Camilo Ortega

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Camilo Ortega

Camilo Ortega Saavedra (born December 13, 1950 in Managua , † February 26, 1978 in Las Sabogales, Masaya ) was a Nicaraguan guerrilla and comandante of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN). He was killed in action with the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua (GN) during an FSLN operation in the Nicaraguan Revolution . He was the younger brother of Daniel and Humberto Ortega .

Origin and family background

Ortega's father was the teacher Daniel Simeón Ortega Cerda (* 1905 Los Rincones / Masatepe - † April 21, 1975), his mother the graphic designer Lidia Albertina Saavedra Rivas (* August 8, 1908 La Libertad / Chontales - † May 4, 2005). His paternal grandfather was the teacher Marco Antononio Ortega, who was a member of the Conservative Party in the 1920s and worked at the Instituto Nacional de Oriente in Granada a . a. the later president and dictator Anastasio Somoza García taught. In 1934 Ortega's father was arrested and ill-treated by the GN due to a published letter in which he criticized the circumstances surrounding the murder of Augusto C. Sandino and the role of Somoza. He was supposed to be shot but was released at the request of relatives with ties to the GN. In the 1950s he became a commercial agent for foreign companies, especially West German companies.

Political and military activity

Ortega was already involved in political actions against the Somoza dictatorship during his school days at Colegio La Salle in Masaya. He was a member of the Frente Estudiantil Revolucionario (FER) and joined the FSLN in 1966. Here he became a member of the Comandos Armados Sandinistas , an urban guerrilla who u. a. Carried out bank robberies and weapons procurements. In 1969 he began studying engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN) in León . In León he became editor of El Universitario magazine and reorganized the local FER. At the same time he was involved in the liberation of prisoners.

In 1972/73 Ortega received political and military training in Cuba . After his return he was given the rank of Comandante in the mid-1970s. After the murder of the well-known journalist Pedro Chamorro by the National Guard on January 10, 1978 in Managua, a Sandinista commando under Ortega's leadership briefly occupied Granada on February 2, 1978 in protest.

death

Monimbóplatz, Berlin, 207-312

During a local uprising against the Somoza dictatorship in Monimbó / Masaya in February 1978, Ortega, together with two other members of the FSLN, Arnoldo Quant (Spanish spelling Kuant) and Rito Moises Rivera Maltez, sought a conspiratorial apartment in the Las Sabogales district of Masaya to participate in the uprising. However, Ortega received warnings that the apartment was not secure. Protests took place in the vicinity of the house on February 26th. When the National Guard intervened, some of the demonstrators fled to the neighboring houses, which were then searched by the GN. When guardsmen penetrated the conspiratorial apartment of the FSLN, Ortega, Quant and Rivera were probably shot after defending themselves; Details are apparently not known. Their bodies were helicopters flew to Managua, Ortega's body was buried at the local Central Cemetery. During further house searches, several civilians were shot dead by the GN, which later became known as the Las Sabogales massacre .

Culture of remembrance

  • In Juigalpa , the Camilo Ortega Saavedra Hospital is named after Ortega.

See also

literature

  • Humberto Ortega Saavedra: La epopeya de la insurreción , Managua (Lea Grupo Editorial) 2004. ISBN 99924-830-5-9
  • Mónica Baltodano : Memorias de la lucha sandinista , 3 volumes, Managua (IHNCA-UCA) 2010.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ortega, Camilo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ortega Saavedra, Camilo (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Nicaraguan guerrilla and Comandante of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN)
DATE OF BIRTH December 13, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Managua
DATE OF DEATH February 26, 1978
Place of death Las Sabogales, Masaya