Stories: Violence in Leon pt. 1
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| I would like to contribute some of my experiences from my assignment to Leon, Nicaragua. Leon was my first assignment coming out of the LTM (Language Training Mission for you youngsters). I was assigned by President Joseph Muren to serve there in August of 1978. After a couple of days of orientation in San Jose, Costa Rica, I flew to Managua with President Muren and the Assistants for a missionary zone conference and District conference for the members. I got to Leon on Sunday August 20. My companion (Elder Wayne Christensen) and I lived in the back yard of a family with two other elders. Elder Hilton and Elder Smart lived in a separate room. The property was on a corner. The family used an entrance on one street and we used an entrance into the back yard from the other street. Both of the rooms used by the missionaries were covered by one roof each room having one entrance into the back yard. Our rooms were a separate building from the main house in the back yard. Each room had a simple shower and toilet. The structure was cinderblock with only one window by the door. A solid metal fence surrounded the property and the gate was locked. Our house was in the other companionships area, six blocks from where our area began. At this time, a dictator named Anastasio Somoza governed Nicaragua. The people were in fear of his Guardia (the national army) and disliked their presence. In Leon, the people were anti- government and for the Sadianistas, the communistic backed rebels. My first experience with these political problems was on Friday, August 25. That day they had a manifestacion. Basically, the people tore up the streets to make simple barricades to stop or slow the Guardia. Bon fires or fogatas burned in the intersections where people would gather and denounce Somoza and the United States. We were referred to as la Cia because some of the people thought we were CIA agents. One of the more popular slogans was Patria libre o patria muerte (free people or dead people). The streets were a cobblestone we called Somoza Stone because rumor had that Somozas brother manufactured the stone and Somoza made it law that the streets were made using that stone. The barricades were made by stacking that stone. Broken glass was thrown into the street to puncture tires. |
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