Remembering Anastasio Aquino, the revolutionary grandfather

The period in which Aquino lived (1)

Anastasio Aquino was born on April 16, 1792, in Santiago Nonualco, in the department of La Paz. Nonualcos was the name of the indigenous communities that had settlements between the Lempa and Jiboa rivers and between the Chinchontepec volcano and the Pacific Ocean.  According to some historians, Nonualco means “the place of beautiful speech.”

When Central America declared its independence from Spain in September of 1821, Aquino was 29 years old.  He saw that this development was celebrated by the creoles, that’s to say, those of Spanish blood that were born here who had inherited the lands violently stolen by the conquistadors.  “Independence isn’t for the Indian,” he said.

With independence, the new creole governors decreed “private property” the most fertile lands that the Spanish empire hadn’t been able to take away from the indigenous peoples.  At the same time, they made the work forced on the indigenous people even harder at their plantations, farms, and indigo workshops, where they were treated like animals.

The Nonualco insurrection

With independence came the war between the different groups in the feudal landlord class.  The “conservatives” wanted to return to the colonial past or substitute one empire for another; the “liberals” fought for a modern political system, integrated in a single Central American republic and with independence from any new empire.

In 1832 Central America was devastated by the war between liberals and conservatives.  The indigenous communities were in conditions of semi-slavery and their youth were recruited to fight in this war that wasn’t theirs.  Later, came the straw that broke the camel’s back: a high tax on the communities.

Between January and March of 1833, the Nonualcos, directed by Anastasio Aquino, rose up against the government of Mariano Prado and they achieved some important upsets against the government but did not advance to San Salvador, the rearguard of the enemy. The government troops recovered and in April launched a merciless counter-offensive, capturing Aquino in his refuge in the Tacuazín hill.  Three months later, on July 24, Aquino was executed by firing range and beheaded and his head was put on exhibition as a cautionary message.

Aquino was revived a century later in the indigenous and peasant uprising of 1932.  Ever since he is present here, battling against the same class enemies.