The northern highlands is where Nicaragua’s left-wing nationalist movement was first conceived by icon Augusto Cesar Sandino in the 20’s and 30’s and where the Sandinista movement first took hold in the 70’s. Armed with machetes and rifles manufactured in the 19th century, Sandino and his militia declared war on the United States. In 1927 they attacked an American marine base in the city of Ocotal, provoking the United States to carry out the world’s first ever air raid. Foreshadowing the revolutionary spirit that was to take hold there in the 70’s, Sandino’s little army carried out raids in Esteli and the coffee-growing regions of Matagalpa and Jinotega.
Following the inauguration of Juan Bautista Sacasa, Sandino’s followers who pledged loyalty to the new president were offered amnesty and were given land in Jinotega on which to settle with their families. These good relations ended, however, when Anastasio Somoza Garcia ousted Sacasa and took over the presidency. The start of this four decade dictatorship was what would eventually lead to the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), named in honor of the failed revolutionary.
The FSLN was founded by Carlos Fonseca in 1961. Like his ideological predecessor, Fonseca was born out of wedlock. His childhood home in Matagalpa has been turned into a museum and can be visited today. Matagalpa was later to become the first city to be taken over by the Terceristas, an anti-Somoza movement led by current president Daniel Ortega, that later joined forces with the FSLN. This was in September of 1978, and was followed by attacks on Managua, Chinandega, Masaya, Leon and Esteli. Esteli saw much violence during the overthrow of the Somoza regime and a poignant tribute to revolutionaries who lost their lives can be seen today in the Gallery of Heroes and Martyrs. The city continues to be the most pro-Sandinista town in northern Nicaragua.