New Left Review I/117, September-October 1979

Harald Jung

The Fall of Somoza

The first decades of the 20th century saw the transformation of Nicaragua into one of the so-called banana republics of Central America; though it was not so much banana companies who took charge of the country’s political and economic destiny, as United States wood and mining interests. As the mining labour force expanded, these companies found themselves faced with a proletariat that was extremely rebellious by Central American standards, launching no less than ten armed insurrections against the US companies and their puppet governments between 1914 and 1925, in union with sections of the peasantry and national bourgeoisie, as well as a large number of major strikes.

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