Arlen Siu and the Legacy of Asian Latinx Revolutionaries

The lives and invaluable contributions of Asian Latinxs are often neglected, unacknowledged, and unappreciated across history, even when the focus is Latin America. Since Asian migration to the Global South, there have been many notable Asian Latinx icons like Arlen Siu Bermúdez, whose fame has been relatively limited to her home country Nicaragua. Yet she made an undeniable impact on her community and people as a poet, singer-songwriter, and activist. She wrote several songs that are still well-known today among grassroots movements and working-class people like “María Rural,” which gives voice to the struggles of single Nicaraguan mothers. She was killed when she was only 20-years-old in a military-led attack against her and other activists who were protesting the U.S.-backed dictatorship headed by former Nicaraguan present Somoza Debayle.

Today, she is considered a revolutionary and political martyr among past and current activists, as she sacrificed her life for the betterment of her country, community, and people, particularly Nicaraguan women and mothers, against injustice and oppression. Though she may be little known outside of Nicaragua, her impact on world history is undeniable.

Read on to learn more about the activist and why she deserves to be remembered in Nicaraguan, Latin American, and world history.

Early Life

Arlen Siu Bermúdez was born in Jinotepe, Nicaragua on July 15, 1955 to a Chinese father and Nicaraguan mother. Her father, Armando Siu Lau, was born in China where he served as a soldier for many years in the Communist Revolutionary Army. He later immigrated to Nicaragua and married Siu’s mother, Rubia Bermúdez. Notably, her family was known in their hometown for being successful merchants and they were thus able to live comfortably despite the widespread levels of poverty, famine, crime, and illiteracy. She was also one of four sisters and two brothers.

Growing up, she enjoyed anything to do with the creative arts: painting, dancing, drawing, writing poetry, playing guitar, and even composing her own original music. In fact, by the time she was a teenager, she’d become known on a nationwide scale for her singing, political writing, and guitar-playing abilities. However, she was discouraged from learning Cantonese by her father or being exposed to her Chinese heritage in any way so that she might become more assimilated to local Nicaraguan culture. But she was naturally a headstrong person and always found a way to go after what she wanted. She ended up defying her father and convinced her grandmother to teach her what little she knew of the family’s native language.

Outside of the home and creative pursuits, she excelled as a student. After turning 18 and graduating from high school, she decided to attend the Universidad Nacional Autónoma of Nicaragua (UNAN), where she studied social psychology. At the time, she had ambitions to become a teacher and help lower the rates of illiteracy among poor Nicaraguans, particularly those in rural areas. There, she continued to pursue her love of music, singing alongside a band known as the Grupo Pancasán. She was also able to be exposed to radicalized peers her age, who were passionate about civil rights, social justice, and organized resistance, especially against the federal government at the time.

Revolutionary Life

In 1967, former President Anastasio Somoza Debayle became the ruling leader of Nicaragua, the last of a decades-long family dynasty that had been in power for over four decades since 1937. President Somoza ruled from 1967 to 1972, only to return to power and establish his dictatorship in 1974 until 1979 after rewriting the law to allow him to run for immediate re-election. During this time, his family was a full beneficiary of the United States, becoming one of the wealthiest families in Nicaragua and even across North and South Americas, with their net worth estimated anywhere from $1 billion and $5 billion and their total land ownership making up 23% of the country. They were able to form and benefit from consistent incidents of internal corruption, including bribes, monopolies, land-grabbing, and siphoning of foreign aid. Meanwhile, their constituents suffered by the millions from poverty, famine, and poor education.

Seeing the lack of accountability and the amount of oppression against ordinary people angered Siu. Though she had grown up in wealthy circumstances herself, she felt huge sympathy for the poor and working-class. In fact, when she was 17, she had witnessed the aftermath of a 6.2 earthquake that hit Nicaragua’s capital in 1972. It caused an estimated millions of dollars worth of destruction, over 19,000 deaths, and 20,000 injuries. She immediately volunteered to help victims and refugees through creating and running make-shift shelters, as well as collecting donations from local communities. After the earthquake, the rock band Rolling Stones contributed by raising over $250,000 to donate to relief efforts during a benefit concert. Later, it was revealed that not only had President Somoza embezzled the funds and transferred them to his personal account, but his family had also stolen many sources of aid from foreign countries and entities for themselves.

Invigorated by a need to help free her people from such greed and corruption and inspired by her university classmates, she soon became involved with the socialist student-led party Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), otherwise known as the Sandinistas. They had opened chapters across many universities across Nicaragua and were intent on overthrowing Somoza and his U.S.-backed presidency.

By the time she was in her second year of college, she decided to leave home and fight on the ground with the Sandinistas, all without telling her parents or her siblings. Initially, she lied and told her mother that she’d be sleeping over at a friend’s house. While her mother already knew about Siu’s political and revolutionary ambitions, including her dreams for women and her people, and had even heard her talking with her sisters about what to bring with her, she never suspected that her daughter would leave to go to the front. Little did she know that it was also the last time she would see her daughter alive.

Government Attack and Death

By this point, the rift between the National Guard and the Sandinistas had turned into a full-scale conflict. On August 1, 1975, one of the Sandinistas, in fear for his life, decided to switch sides and turned himself over to the military. But soon enough, they manipulated him into giving up the location of the Sandinistas training camp in the mountains near a town called El Sauce, where Arlen happened to be that morning. When one of her friends Ángela Ruiz saw military trucks nearby, she quickly alerted the others, who planned to retreat. Arlen, not one to back down from a fight, hid behind a tree and promised to protect her comrades.

Over the next two hours, she fought against them, allowing many others to escape and run away unharmed despite her insufficient weapons against military ground and air machinery. However, she was soon struck by a bullet from a military soldier, which shot through a tree and killed her alongside her fellow comrades Mario Estrada, Hugo Arévalo, Gilberto Rostrán, Julia Herrera de Pomares, Mercedes Reyes, and Juan and Leónidas Espinoza. In many ways, Siu was targeted in particular for her music and how it allowed her to become one of many faces of the FSLN movement. The military buried her and the others in a mass grave, preventing families from recovering the bodies until the FSLN was able to overthrow the Somoza dictatorship in 1979.

Famous Writings

Siu wrote many poems, essays, and songs throughout her short lifetime. She is most known for the song “María Rural,” which focused on the plights of poor Nicaraguan mothers, particularly those who lived in poor conditions in the countryside.

Some notable lyrics included “Oh mother of the countryside, mother without equal / Today I want to sing, your poor offspring, your sad remains, maternal pain / Malnutrition and poverty is what surrounds you, a straw hut in silence, just the noise of the jungle.” She initially wrote the lyrics when one of her friends and priest wrote a poem called “Juan Pueblo” and gave it to her, and she gave him her own composition in return as a response. Though she was considered to have a beautiful singing voice, she never sang that particular song in public. After her death, the song was set to music recorded by her former band the Grupo Pancasán, with her friend Marlene Alvarez serving as lead vocalist.

Outside of songs, she wrote Marxist and feminist-themed essays in which she demanded an end to sexual violence and forced disappearances by the Somoza administration, as well as celebrated the vital but unacknowledged role of poor women in Nicaragua’s political movements throughout history.

Legacy

Even though she died young when she was only 20-years-old, Siu is still remembered among by her local community in Jinotepe, especially those who are old enough to have known her personally. She is often praised for her tenacity, political consciousness, passion, and willingness to sacrifice her life for the causes she loved.

After her assassination, her essays continued to inspire Sandinista members and women across Nicaragua, and photos of her were displayed at FSLN meetings and events. There are several neighborhoods in the cities of Managua and El Rama that are named after her, as well as a park in León. The house she grew up in, where her mother continues to live, is treated as a historical landmark, with her name displayed outside on a plaque in the front. Every year in her hometown, her family also organizes a music festival in her honor and invite singer-songwriters from all across the country to perform. She continues to be a vibrant symbol for grassroots resistance and how one person can be a powerful voice for generations.