Bernard Diederich > Quotes

“Sandino proved to the world that a "people's army" could resist every effort of the most modern military machine.”
― Bernard Diederich, Somoza and the Legacy of U.S. Involvement in Central America

“The United States Marines were in Nicaragua in force again. When the United States became a world power after the Spanish-American War it began to concern itself with territorial prerogatives in policy toward Latin America. They point was to keep European powers out of the area. While the ostensible reason for American intervention was to protect American lives and property and the rights of United States creditors, the main concern was maintaining security in the Caribbean and Central America. That mean keeping in power governments that were favorable to United States interests.

Each time the United States intervened in Latin America the invaded country's strategic proximity to the Panama Canal was cited. Also publicized, virtually to the point of preaching missionary work, was the fact that the country's finances would be reorganized and a responsible armed force created to ensure democracy and constitutional order. The United States Marine Corps became pistol packing zealots carrying the faith to the infidels. Ironically, the Marines' actual legacy to Nicaragua was one of the most long-lived repressive regimes in Latin American history.”
― Bernard Diederich, Somoza and the Legacy of U.S. Involvement in Central America

“Sandino dismissed all the married men in his army and wen to the hills...His men reverently called him San Digno (The Worthy Saint). When he went into battle he hung extra cartridge belts around his neck, shined up his puttees and stuck a jungle flower into his shovel-shaped cowboy hat.

The Nicaraguan Government could not stop him. Five thousand U.S. Marines chased him for five years, killed nearly 1,000 of his followers, reported him dead a score of times, but never laid hands on him. U.S. newspapers uniformly called him "bandit." But what Sandino wanted, and what he finally got in January 1933, was the withdrawal of all U.S. Marines from Nicaragua.”
― Bernard Diederich, Somoza and the Legacy of U.S. Involvement in Central America

“American dominance of Nicaraguan politics finally led Sandino to an explicit rejection of American imperialism and his historic struggle became a working model for guerrilla action by worldwide revolutionary movements for the next fifty years. It also marked the first time American intervention experienced defeat in Latin America.”
― Bernard Diederich, Somoza and the Legacy of U.S. Involvement in Central America

“Somoza admitted that he had issued the order to have Sandino murdered after receiving the approval of the American minister. The minister hotly denied any involvement in the plot and and the State department issued a statement disclaiming any part in Sandino's death.”
― Bernard Diederich, Somoza and the Legacy of U.S. Involvement in Central America