use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = , burial_place = , burial_coordinates = , monuments = , nationality = , other_names = , siglum = , citizenship =

Nicaragua 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 cou ...

, education = , alma_mater = , occupation = , years_active = , era = , employer = , organization = , known_for = Commander of the

Nicaraguan Revolution The Nicaraguan Revolution ( es, Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista, link=no) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Fr ...

, notable_works = , style = , title =First Vice-Minister of the Interior , term_start = 1980 , term_end=1988 , office2= Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce , term_start2=1988 , term_end2=1990 , predecessor = , successor = , party = Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Tendency

Sandinista National Liberation Front 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 ...

Sandinista Renovation Movement The Sandinista Renovation Movement (''Movimiento Renovador Sandinista'' or MRS, in Spanish) is a Nicaraguan political party founded on 21 May 1995. It defines itself as a democratic and progressive party, made of women and men, which promotes the ...

, movement = , opponents = , boards = , criminal_charges = , criminal_penalty = , criminal_status = , spouse = , partner = , children = , parents = , mother = , father = , relatives = , family = , callsign = , awards = , website = , module = , module2 = , module3 = , module4 = , module5 = , module6 = , signature = , signature_size = , signature_alt = , footnotes = Luis F. Carrión Cruz (born 1952) is Nicaraguan politician. He is a former guerilla and one of the nine commandantes of 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 ...

(FSLN) National Directorate that overthrew the

Somoza regime The Somoza family ( es, Familia Somoza) is a former political family that ruled Nicaragua for forty-three years from 1936 to 1979. Their family dictatorship was founded by Anastasio Somoza García and was continued by his two sons Luis Somoza D ...

in 1979. Born to a wealthy, politically-connected family, he began college in the United States but returned to Nicaragua, first joining a radical Catholic group then the FSLN. He led the Carlos Roberto Huembes Eastern Front in Chontales during the final offensive of the revolution. He was a government minister and member of the FSLN National Directorate until 1995 when he split with party and became a cofounder of the

(MRS).

Early life

Born in 1952, Carrión grew up in a wealthy family in Nicaragua. His father Luis Carrión Montoya was a banker and one of the largest stockholders in BANIC, a financial group that controlled much of the Nicaraguan economy before 1979. As a child, Carrión was an excellent student, named top sixth-grader in the country in 1964, and eventually becoming valedictorian at his Catholic high school in

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicara ...

. Following his graduation, he spent one year at

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

in New Hampshire, where he was on the honor roll, and graduated in 1970. He then matriculated at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...

in Troy, New York. While in the US, he participated in

Vietnam war protest Protests against the Vietnam War took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The protests were part of a movement in opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The majority of the protests were in the United States, but some took place ar ...

s, and was influenced by the episodes of racism he witnessed as well as the broad disparities between the relative luxury in US and the severe poverty in Nicaragua. He left college to return to Nicaragua.

Sandinista National Liberation Front

Carrión joined a radical Catholic group in one of Managua's impoverished neighborhoods, working with Father Uriel Molina and then became a revolutionary. In 1974 he formed the first Christian

(FSLN) cell with

Joaquín Cuadra Joaquín Cuadra Lacayo, (Managua, April 11, 1951) a scion of Nicaragua's elite, joined the rebel Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) in late 1972. After their victory in 1979, he became army chief of staff. Biography Cuadra studied at ...

and Álvaro Baltodano. In October 1975, he and

Jaime Wheelock Jaime Wheelock Román (born May 30, 1947) is a Nicaraguan politician. Member of The Sandinista Liberation Front from 1967, he was named as a member of the National Directorate in 1973. Wheelock graduated as lawyer and sociologist by University of ...

were purged from the FSLN as part of the urban Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Tendency (TP) faction (they advocated a traditional Marxist focus on developing worker power, which brought them into conflict with those favoring guerrilla warfare, the Prolonged Popular War faction (GPP), influenced by the Chinese and Vietnamese). However Carrión was named to the reunified FSLN National Directorate announced in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

in May 1979. He was the youngest member of the Directorate. Carrión led the Carlos Roberto Huembes Eastern Front in Chontales during the final offensive of the revolution. In April 1980, following the fall of the

Somoza The Somoza family ( es, Familia Somoza) is a former political family that ruled Nicaragua for forty-three years from 1936 to 1979. Their family dictatorship was founded by Anastasio Somoza García and was continued by his two sons Luis Somoza D ...

government in July 1979, Carrión became First Vice-

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

, serving until 1988 when he became Minister of Economy, Industry and Commerce, where he worked until the FSLN left office in 1990.

Sandinista Renovation Movement

He resigned the National Directorate and the FSLN party in 1995, becoming one of the founders of the

(MRS) with

Sergio Ramírez Sergio Ramírez Mercado (; born 5 August 1942 in Masatepe, Nicaragua) is a Nicaraguan writer and intellectual who was a key figure in 1979 revolution, served in the leftist Government Junta of National Reconstruction and as vice president of t ...

and

Dora María Téllez Dora María Téllez Argüello (born 1955) is a Nicaraguan historian known for her involvement in the Nicaraguan Revolution. As a young university medical student in León in the 1970s, Téllez was recruited by the Sandinista National Liberation ...

. In 2005 and 2006, Carrión was head of the MRS campaign for

Herty Lewites Herty Lewites Rodríguez (December 24, 1939 – July 2, 2006) was a Nicaraguan politician. He was Mayor of Managua and a candidate for president in the 2006 Nicaraguan general election when he died suddenly. Early life and involvement in the N ...

, who was running for President of Nicaragua against FSLN's

Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan revolutionary and politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as coordinator of the ...

and

Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance The Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance ( – ALN) is a political coalition in Nicaragua. It was started in 2005 by Eduardo Montealegre and other members of the Constitutional Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista – PLC) who opposed former P ...

candidate

Eduardo Montealegre Eduardo Montealegre Rivas (born 9 May 1955) is a Nicaraguan politician. He ran for president in the 2006 general election as the candidate of the Nicaraguan Liberal Alliance (ALN-PC) a split-off of the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) in allia ...

, until Lewites died of a heart attack in July 2006. During the 2018 anti-government protests and wave of repression from the FSLN government, Carrión called for Ortega to step down. In June 2021, following the arrests of opposition pre-candidates in the

2021 Nicaraguan general election General elections were held in Nicaragua on 7 November 2021 to elect the President, the National Assembly and members of the Central American Parliament. President Daniel Ortega of the Sandinista National Liberation Front sought re-election, ...

and other civic figures, Carrión went into exile saying he faced arrest if he stayed in Nicaragua.

Personal life

Many of Carrión's family members are also involved in Nicaraguan politics. These include his brother Carlos Carrión Cruz, who was head of the

Sandinista Youth The Sandinista Youth (Spanish: ''Juventud Sandinista'' or ''Juventud Sandinista 19 de Julio'') is the youth organization of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party in Nicaragua. The Sandinista Youth arose informally during the Nicar ...

and then Political Secretary for the FSLN, and sister Gloria Carrión Cruz, General Secretary of AMNLAE, the Sandinista women's group; as well as uncle

Arturo Cruz Arturo José Cruz Porras (December 18, 1923 – July 9, 2013), sometimes called Arturo Cruz Sr. to distinguish him from his son, was a Nicaraguan banker and technocrat. He became prominent in politics during the Sandinista (FSLN) era. After repeate ...

and cousins

Arturo Cruz Jr. Arturo José Cruz Sequeira (born 1953), also known as Arturo Cruz Jr., is a Nicaraguan Contra, diplomat and professor. The son of Nicaraguan politician Arturo Cruz, he became involved in the exile politics of the Contras, Contra rebels opposing t ...

(both of whom served as Nicaraguan political officials and diplomats) and Javier Carrión McDonough.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrion Cruz, Luis Living people Sandinista National Liberation Front politicians Sandinista Renovation Movement politicians 1952 births