Sandino, Augusto César (1895-1934)

Nicaraguan revolutionary and guerrilla leader. He made the mountains of northern Nicaragua his stronghold and led guerrilla resistance to the US forces occupying the country from 1912. His success in evading them and the Nicaraguan National Guard generated sympathy for his cause, and a great deal of anti-US feeling. After the withdrawal of US marines in 1933, the National Guard leader, Anastasio Somoza, arranged a meeting with him, apparently to discuss peace. This, however, was a ruse, and Sandino was murdered on Somoza's orders near Managua.

Born in Niquinohomo, La Victoria, he worked as a farmer and mining engineer before joining the Liberal revolution of 1926 against the Conservative government of Emilianu Chamorra. A Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) was set up in his name to fight the Somoza dictatorship. The Nicaraguan revolutionaries of 1979 (later known as the Sandinistas), led by Daniel Ortega, regarded him as their principal hero.