# Arlen Siu

Arlen Siu Bermúdez (15 July 1955 – 1 August 1975), was a singer-songwriter, essayist and Sandinista revolutionary, who became one of the first casualties during the insurrection against Somoza. Her death at an early age, made her a local celebrity. She wrote the famous poem "María Rural", which would later be set to music and performed by Pancasán, a Nicaraguan folk music group that was part of the so-called New Latin American Song.

## Early life

Her father, Armando Siu Lau, was born in Guangdong, China, and immigrated to Nicaragua in the late 1940s after serving in the Communist Revolutionary Army. He later married a Nicaraguan woman. In some writings, she signed her name as "Arlene", leading to the belief that this was her real name. Both in the invitation card for her quinceañera party, and in the farewell letter she left to her parents, her name is spelled Arlene. Her image is revealing for the people of Nicaragua, as she is considered a national heroine, and as such, his life and death have been exalted through tributes, poems, paintings, monuments, etc. The Siu are a family known in Jinotepe for being Chinese emigrants who arrived in those lands many years ago and became successful merchants. Due to this, they became economically prosperous, despite the condition of poverty that prevailed in Nicaragua.
Although she died at a young age, Arlen was the one who became most interested in Chinese culture and Western cuisine. Her father refused to teach his children the language because they were too lazy to learn, so her great-grandmother taught Arlen what little he learned. Arlen, from a very young age, was characterized by her artistic sensitivity and her inclination for music: she played the guitar, the accordion, the flute; she danced, sang, drew, wrote poetry and liked to compose her own music.
Arlen did her primary school at the Sagrado Corazón de Jesús School, in Jinotepe, and her secondary school at the Immaculada School in Diriamba. She was a good student, and once she finished high school, she enrolled to study social psychology at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma of Nicaragua (UNAN), also showing a vocation for being a teacher. Once she enters the university, she finds herself drawn into a new world, where her classmates focused much of her attention on fighting the government.
Feelings channeled through her talent with music and the dexterity of her pen are evident in her poem María Rural. The poem arises when she was helping one of her sisters with a task, for Mother's Day. It is her most notable work to date. It was set to music by her and then sung by Pancasán. It is known that it was a response to the poem Juan Pueblo.
Extract from her poem, later set to music:
   "Today I want to sing to you María Rural...Oh mother of the countryside, mother without equal.
   Today I want to sing, your poor offspring, your sad remains, maternal pain.
   Malnutrition and poverty is what surrounds you, a straw hut in silence, just the noise of the jungle.
   Your hands are made of cedar, your sad twilight eyes, your tears are mud, that you spill on the mountains.
   For that reason on this occasion, today I want to sing to your heart. Today I want to tell you what I feel, for so much poverty and desolation."

## Private life

Arlen had a strong and outgoing personality. On one occasion, she gave a speech at the La Inmaculada school, during a contest, which she had not won. She took the microphone anyways and called for the female rebellion. She ended up with a boyfriend of years, because he was a "bookworm" and she needed a fighting partner.
It is known that Aren had two great loves during her short life. René Salgado was her first love and the relationship lasted approximately two years, when Arlen was still a teenager, between 15 and 16 years old. Arlen's mother remembers him as "an excellent boy from León, a very good student and with principles." René was concerned when Arlen joined political movements. "Mrs. Rubia, take care of Arlen," René told her. "She's doing things she shouldn't." But Rubia thought that her daughter was doing nothing wrong, and this request was ignored. The relationship may have broken down because René did not support Arlen's ideals.
It is known that Aren had two great loves during her short life. René Salgado was her first love and the relationship lasted approximately two years, when Arlen was still a teenager, between 15 and 16 years old. Arlen's mother remembers him as "an excellent boy from León, a very good student and with principles." René was concerned when Arlen joined political movements. "Doña Rubia, take care of Arlen," René told her. "She's doing things she shouldn't." But Rubia thought that her daughter was doing nothing wrong, and this request was ignored. The relationship may have broken down because René did not support Arlen's ideals.
Between the age of 18 and 20, it is certain that Arlen, known at the time as "Mireya", had a boyfriend, although his identity is debated between two boys. According to "Memories of the Sandinista Struggle," by Mónica Baltodano, the boy who won Arlen's heart was Leonardo Real Espinal, a Chinandegan born in El Viejo, who joined the Sandinista Front at a very young age. In a film documentary, made by Ana Gabriel Siu, this version is contradicted. Ana has investigated and documented her aunt's life for various publications. According to her, her aunt's boyfriend was Mauricio Duarte, a Boaqueño who was called "El Chileno" among the Sandinistas, because the boy had spent some time in the South American country. The people who met them and gave them a place to stay when they were clandestine, support that it was Mauricio with whom Arlen had a relationship. Unfortunately, both Leonardo and Mauricio died a few months after Arlen. Marlene Álvarez, her friend at UNAN, describes an intense relationship. "I don't remember the name, but I do remember, I'll tell you. She told me about her meetings and I know that they were both clandestine. She told me that they looked at each other in a secret house and that those meetings were wonderful", reveals Marlene.

## Historic context

The government of the Somoza family placed the country at the full disposal of the interests of the United States. The family became one of the wealthiest families in the Americas, with an estimated net worth at the time of between $1 billion and $5 billion, controlling Nicaragua's national wealth for their own interests and fostering corruption. The majority of Nicaraguans were submerged in poverty, famine and illiteracy. The different opposition movements were converging giving rise in the early 1960s to the birth of the FSLN, an organization that would lead the fight against the dictatorship.
Arlen Siú would ask her mother how she could help, and he developed contempt for the dictatorship as she grew older. "I knew her thoughts because she expressed herself with me, she told me how she did so that the wealthy people help her to help the poorest. At that time, the problem was that there were liberals and conservatives and they didn't like each other. I told her that where these people were not hers because they were not going to listen to her, I would send her to certain people so that they would receive her and she would explain to them and thus she would seek help for poor people".
The 1972 earthquake dictates the beginning of the end for Arlen. Locally called the '72 earthquake, it was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale that destroyed the capital of Nicaragua. It destroyed the center of the city and caused about 19,320 deaths and 20,000 injuries, although the exact number of deaths is not known, due to the fact that there were corpses that were never removed from the rubble. Arlen Siú, at the age of 17, was preparing for a massive hunger strike, for the release of political prisoners. After the natural disaster, she dedicated her time and efforts to care for the victims in the capital and the refugees who arrived in her native Carazo. With the help of other volunteers, they set up makeshift shelters, where they try to help with the few resources available. In the same way, they collected donations for those most affected, even giving away their own belongings.
Another moment that set the tone for subsequent events. was when the British rock group The Rolling Stones held a benefit concert for the victims, where they raised nearly £200,000 in relief funds. The show was promoted by Bianca Jagger, who was then married to Mick Jagger, after going to Managua to drop off food for the victims. Anastasio Somoza Debayle diverted the funds to his personal account, generating the repudiation of the population. Martial law was declared, making Somoza, then head of the National Guard, the de facto leader of the country. Subsequently, it was discovered that the Somoza family had appropriated most of the international aid offered after the earthquake.
Deeply outraged, Nicaraguans refuse to allow such a level of corruption and embezzlement. Therefore, they rise up with more strength and desire to fight against the dictatorship. In this context, Arlen, politically and socially motivated after the earthquake, joined the "Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional."

## Career

Siu was 18 when she joined the Sandinistas. She had already attained a level of national celebrity as a talented songwriter, singer, and guitarist by the time she joined the movement. She was killed on 1 August 1975, during an ambush near El Sauce, Leon, Nicaragua, by soldiers from Anastasio Somoza Debayle's National Guard. She was 20 years old.
Through a letter, she said goodbye to her mother Nubia Bermúdez and her siblings: Carolina, Marlon and Ivonne, the oldest of whom also became collaborators with the Front. She moved to the mountains of the department of León where she would finally die a heroic death. Her mother remembers when Arlen decides to leave the family home, without notifying her parents, although her brothers already knew and had tried to stop her. "When she went to fight with the Sandinista Front, she did not say anything to her father, nor to me, nor to her brothers, she went to the University one day because she was in her second year of Psychology at UNAN in León, I remember that he was taking exams and that day it was his turn and he left". "She left and was teaching literacy and together she did her revolutionary work, then I realized that she had left with other interests, she went to join the revolutionary struggle of that time and after only two more letters she sent us nothing else".
Her mother remembers the night Arlen was preparing to leave, but she never suspected a thing. Her daughter was in the room with her sisters, discussing what she should and shouldn't wear. Rubia Bermúdez thought they were planning to give away some of her belongings, which was not unusual. Already during the day, she told her mother that she would sleep over with a friend of hers and that she not wait for her. Still unsuspecting, her mother says goodbye to her as usual, not knowing that it would be the last time she would see her alive. Three nights after her departure, her parents found on the first page of the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach, the letter with which her daughter said goodbye to her. "Until later, about the three days that we were waiting for her, a letter appeared where she said goodbye to us, that she was going to return here to Jinotepe very soon, but that we had patience with her, that she was leaving to improve in Nicaragua, to help people," recalls Rubia.
Extract from the poem that he left to her parents, as a farewell:
   ''To my parents…..
   Man's tenacious struggle towards perfection is true love; We are more authentic to the extent that we break down barriers and limitations, bravely and optimistically facing the vicissitudes that come our way and one day discover:
   That we are capable of giving much more than what is asked of us and that we can achieve what is forbidden or impossible for one.
   With all the love I profess to you,
   Arlene."
She went through several houses, where she was temporarily sheltered by sympathizers of the cause. As part of the strategy, Sandinistas used false names and even adopted secret languages. Arlen Siú was also known as Mireya, a pseudonym that she adopted while being clandestine. According to La Prensa, she even changed her hair from black to blonde. Before leaving to El Sauce, she and her fellow fighters tried to go unnoticed, and some changed her physical appearance as much as possible. This was in order not to be easily located and to protect those who were involved. Arlen was "adopted" into a family, where she shared one plate of food a day with her partner. The already large and poor family did not have the resources to feed more mouths. When it was evident that danger reached them, they decided to go to the mountains. They arrived at a community where two houses could barely be appreciated, and they decided that the place was ideal to protect themselves from the enemy force. Tired from the trip, injured and weak from poor nutrition, they settled right there. This makeshift camp functioned as a military training school.
Carolina Siú, recounts that her sister always sought how to take the photo with which the world would remember her and believes that she already knew that she would be a martyr. Arlen used to say that the portrait was for posterity. She took several photos and chose the famous photograph taken by Américo Gonzáles. The emblematic photo, which is an icon today, can be seen on many streets in her native country.

## Death

On 1 August 1975, the National Guard located a Sandinista training camp near the town called El Sauce. One of the members of the camp had resigned some time ago and had turned himself in to the guard, motivated by fear. But, the pressure from his family and the guard itself forced him to betray his companions, revealing his hiding place. It is not known to what extent this act of treason was intentional, but it is a fact that it had sealed their fate. Soldiers armed to the teeth, go out in search of the "guerrilleros," with the sole mission of exterminating them all. The national guard used various ground and air attacks. In this way, they managed to encircle the guerrillas, although some broke the encirclement.
Ángela Ruiz was one of the last people with whom Arlen had contact, already in the mountains, where they intended to receive their military training. She recounts that one day those young people appeared at around 4 in the morning. They greeted each other as lifelong friends and asked her to prepare something for them. Arlen asked Ángela if she could take her son to a stream. But as soon as Arlen begins to march in the direction of the stream, Ángela realizes from her other children that several army trucks were in the area, for which she tries to get Arlen to leave. She gave her son back to Ángela and said goodbye to her, saying that he would return to that place and give her son study. They hugged each other and she handed him a piece of paper, the content of which is unknown, since Angela could not read.
When Arlen and her companions are alerted to the presence of the military in the mountains, they meet to plan their retreat, aware of their clear disadvantage. From the moment they decided to become clandestine guerrillas, they knew very well that death would be a recurring visitor. Arlen, motivated by her instinct for bravery, offers to cover the retreat of her other companions, despite their attempts to convince her to run away. She hides behind a tree, to face the fate of her. A fierce fight ensued that lasted about two hours, although her weapons were weak in comparison, she managed to stay on her feet long enough for the rest to escape. One of her enemy's bullets goes through the tree where she kept refuge, and unfortunately, Arlen is mortally wounded at 11 in the morning. Mario Estrada, Hugo Arévalo and Arlen Siú fell under the bullets of the garand rifles. She was just 20 years old at that time.
The place where her remains remained, was not revealed to her relatives or her companions until, with the triumph of the Revolution in 1979, they were recovered. Along with her, the combatants Mario Estrada, Gilberto Rostrán, Julia Herrera de Pomares, Mercedes Reyes, Hugo Arévalo, Juan and Leónidas Espinoza fell. Arlen falls into the place known as El Guayabo, where she and other companions sought refuge in the houses of the peasants, but rather they were denounced for their presence. They were moving towards the Buena Vista community, when they were hit. The inhabitants of the area, afraid, leave their houses to confirm with their eyes, what they already suspected: the massacre was complete. Despite offering a Christian burial to the fallen, the guard initially refused. They are then buried in a common grave.
The remains of a young woman arrived at Rubia's house, but she knew they were not Arlen's. She took them and assured that this was not her daughter, but that she would still give them holy burial. No one believed her, but then they found her true remains and her mother had to mourn her again at a funeral. In the remains that were initially delivered to Rubia, some female bones were intermingled with longer, thicker, and clearly different male ones. "The remains of her were not all of her, they were of the boys, because they were longer. So I told the relatives what she had noticed, but they told me: 'Leave it like that, we are going to bury them because they are all like this.' The coffin contained the remains of another guerrilla, Mercedita Reyes, from León, who was a friend of Arlen's. They held a wake and mistakenly buried Mercedes and after a few days, some companions from the Sandinista Front, who had just overthrown Somoza in 1979, called her to say: "We have found your daughter this time." When she was handed over her true remains, she was able to recognize the pants that she had given to make shortly before her departure, and her bra, so she was able to confirm that this was indeed the corpse of the daughter of she. In an interview with the media, Rubia recounts that she took her daughter's skull and kissed it, finally giving closure to her bitter loss.
Her mortal remains rest in the Jinotepe Municipal Cemetery. Her gravestone has an illustration of her playing the guitar and is currently in an apparent state of neglect. Although Armando never saw her return, he was always proud of her. And since he couldn't tell her in person how he felt, he wriote her a poem. Just like when he sold love letters in China to survive, he now wrote a love letter in Chinese, which he later translated into Spanish and English, for her daughter.
Rubia Bermúdez widowed more than 20 years ago and has lost four daughters. She continues to live in the Jinotepe house where Arlen was raised. She has given numerous interviews where she enhances her daughter's memory. Similarly, she participates in tributes and activities in her honor.

## Legacy

Many in Nicaragua consider Siu one of the earliest deaths in the revolutionary movement. Her artistic works and critical essays on Marxism and feminism served as an inspiration to both the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan women's movement. Her picture was often displayed at FSLN celebrations throughout Nicaragua. Managua and El Rama have neighborhoods named after her, and a park in León is also named after her. Arlen's dream was to integrate Nicaraguan women, end poverty and ignorance, and she fought for it to the last consequences.
As a composer, she is best remembered for composing "María Rural", a song that spoke of the life of Nicaraguan mothers who lived in the countryside and in poverty. Marlene, vocalist for the group Pancasán, stated that she studied psychology with Arlen, where they met and created bonds of friendship. They had a study group made up of Arlen, Carlos Nuñez, Helio Montenegro, María Eugenia Robelo and Marlene herself. "We were one of the study groups that really studied, and Arlen and I were the best of friends. I want to say that she is the second person who inspired me to sing these songs. The first was Idania Fernández, with whom I studied and graduated, and she sang beautifully." Indiana fell in León. "She told me that she had a priest friend, who composed a song for her called Juan Pueblo, and she, in answer, he made and gave him María Rural; and when she had to leave, she gave me the lyrics, she sang them to me at home, and she recorded them for me, but unfortunately I did not keep that tape. She never sang that song in public, because the one she sang was La Caja de mi Guitarra (a song to the Spanish resistance, sung by Daniel Viglietti), which she sang at a festival in UNAN Auditorium 12, in Managua, as well as in León.
Every year, in Jinotepe, Arlen's family organizes the "Arlen Siu Music Festival", where different national singer-songwriters remember the guerrilla with their music. In Jinotepe, the street where his house is located bears the name of "Arlen Siu" in her honor.