19 de Julio

This past week was the anniversary of one of Nicaragua’s most significant moments. On July 19, 1979, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) entered Managua after kicking out the Somoza dictatorship following years of armed struggle. The Sandinista guerillas were hailed as liberators and given a heroes’ welcome upon arriving to the capital city where thousands greeted them with a massive celebration in the plaza near Managua’s old cathedral. Well, 31 years later that party still continues!
After a 16 year hiatus (1990-2006), the Sandinista party is now in power again. Regardless of opinions of the current brand of Sandinismo, thousands of Nicaraguans from all over the country turn out to celebrate the anniversary of the Revolution. As this event is in memory of such an influential moment in Nicaraguan history, I decided to join some friends to see what all the excitement was about. There was a slight problem though; on the eve of the 19th, we found ourselves hours from Managua, in a small mountain village in the department of Madriz in the north of Nicaragua. I had gone out of town for the weekend with some friends to get some fresh mountain air, cool weather, and just get out of the city for a few days. It was well over six hours by bus to get back to the capital, and as we found out, there would be no public transportation on the 19th! All the buses were being hired by the government to bring people from around the country to the celebration in Managua. Options were to stay in Madriz an extra day and wait for the buses to return to normal schedule, or to try and find a ride to Managua on the 19th one way or another! We all had to work on Tuesday the 20th, so we decided to ask around town and see if there’d be a way to catch a ride. As it turned out, we talked with the people organizing the buses going to the plaza and they said if we were there ready to go at 4 am they’d be happy to have us come along! What luck!
We got up at 3:30 in the morning after a few fitful hours of sleep (people were already celebrating with fireworks and singing on the streets throughout the night) and made our way to the bus stop. I think everyone in the small town we were visiting knew everyone else, so we got a few strange looks as we climbed on the bus, but after chatting a bit with our fellow travelers we felt right at home. The whole trip to Managua was an unforgettable experience. The small town we left from sent four buses, but this was just one little mountain hamlet. There were buses carrying people in from all over the country! All the buses from the northern departments met up and caravanned together. This meant that there were literally hundreds of buses traveling together towards Managua. We would pull over for pit stops and I could look as far up the line and as far back as I could see and the line just went on and on! There were people riding on top of buses, packed to standing room only inside, and even some hanging off the back as we made our way south. People along the way were out in front of their houses watching the parade go by and waving; I didn’t have to try to hard to take myself back 31 years and imagine what it must have been like for Nicaraguans in July 1979.
When we finally made it to the plaza, I was overwhelmed with the number of people present. We walked around taking in the crowds and finally found a relatively quiet place in front of the old cathedral. We took a seat and just watched the people passing and the fireworks going off. I chatted with one man who told me he had fought in the insurrection in the late 70’s. “I helped liberate this country,” he said, tears nearly coming to his eyes. He also criticized the current government for losing the spirit of the Revolution of the 1980’s. The whole celebration was clearly a big Sandinista event, though, so I asked him what he was doing celebrating there if he didn’t agree with the way things are going. “Look,” he told me, “you don’t have to be Sandinista to celebrate “El Triunfo.” I’m not here to support the president, I am here to remember the struggle and the victory we achieved as a country. Anyone can celebrate that.” I liked what he had to say and I wished him well before we split ways.
Going to the plaza was worthwhile for me to see a bit of such an historic moment in Nicaragua. While it felt to me in many ways like a political event for the Sandinista government, it was also eye-opening to see so many Nicaraguans from all over the nation together to remember one of their countries most defining moments. And to cap it off, we scored a free ride from Madriz to Managua thanks to the celebration, so it was well worth our while to check it out!