Pictures of Everyday Life in Nicaragua From 1978-79

Here’s a collection of color photographs of everyday life in Nicaragua taken by Susan Meiselas during the Nicaraguan Revolution from 1978 to 1979, which encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) to violently oust the dictatorship in 1978-79.

The Revolution marked a significant period in Nicaraguan history and revealed the country as one of the major proxy war battlegrounds of the Cold War with the events in the country rising to international attention.

Managua. June 1978. President Anastasio SOMOZA DEBAYLE opening new session of the National Congress.

Diriamba. Marketplace.

Managua. 1979. Country club.

Managua. Car of a Somoza informer burning in Managua.

Managua. June 1978. Student demonstration broken up by National Guard using tear gas.

Jinotepe. A funeral procession for assassinated student leaders. Demonstrators carry a photograph of Arlen Siu, an FSLN guerrilla fighter killed in the mountains three years earlier.

August 26, 1978. First day of popular insurrection.

Monimbo. 1978. Wall graffiti on Somoza supporters house burned in Monimbo, asking "Where is Norman Gonzalez? The dictatorship must answer."

Masaya. June 8, 1979. Popular forces begin final offensive.

Mayasa. 1979. Guard patrol beginning house-to-house search for Sandinistas.

Monimbo. 1979. Monimbo woman carrying her dead husband home to be buried in their backyard.

Matagalpa. Muchachos await the counterattack by the National Guard.

Managua. 1979. Street fighter.

Esteli. National Guard entering Esteli.

Esteli. September 20, 1978. Fleeing the bombing to seek refuge outside of Esteli. The Nicaraguan National Guard captured the city of Esteli which was held by Sandinesta rebels.

Masaya. Muchacho withdrawing from commercial district of Masaya after three days of bombing.

Masaya. September, 1978. Returning home.

Esteli. 1979. Sandinistas at the walls of the Esteli National Guard headquarters.

1979. Body of National Guardsman, killed during the taking of Jinotepe, being burned with the official state portrait of President Somoza.

Masaya. 1979. On the road to Managua.

Managua. July 20, 1979. Entering the central plaza in Managua to celebrate victory.

Managua. 1979. In the central plaza, renamed "Plaza de la Revolucion."

(Photos © Susan Meiselas/Magnum Photos)