Sandino, Augusto César

Sandino, Augusto César (ougs`tō sā`sär sändē`nō), 1895–1934, Nicaraguan revolutionary general. A farmer and a mining engineer, he joined the liberal revolution (1926) against the conservative government headed by Adolfo Díaz and Emiliano Chamorro. He protested against the new U.S. intervention in Nicaragua in 1926 and rejected the Stimson-Moncada agreement for the elections of 1927. On this score Sandino broke with the liberal leader, José María Moncada, and conducted vigorous guerrilla campaigns (1927–33) against the U.S. marines. Never captured but finally reconciled after the withdrawal of the marines, he headed a cooperative farming scheme. In 1934 he was invited to meet with Gen. Anastasio Somoza, and when he did so, he was seized and executed. It is from his name that the Nicaraguan revolutionary group, the Sandinistas, derives its name.