ABSTRACT
The 1979 revolution which overthrew the dictator Somoza initiated a process of
radical socio-economic transformation in Nicaragua. Like many North Americans
opposed to the United States government’s subsequent attempts to overthrow the
Sandinistas, I participated in solidarity groups committed to the revolutionary project
for social change. My first visit to Nicaragua was in the 1980s when I picked coffee in
the Matagalpa region of Nicaragua as a member of a solidarity brigade. Despite the
hardship of the contra war, revolutionary Nicaragua was an exciting and inspirational
place to be. This relajo was intoxicating and the three weeks I spent in Nicaragua were
one of the most profoundly moving periods of my life. Above and beyond the
experience of witnessing dramatic improvements in people’s lives, I was taken up by
the ‘force of myth’ to which Mariátegui refers (Mariátegui 1958).
