How did I become interested in Nicaragua and why does it matter so much to me that I have now written a book about it? In the 1980s, very few would ask such a question, because in 1979, Nicaragua, and the Sandinista Revolution were big topics in conversation and even a subject of popular culture. The Clashs last album was entitled, Sandinista. The Rolling Stones had a song about the Sandinista Revolution on their album Emotional Rescue entitled, Indian Girl, which mentions the pitched battles in the town of Masaya between the guerillas and Somozas National Guard. There was also a popular film starring Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman about the Sandinista Revolution, entitled Under Fire. Now those days are long gone, and for many are a distant memory if they ever knew about that at all.My first encounter with Nicaragua and the Sandinista Revolution was in the Fall of 1979. I was eleven years old and attending a small Catholic junior high school, St. Andrews, in Milford, Ohio, a small town outside Cincinnati. At the start of the school year, two new students enrolled: Juan and Carlos Garcia. They were from Nicaragua but, as I would come to understand later, did not fit the usual profile of a Nicaraguan, at least in the 1970s. They were very big both in height and weight. Juan, who was in my class, eventually played center on our basketball team. And they both spoke English very well. At one point, I asked Juan what brought him to Milford to attend school. He told me that he had left his home country of Nicaragua because there was a revolution over the summer which had toppled his father who was president at the time of the revolt. Apparently, Juan and Carlos were the sons of the dictator, Anastasio Somoza, though that name meant nothing to me. I didnt understand then what had taken place in Nicaragua with the revolution or what was taking place even at that time, but the story of the toppling of a government which caused these two boys to flee their country created a lasting impression on me, igniting a lasting curiosity about Nicaragua and Central America a region which would be in the news almost daily for the next decade. Meanwhile, Somoza would soon be gunned down in Uruguay by Argentine revolutionaries, and just as suddenly as they appeared in my school, Juan and Carlos left at the end of the year. I never heard from them again.The other world event that impacted me greatly at this time was the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero Excerpted from Nicaragua: A History of US Intervention and Resistance by Daniel Kovalik All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
