Thirty years ago, Nicaragua's Sandinistas announced the start of the revolution. Dutch volunteers rushed en masse to the Central American country to help. But how do the 'Dutch brigades' look back on that period? Has the magic spell worn off or was it all worth it?

It was the end of the 1970s: the United States, the great capitalist superpower, had been defeated in Vietnam, South Africa's apartheid regime was subject to a massive boycott and Nicaragua's Sandinista revolutionaries toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza after 45 years of oppressive rule.

The Sandinistas' communist ideals were viewed with suspicion and revulsion in the US but the exotic, socialist revolution worked like a magnet on left-wingers in the Netherlands. Dutch doctors, agricultural experts and sociologists rushed to join the revolution and create a better world.

Women welcome
In 1979, the Sandinistas asked filmmaker Jan Kees de Rooy to set up a television station, he remembers that "the airport was teeming with a 16-year-old boys and girls. They were supposed to be customs officers and passport officials but they had no idea what they were doing. They were all carrying great big guns and were grinning from ear to ear. It was one big party".

Hans van Heijningen, who had just graduated form university, left for Nicaragua to join his girlfriend who was already working there as a doctor. Mr van Heijningen, who currently works for the Dutch Socialist Party, became policy adviser to the new Sandinista government. It was a dream job for a young sociologist but fighting was still going on in various parts of the country.

Political tourists
At one point, Mr van Heijningen was taught how to shoot and a Kalashnikov was thrust into his hands for 'security'. He remembers that somewhere in the interior of the country, a Dutch brigade was attacked by Contra rebels, anti-revolutionary guerrillas supported by Washington:

"It was like the Wild West, the Dutch volunteers cowered on the floor for the entire night. And when the rain of bullets was over, they found the bodies of the Sandinistas who had died while protecting them". The Dutch viewed the Nicaraguans as "undisciplined" but as Mr van Heijningen says, "they were prepared to die for their ideals".

"That was certainly not the case among the Dutch volunteers," says travel guide author Carolijn Visser, who was also in Nicaragua at the time. She says that in Managua, "You couldn't turn around without falling over a Dutch political tourist. They were all so proud of themselves and thought themselves so brave. The Nicaraguans had to do the fighting and the dying on the front lines while they sent videotapes home from quiet, safe Managua and drove around the capital in rented vehicles while ordinary Nicaraguans couldn't afford petrol anymore".

End of the honeymoon
Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega returned to power in Nicaragua in 2006. He's gained a bit of weight and his hair is thinner but 30 years later, President Ortega still calls himself a revolutionary.

The Dutch love affair with the Sandinista revolution appears to be over. Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders froze aid to Nicaragua last December on the grounds that the Ortega government had thwarted plans for free and fair elections. In the wake of the decision, numerous city and town partnerships were cancelled.

Thirty years after the revolution, Mr de Rooy still lives in Nicaragua. Is he ashamed of helping the Sandinistas all those years ago?

"Of course there are questions about some things; revolutionary methods aren't perfect. On the other hand, personally I am not at all sorry and I have no regrets. On the contrary, it was an honour to be allowed to take part. You could perhaps compare it to the first months after the Second World War when people were talking about building 'a new Netherlands'. That spirit, where everyone was prepared to make sacrifices to build a new society, that spirit was here too".

Photo: Lon&Quita at Flickr