Members of the Nicaraguan Solidarity Movement, past and present, gathered at the grave of Ben Linder, May 8, to mark his passing and rededicate themselves to the cause of equality and freedom for Nicaragua.
When the Nicaraguan Revolution toppled the despotic Somoza dynasty in 1979, many internationalists and Left-wing political idealists in the United States—like Linder—saw the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and the revolutionary government it established as a beacon of hope in a country in desperate need of it.
But the administration of then president Ronald Reagan saw the Sandinistas as a dangerous incursion into the Western
Hemisphere by Soviet Communism and wasted no time instructing the CIA to train, arm and supply Contra forces.
Born in California, Linder was an Engineer who moved to Nicaragua in 1986 to help bring electricity to the village of San José de
Bocay. While working on a hydroelectric dam, he and two Nicaraguans were assaulted by Contra forces with a grenade.
Linder and the other two men were then executed with gunshots to the head at point-blank range.
Linder and his brutal death at the hands of CIA-trained killers caught the attention of the global press and raised the stakes for U.S. citizens doing solidarity work in Latin America. To this day, his sacrifice stands a symbol of international solidarity and the potential cost of speaking out for social justice.