July19 in Nicaragua

When Blogger comrade Dave Riley came to visit me here at Nimbin his eyes immediately picked out a full colour photograph that I had proudly framed and hung on my kitchen wall. I was looking at it again today, because I had taken it on the 19th of July 1989, in Managua, Nicaragua. It was the last July 19 celebration to be held in Nicaragua before the Sandinistas tragically lost the 1990 elections to a 14 party, largely CIA backed coalition. They had managed to stay in power for 10 years against a vicious war of aggression fincanced by the US government (in the latter years illegally, using drug money), and an economic and diplomatic blockade, and a campaign of systematic sabotage.

As can be seen in this scan, the expressions of the faces of the participants, even in 1989, still reflected the euphoria, delight, and pride from the 'first' Nicaraguan 19 de Julio, (July 19) in 1979, when the Sandinistas marched into Managua after their guerilla forces defeated the thuggish National Guard of the corrupt and vicious dicator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. They celebrated with a triumphant victory parade through the streets of Managua, marching, cheering, and riding on anything with wheels.

I arrived in Managua myself just a month after the 'Triumph' of 1979, and the euphoria of that time would often fuel my enthusiasm during the many years I spent working in the region of Nicaragua and El Salvador. An account of those years can be found at my very first web site, made in 1996, using notepad, and handwritten html code as my web page editor :-) on this site:

http://lillianblue.org/CentralAmerica/

Today the former Sandinista President, Daniel Ortega has been returned to the Presidency, and with the economic and moral support of Socialist Venezuela, the Sandinistas may make a comeback as the majority party in Nicaragua. If they do, we may look forward once again to the inspiring 19 de Julio celebrations.