Ráfaga: The Life Story of a Nicaraguan Miskito Comandante

Reynaldo Reyes, Judith Kay Wilson

University of Oklahoma Press, 1992 - Guerrillas - 192 pages

Rafaga is the life narrative of Reynaldo Reyes, a Miskito Indian born on the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, a leader of the Miskito people in their struggle for political autonomy and cultural survival. The account tells of his childhood in peaceful Awastara, his efforts to get an education, his ordination to the ministry. Then, swept up by the Sandinista revolution, Reyes becomes a military man, fighting with the Sandinistas against the National Guard to depose the brutal Somoza regime. Later, when he perceives that the revolution is not benefiting the Miskitos, he joins his people's resistance against the Sandinista government. Through daring acts of leadership, he quickly emerges as a field commander of the Miskito counterrevolutionary forces, allied with the Contras and funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. But the battlefield does not provide the final solution. After several years of guerrilla warfare conducted on the difficult jungle terrain, Reyes - now known by his nom de guerre, Rafaga - realizes that the war is only prolonging his people's suffering. He is sickened by the corruption he discovers among the Contra political and military leaders. Working with other Miskito leaders, he moves toward peaceful dialogue with the Sandinistas in hopes of restoring the historical rights of the Miskito nation. Rafaga's life narrative, based on two years of face-to-face interviews, has been constructed through the collaborative effort of Reynaldo Reyes, J. K. Wilson, and Tod Sloan and has won the approval of the council of Miskito elders. This volume is much more than a political autobiography or an ethnographic account. Rafaga is the unique story of a dynamic leader who hadcourage enough for war and the vision necessary for negotiation. It is also the all-too-common story of the devastation experienced by the indigenous people of a region undergoing full-scale militarization.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Ráfaga: The Life Story of a Nicaraguan Miskito Comandante
• Authors: Reynaldo Reyes, Judith Kay Wilson
• Editor: Tod Stratton Sloan
• Contributor: Judith Kay Wilson
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992
• ISBN: 0806124539, 9780806124537
• Length: 192 pages