La Guardia Nacional and Somoza

Marine 1st Lt Chesty Puller with members of the Guardia Nacional

The Nicaraguan National Guard, Guardia Nacional, (aka Guardia) was a militia created during the occupation of that country by the United States from 1909 to 1933. In 1933, after the advent of the Good Neighbor policy and at the height of the Great Depression, the U.S. withdrew from Nicaragua and handed over control of the Guardia to Nicaraguan President Juan Batista Sacasa who in turn, appointed Anastasio Somoza Garcia as chief director of the Guard.

Somoza was educated in the United States and friendly to U.S. interests. With the strength of the U.S. Marine-trained troops under his control, Somoza quickly consolidated power. Between 1936 and his assassination in 1956, Anastasio Somoza Garcia ruled as dictator of that nation. He was supported by the Guardia which was largely funded by the United States throughout its existence.

For over four decades, the Somoza dynasty ruled Nicaragua, amassing wealth and land. When the Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza dynasty in 1979, many members of the National Guard fled into Honduras, where they regrouped and formed an counter-revolutionary force known simply as the Contras. As with their previous incarnation the Contras enjoyed generous, if at times clandestine, financial backing from the United States.

SANDINO!

Augusto Nicolás Sandino (May 18, 1895–February 21, 1934), also known as Augusto César Sandino was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the U.S. military occupation of Nicaragua. He was referred to as a "bandit" by the United States government; his exploits made him a hero throughout much of Latin America, where he became a symbol of resistance to United States' domination. He drew units of the United States Marine Corps into an undeclared guerrilla war.

When the U.S. military asked Sandino for his ceasefire conditions, he listed three points:
1) the immediate withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Nicaraguan territory
2) removal of the current Nicaraguan President who was pro-U.S.
3) supervision of free and fair elections by Latin American representatives and not by the U.S. Marines.


These demands were rejected by the U.S. government and the struggle continued. Sandino named his troops the Defending Army of National Sovereignty, adopted a flag with red and black bands, and a motto: “motherland and liberty” (patria y libertad).

The United States troops withdrew from the country in 1933 after overseeing the election and inauguration of President Juan Bautista Sacasa, who had returned from exile. The re-call of the Marines was largely due to the Great Depression.

Sandino was assassinated in 1934 by National Guard forces of Gen. Anastasio Somoza García, who went on to seize power in a coup d'état two years later. After being elected by an overwhelming vote as president in 1936, Somoza Garcia resumed control of the National Guard and established a dictatorship and family dynasty that would rule Nicaragua for more than 40 years. Sandino's political legacy was claimed by the Sandinista National Liberation Front(FSLN), which finally overthrew the Somoza government in 1979.

Source for text and image: Wikipedia