Nicaragua: The Collapse of the Dictatorship (1979)

In 1936, A. Somoza, with the support of the United States, carried out a coup d'état and seized power;

a brutal military-police dictatorship was established in Nicaragua;

the decisive force in the defeat of the dictatorial regime was the Sandinista National Liberation Front, which emerged in 1961; the FSLN waged a long struggle against the Somoza regime and the dominance of American monopolies;

on July 19, 1979, under the blows of patriots, the Somoza dictatorship collapsed;

the dictator fled the country.

Soldiers of the Somoza National Guard with machine guns patrol the road; searches, checks documents; a boy looks on; a patrol searches a motorcyclist; checking passengers on a bus.

The state of Nicaragua on the map of Central America. A. Somoza accepts congratulations on his birthday; Somoza's hands with an envelope given to him.

Sentries close the gates of the Somoza palace, sentries are at the gate.

A detachment of National Guardsmen enters Somoza's bunker.

A sign on the fence of Somoza's property; Somoza's property.

The city of Managua, a street in the city with traffic.

A sign on the fence of the US embassy, a building.

A sign on a site controlled by US monopolies.

A sign in a foreign language, a hotel building.

Streets of a poor neighborhood; children of the poor; a woman doing laundry; a girl watching; a family of refugees passing by; a refugee camp; children in a refugee camp; refugees carrying a tank of water.

Somoza in a military unit; Somoza passing by in a paratrooper uniform.

Training of National Guard soldiers.

Somoza's soldiers next to the corpses of the killed or people; corpses of the killed.

Somoza in a hospital ward talking to a patient.

Children rummaging in a garbage dump.

A boy chewing bread.

The Sandinistas receive weapons.

Photo: A.S. Sandino.

Photo: Sandino among the members of his detachment.

A Sandinista detachment makes its way through the undergrowth; a Sandinista forest camp; Sandinista men and women in formation; Sandinistas take captured weapons out of a car.

Newsreel from 1978: one of the successful operations of the Sandinistas who blockaded the National Palace; the building of the National Palace; patriots in the palace; a woman is lowered on a rope - evacuated from the palace; International Red Cross workers carry one of the Sandinistas participating in the operation on a stretcher; a plane with political prisoners takes off; a plane with Sandinistas participating in the operation takes off.

A general strike in Managua; strikers; businesses are closed; National Guard soldiers disperse the people, shoot at the strikers.

Somoza boards a helicopter (Somoza personally commands the suppression of the strike); the helicopter is in the air; at the strikers sending curses at Somoza.

The patriots go on the offensive, shoot; An airplane in the sky; Sandinistas ride by in a truck; Sandinistas embrace on the street of a liberated city, hang out their flag.

Participants in a demonstration in Latin America walk by with the slogan "No intervention in Nicaragua!" Participants in a demonstration in Venezuela carry banners with slogans condemning Washington's attempts to isolate the Sandino National Liberation Front.

A rally of students and teachers at the University of Madrid in support of the liberation struggle of the Nicaraguan people; a slogan in Spanish ("Long live the liberation struggle of the Nicaraguan people!"); a girl speaks; participants in the rally applaud and chant.

Bombing of the city, explosions; a National Guard soldier speaks on a field telephone; guns are fired from National Guard positions; shelling and bombing of the city; planes in the sky; shelling of a street; people are running down the street; a city from a flying plane; destroyed houses; a family in the yard of a destroyed house; corpses of murdered family members on the floor of the house; women are crying; residents are digging graves, burying the murdered.

The building of the National Palace; corpses of tortured patriots; birds are circling above the shore; a girl with an amputated leg is lying on a bed (a frame from the last report of American ABC journalist Bill Stewart, killed by Somoza's supporters).

A press conference regarding the murder of an American journalist; eyewitnesses of the murder speak, having recorded the reprisal against him on film, the murder of a US journalist; a soldier of Somoza's guard passes by; a tank drives out into the street; National Guard soldiers in cars.

Sandinistas build barricades; Sandinistas at a barricade before a fight; watching the street; a helicopter flies by.

Battle for the city of Managua; a burning car in the street; National Guard soldiers run by; guns fire; National Guard soldiers hide behind a car; feet trampling a portrait of Somoza; Somoza and his supporters emerge from a bunker.

The victorious Sandinistas fire into the air; jubilant Sandinistas run by; a smiling Sandinista girl passes by; people greet the Sandinistas passing by in a car; empty prison cells; Sandinistas at the entrance to a secret underground concentration camp; former prisoners leave the concentration camp; a photograph, the face of a former prisoner of an underground concentration camp; a car with people passes by; a former prisoner shows signs of torture on his face and back.

Two captured National Guard soldiers who shot an American journalist; Captured soldiers of the Somoza Guard are paraded through the street.

Rally of solidarity with the victorious people of Nicaragua in Costa Rica; rally participants chant slogans; rally of solidarity with the people of Nicaragua in Spain; slogan in Spanish; speaker at the rally; people chant slogans.

People of Nicaragua with flags on the balcony of a building; jubilant people in the square; the Sandinista flag is raised over the dome of the building; triumphant welcome of the new government; members of the Provisional Democratic Government of National Rebirth walk among the jubilant people; celebration of victory in Managua.