National Guard (Nicaragua)

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Nicaraguan National Guard
Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua (Spanish)
MottoHonor, Patria, Disciplina ("Honour", "Fatherland", "Discipline")
Founded1925
Disbanded1979
Service branchesNicaraguan National Guard Ground Forces
Air Force of the Nicaraguan National Guard
Nicaraguan National Guard Navy
National Police of the National Guard
HeadquartersTiscapa Hill, Managua (Nicaragua)
Leadership
Commander-in-ChiefAnastasio Somoza Debayle
Chief DirectorSee list
Personnel
Active personnel7,500 (January 1978)
Industry
Foreign suppliers United States
 Israel
 Morocco
 South Africa
 South Korea
 Philippines
 Spain
 Portugal
 Italy
 Sweden
 West Germany
 El Salvador
 Chile
 Argentina
 Paraguay
Related articles
HistoryNicaraguan Revolution
RanksNicaragua military ranks

The National Guard (Spanish: Guardia Nacional, otherwise known as la Guardia) was a militia and a gendarmerie created in 1925 during the occupation of Nicaragua by the United States. It became notorious for human rights abuses and corruption under the regime of the Somoza family (1936–1979). The National Guard was disbanded when the Sandinistas came to power in 1979.

Creation

U.S. Marine 1st Lt Chesty Puller with members of the Guardia Nacional, 1931.

Prior to the U.S. occupation, the long period of civil strife had encouraged the development of a variety of private armies. The freshly elected government of President

civil war broke out, they returned in 1926 and took over the command (and training) of the National Guard from 1927 to 1933, when it was returned to Nicaraguan control under the government of President Juan Bautista Sacasa
.

President Sacasa, under political pressure from

Henry Stimson
during the 1927 peace conference, schooling in the U.S., and training under the U.S. Marines (apparently, as an officer in the National Guard).

After the departure of U.S. troops in 1933 (at the height of the Great Depression), the Sacasa government opened negotiations with the National Sovereignty Defense Army (EDSN) rebel guerrilla faction led by Augusto César Sandino, which had fought both the National Guard and the U.S. occupation forces. During the negotiations, Sandino insisted on the disbandment of the National Guard as a pre-condition for any peace agreement, leading Somoza Garcia to react ruthlessly by arresting and executing Sandino, in violation of a safe passage agreement Sacasa had given to the rebel leader.[1] The National Guard then swiftly crushed Sandino's EDSN, further weakening the Sacasa government.[1] By this time, the National Guard had grown to some 3,000 troops.

After using the influence of the National Guard to support Sacasa's re-election in 1936, Somoza Garcia flouted civilian power, installing military cronies in key civilian posts and then deposed Sacasa in a coup d'état held in June that same year.[1] With an ally appointed interim president, Somoza Garcia then resigned from the position of Chief Director of the National Guard in order to meet the constitutional requirements to run for the presidency himself. Breaking with the Liberal party, he established the Partido Liberal Nacionalista (PLN, National Liberal Party) and Somoza was elected president in December with a reported margin of 64,000 of the 80,663 votes cast.[2][3] On 1 January 1937, President Somoza Garcia reappointed himself again chief director of the National Guard, installing a corrupt military dictatorship linked to U.S. business interests that would last four decades.[1]

Somoza regime

Somoza Garcia rapidly took complete control of Nicaraguan institutions including the National Guard, promoting allies and purging enemies. The National Guard was the backbone of a growing network of control, eventually including telecommunications, railroads, and key civilian agencies from customs to hospitals to tax collection. In 1938, Somoza Garcia appointed a civilian assembly that rubber-stamped constitutional changes allowing him to stay in office; his personal fortune expanded as he and his family took over key areas of the private economy. An increasingly pervasive corruption comparable to a gangland mob, with bribery, kickbacks, and sometimes violent enforcement, protected the power of the Somoza family at all levels. The U.S. supported the National Guard through the World War II

Rio Treaty
, but did not publicly approve of Somoza Garcia's extraconstitutional governance. The National Guard, which had been until then a predominately light infantry force composed largely of rifle companies equipped with World War I-vintage U.S. small arms, began to acquire surplus heavy equipment such as armoured cars, light tanks, transport vehicles and artillery.

The regime permitted nominal political dissent, and, in 1947, agreed to elections, hoping to mollify both the United States and local opponents, but quickly deposed the winning candidate in a coup d'état that brought strong disapproval from the U.S. Government. Under a new constitution, an assembly-appointed president, and a strong anti-communist stance relations improved. Nevertheless, Somoza Garcia was the true power behind the curtain and an increasing target of attempted coups and assassination; he even raised a personal bodyguard separated from the rest of the National Guard and had the constitution amended to allow him to run for yet another term in 1955. In January of that same year, Somoza Garcia, in collusion with the dictator of the Dominican Republic Rafael Trujillo, supported an unsuccessful invasion of Costa Rica from Nicaragua by exiled supporters of former President Rafael Calderón Guardia, with the Nicaraguan National guard providing air cover to the operation.[4]

In September 1956, Somoza Garcia was fatally shot by a young dissident poet, Rigoberto López Pérez, and was succeeded in the presidency by his elder son, Luis Somoza Debayle, while his youngest son Anastasio Somoza Debayle, a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point became the Chief Director of the National Guard.[1] Brutal repression of the internal political opposition followed suit. In 1957, the National Guard was involved in the only external military action of its existence, a brief border skirmish with Honduras. In 1961, the National Guard cooperated with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the preparation for the abortive Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba, permitting its bases to be used for training and staging areas. From May 1965 to September 1966, one infantry company of the National Guard participated in a peacekeeping operation in the Dominican Republic alongside U.S., Brazilian, Paraguayan, Honduran and Costa Rican troops as part of the Interamerican Pacification Force (FIP), deployed under the aegis of the Organization of American States (OAS).[5] The guard's domestic power, however, gradually broadened to embrace not only its original internal security and police functions but also control over customs, telecommunications, port facilities, radio broadcasting, the merchant marine, and civil aviation.[6]

Even as trusted friends of the family succeeded Luis in the presidency, his brother remained firmly in control of the National Guard. Eventually, in 1967, Anastasio himself was elected president; Luis soon died of a heart attack, leaving Anastasio in sole control. Without his brother's technocratic influence, Anastasio's corrupt ways were unrestrained. The

Sandinista movement FSLN (named after the assassinated Sandino) succeeded in forcing the government to accept an amnesty, after which Somoza Debayle declared a state of siege and the National Guard launched a violent and repressive reaction in the period 1975–76.[7]
Though the FSLN was weakened, so was the regime.

Collapse

Direct U.S. military aid ended in November 1978 although the U.S. still attempted to pursue a policy of "Somocismo sin Somoza,"[8] effectively allowing the power structure of the National Guard to prevent a Sandinista victory while removing the increasingly unpopular Somoza from power. The Carter Administration even sent Somoza a congratulatory note from Carter after his disputed victory in the 1978 elections.

After the assassination of opposition leader among the business elites Pedro Chamorro in January 1978, the Nicaraguan public reacted with a series of nationwide strikes and increasing political unrest against the regime. The National Guard was re-organized and expanded, growing to a force of more than 10,000 officers and enlisted men, with localized security companies dispersed throughout the country and modern specialized units such as mechanized and engineer battalions, a Presidential Guard, and a reinforced tactical battalion. The strengthened National Guard continued to tighten its grip but opposition only grew broader and fiercer. A humiliating hostage crisis ensued on 22 August 1978 when 25 Sandinista rebels disguised as National Guard soldiers led by "Comandante Cero" (Commander Zero), future Contra leader Edén Pastora, occupied the National Assembly Palace in Managua, took 2,000 hostages, and escaped to Panama with 50 released political prisoners. The seizure of the National Palace was the second major action launched by the Sandinistas.[9]

By March 1979, the Somoza regime faced an open civil war as well as being cut off from all aid by the United States, including blocking of an emergency shipment of weapons and ammunition coming from Israel. With ammunition, spare parts, fuel, and medical supplies running dangerously low,[10] the increasingly hard-pressed National Guard could no longer sustain a prolonged fight against the rebels. Already plagued by shaky morale, and weakened by casualties and desertions after seven weeks of battle, GN units were gradually forced to fall back to Managua.[9]

At this point, on 17 July 1979 Somoza Debayle resigned from office and fled the country by plane to Miami, FL., followed by almost all of the senior military officers of the GN General Staff.

Managua International Airport
, and at the remaining holdouts throughout the country were exhorted to continue the fight. After negotiations with the Sandinistas broke down due to his refusal to resign on 18 July, President Urcuyo fled to Guatemala, leaving in charge GN Chief Director General Mejía who tried unsuccessfully to pursue conversations for the cease-fire. Faced with the rejection by the Sandinistas of his list of demands – which included retention of all property belonging to individual officers – in exchange for a surrender, on the dawn of 19 July 1979, General Mejía and most of the high-ranking officers of the General Staff left Nicaragua by plane, leaving their men leaderless.

Early in the morning of that same day as 5,000 Sandinista guerrillas and 10,000 assorted "people's militia" took control of Managua's city center and called for a cease-fire. The last senior commander of the National Guard, Lt. Col. Fulgencio Largaespada Baez finally bowed to the inevitable and ordered his demoralised and exhausted soldiers to lay down their arms.[9] Upon the conclusion of the civil war, 7,500 Guardsmen were taken prisoner – with many former Guards suspected of violating human rights being held in detention by the Sandinistas – while another 4,500 officers and enlisted men fled to neighboring Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala to form the nucleus of an armed opposition force to the new Nicaraguan government, which would later become known as the Contras.[10]

The Sandinista junta replaced the disbanded Guardia Nacional with two new forces, the Ejército Popular Sandinista (EPS, Sandinista Popular Army) and the Policía Sandinista (Sandinista Police). Eventually, alumni of the National Guard would be reconstituted, with the support of the CIA and Honduras, as the Contra rebels.[11]

Following the collapse of the National Guard, many members relocated to Guatemala and went on to form the Fifteenth of September Legion, which was committed to overthrowing the Sandinista rule.[12]

List of Chief Directors

No. Portrait Chief Director Took office Left office Time in office
1
Anastasio Somoza García
Somoza García, AnastasioMajor General
Anastasio Somoza García
(1896–1956)		192829 September 1956 †27–28 years
2
Anastasio Somoza Debayle
Somoza Debayle, AnastasioMajor General
Anastasio Somoza Debayle
(1925–1980)		29 September 195619603–4 years
3
Gustavo Montiel
Montiel, GustavoBrigadier General
Gustavo Montiel		196019665–6 years
(2)
Anastasio Somoza Debayle
Somoza Debayle, AnastasioMajor General
Anastasio Somoza Debayle
(1925–1980)		1966July 197912–13 years
4
Federico Mejía González
Mejía González, FedericoGeneral
Federico Mejía González		July 1979July 19790 months
5
Fulgencio Largaespada Baez
Largaespada Baez, FulgencioLieutenant Colonel
Fulgencio Largaespada Baez		July 1979July 19790 months

Notable National Guard officers

Appearance and insignia

Uniforms

Standard uniform for all ranks since the late 1920s was the

garrison cap
') was also supplied to GN personnel during the 1930-1940s.

Guardia uniforms underwent some changes in the 1950s and 1960s, with officers adopting the US M1942 light khaki service dress, comprising tunic, slacks and a matching peaked cap with brown-japanned chinstrap and peak, or black dress cap with gold chinstrap, black peak with gold leaf embroidery for field and general ranks (the GN Chief Director had additional French-style embroidery on the cap band), and silver triangular national cap badge.[19] For formal occasions, senior officers adopted a black ceremonial version of their M1942 service dress with gold embroidered insignia whilst the other ranks' retained the old khaki 'Chino' uniform as barrack dress or for walking-out, usually worn with the khaki sidecap. The 'Sam Browne' belt was discontinued, and brown (black for the other GN branches) leather shoes replaced the earlier breeches and riding boots.

shoulder boards
, which was worn with a light khaki shirt and black tie on service dress.

Nicaraguan National Police (PNGN) officers' continued to wear as service dress the 'Chino' khaki shirt (in long or short sleeve versions) and trousers with shoes or Olive Green (OG) fatigues with combat boots, whereas female constables were given a khaki short-sleeved blouse and assorted knee-length skirt worn with a flat-top, short snapped-brimmed khaki hat. Their male counterparts retained the 'Montana Peak' Hat as standard headgear, though the latter also began to be replaced by a light khaki M1954-type Visor Cap;[19] Police officers on traffic control duties were given a white-topped version. It never entirely superseded the earlier headgear however, for photos taken in Managua at the time of the 1972 earthquake show local policemen going on patrol still wearing the old 'Montana' Hat.[19]
While on patrol duties, the M1912 black leather Sam Browne belt with pistol holster and assorted magazine pouches, handcuff pouch and M1944 baton in its respective carrier was worn.

Around the late 1960s Guardia units began to receive surplus American

Tigerstripe" (ERDL Thai Tadpole type) and "Highland" (ERDL 1948 Leaf pattern, a.k.a. "Woodland pattern"). National Police BECAT teams had their own distinctive "Tan leaf" pattern, which consisted of puzzle leaf-shapes in medium brown, light brown, and sandy-grey on a tan background.[citation needed
] Standard headgear for all-ranks in the Guardia was either the US Army M1943 'Walker cap'
US Marines' utility caps in both olive green and ERDL camouflage versions. Specialized units authorized berets wore them pulled to the right, American-fashion, with the colour sequence for the ground forces as follows: Armoured Cavalry and Counter-insurgency "Commandos" – Black; Paratroopers – Cherry-red (Maroon); Presidential Guard – Green; GN berets were made of one-piece artificial wool attached a black leather rim-band, with both US or Israeli patterns being worn.[citation needed
]

Black leather

combat boots were also provided by the Americans who issued both the early US Army M-1962 'McNamara' model and the M-1967 model with 'ripple' pattern rubbler sole;[19] the US Army Jungle boot of Vietnam War
fame was worn by Nicaraguan soldiers and Police officers only while operating in tropical jungle or marshy ground environments.

Helmets and body armour

The first combat helmet provided to Guardia units was the US steel

crash helmet or the Vietnam-era fibreglass 'bone dome' Combat Vehicle Crew (CVC) T-56-6 helmet though neither models offered any satisfactory protection against shrapnel or small arms rounds. Guardia's military and National Police personnel were also issued with flak jackets, either the Ballistic Nylon US M-1952 and M-1952/69 'Half-collar' versions or the Israeli-produced Kevlar Rabintex Industries Ltd Type III RAV 200 Protective Vest (Hebrew
: "Shapats").

Accoutrements

Web gear was supplied by the Americans, who provided to the early Guardia infantry companies the khaki web M-1910 infantry equipment in all of its versions (M-1917/18 and later World War II/Korean War M-1945 patterns).[18] With the full introduction of semi-automatic and automatic small-arms, however, the GN and Police adopted both the US Army M-1956 Load-Carrying Equipment (LCE) in khaki cotton canvas[19] and the M-1967 Modernized Load-Carrying Equipment (MLCE) in OG Nylon; some photos do show that the All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (ALICE), an upgrade of the latter, was also given to some Guardia troops in 1978–79. Usually, personnel armed with M-1s, FALs and M16s tended to be issued with American web gear whereas those soldiers or policemen issued Galils or Uzi SMGs received the IDF 1950's "Old style" tan-khaki cotton canvas equipment (similar in design to the British Army's 58 pattern webbing) or the newer olive green Nylon Ephod Combat Vest instead.

Rank insignia

Main article: Nicaragua military ranks

The Nicaraguan National Guard rank chart was directly inspired by the

US Navy
-style rank insignia on removable navy blue shoulder boards instead.

Branch insignia

Skills and trades badges followed more closely the American practice. The ground forces officers' service dress tunic had the triangular national cap badge on the collar and US-style brass lapel insignia: crossed rifles –

signals; Caduceus – medical department, whilst pilot-qualified officers of the Air Force had the winged propeller badge on the lapels.[19]
When the Guardia was formed in the mid-1920s, its personnel wore on the left sleeve of their light khaki shirts a simple diamond-shaped blue patch with the white letters "GN",[18] later replaced by a more elaborate system of service and unit insignia. On the olive green or camouflage combat uniforms, officers' wore cloth subdued or black metal pin-on rank insignia on the right collar, branch insignia on the left, and NCOs' yellow chevrons on an olive green background. A subdued nametape was worn over the right breast pocket, the 'Guardia' national title on the left, and full-colour or subdued unit patches and shoulder titles on both sleeves.[19] Members of the 1st Armored Battalion wore at the sides of their OR-201 helmets a blue triangular-shaped decal bearing the unit's black crest inserted on a white disc at the center. For parade in field dress branch-colour neck scarfs were worn, being light blue for infantry and EEBI "Commandos",[19] black for armour, red for artillery, yellow for engineers and signals, and apple green for the GN General Staff.

Weapons and equipment

Throughout its existence, the Nicaraguan National Guard received military assistance mainly from the United States, who provided since the late 1920s everything that the Guardia used, from uniforms and boots to rifles, artillery and vehicles, mostly under the US

Military Assistance Program (MAP). However, starting in the early 1950s, the Somozas made consistent efforts to diversify their sources of military hardware and supplies in a hope to reduce their dependence from the Americans. The majority of its weaponry until the mid-1970s consisted of U.S.-made surplus 'hand-me-downs' from both world wars, Korea and Vietnam, partially supplemented by more modern equipment either donated or sold by Israel, Spain,[17] Argentina,[21]
Morocco, and South Africa, particularly after U.S. aid was cut in 1978. Other countries such as Italy, West Germany, Portugal, El Salvador, Paraguay, Sweden, South Korea, and the Philippines were also involved in providing some form of covert aid or acted as brokers in secret arms deals.

Small arms

The first standard issue weapon of the Guardia Nacional (GN) infantry companies at the mid-1920s was the

light machine guns were acquired from Czechoslovakia in 1937 for evaluation, but they were never adopted as standard weapons by the GN.[30]

In the 1940s–1950s, the GN received surplus American infantry weapons of World War II/

M2HB .50 Browning
(12.7×99mm) were added to the Guardia's arsenal, replacing the ageing M1895 and M1917A1 water-cooled medium machine guns.

pump-action shotguns
.

M18A1 Claymore Antipersonnel Mines were also employed. The Nicaraguan infantryman was also provided with two types of portable rocket weapons, the shoulder-fired US M79 "Blooper" 40mm[34] single-shot grenade launcher and the expendable anti-tank, one-shot US M72 LAW 66mm
.

Mortars and artillery

Guardia infantry and artillery formations were equipped with a variety of crew-served weapons. Light mortars ranged from the

M1 Bofors 40mm Anti-Aircraft guns, but these were re-fitted in 1979 to a civilian cargo vessel commandeered from the Memnic Line Company
, in order to provide direct fire support off the Pacific coast to Guardia infantry units fighting in the Southern Front. It is also rumored[by whom?] that the anti-aircraft battery received from Israel in 1977–78 an unspecified number of surplus US-made General Dynamics FIM-43 Redeye man-portable surface-to-air missiles (SAM).

Combat and transport vehicles

A M4 Sherman tank of the Nicaraguan National Guard during clashes with Sandinista rebels in Estelí, 1979.

The Guardia also fielded a small armoured corps, organized since 1978 into a single mechanized company while platoon-sized units where attached to General Somoza Combat Battalion, the Presidential Guard, the engineer battalion, and the EEBI Infantry School. The inventory consisted mostly of World War II-vintage American vehicles acquired in the 1950s – ten ex-

M3A1 Stuart light tanks, and eighteen T17E1 M6 Staghound armoured cars of Israeli origin (some had their turrets removed and replaced by a 30. or 50. cal Browning HMG mount instead).[35][36] In addition, two obsolete L3/33 tankettes acquired from Italy in the mid-1930s were reportedly held in reserve, but only one (nicknamed "La Mascota" by the Nicaraguans) was still kept in running conditions by 1979.[37][36]

Apart from a mere ten

light trucks. Heavy transport vehicles were also employed, ranging from older World War II GMC CCKW 2½-ton 6×6 and Chevrolet G506 1½-ton 4×4 trucks to newer US Dodge W500/W600 Power Wagon 4×4 medium-duty trucks, US M35 series 2½-ton 6×6 cargo trucks and US M39 5-ton 6x6 cargo trucks,[39] and Spanish Pegaso 3046 4×4 and 3050 6×6 heavy-duty trucks
, which the GN received in both civilian and military versions.

Besides being used as troop carriers these vehicles also doubled as '

small-arms
fire, and many were lost together with their crews in 1979 due to intense street fighting and ambushes in rural areas.

Commandeered tracked Caterpillar or wheeled civilian Bulldozers of American and Spanish origin were also employed by the Guardia during the battles for Masaya and Managua to clear paths on rebel-held urban neighbourhoods by demolishing buildings turned into bunkers by the guerrillas.

Order of battle as by 1978–79

Ground Forces

In January 1978 National Guard overall strength peaked at about 25,000 officers and enlisted men under the direct personal command of their Chief Director and

General Staff was placed at the heart of the government quarter of Tiscapa Hill near downtown Managua, allocated in an underground bunker-style complex built after the 1972 Nicaragua earthquake; the quarter's adjacent facilities also housed the main offices' of the Guardia's own administration, signals, engineering, medical, logistics and military justice support services, and the main military schools.[9]

Managua was also home to most of the GN's main tactical units such as the Batallón de Guardia Presidencial (BGP, Presidential Guard Battalion), the Patrulla Presidencial (PP, Presidential VIP protection unit), the Primero Batallón Blindado (PBB, 1st Armoured Battalion), the Batallón de Combate General Somoza (BCGS, General Somoza Combat Battalion), the Batallón de Ingeniería (Engineer Battalion), the Batallón de Policía Militar (BPM, Military Police Battalion), and the Artillery Batteries.[9]

The Compañías de Seguridad de la Guardia Nacional (CSGN, Security Companies for short) were dispersed throughout the country's 16 provinces (Spanish: Departamentos), being allocated one per each in the provincial capitals of

San Carlos (Río San Juan) and Bluefields (Zelaya).[9]

Air Forces

The Fuerza Aérea de La Guardia Nacional (FAGN, Air Force of the Nicaraguan National Guard) in 1978 comprised some 1,500 Officers and enlisted men,

Mercedes International Airport at Managua, which also housed the Air Force HQ and the Aviation School.[9]

Naval forces

The Marina de Guerra de la Guardia Nacional (MG-GN, Nicaraguan National Guard Navy) in 1978 stood at about 1,000 sailors and ratings who manned a surface flotilla of some eight to ten Israeli

Rivas) and El Bluff near Bluefields (Zelaya
).

National Police branch

Created in 1970 out of the law-enforcement branch of the Guardia, the Policia Nacional – Guardia Nacional (PNGN, National Police of the National Guard) was a municipal

wire cutters installed on the front bumper, and painted in blue-and-white National Police markings,[36]
BECAT teams were frequently employed in raids at Nicaraguan urban slums in search for hidden guerrillas, and quickly earned an unenviable reputation for brutality.

Special Forces

By July 1979, the GN also fielded some 2,000–2,500 elite counter-insurgency EEBI troops, comprising Commandos (a.k.a. the Boinas Negras or "Black Berets", first formed in 1968), Paratroopers (a.k.a. the Gansos Salvajes or "Wild Geese", formed in 1978–79) and infantry trainees led by Major (later, Colonel)

gun-trucks plus two small artillery and armoured car
platoons.

Training institutions

It is estimated that 4,252 Nicaraguan servicemen had been trained by the United States between 1970 and 1976 at the Inter-American Military Academy (a.k.a. "

Washington D.C.

Military Academy – AMN

Created on 9 November 1939, the Academia Militar de Nicaragua (AMN, Nicaraguan Military Academy) was the noncommissioned officers' and

US Army instructors headed by Brigadier-General Charles L. Mullins (1939–1942), himself a West Point graduate. He was succeeded as Director of the AMN by other three US Army senior officers, Brigadier-General Fred T. Cruse (1942–1943), Brigadier-General LeRoy Bartlett jr. (1943–1946) and Brigadier-General John F. Greco (1947) until GN Infantry Colonel Anastasio Somoza Debayle
was appointed its first Nicaraguan-born Director in 1948.

Infantry Basic Training School – EEBI

The Escuela de Entrenamiento Basico de Infanteria (EEBI, Infantry Basic Training School) was founded in 1976–77 by then Capitan

Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961),[57] Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Chileans, as well as Israeli and German mercenaries
.

Signals School

The Escuela de Transmissiones (Signals School) was established on 15 January 1933.

Nicaraguan Air Force Academy – EMA

A Escuela del Aire (Air School) was first formed in 1932 to train Nicaraguan pilots for the recently created National Guard Air Wing, though it was only in August 1940 that was formally established at Managua airfield as the Escuela Militar de Aviación (EMA, Military Aviation School).

National Guard Police Academy – ENP

The Escuela Nacional de Policia (ENP, National Police School) was the Police Academy of the National Guard.

Lake Managua Weapons Range

The Polígono de Tiro (Weapons Range) was located close to Lake Managua, being used for artillery and air superiority training of GN ground units and Air Force pilots.

In popular culture

The Nicaraguan National Guard was featured in three major film productions, all set during the 1979

FSLN guerrillas.[59]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Caballero Jurado & Thomas 1990, p. 18.
  2. ^ "Nicaragua Elects Gen. Somoza President— Commander of National Army Receives Nearly 3/4 Of Votes Cast in Election", Baltimore Sun, December 9, 1936, p.3
  3. ^ Another source says that Somoza won the 1936 election "by the remarkable margin of 107,201 votes to 100."Diedreich, Bernard (1981). Somoza and the Legacy of U.S. Involvement in Central America. New York: Dutton. p. 21.
  4. ^ Caballero Jurado & Thomas 1990, p. 33.
  5. ^ Caballero Jurado & Thomas 1990, p. 37.
  6. ^ Tartter 1994, p. 196.
  7. ^ a b c Caballero Jurado & Thomas 1990, p. 19.
  8. ^ Kopel, Dave. "Nicaragua and the Sandinistas". Dave Kopel Website. Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Caballero Jurado & Thomas 1990, p. 20.
  10. ^ a b Williamson 1999, p. 64.
  11. ^ Everingham 2008, pp. 925–926.
  12. ^ Webb 1999, p. 45.
  13. ^ a b Pérez 2010, p. 25.
  14. ^ Pérez 2010, p. 163.
  15. ^ Pérez 2010, p. 174.
  16. ^ Pérez 2010, pp. 163, 167.
  17. ^ a b c Pérez 2010, p. 168.
  18. ^ a b c d e Jowett & Walsh 2018, p. 45, Plate D3.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Caballero Jurado & Thomas 1990, p. 44.
  20. ^ "Nicaragua". mahargpress. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  21. ^ a b "Central/South American Military News, Reports, Data, etc". China Defence Forum. 29 November 2007.
  22. ^ Kuzmarov 2012, p. 48–.
  23. ^ Jowett & Walsh 2018, pp. 15, 17, 45.
  24. ^ Lorain 1979, p. 19.
  25. ^ Jowett & Walsh 2018, p. 43.
  26. ^ Pegler 2010, p. 56.
  27. ^ Jowett & Walsh 2018, pp. 44–45.
  28. ^ a b Hogg 1989, pp. 826–836.
  29. ^ Thompson 2011, p. 64.
  30. ^ Fencl, Jiří (1991). "Nejprodávanější československá zbraň" (in Czech). Militaria, Elka Press. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  31. ^ "Back from Nicaragua!". 28 May 2014.
  32. ^ Rottman 2011b, p. 34.
  33. ^ Rottman 2011a, p. 52.
  34. ^ Rottman 2017, p. 22.
  35. ^ Zaloga & Bull 2000, pp. 42–45.
  36. ^ a b c "Vehículos de la Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua". Flotilla Aérea. 12 July 2010.
  37. ^ Nicaraguan Armor Archived 29 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Mailer.fsu.edu. Retrieved on 19 October 2010.
  38. ^ Williamson 1999, p. 62.
  39. ^ "Annex C Appendix II". US Army Technical Manual of Foreign Military Sales: Battlefield Damage Assessment and Repair (PDF). Washington, D.C. 18 December 1987. p. 262. TM 9-2320-356-BD. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  40. ^ a b Williamson 1999, p. 61.
  41. ^ Nicaragua, 1980–1988. Acig.org. Retrieved on 19 October 2010.
  42. ^ Flight International 2004, p. 77.
  43. ^ Taylor & Munson 1973, p. 179.
  44. ^ Fitzsimons 1988, p. 137.
  45. ^ Adcock, Greer and Sewell, T-28 Trojan in action (1989), pp. 15; 43.
  46. ^ Gunston 1981, pp. 61–62.
  47. ^ "World's Air forces 1981, p. 362." flightglobal.com. Retrieved: 7 March 2013.
  48. ^ "Military Helicopter Market 1971". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  49. ^ Gunston 1981, pp. 40–43.
  50. ^ Gunston 1981, pp. 38–39.
  51. ^ Gunston 1981, pp. 58–61.
  52. ^ Gaines 1982, p. 1387.
  53. ^ Eastwood & Roach 1990, pp. 85–94.
  54. ^ Flight International 1955, p. 652.
  55. ^ "Policías de ayer y hoy". La Prensa. 9 August 2015.
  56. ^ Pérez 2010, p. 166.
  57. ^ a b c Pérez 2010, p. 169.
  58. ^ Kinowelt International. Kinowelt-international.de. Retrieved on 19 October 2010.
  59. ^ Nicaraguan National Guard vehicles in the 1983 film Under Fire at imcdb.org.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Guard (Nicaragua).
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