07.03.08 The Nicaraguan Revolution of ‘79
I was searching for photos of Nicaragua on Flickr in hopes that they would jolt the deepest recesses of my memory of that indefinable country (I have no photographs of it because I didn’t have a camera with me while I was traveling there), and I stumbled upon this collection of the revolution (and also some photos of the proceeding years leading up to the Contra War) by Marcelo Montecino. This first one in particular, which immortalizes a soldier who had just returned from the front, is my favourite because of the juxtaposition of violence and innocence: the baby, and then the rifle; and the smile on the father’s face. The rest of the selected photos will show you that the revolution wasn’t just the story of men, but of their women and children, too.
However, history has clearly proven that revolutions tend to go wrong along the way, and the Nicaraguan revolution was hardly an exception, as was Cuba’s, no matter how many people go touting Che Guevara with his beret on their chests. As a reminder, I’ve got a t-shirt of the Che wearing Bart Simpson on his chest, a cartoon strip by Matthew Diffee for The New Yorker (you can buy your own here). I don’t have to tell you, I love the irony.
When all is said and done, there is a certain dangerous romance in the idea of revolution, the possibilities of change it induces you to want to believe in, which is obviously why so many people sign up to it in the first place. And well, I guess that’s what these following photos illustrate: the romance, the idealism and the camaraderie… but also the more inhumane parts of it, like putting rifles into the hands of children.
This blog is edited by Emily Ding, a 23-year-old Malaysian who has just returned from spending a year in Central America & Cuba traveling, learning español, teaching English, dancing salsa, and working when she wanted extra money, so some of the information offered here will sometimes - inevitably - be informed by a Malaysian perspective, and perhaps also a bit of a Westernized outlook since she spent three years in London studying and three years in Melbourne before that. Feel free to dispute anything.
HI! Its me again! I really like what you wrote and i think it is very true. My parents were young during the revolution, in thier ealry twenties or late teens, and they had a lot of friends and cousins (as well as themselves) caught up in it. My dad lost cousins as young as 15 years old and many friends too. Unfortunately much of the things promised go unaccomplished as corruption and greed prevail. Men, women, and children all sacrificed in hopes of a better life and a better country. Too many, though, gave the ultimate sacrifice in vain.
On a lighter note… I do live in the U.S. i live in San Francisco my brother in L.A. but we would both like to contribute in any way that we can.
David Ruiz
23 Apr 08 at 6:41 am