Tomás Borge Martínez
Encyclopedia
Matagalpa
Matagalpa is a city in Nicaragua, the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 109,100 , while the population of the department is more than 480,000. Matagalpa is Nicaragua's fifth largest city and one of its most commercially active outside of Managua...
) (in American newspapers often spelt as Thomas Borge) is the last living co-founder of the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
and was Interior Minister of Nicaragua under the rule of Daniel Ortega
Daniel Ortega
José Daniel Ortega Saavedra is a Nicaraguan politician and revolutionary, currently serving as the 83rd President of Nicaragua, a position that he has held since 2007. He previously served as the 79th President, between 1985 and 1990, and for much of his life, has been a leader in the Sandinista...
. Considered a hardliner, he led the "prolonged people's war" tendency within the FSLN, but later supported the policy of national reconciliation in Nicaragua, as well as reforms in the Sandinista party.
Borge was imprisoned from 1956–1959 for knowledge of the plot by Rigoberto López
Rigoberto López Pérez
Rigoberto López Pérez was a Nicaraguan poet and music composer. He was the assassin of Anastasio Somoza García, the longtime dictator of Nicaragua....
to assassinate Anastasio Somoza García
Anastasio Somoza García
Anastasio Somoza García was officially the President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 1950 to 29 September 1956, but ruled effectively as dictator from 1936 until his assassination.-Biography:Somoza was born in San Marcos, Carazo Department in Nicaragua, the son of...
. Part of that time was spent held in El Hormiguero
El Hormiguero
El Hormiguero is a Spanish television program with a live audience focusing on comedy, science, and politics running since September 2006. It is hosted and produced by screenwriter Pablo Motos and aired on Cuatro, a Spanish television station, until June 11, 2011 but since September 5, 2011 is...
prison in Managua
Managua
Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
. In 1959 he escaped to Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, where he was captured by the Honduran border patrol. Otto Castro arranged for Borge's release using his friendship with Honduran President Ramón Villeda
Ramón Villeda Morales
Ramón Villeda Morales is a municipality in the Honduran department of Gracias a Dios....
. Borge then travelled to El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
using a false passport, and then went to Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
.
In Aug 1978 Borge was one of the highest ranking Sandinistas released from prison after the spectacular Sandinista raid on the Nicaraguan National Palace by 19 commandos, headed by Edén Pastora
Edén Pastora
Edén Atanacio Pastora Gómez is a Nicaraguan politician and former guerrilla who ran for president as the candidate of the Alternative for Change party in the 2006 general elections...
(Commander Zero) that took the entire Congress hostage.
During the 1980s, Borge served as a conduit for Colombian drug traffickers and the Sandinista government.
Borge is also an author, who has written poetry, essays, and autobiography.
See also
- Latin American and Caribbean Congress in Solidarity with Puerto Rico's Independence
- Current Nicaraguan ambassador in Peru
External links
- author page at Curbstone Press