Augusto César Sandino Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino ; May 18 , 1895 – February 21 , 1934 ) , also known as Augusto César Sandino , ( , was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the U . S . military occupation of Nicaragua . He was referred to as a " bandit " by the United States government ; his exploits made him a hero throughout much of Latin America , where he became a symbol of resistance to United States ' domination . Drawing units of the United States Marine Corps into an undeclared guerrilla war , his insurgents never defeated the Americans in battle . The United States troops withdrew from the country in 1933 after overseeing the election and inauguration of President Juan Bautista Sacasa , who had returned from exile . The re - call of the Marines was largely due to the Great Depression . Sandino was assassinated in 1934 by National Guard forces of Gen . Anastasio Somoza García , who went on to seize power in a " coup d ' état " two years later . After being elected by an overwhelming vote as president in 1936 , Somoza Garcia resumed control of the National Guard and established a dictatorship and family dynasty that would rule Nicaragua for more than 40 years . Sandino ' s political legacy was claimed by the Sandinista National Liberation Front ( FSLN ) , which finally overthrew the Somoza government in 1979 . Sandino is revered in Nicaragua , and in 2010 was unanimously named a " national hero " by the nation ' s congress . Sandino ' s political descendants , along with the icons of his wide - brimmed hat and boots , and influence of his writings from the years of warfare against the U . S . Marines , continue to help shape the national identity of Nicaragua . Early life . Augusto Calderón Sandino was born May 18 , 1895 , in Niquinohomo . Born out of wedlock , he was the son of Gregorío Sandino , a wealthy landowner , and Margarita Calderón , a servant with the Sandino family . Sandino lived with his mother until the age of nine , when his father took him into his own home . His father arranged for his son ' s education . In July 1912 , when he was 17 , Sandino witnessed the first intervention of United States troops in Nicaragua , to put down an uprising against President Adolfo Díaz , regarded by many as a United States puppet . The Liberal Gen . Benjamín Zeledón died that year on October 4 during the Battle of Coyotepe Hill , when United States Marines recaptured Fort Coyotepe and the city of Masaya from rebels . Zeledón ' s body was carried on an oxcart by the Marines to be buried in Catarina . Sandino retained a vivid recollection of Zeledón ' s face . Assault and exile in Mexico . In 1921 at the age of 26 , Sandino attacked and tried to kill Dagoberto Rivas , the son of a prominent conservative townsman , who had made disparaging comments about Sandino ' s mother . Sandino fled to Honduras , then Guatemala and eventually Mexico , where he found work at a Standard Oil refinery near the port of Tampico . At that time the military phase of the Mexican Revolution was drawing to an end . A new " institutional revolutionary " regime was forming , driven by a wide array of popular movements to carry out the provisions of the 1917 Constitution . Sandino was involved with Seventh - day Adventists , spiritist gurus and anti - imperialist , anarchist and communist revolutionaries . He embraced the anti - clericalism of Mexico ' s revolution and the ideology of " indigenismo , " which glorified the indigenous heritage of Latin America . In 1926 , Sandino returned to Nicaragua , after the statute of limitations ran out on the charges against him . He found work as a clerk at the San Albino gold mine , located in the Segovias mountains near the northern border with Honduras . Emergence as guerrilla leader . Shortly after Sandino returned to Nicaragua , the Constitutionalist War began when Liberal soldiers in the Caribbean port of Puerto Cabezas revolted against the Conservative President Adolfo Díaz . He was recently installed after a coup as a result of United States pressure . The leader of this revolt , Gen . José María Moncada , declared that he supported the claim of the exiled Liberal vice - president Juan Bautista Sacasa . Sacasa returned to Nicaragua , arriving in Puerto Cabezas in December , and declared himself president of a " constitutional " government , which was recognized by Mexico . Sandino assembled a makeshift army composed largely of gold miners , and led a failed attack on the Conservative garrison nearest the San Albino mine . Afterward , he travelled to Puerto Cabezas to meet with Moncada . Because of the guerrilla ' s hit - and - run operations against Conservative forces , conducted independently of the Liberal army , Moncada distrusted Sandino and told Sacasa of his feelings . Sacasa denied the unknown Sandino ' s requests for weapons and a military commission . But , after the insurgent captured some rifles from fleeing Conservative soldiers , the other Liberal commanders agreed to grant Sandino a commission . By 1927 Sandino had returned to the Segovias , where he recruited local peasants for his army and attacked government troops with increasing success . In April , Sandino ' s forces played a vital role in assisting the principal Liberal Army column , which was advancing on Managua . Having received arms and funding from Mexico , the Liberal army of Gen . Moncada seemed on the verge of seizing the capital . But the U . S . , using the threat of military intervention , forced the Liberal generals to agree to a cease - fire . On May 4 , 1927 , representatives from the two warring factions signed the Espino Negro accord , negotiated by Henry Stimson , appointed by the U . S . President Calvin Coolidge as a special envoy to Nicaragua . Under the terms of the accord , both sides agreed to disarm , Díaz would be allowed to finish his term , and a new national army would be established , to be called the Guardia Nacional ( National Guard ) . U . S . soldiers were to remain in the country to supervise the upcoming November presidential election . Later , a battalion of U . S . Marines under the command of Gen . Logan Feland arrived to enforce the agreement . After the signing of the Espino Negro accord , Sandino refused to order his followers to surrender their weapons , and returned with them to the Segovias . Marriage and family . During this period , Sandino married Blanca Arauz , a young telegraphist of the village of San Rafael del Norte . She was related to Ambrosia Ubeda of the same village . Declaring war on the US . At the beginning of July 1927 , Sandino issued a manifesto condemning the betrayal of the Liberal revolution by the " " vendepatria " " ( country - seller ) Moncada . He declared war on the U . S . , which he described as the " Colossus of the North " and " the enemy of our race " . ' At the height of his guerrilla campaign , Sandino claimed to have some 3 , 000 soldiers in his army ; in later years , officials estimated the number at 300 . Later that month on July 27 , Sandino ' s followers attacked a patrol of U . S . Marines and Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional sent to apprehend him at the village of Ocotal . Armed primarily with machetes and 19th - century rifles , they attempted to besiege the Marines , but were easily repulsed with the help of one of the first dive - bombing attacks in history , conducted by five Marine de Havilland biplanes . The Marine commander estimated that 300 of Sandino ' s men died ( the number was about 80 ) , while the Marines suffered two casualties , one dead and one wounded , and the Guardia three dead and four taken prisoner . Despite their heavy losses and the lopsided nature of these battles , the rebels did make other attempts to swarm a small post guarded by 21 Marines and 25 guardsmen at Telpaneca . The 200 assaulting Sadinistas lost 25 killed and 50 wounded while killing 1 Marine , wounding another and a third guardsman who was seriously injured . Later , Sandino took the more official title of : Augusto César Sandino and renamed his insurgents , " The Army in Defense of the National Sovereignty of Nicaragua " . Efforts by the Marines to kill or capture Sandino over the summer failed . In November 1927 , U . S . aircraft succeeded in locating El Chipote , Sandino ' s remote mountain headquarters east of San Albino Mine . But , when the Marines reached it , they found the quarters abandoned and guarded by straw dummies , Sandino and his followers having long since escaped . In January 1928 , U . S . Marines successfully located Sandino ' s war base in Quilali and though they were ambushed in their approach , the American and Nicaraguan troops had no trouble in routing the 400 rebels under the leadership of Francisco Estrada . The Marines lost one man while killing 20 . Sandino ' s own nature for over - exaggeration was evident in his personal report of the events . Sandino claimed having won the battle in three hours and that ninety seven Americans were killed with another sixty wounded . In reality there were only sixty six Marines in the operation . His further boasting claimed the capture of six Lewis machine guns , three M1A1 Thompsons and forty six Lewis automatic rifles . Also among these trophies was a codebook for communicating with aircraft . After reaching the mountains of Nueva Segovia , Sandino smuggled a message to Mexico City saying : I will not abandon my resistance until the . . . pirate invaders . . . assassins of weak peoples . . " are expelled from my country . . . . I will make them realize that their crimes will cost them dear . . . . There will be bloody combat . . . . " Nicaragua shall not be the patrimony of Imperialists . I will fight for my cause as long as my heart beats . . . . If through destiny I should lose , there are in my arsenal five tons of dynamite which I will explode with my own hand . The noise of the cataclysm will be heard 250 miles . All who hear will be witness that Sandino is dead . Let it not be permitted that the hands of traitors or invaders shall profane his remains . " Evading detection , Sandino surprised the Marines by moving southward and raiding the coffee plantations of Matagalpa and Jinotega . In February 1928 , the journalist Carlton Beals interviewed him in the town of San Rafael del Norte . The interview , published in " The Nation " , was the only one Sandino ever granted to a North American journalist . Afterward , Sandino and his forces moved to the east toward the Mosquito Coast . In April the Sandinistas destroyed the equipment of the Bonanza and La Luz gold mines , the two largest mines in the country , which were both owned by three American brothers : James Gilmore , G . Fred , and D . Watson Fletcher , all of Manhattan , who were brothers of the US Ambassador to Italy , Henry Prather Fletcher . After destroying the two mines of the Fletcher brothers , Sandino wrote that he was targeting not just U . S . Marines , but also North Americans within Nicaragua who " uphold the attitude of Coolidge . " With aerial support , the Marines made several riverine patrols from the east coast of Nicaragua up the Río Coco during the height of the rainy season , frequently having to use native dugout canoes . While these patrols limited the movements of Sandino ' s forces and secured tenuous control over the principal river of northern Nicaragua , the Marines failed to locate Sandino or to effect a decisive victory . By April 1928 , the Marines reportedly thought Sandino was finished and trying to evade capture . One month later , Sandino ' s army ambushed another Marine post and killed five troops . In December 1928 , the Marines located Sandino ' s mother and convinced her to write a letter asking him to surrender . Sandino announced that he would continue to fight until the U . S . Marines left Nicaragua . Despite massive efforts , American forces never captured Sandino . His communiqués were regularly published in American media ; for instance , he was frequently quoted during 1928 in " TIME Magazine " during the Marines ' offensive ( see cites ) . At one point , he staged a fake funeral to throw off pursuers . The U . S . Congress did not share President Coolidge ' s ambition to capture Sandino and declined to fund operations for doing so . The U . S . Senator Burton Wheeler from Montana argued that , if American soldiers intended to " stamp out banditry , let ' s send them to Chicago to stamp it out there . . . I wouldn ' t sacrifice . . . one American boy for all the damn Nicaraguans . " Efforts at winning recognition . The struggle . Having addressed his declaration of war to the whole of the " Indo - Hispanic race " , Sandino portrayed his struggle in racial terms , as the defense not only of Nicaragua but of the whole of Latin America . At the beginning of his rebellion , Sandino appointed the Honduran poet , journalist and diplomat , Froylán Turcios , as his official foreign representative . Residing in Tegucigalpa , Turcios received and distributed Sandino ' s communiques , manifestos and reports ; he also acted as his liaison to sympathizers who provided him with arms and volunteers . Working with a number of prominent Nicaraguan exiles , Turcios sought to build support for Sandino ' s struggle in other Central American nations and in Mexico , which had backed the Liberals during the Constitutionalist War . In Mexico , Sandino ' s principal representative was the Nicaraguan exile Pedro Zepeda , who had previously served as the liaison between Sacasa and the Mexican government . Sandino ' s principal demands were the resignation of President Díaz , withdrawal of U . S . troops , new elections to be supervised by Latin American countries , and the abrogation of the Bryan - Chamorro Treaty ( which gave the U . S . the exclusive right to build a canal across Nicaragua ) . In October 1928 , José María Moncada was elected as president , in a process supervised by the US , which proved a major setback for Sandino ' s claim to be acting in defense of the Liberal revolution . Prior to the election , Sandino had attempted , with three other marginal factions , to organize a " [ junta ] " to be headed by Zepeda . In an organizing pact , Sandino took the role of Generalissimo and the sole military authority of the republic . Following the election of Moncada , Sandino ruled out negotiations with his former rival and declared the elections unconstitutional . In an attempt to outmaneuver the general , Sandino expanded his demands to include the restoration of the United Provinces of Central America . He made this demand a central component of his political platform . In a letter he wrote in March 1929 to the Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen , " Plan for Realizing Bolívar ' s Dream " , Sandino outlined a more ambitious political project . He proposed a conference in Buenos Aires to be attended by all Latin American nations , which would work toward their political unification as an entity he called the " Indo - Latin American Continental and Antillean Federation " . He proposed that the unified entity would resist further domination by the U . S . and be able to ensure that the proposed Nicaraguan Canal would remain under Latin American control . Solidarity with foreign nations . As Sandino ' s success grew , he began to receive symbolic gestures of support from the Soviet Union and the Comintern . The Pan - American Anti - Imperialist League , supervised by the South American Bureau of the Comintern , issued a number of statements in support of Sandino . Within the United States , the U . S . branch of the Anti - Imperialist League publicized opposition to the actions of the US government in Nicaragua . Sandino ' s half - brother Sócrates , who lived in New York , was featured as a speaker at several rallies against American involvement in Nicaragua , which were organized by the League and the U . S . Communist Party . The Sixth World Congress of the Comintern , meeting in Moscow in the summer of 1928 , issued a statement " expressing solidarity with the workers and peasants of Nicaragua and the heroic army of national emancipation of General Sandino " . In China , a division of the Kuomingtang army that seized Beijing in 1928 was named " the Sandino brigade . " The following June , Sandino appointed a representative to the Second Congress of the World Anti - Imperialist League in Frankfurt , which was also attended by Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Madame Sun Yat - sen of China . Year ' s exile in Mexico . Sandino ' s relations with Turcios soured , as Turcios disliked the Junta proposal . Sandino criticized him for siding with Honduras in a border dispute with Guatemala , which Sandino saw as a distraction from the goal of Central American unification . Conflict between the two men led Turcios to resign in January 1929 , which resulted in cutting off the flow of arms to Sandino ' s forces and leaving them increasingly isolated from potential supporters outside Nicaragua . Sandino ' s army suffered a major blow in February 1929 when Gen . Manuel Maria Jiron , who masterminded his raids , was captured by U . S . Marines . More defeats for Sandino ' s army at the hands of the Marines soon followed . In an effort to secure military and financial support , Sandino wrote letters appealing to various Latin American leaders . Sandino looked for aid from revolutionary Mexico , but the country had taken an anti - communist turn under the " de facto " ruler Plutarco Elías Calles . After failing to negotiate his surrender in exchange for a withdrawal of U . S . troops , the Mexican President Emilio Portes offered Sandino asylum . The leading guerrilla left Nicaragua in June 1929 . In the political climate of the " Maximato , " Sandino ' s radicalism was unwelcome . To appease the U . S . , the Mexican government confined Sandino to the city of Mérida . Living at a hotel , Sandino was still able to maintain contact with his supporters . He traveled to Mexico City and met with Portes Gil , but his request for support was quickly rebuffed . The Mexican Communist Party offered to pay for Sandino to travel to Europe , but the offer was withdrawn after he refused to issue a statement condemning the Mexican government . In April 1930 , as Sandino ' s relations with the Communists grew increasingly cool , they leaked information suggesting that Sandino was critical of Portes Gil ' s government . Put at risk in Mexico , Sandino left the country and returned to Nicaragua . EMECU . During his period in Mexico , he had become a member of the Magnetic - Spiritualist School of the Universal Commune ( EMECU ) . Founded in Buenos Aires in 1911 by Joaquín Trincado , a Basque electrician , the EMECU blended the political ideals of anarchism with a cosmology which was an idiosyncratic synthesis of Zoroastrianism , Kabbalah and Spiritism . Rejecting both capitalism and Bolshevism , Trincado ' s brand of communism was based on a " spiritism of Light and Truth , " which he believed would supersede all existing religions in the final stage of human history . This stage , which would arise from the political conflicts of the 20th century , would be the time of the founding of the " universal commune " , in which private property and the state would be abolished , the hatred caused by false religions would disappear , and all of humanity would be part of one race ( Hispanic ) and speak one language ( Spanish ) . Although Sandino had communicated with Trincado only through a series of letters , after his return to Nicaragua , his manifestos and his personal affiliations were increasingly shaped by his applying the ideals of the EMECU . He named Tricado as one of his official representatives and replaced the former seal ( with an image of a campesino beheading a U . S . Marine ) with the symbol of EMECU . His distrust of his former Communist associates led him to break off relations with Farabundo Martí , A Salvadoran who was formerly one of his most trusted lieutenants , and accused Martí of spying for the Communists . In February 1931 , Sandino issued his " Manifesto of Light and Truth " , which reflected a new millenarian tone in his beliefs . The manifesto proclaimed the coming of the Last Judgment , a time of " the destruction of injustice on the earth and the reign of the Spirit of Light and Truth , that is , Love . " He said that Nicaragua had been chosen to play a central role in this struggle , and his army was an instrument of divine justice . " The honor has fallen to us , brothers , that in Nicaragua we have been chosen by Divine Justice to begin the prosecution of injustice on earth . " U . S . withdrawal , Sandino ' s death . Although Sandino had been unable to secure any outside aid for his forces , the Great Depression made overseas military expeditions too costly for the U . S . In January 1931 Henry Stimson , then Secretary of State , announced that all U . S . soldiers in Nicaragua would be withdrawn following the 1932 election in the country . The newly created Nicaraguan National Guard ( " Guardia Nacional " ) , which continued to be commanded by U . S . officers , took over responsibility for controlling insurgencies . In May 1931 , an earthquake destroyed Managua , killing over 2 , 000 people . The disruption and losses due to the earthquake weakened the central government and gave Sandino leverage to revive his fight with the Americans . Over the summer of 1931 , Sandinista bands were active in every department north of Managua , conducting raids into the southern and western parts of the country , the departments of Estelí , León and Chontales . Although they managed to briefly occupy several towns along the nation ' s principal railroad , linking Managua to the Pacific coastal port of Corinto , Sandino ' s army did not try to capture any of the nation ' s urban centers . It briefly occupied some smaller cities , such as Chinandega . In accordance with the Good Neighbor Policy , the last U . S . Marines left Nicaragua in January 1933 , following the inauguration of Juan Bautista Sacasa as the country ' s president . During the Marines ' tour of duty in Nicaragua , they had lost 130 men killed . After the Marines departed , Sandino said , " I salute the American people " and vowed he would never attack a working - class American who visited Nicaragua . Sandino met with Sacasa in Managua in February 1934 , during which he pledged his loyalty to the President and agreed to order his forces to surrender their weapons within three months . In exchange , Sacasa agreed to give the soldiers who surrendered arms squatters rights on land in the Coco River Valley , require that the area be guarded by 100 Sandinista fighters under the government ' s orders , and give preference in employment to Sandinistas on public works in northern Nicaragua . Sandino remained opposed to the Nicaraguan National Guard , which he considered unconstitutional because of its ties to the U . S . military . He insisted on the Guard ' s dissolution . Given his attitude toward General Anastasio Somoza García , the National Guard leader , and his officers , Sandino was not popular with the rank - and - file National Guard troops . Without consulting Sacasa , Somoza Garcia ordered Sandino ' s assassination , hoping the act would help win him loyalty among the Guard ' s senior officers . Death . On February 21 , 1934 , Sandino was ambushed by the National Guard , together with his father , brother Socrates , two of his favorite generals , Estranda and Umanzor ; and the poet Sofonías Salvatierra ( who was Sacasa ' s Minister of Agriculture ) , while leaving a new round of talks with Sacasa . Leaving Sacasa ' s Presidential Palace , the six men were stopped in their car at the main gate by local National Guardsmen and ordered to leave their car . The Guardsmen brushed aside Sandino ' s father and Salvatierra . They took Sandino , his brother Socrates , and his two generals to a crossroads section in La Reynaga and executed them . Sandino ' s remains were buried in the Larreynaga neighborhood of Managua by a detachment of National Guard troops under the command of Maj . Rigoberto Duarte , one of Gen . Somoza Garcia ' s confidantes . ( He was the father of Roberto Duarte Solis , Minister of Social Communication during President Arnoldo Aleman ' s tenure . ) The following day the National Guard attacked Sandino ' s army in force and , over a month , destroyed it . Two years later , General Somoza García forced Sacasa to resign and declared himself President of Nicaragua . He established a dictatorship and dynasty that dominated Nicaragua for the next four decades . The full details of Sandino ' s assassination and what became of his remains are among Nicaragua ' s most enduring mysteries . After he was executed , witnesses later claimed to have seen the Guardsmen prod Sandino and the other three captives with him to the ground and fire a number of shots into their bodies before burying them . Sandino ' s followers are said to have located his body and moved it , reburying him . His body was never found again . According to Sandinista lore , Gen . Somoza ' s assassins decapitated and dismembered Sandino before delivering his head to the U . S . government as a token of loyalty . Legacy . Sandino became a hero to many leftists in Nicaragua and much of Latin America as a Robin Hood figure who opposed domination from wealthy elites and foreigners , such as the United States . His opposition to American control was tempered by the love he said he felt toward Americans like himself . His picture and silhouette , complete with the oversized cowboy hat , were adopted as recognized symbols of the Sandinista National Liberation Front , originally founded in 1961 by Carlos Fonseca and Tomás Borge , among others , and later led by Daniel Ortega . Sandino was idolized by other leftists in Latin America , such as Che Guevara , Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez . His brand of guerrilla warfare was effectively used by Castro , FARC in Colombia , the Sandinistas , and the FMLN in El Salvador . In 1979 Somoza ' s son , Anastasio Somoza Debayle , was overthrown by the Sandinistas , political descendants of Sandino . In the 1980s , they renamed Managua International Airport after him as " Augusto C . Sandino International Airport . " Pro - Somoza President Arnoldo Alemán renamed it Managua International Airport in 2001 after coming to power . In 2007 , President Daniel Ortega renamed again the airport in honor of Sandino . Nicaraguan artist Róger Pérez de la Rocha has created many portraits of Sandino — whose image was banned by the Somoza dictatorship — and of his associates , adding to the country ' s iconography . Quotes . Come on you pack of drug fiends , come on and murder us on our own land . I am waiting for you on my feet at the head of my patriotic soldiers , and I don ' t care how many of you there are . You should know that when this happens , the destruction of your mighty power will make the Capitol shake in Washington , and your blood will redden the white dome that crowns the famous White House where you plot your crimes . ( quoted in Zimmermann )