Nicaraguan
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...
coffee grower and popular leader of UPANIC (Union of Agricultural Producers of Nicaragua - '), seemed poised to become the leader of the opposition to the
Sandinista
The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a Socialism, socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after ...
government, until his death at the hands of State Security forces.
History
Jorge Salazar was born on September 8, 1939, to Leopoldo Salazar Amador and Esmeralda "Meyaya" Argüello Cervantes; His father Leo, a captain in the
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
, retired in 1941, and Jorge along with his two sisters grew up on the family's coffee farm at Santa María de Ostuma in the city of Matagalpa. He received his high school education at the Colegio Centroamérica in
Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
and
Culver Military Academy
Culver Academies is a college preparatory boarding school located in Culver, Indiana, which is composed of three entities: Culver Military Academy (CMA) for boys, Culver Girls Academy (CGA), and the Culver Summer Schools and Camps (CSSC). Culver ...
in the United States, then went to university in Brazil. He married Lucía Amada Cardenal Caldera, with whom he had four children, Karla Isabel, Jorge Leopoldo, Claudia, and Lucía.
During the fall of Somoza, Salazar had organized coffee farmers in
Matagalpa
Matagalpa () is a city in Nicaragua which is the capital of the department of Matagalpa. The city has a population of 111,258 (2021 estimate),Zelaya into a cooperative, which stymied Sandinista efforts to absorb them into FSLN-sponsored organizations. As the most charismatic leader in the opposition, a wider audience began to rally around him. He became a key figure within the opposition Superior Council of Private Enterprise (' - COSEP).
In mid-1980, he believed that he was in contact with dissident army officers who would help him oppose the leadership. On November 17, 1980, when Salazar arrived at the appointed location, Sandinista security forces arrived on the scene. Salazar was unarmed and alone, but according to Sandinista government reports, a shootout followed. In the end, Salazar was killed and a sack of false evidence in the form of small arms was thrown through the rear windshield of his Jeep Cherokee in order to incriminate him and his associates in the furor of press attention which followed.
Aftermath
Salazar had already sent his family out of the country. After his death, his widow, Lucía Cardenal de Salazar, became a member of the political directorate of the
Nicaraguan Democratic Force
The Nicaraguan Democratic Force (', or FDN) was one of the earliest Contra groups, formed on August 11, 1981 in Guatemala City. It was formed to oppose Nicaragua's revolutionary Sandinista government following the 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoz ...
(FDN) on December 8, 1982. Later that month, the FDN formed Task Force Jorge Salazar, which would grow into the rebels' largest and most famous unit.
On October 18, 1984, COSEP adopted a motion to mark Jorge Salazar's birthday as Private Sector Day. Anti-Sandinista businessmen continued to honor the day, even after 1990 elections turned out the Sandinistas. On July 16, 2004, President
Enrique Bolaños
Enrique José Bolaños Geyer (; 13 May 1928 – 14 June 2021) was a Nicaraguan politician who served as President of Nicaragua from 10 January 2002 to 10 January 2007.
From 1997 to 2002, Bolaños served as vice president under Arnoldo Alem ...
signed a decree officially establishing September 8 as the annual National Day of the Nicaraguan Entrepreneur (').
In post-Sandinista Nicaragua, his wife has served as Nicaragua's consul general in Miami, while his son Jorge has headed the
Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources
The Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA), is in charge of environmental protection and of the study, planning, and management of the Nicaragua's natural resources. It was formerly known as the Nicaraguan Institute of Natural R ...
. His daughter Lucía was briefly Minister of Tourism.