Every year on July 19, hundreds of people from all over the country gather at Plaza La Fe (also known as Plaza de la Revolución) in Managua to commemorate a historical and inspiring event: the fall of the militarized Somaza family dictatorship. This family ruled the country in a harsh and unscrupulous way for more than four decades. The dynasty was overthrown after the National Sandinista Revolution, which took place when people from all sectors – workers, businessmen, peasants, students, and guerrillas – joined forces and finally defeated the Somoza dynasty and the National Guard on July 19, 1979.
The Revolution marked a significant period in Nicaraguan history and revealed the country as one of the major proxy war battlegrounds of the Cold War with the events in the country rising to international attention.
The symbol and direct precedent of the revolution is the struggle of General Augusto C. Sandino (1895-1934), a national hero who fought with bravery, supported by an army formed by farmers and workers. He fought against the armed intervention of the United State in Nicaragua, done under the pretext of ensuring peace and democracy in the country.
Sandino and his 'small and crazy army', as the Chilean writer Gabriela Mistral called it, fought US marines in the mountains of the Segovias, the northern part of the country. His tactics where so effective that even though they were outnumbered and even though the Marines were technologically superior, Sandinos army was never eliminated by foreign soldiers. The Marines finally left the country, leaving behind a Nicaraguan army that was then known as the National Guard ('Guardia Nacional'), led by a national military man trained in the United States: Anastacio Somoza García, known as 'Tacho'.
