Essays and Interpretations

"Augusto "César" Sandino: Prophet of The Segovias" Prepared for the annual meetings of the Canadian Political Science Association held at the University of Price Edward Island, Chalottetown, June 1992 (A version of this  paper has been published in Martha F. Lee (ed.), Millennial Visions, New York: Praeger, 2000, pp. 147-171.).

ABSTRACT:This paper presents an interpretation of Nicaraguan rebel leader Augusto Sandino (1895-1934) as a millenarian leader. Most publications about Sandino's life and legacy have generally been afflicted by strong ideological division. Two opposing historical interpretations usually compete for attention. Some brand him a "bandit" and emphasise the terror to which he subjected the Nicaraguan countryside, while the contradicting view portrays him as a larger than life national hero. I do not intend to become part of the debate about whether Sandino was a bandit or a patriot. This tidy division of reality has long been detrimental to good scholarship. Instead, I propose a different way, though not a via media, of examining his life. I do not mean to suggest that this essay constitutes the only non-partisan view of Sandino for some impartial works already exist. My intention is to show that Sandino's life can be understood in a different way, that his religion was a form of millenarianism and that his millenarian fantasies informed his nationalist struggle, his military activities and his political projects.

"Failed Prophecy and Revolutionary Violence: The Case of Augusto C. Sandino" Prepared for the annual meetings of the Canadian Political Science Association held at the Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, June 1995.

ABSTRACT:Prophecies and announcements that predict the end of the world have been many but none has ever been fulfilled. The study of failed prophets is now an area of academic interest within the scope of millenarianism and many cases have been carefully documented in the last three or four decades. This paper presents the case of Nicaraguan rebel Augusto Sandino (1895-1934) while he fought the US Marines occupying his country between 1926-1933. Sandino's use of a peculiar brand of violence is here interpreted as a response to his prophetic failure as well as a means to achieve his goal for the end of the world. The essay concurrently traces the development of Sandino's disposition toward the end of the world and of his use of violence as means to rush that end. I argue that Sandino used two related methods in his search for the millennium: conversion and violence.

"The Children of Sandino: Tomás Borge and the Millenarian Legacy" Prepared for the annual meetings of the Canadian Political Science Association held at Carleton University, Ottawa, June 1993.

ABSTRACT: This essay traces the millenarian ideas and expectations of Augusto C. Sandino's followers, but specifically of Tomas Borge, sole living founder of the FSLN. I argue that the Sandinistas, from Carlos Fonseca onward, were engaged in more than just a political revolution, but were also attempting to accomplish Sandino's religious vision of a new age. The essay brings to the fore the Sandinista desire to create a new man, and a new society in their belief as forgers, like their hero, of the Promised Land. By carefully examining Borge's writings and speeches extending over decades, we show that the center of Sandinista vision goes beyond revolutionary Marxism and the superficial Judeo-Christian beliefs of liberation theology but they constitute in essence a hypostasis of Christian hope.

"Revolutionary Triangle: Sandino, Martí and the Communist International" Prepared for the annual meetings of the Canadian Political Science Association held at The University of Calgary, Calgary, June 1994.

ABSTRACT: In light of previously unknown evidence, this paper presents further arguments to sustain the assertion, which has partly been advanced elsewhere, that the relationship between the two influential Central American revolutionaries, Augusto Sandino and Farabundo Martí, was strained by their personal ideological allegiances. Specifically, it examines Sandino's understanding of his association with Martí and the Comintern. Though known, the unpublished letters we use have been left out of several editions of Sandino's collected documents edited by Sergio Ramírez but they do elicit challenging questions about their seemingly brotherly relationship , the subsequent break up, and about Sandino's involvement with the Comintern, They also provide insights into the last few weeks of Sandino's second sojourn in Mexico and into the operations and squabbles of the Mexican Communist Party of the time.

Bibliographical Review. A review of the bibliographical sources on Sandino. 

Bibliography on Sandino: A list of primary, secondary and related sources on the guerrilla leader.

Alejandro Bendaña, "Sandino's Example Today" A speech given to commemorate the 61st. anniversary of Sandino's death, February 21, 1995.

       Marco A. Navarro-Génie, Sin Sandino no hay sandinismo. A response to Mr. Bendaña's vision. In Spanish.