León, a peaceful city proud of its history

Cathédrale de León

The cathedrale, the biggest in Central America

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We spent our first night in Nicaragua in Leon, the former capital.
We immediatly felt well in the familial and peacefull athmospher.
There were a regional celebration on the “Parque Central”, with music, dance, handcraft and typical food (see our report). We ate delicious BBQ meat.

The da after we visited our first Nircaraguan Museum : the museum of revolution.
It’s only one room with lot’s of pictures, newspapers, old weapons, and a very passionate guide (for the foollowing, this is what we understood.).
He is passionate, a Leon is THE city whcih lead the fight aganst the dictator family who ruled the country for hlf a century (the Somozas)

Musée de la Révolution

The story begins in the 30’s, when Sandino, after traveling in several countries in Central America, began the fight for freedom. He is then assasined.
The dictatorship is protected by the US, and so almost invincible. Until a video of the power crime widely spread all over the world and force the US to withdraw their support.

From this moment, the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional), begins slowly to free the country till the late 80’s.
Almost every major actor of the revlution is from or fighted in Leon.
Daniel Ortega, the nowadays president of Nicaragua, used to be a guerriero in Leon.
The very long and sad list of martyrs and victims is long, but Leon was e first city to be freed, and still nowadays, the city is a bastion of the FSLN.

Unlike in some neighbour countries, the war didn’t lead to violence and unsafety, and so the Nicaragua is certainly a poor country, but very peacefull and welcoming, and proud of its history.

4 comments for “León, a peaceful city proud of its history”

  1. Coucou,
    Que de souvenirs, pour les quinquas comme moi, quand vous parlez de la révolution Sandiniste !
    J’avais d’ailleurs noté que votre précédente étape, au Honduras, sentait beaucoup plus le souffre puisque c’est du Honduras que partaient les “contras” armés par la CIA contre les guérilléros Sandinistes…

    Content aussi de trouver un peu de son, mais c’est court et peu audible !
    Peut-être pour bientôt ?

    Bisous, des tas !

  2. Un petit coucou de quentin et moi ! Vos photos sont vraiment superbes, j’aimerais vraiment visiter tout ça un jour 🙂 Bonne continuation !!

  3. @Alice : merci pour ta visite sur notre site ! Il y a tellement de chose à voir qu’une vie ne suffirait même pas ! 🙂 Bises

  4. […] nous l’avons dit dans notre article sur León, cette ville est résolument […]

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