Mural featuring Nicaraguan folk legends including the Molotov Man, Masaya, Nicaragua, from the project Nicaragua

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Fotografiado por Susan Meiselas en vísperas de la victoria sandinista sobre el régimen de Somoza en 1979, Pablo "Barreta" Arauz (el "Hombre Molotov") apunta a los muros de la Guardia Nacional de Estelí. Revolucionarios como él fueron los que lucharon para liberar a Nicaragua del control autocrático de la familia Somoza. A lo largo de la década de 1980, los militantes sandinistas combatirían a los Contras respaldados por Reagan. La administración Reagan vio a los sandinistas como una amenaza para la seguridad nacional, para los intereses económicos de los Estados Unidos y como una gran pieza de dominó en la guerra contra el comunismo soviético.

El "Hombre Molotov" se convirtió rápidamente en un símbolo mundial de la revolución, representando el cambio político y cultural que llegaba a Nicaragua: juvenil, elegante, desafiante, valiente. La oposición también usó esta imagen para representar la agresión violenta de los militantes sandinistas, para reunir apoyo a la causa de los Contras. El "Hombre Molotov" ha adornado cajas de fósforos, volantes populares, camisetas, murales y esculturas de pueblos. Al igual que la famosa imagen de Ernesto "Che" Guevara, la fotografía de Meiselas continúa planteando preguntas sobre la "apropiación creativa" y los procesos que abstraen la historia y la política para producir íconos político-culturales.

Photographed by Susan Meiselas on the eve of Sandinista victory over the Somoza regime in 1979, Pablo "Bareta" Arauz (the "Molotov Man") takes aim at the walls of the Estelí National Guard. Such revolutionaries fought to rid Nicaragua of the Somoza family’s autocratic grip. Throughout the 1980s, Sandinista militants would combat the Reagan-backed Contras. The Reagan administration viewed the Sandinistas as a threat to national security and U.S. economic interests, and as a major domino in the war against Soviet-style communism.

The "Molotov Man" quickly became a global symbol of the revolution, representing Nicaragua’s political and cultural change: youthful, stylish, defiant, brave. The opposition also used this image to depict the violent aggression of Sandinista militants, in attempts to rally support for the Contra cause. The image of "Molotov Man" has adorned matchboxes, popular leaflets, shirts, murals, and town sculptures. Like the famous image of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Meiselas’s photograph continues to raise questions about "creative appropriation" and the processes that abstract history and politics to produce cultural icons.

From the 2022 exhibition Bolas de Fuego: Culture and Conflict in Central America, curated by Jorge E. Cuéllar, Assistant Professor of Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies

Course History

FILM 7, Social Justice Documentary: From Observer to Catalyst, Kylie Boltin, Winter 2013

GOVT 49.5, LACS 53, Protest and Parties in Latin America, Lisa Baldez, Fall 2014

LACS 8.01, Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America, Jorge Cuellar, Summer 2022

LACS 8.01, Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America, Jorge Cuellar, Summer 2022

LACS 8.01, Politics and Culture in Transnational Central America, Jorge Cuellar, Summer 2022

Exhibition History

Bolas de Fuego: Culture and Conflict in Central America, Teaching exhibition, Guest curator Jorge E. Cuellar, Class of 1967 Gallery and the LeWitt Wall, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, May 28-September 25, 2022.

Publication History

Kristen Lubben, editor, Susan Meiselas In History, New York: International Center of Photography and Germany: Steidl Publishers, 2008, p. 172.

Provenance

Susan Meiselas Photography, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2012.

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