Despite Sandino’s refusal to accept the Tititapa Accords that ended the Nicaraguan Civil War (see May 12 below), he initially accepted the U.S. peacekeeping mission. On May 21 he wired the Marine commander, Brigadier General Logan Feland. “For peace to be durable,” Sandino wrote, “we propose that the two parties leave the affairs of the Republic in the hands of [an] American governor, until absolutely free elections have been held.”
Ironically, Sandino would eventually establish his international reputation (especially amongst anti-American leftists) by opposing the U.S. presence in Nicaragua. Yet he only adopted this stance after the United States rebuffed his proposal to appoint a military governor to Nicaragua, and despite his pro-democracy rhetoric, Sandino would violently oppose what were Nicaragua's freest elections to date.
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