Susan Meiselas captured Nicaragua’s revolution in stark, powerful detail

By 1890, the American West had been won, but the colonial dream of Manifest Destiny had only just begun. ​“The construction of the Nicaraguan canal will secure the domination of the United States over the American continent, politically as well as commercially,” William L. Merry, American minister to Nicaragua wrote in 1890. 

In 1936, the Somoza family began their reign over Nicaragua. Over the next four decades, three generations of dictators made their mark through state sanctioned violence, land theft, bribery, and embezzlement, in part thanks to financial backing of the United States government. 

The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) rose to prominence following the earthquake that levelled the capital city of Managua in 1972, gaining widespread support among the people under a communist banner. Following the dictum of Chairman Mao, ​“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” the FSLN staged a series of guerrilla actions against the Somoza régime, who responded with martial law and censorship. 

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But Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, the editor of Nicaragua’s La Prensa newspaper and prominent political opponent, would not be cowed, knowing full well the price of freedom of the press in a fascist country was often death. On January 10, 1978, an unknown gunman assassinated Chamorro, his death a full-page story in the New York Times.

It was a story that would change the course of Susan Meiselas​’s life. She had joined Magnum Photos two years earlier, and took a leap of faith, traveling to Nicaragua in June 1978 without a plan of action. But what she did have was two cameras: one for black-and-white, the other colour. She would spend the next year on the grounds, documenting the revolution and the collapse of the Somoza government in July 1979. 

In 1981, Pantheon published Nicaragua: June 1978 – July 1979 to critical acclaim. But Meiselas was not content to walk away. She returned a decade later to create the 1991 documentary film, Pictures from the Revolution. She walked through the streets of Nicaragua retracing her footsteps, giving voice to the people she had photographed. Featuring illuminating interviews alongside the pictures, the stories of guerrillas, Sandinistas, and bystanders during and after the war added depth and context rarely afforded to photography books, affirming Meiselas’s understanding that histories are living documents. 

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With every new edition of Nicaragua, the original framework of the book remained the same; the images never changing but rather finding their place in the long arc of history. Now in its fourth edition, Nicaragua has become not just a classic photography book; it has become part of the nation’s visual language itself. ​“The book is a fixed form and I’m trying to stretch its boundaries in time and over time,” says Meiselas. 

Despite her efforts, Meiselas reveals, ​“I’m plagued by the fact that I can’t do enough. Under President Biden, 222 political prisoners were released from Nicaragua. Their citizenship was stripped and all their property taken, but they landed in the States with a two year transitional visa. Trump has now put them on the list of deportations within the next month. If people are hearing today about Nicaragua, I’m sure they have no memory of what happened over 45 years ago.” 

As Nicaragua reveals, they are intrinsically connected, just as Meiselas is to the people who refused to bow to American imperialism. ​“What do you stay close to? What stays in your heart?” Meiselas asks. ​“Certain relationships stay significant, and maybe that’s all I can say.”

Nicaragua: June 1978-July 1979 by Susan Meiselas is published by Aperture.

Miss Rosen is a freelance arts and photography writer, follow her on X.

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