Rigoberto López Pérez

Infobox Writer
name = Rigoberto López Pérez


imagesize = 150px
caption =
pseudonym =
birthdate = May 13, 1929
birthplace = León, Nicaragua
deathdate = September 21, 1956
deathplace = León, Nicaragua
occupation = Poet, composer, terrorist
nationality = Nicaraguan
period =
genre =
subject =
movement =
influences = Rubén Darío
influenced =


website =

Rigoberto López Pérez (May 13, 1929 – September 21, 1956) was a Nicaraguan poet and music composer. He was the assassin of Anastasio Somoza García, the longtime dictator of Nicaragua.

On September 21, 1981, 25 years after his death, the government of Nicaragua declared Rigoberto López Pérez a National Hero by means of Decree no. 825. [cite news | first=Edwin | last=Sanchez | coauthors= | title=Alemán cometió enorme agravio | date= | publisher= | url =http://archivo.elnuevodiario.com.ni/1998/diciembre/19-diciembre-1998/nacional/nacional7.html | work =El Nuevo Diario | pages = | accessdate = 2007-11-05 | language = Spanish ]

Early life

López was born and raised in León, Nicaragua; son of Soledad López and Francisco Pérez. López published his first poem, "Confesión de un Soldado" (Confesion of a Soldier), at the age of 17 in 1946. In 1948 he formed part of a 6-member musical group called "Buenos Aires". That same year he learned to play the violin, which he played in the group. López composed music, mostly romantic, including "Claridad" and "Si el vino me hace llorar" which "Buenos Aires" released on a radio station called Radio Colonial.cite news | first=Ignacio | last=Briones | coauthors= | title=Rigoberto: Notas para una Biografía | date= | publisher= | url =http://www.grupoese.com.ni/2002/09/26/ibMMII0926.htm | work =Bolsa de Noticias | pages = | accessdate = 2007-11-05 | language = Spanish ]

Lopéz's musical influences were those such as Beethoven; Rubén Darío, a Nicaraguan poet, often referred to as the "Father of Modernism", was a major literary influence to him. Lopéz would often collaborate in publications such as "El Cronista" and "El Centroamericano". [cite news | first=Wilmer | last=López | coauthors= | title=La Poesía Armada de Rigoberto López Pérez | date= | publisher= | url =http://impreso.elnuevodiario.com.ni/2005/12/10/suplemento/nuevoamanecer/946 | work =El Nuevo Diario | pages = | accessdate = 2007-11-05 | language = Spanish ]

López's girlfriend, Amparo Zelaya Castro, was the sister of Armando Zelaya, a journalist who drove López to the "Casa del Obrero" where he later shot Somoza.

Assassination of Somoza

On September 21, 1956, López was able to infiltrate a party in the Club Social de Obreros de León that was attended by President Somoza and shot him in the chest. Lopéz was instantly killed in a hail of bullets and Somoza died a few days later in the Panama Canal Zone hospital. Somoza's son, Luis Somoza Debayle, replaced his father as president.

Legacy

In April 1979, at the peak of the Sandinista's Revolutionary War, one of the five FSLN's Regional Commands in control of 24 cities altogether, was named after him. Unluckily, the FSLN's "Rigoberto Lopez Perez" Western Command was captured in full in a safe house in the suburbs of Leon and killed in captivity by dictator Somoza's forces. The Fall of this Commando integrated by Oscar Perez Cassar, Roger Deshon, Araceli Perez Darias, Idania Fernandez, Carlos Manuel Jarquin and Edgard Lang Sacasa massacrated in cold blood enraged the Sandinistas and accelerated the fall of the Somoza regime.

After the Sandinista victory in July, Nicaragua's national stadium in Managua, used as a venue for baseball and football as well as concerts and other events, was named after Lopéz, but on November 20 1998, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the stadium, then-President Arnoldo Alemán issued a decree changing the stadium's name to Estadio Nacional Dennis Martínez. [cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=Baseball Stadium Gets New Name | date= | publisher= | url =http://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/2218 | work =Revista Envío | pages = | accessdate = 2007-11-05 | language = ]

In 2006 a monument dedicated to López was built in his honor in Managua.

References

External links

*es icon [http://www.sandinovive.org/carlos/rlp.htm The will of Rigoberto López Pérez]
*es icon [http://www.grupoese.com.ni/2002/09/26/ibMMII0926.htm Rigoberto: Notas para una Biografía]
*es icon [http://www.patriagrande.net/nicaragua/rigoberto.htm Rigoberto López Pérez's Death Letter Addressed to his Mother]
* [http://www.travelsongs.com/photos/nicaragua/IMG_0029 Portrait of Pérez]
* [http://www.managua.gob.ni/proyectos/galerias/rigoberto/rigoberto.htm Photos of the Rigoberto López Pérez Monument]