
Sandinista National Liberation Front, a Nicaraguan political party, used a silhouette and picture of this revolutionary leader as their logo.
This revolutionary guerrilla leader was killed by the “National Guard” on February 21, 1934, in a place called La Reynaga. But the facts about how this leader was killed and where he was buried are unclear.
In the 1980s, when the “Sandinista National Liberation Front” party ran the country, the international airport in Managua was named after Sandino for the first time.
However, in 2001, the then president of Nicaragua Arnoldo Alemán changed its name to ‘Managua International Airport.
Later, when Daniel Ortega was elected president of the country, he named the airport again after Augusto C. Sandino. It is still called Augusto C. Sandino International Airport.
Estimated Net worth
Augusto is on the list of the most popular and wealthiest politicians. Based on what we found on Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider, Augusto César Sandino has a net worth of about $1.5 million.
Trivia
This famous revolutionary leader liked to stretch the truth in order to show how big his victory was.