Augusto Sandino

The national hero whose guerrilla warfare forced US troops to withdraw from Nicaragua.

Life

Oil field worker

Sandino came from rural Nicaragua and as a young man worked in the oil fields of Mexico, where he encountered nationalist ideas. In 1927 he refused to accept a US-brokered peace agreement and led his followers in guerrilla warfare in the northern mountains.

Guerrilla warfare

He fought the US Marines stationed in Nicaragua for six years, and in 1933 US troops withdrew.

Killed

In 1934 he was invited to the capital for negotiations, and after leaving the presidential palace he was abducted and killed on the orders of National Guard commander Somoza. The Somoza family then ruled Nicaragua for more than 40 years.

Legacy

Sandino is a symbol of Latin American resistance to foreign intervention, and the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which overthrew the Somoza family in 1979, is named after him.

Did you know? His hat and red-and-black neckerchief became the symbols of the Sandinista movement.

Key dates

• 1927Begins guerrilla warfare
• 1933US troops withdraw from Nicaragua
• 1934Killed on Somoza's orders