2 JULY 1979 — I traveled to the northern city of Esteli, the scene of ferocious fighting between government forces and insurgents struggling to defeat them. In the picture above, a Sandinista rebel serenades his “companeros” during a lull in the battle. By this time fighting had spread to population centers across Nicaragua. The foreign […]
30 JUNE 1979 — After their strategic retreat from Managua, Sandinista fighters and supporters occupy the nearby city of Masaya, one of numerous population centers slipping out of government control. For the first time since launching their “Final Offensive” against the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship, jubilant Sandinistas now see the possibility of victory. In the early […]
28 JUNE 1979 – This is what I witnessed as I drove over back roads early on the morning of 28 June 1979 to drop a colleague off at the airport. Hundreds of Sandinista fighters and supporters retreated from Managua because, as one of them said, the civilian population was being hammered by government forces’ […]
GIJON, Spain, 3 July 2009 — Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Javier Bauluz (left) joins Paco Ignazio Taibo II at a news conference announcing details of upcoming events in the city of Gijon, Spain. Bauluz is director of the 13th Encuentro Internacional de Fotoperiodismo, Ciudad Gijon, that runs from 10-19 July this year. Taibo, a world-renowned […]
26 JUNE 1979 — Casualties mount during a surge of fighting between Sandinista rebels and members of the Nicaraguan National Guard. Seen with a towel over his shoulder making pictures of a wounded man is John Hoagland, at that time a freelance photojournalist for the Associated Press (AP). John and I covered part of the […]
25 JUNE 1979 — A tenuous lull in fighting erupts into gunfire between members of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) (above) and the National Guard of Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza. The image making and storytelling skills I acquired during this conflict are the foundation of my role today as backpack journalist. As we mark […]