Tom8s Borge reminds readers tha t these notes were written in prison and the dates recalled from memory.
1934
On 21st February 1934 , w it h the murder of our national hero August o Cesar Sandino and hundreds of patriots, Nort h American imperialism and the liberal-conservative oligarch y b r ut all y a t t ac k t h e p o pula r an d p at riot ic mov ement in our cou nt ry . Since t hen our people hav e not found any other means of f ighting back. In the country there is no leadership, no organisation, no revolutionary consciousness. The traditional parties dominate political activity in Nicaragua. Perez executes the tyrant Anastasio Somoza Garcia, 'so that Nicaragua might be again (or rather, become for t he first time) a free country, w ithout shame or blemish...'
1958
The v et eran Sandinist a Ramo n Raudales resumes guerrilla action and dies fighting the National Guard.
1959
The victory o f armed st ruggle i n Cuba aw akens t he enthusiasm of t h e Nicaraguan people and st irs up t he struggle against tyranny.
Ai r landing a t Olama y Mollejones. Several dozen heavily armed cadres are captured by the National Guard.
The f ormer arm y captains, Victo r Manuel Rivas and Napoleon Ubilla, take part in the expedition and are killed.
In the mont h o f June th e Rigoberto Lopez Pbrez
guerrilla column, which has benefited from the solidarity of Ernesto Che Guevara in its training, is brutally attacked in El Chaparral, a frontier point between Nicaragua and H onduras, b y t h e armies o f b ot h count ries. A n u m ber of N icaraguans an d Cubans die, an d Carlos Fonseca is seriously wounded.
I n protest against this massacre the students take t o the street s o f Le6n o n July 23rd . They ar e machine
gunned by the National Guard, four student s are killed and more than a hundred wounded.
1960
Guerrilla mov ement in t he m ou nt ains of Nicaragua. Those who fall in combat are: Chale Haslam, farmer; Manuel Diaz Sotelo, journalist ; Julio Alonso, ex-soldier o f t he National Guard; Heriberto Reyes, veteran Sandinista.
Juventud Patridtica Nicaraguense (Nicaraguan Patriotic Youth) i s organised inside t h e country and Juventud Revolucionari a Nicaraguense (Nicaraguan R evolutionary
Y o ut h) abroad .
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The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded. On the shores of the River Patuca in Honduras, combatants join under the leadership of Colonel Santos Lopez, t he veteran Sandinista.
Guerrilla squads ar e organised i n t h e urban areas, unde r t h e leadershi p o f C arlo s Fo nsec a an d J o rg e Navarro . The f irst w o rker and st udent cells are f ormed in Managua and Le6n and the first peasant groups organised in Chinandega, Matagalpa, Esteli, Somoto and Ocotal.
1963
In March a guerrilla squad led by Jorge Navarro takes over Rad io M u ndial and b roadcasts a n F SLN proclamation, which denounces the meeting taking place in San Josh de Costa Rica between John Kennedy and the Central American presidents. The recently imposed puppet president Rene Schick an d t h e dynasty' s clan
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member Luis Somoza attend from Nicaragua.
In Ma y w e bring of f another actio n o f economic recovery, when a Sandinista squad occupies the Bank of America in Managua.
O n J un e 2 3 r d t h e v illag e o f Ra it f i s o c c upied b y an
FSLN guerrilla unit ; the commissariats are expropriated and food and clothing are distributed to the population of the area. The village of Gualaquist5n is taken. There is fighting in Sang Sang, where Silvio Mayorga is wounded, a N at ional Guard o f f ice r an d several so ldiers ar e killed . Those w h o f al l i n t hese actions are: Jorge Navarro, Francisco Buitrago, Iv5n Sanchez, Boanerges Santamaria, Modest o Duart e an d Faustin o Ruiz . Pabl o Ubeda, manages, w it h t h e help o f local people, t o reac h Las Bayas in the department of Matagalpa, where he begins intensive and far-reaching work among the peasants.
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Work in the mountains is extended under the leadership o f Rigoberto Cruz — the legendary Pablo Ubeda — w it h the support of Carlos Reyna, Fausto Garcia and Carlos T inoco . Thi s w or k spreads t o t h e department s of
Matagalpa, Jinoteg a an d Zelaya. Trad e unions and Sandinista cells are set up in Uluse, El Bijao, La Tronca, A gua Maria, Cerro Colorado, Cuskaguas, Yaosca, El Carmen, Cubali, Guaslala, El Garrobo, El Kun, El Naranjo, El Oc ote , Fila Grande , Pancas5n an d E l T u m a . Lit eracy schools are organised in the mountains and peasants are sent to Managua to be given revolutionary training.
1966
Armed actions ar e resumed . Th e Liberal Nationalist Part y' s C o nvent io n — a t w h ic h A n ast asi o S o m oza D ebayle's candidacy for the presidency is announced i s sabotaged . Economic recoveries ar e carried ou t in m any bank s t hroughout t h e country . A grou p of Sandinistas led by Oscar Turcios take part , as a form of military training, in the Guatemalan guerrilla movement
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headed by Luis Turcios Lima.
1967
The FSLN works t o set up a guerrilla base in the Darfo Mountains. The economic recoveries continue and t he Sandinista Front publishes a communique denouncing the electoral farce.
O n J anuar y 2 2 n d a n a nt i-Somoz a d e monstrat io n is machine-gunned. More t han f ou r hundred people are killed.
In September the National Guard breaks through to the Darfo Mountains. The peasant population i s repressed.
They tortur e an d kil l t h e peasant leaders Eufresinio D5vila, Eucadio Picado, Moisds Picado, Felipe Gaitdn, F ermfn Dfaz an d hi s f iv e children. Armando Flores, a young Sandinist a c ombatant , is f layed aliv e w it h a razor blade, sprinkled w ith salt and dies in agony.
After prolonged resistance, those who fall in combat are: Silvio Mayorga, Rigobert o Cruz, Francisco Moreno, Ott o Casco, Faust o Garcia, th e guerrilla doctor Danilo Edmundo P6rez, Hugo Medina and Roberto Amaya. When their bodies are handed over they show signs of torture.
1968
In April, David and Ren6 Tejada, former National Guard officers who had become FSLN militants, are captured.
They are flogged by Somoza's personal aide, Major Oscar Morales. David dies a s a result o f t h e blow s an d his corpse is throw n into the smoking crater of the Santiago volcano, provoking world-wide protest .
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1969
Political work is stepped up in the Matagalpa mountains and t h e c ities o f Managua, Le6 n an d E stelf. Many i ntensive polit ical and military t raining courses are set up .
In t h e No rt her n m o u nt ains , pa rt icularly i n Y ao sc a, National Guard patrols, led by Corporal Miguel Tinoco, repress th e peasant population. Murder, rape, torture, house-burning al l increase. In Cost a Rica, t hrough t he joint operations o f t h e Cost a Rican an d Nicaraguan Security Forces, several Sandinista leaders are captured, including Carlos Fonseca, Oscar Turcios , Humberto Ortega, Henry Ruiz and Tom5s Borge.
On July 15t h the house of the national FSLN leader, Buitrago. On the same day, in a similar operation Marco Antonio Rivera, Anibal Castrillo and Alesio Bland6n also fall i n combat . These event s arouse admiration and profound respect for the FSLN. Many young people ask to be admitted to the Sandinista ranks.
On December 23rd, tw o Sandinista squads attack the Alajuel a barrack s i n Co st a Rica , an d m anag e t o f ree C arlos Fonseca, bu t various armed confrontations w it h the repressive forces foil the action's success.
1970
A considerable number of Sandinistas, mostly peasants, g at he r i n t h e m o u nt ainou s regio n o f E l Bij ao , i n t h e department of Matagalpa.
On January 2nd a Sandinista squad, led by t he poet Leonel Rugama, together w it h combatant s Roger Nunez and Mauricio Hernandez, carry out an economic recovery raid on the bank branch of El Arbolito in Managua.
On January 15t h they discover t h e saf e house of Leonel Rugama — the best poet o f hi s generation Roger Nunez and Mauricio Hernandez. More than three hundred National Guardsmen, helicopters an d t.ankS
appear , Th e t hree SandiniStaS f ight h e roically w i t h t he ir primitive weapons. The rattle of machine gunfire and t he tanks' booming cannon do not drown their war songs and combat shout s , u nt il t hey die riddled w it h bullet s am ong the smoking ruins. Thousands o f people support t he guerrillas by shouting: 'A free country or death!'
In the mont h o f February on the anniversary of t he murde r o f t h e n at iona l her o A ugust o Cesa r Sandino, S andinist a squads place explosives i n t h e houses of Somocista military and politicians. On the February 21st a guerrilla squad broadcast s an FSLN communique on National Guardsmen, approaching from Las Vallas, are held of f by the Sandinista reserve, positioned at a short d ist anc e f ro m t h e d epart ment . On e o f t h e e nem y is wounded.
The camp i s abandoned b y t h e guerrillas an d t he women and children accompanying them . Most o f t he guerrillas regrou p o n E l Bija o m ou nt ain , w here t he y are joined by Oscar Turcios as leader.
The enemy sets up a vigilant w atch and represses the peasant population. Local agent s murder the Sandinista combatant s Luis Cabo Hernandez an d Jesus Mhndez, both peasants.
A National Guard patrol murder nineteen members of a family by the name of Moncada in Wambl5n. In Kilambe they m urder A lf onso T6rrez and t w o w o rkers. They rape
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tw o peasant girls, bot h called Martinez. Denounced by Gonzalez and Juan Hernandez Lopez and take them up in a military plane. In Las Valles Juan Hernandez Sanchez and Gabino Hernandez S5nchez are murdered.
In EI Cu5 several old women are captured and tortured, including Venancia Hernandez aged ninety-eight . They capture t w o peasant girl s named Candid a Donaire Romero and Angela Garcia and rape them. The leader of the repressive operations is the National Guard Captain
Manuel Sandino, w it h Lieutenant Juan Lee Wong as his Ubeda dies after wounding a National Guard mercenary guarding a bank which the guerrillas plan to attack.
In July i n t h e cit y o f Jinotega, th e young peasant Sandinist a Efrdn Ortega is murdered w hile carrying out messenger duties.
In A ugust , Sandinistas E dwi n Melendez, Orlando Castrillo and Noel Arguello are machine-gunned while on their w ay t o m ake co nt ac t w it h t he mount ain .
In the cit y of Esteli various agent s of repression are executed. Mainly in the mountains of the departments of
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Mat agalpa an d J inot ega , dist ric t ' j ust ices ' ar e ex ec ut ed
for denouncing peasant trade unionists.
O n Sept em be r 5t h i n a n FSLN ac t o f solidarit y w it h the just cause of the Arab peoples, Sandinista combatant Patricio A rguell o i s m o rt all y w o unde d w he n h e t ries,
The Juan Jose Quezada commando occupies the house o f Doctor Josd Maria Castillo, a f unctionary o f t he Somoza regime . A part y i n honour t h e Yankee ambassador is being held in Castillo's house.
H igh government o f f icials an d members o f t he diplomatic corps are taken hostage. The commando, led b y E duardo Contreras, demands t h e liberatio n of Sandinista prisoners, five million US dollars, an increase in the minimum pay of National Guard soldiers and t he publicat io n i n t h e p res s an d o n r adi o o f t w o FS LN communiques.
The regime agrees in essentials to these demands.
The action has worldwide repercussions and initiates a new stage of the struggle.
Guerrilla warfare in the mountains is stepped up under the leadership of Henry Ruiz and Carlos Aguero.
The repression becomes more widespread and intense.
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Martial law is established and a permanent military court is set up.
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AND V/CTOR TIRADO LOPEZ.
1965. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: CARLOS FONSECA, PROFESSOR EDELBERTO TORRES
CARLOS FONSECA 1936-1976