Bandit or Patriot?-"Sir Galahad" Sandino

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 March 1928, Page 9

Bandit or Patriot? - "Sir Galahad" Sandino

Nicaraguan Who Describes Himself as an “Indian, Bloodthirsty and Cruel and Anxious Kill Some Americans.”

■ ITH strumming of guitars, clinking of wine-cups, and bandying of jest and song, Augusto Calderon Sandino was being entertained by his compatriot, General Jose Maria Moncada, a pro-American political leader, who was anxious to win over the ardent young countryman to his own banner. Moncada s idea, was, according to Salomon de la Selva, who tells the story in Phe Nation,” that it was foolish to struggle against the inevitable, and that ‘‘Nicaragua Liberals should offer the almighty Americans more than the Con-, servatives had ever offered.” Hence he “preached submission to the United .States.” Sandino had been stripped of his farm, as a consequence of the American financial control, relates Mr. de la Selva, and had gone to work in 'the mines of northern Nicaragua. “Known already as an earnest, capable .and attractive young man, with wide {influence among the people, he seemed 'to Moncada a good catch and an easy one,” we are told. The General “approached Sandino with guile. The story of his attempt to win him as a 'lieutenant reads like a troubadour's tale. Moncada on a certain evening arranged a party for Sandino. Cususa, a native liquor of fine quality, flowed freely.”- And then we are told about the guitars, and the songs and stories, leading up to the “opportune hour” at which an old woman brought in a pretty native girl, hardly more than a child, whom Moncada, with a flowery speech, proceeded to present to his guest, in something of the pagan spirit of the declining days of the Roman Empire. In proffering the maiden to Sandino, the host implied explicitly that Sandino was to represent “my policies” in that part of the country. We are told that “the girl, a frightened child of thirteen, was in tears,” and that Sandino jumped up, exclaiming: “This girl is the embodiment of Nicaragua. She shall not be yours, o.r any man’s, to violate or give away.”

And with that, the narrative continues, “he put the girl on his horse and rode off into the darkness. Toward daw'll he arrived at a convent of the Sisters of Mercy. The girl has since become Sister Maria Augusta, ’ and “from that day Augusto Calderon Sandino was a man at. whose name the politicians quaked,” while his phrase identifying the rescued maiden with Nicaragua “became a slogan.’’

That story crystallises one side of the legendary repute of General Sandino, whose reported death from a bomb (during an airplane raid by the US marines) lacks confirmation, and appears to be doubted by the American military authorities in Managua. Dead or alive, however, Sandino presents a picturesque figure and a twosided reputation While his followers and admirers link iiis name with those of Bolivar and Washington, reports from American sources have described him as a “bandit,” as being veiy cruel,” as "a small-time Caesar,” and SO forth. Also he is alleged to use an

official seal depicting a Nicaraguan soldier in the act of decapitating an American marine, or scalping him, 01 something. According to an editorial in the Dayton (Ohio) “Journal,” “he seems to be a combination of Trotzky, Sitting Bull, and Aguinaldo.” The Cleveland “Plain Dealer” says of him: “General Sandino and his at my occupy a small portion of Nueva Segovia, which is one of the twelve States of Nicaragua. It is large in area, but it is altogether a mountain wilderness and contains less than (■ per cent, of the total population of the republic. The territory occupied by Sandino comprises only a small part of the State of Nueva Segovia, and it is a liberal estimate that only

?, or 4 per ceut. of the total Nicaraguan population inhabit the inaccessible mountain jungles where Sandino has set up his burlesque ‘republic.

It was Major-General Lejeune, commandant of the Marine Corps, who described Sandino as a “small-time Caesar,” adding that he “would rather be a big frog in a little puddle, up in North-west Nicaragua, than a respected but otherwise unimportant citizen in Managua.” Sandino described himself m a proclamation, a copy of which has been sent to Marine Corps headquarters, as “Augusto Caesar Sandino; an Indian, bloodthirsty and cruel, and anxious to kill some Americans.” Sandino is about twenty-eight years old and has been convicted of a violent crime in Masaya, Marine Corps intelligence, records say. He escaped into Mexico after his conviction and joined Villa and was a member of Villa’s raiding party at Columbus. New .Mexico. Marine Corps reports say that, lie carries many flags, all with a black ami red background with skull and crossbones worked into the red and black. He has trumpeters who worry marine patrols by sounding regular army calls close to encampments, often .causing . the entire detach-

ment to fall in ready for action by sounding “To Arms” almost under the marine tents.

The young bandit has earned the wholesome respect of the men who are trying to capture him, marine officers say. He has unusual power over the illiterate Nicaraguans, and habitually makes long speeches to them. His proclamations are full of military terms and have a strong appeal to the Indians and negroes among the population of Northwest Nicaragua. Sandino declined to lay down his arms last July under the agreement negotiated by Henry L. Stimson, peisonal representative of President Coolidge. He withdrew to the mountain, picking up men along the way, and organised a sort of republic which at first he called “the mountain people. He called himself “the wild beast of the mountain.”

The rebel’leader became a picturesque figure, always riding a white mule and using a highly decorated saddle. He started the coinage of gold and lead currency, the coins bearing the designs of Indians and himself. He captured the San Albino mine, worked it for a while, paying the labourers with his own coins, and eventually destroyed the mine when he could no longer work it.

Among laws promulgated by Sandino was one providing the death penalty for any man who sold liquor to his soldiers or the burning of her property for any woman guilty of this crime. His prohibition law, however, was discontinued upon the demands of his soldiers for liquor, and American marine officers assert his men are usually under the influence of liquor when fighting. Sandino has also issued decrees, confiscating all property of foreigners and cancelling all concessions.

General Jose Moncada, leader of the Liberal Party, who first made Sandino a General, and Sandino’s own father, made a trip to the mountains to ask him to lay down his arms, but he refused to listen and even threatened the emissaries. He looks upon the Liberals who signed the Stimson agreement as traitors to Nicaragua. General Moncada described Sandino as very cruel, always killing his prisoners, but a general who. always gave a good account of himself in battle.