Socialism and the Sacred

Abstract

In 1956, Rigoberto Lopez Perez, a twenty-six year old Nicaraguan poet, wrote his mother a last letter: ".... seeing that all efforts to return Nicaragua to being (or to being for the first time) a free country without shame or stain have been futile, I have decided that I should be the one to try to initiate the beginning of the end of this tyranny." A few days later in his home-town of Leon, he publicly assassinated Anastasio Somoza. He was himself immediately killed, receiving thirty-five bullet wounds. As we know, he did in fact initiate "the beginning of the end" of that tyranny.

This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.

Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.