Arlen Siu

Arlen Siu Bermúdez (15 July 1955 – 1 August 1975) was a singer-songwriter, essayist and Sandinista revolutionary, who became one of the first casualties during the insurrection against Somoza.

Arlen Siu (15), martyr of the Sandinista revolution
A group of Nicaraguans holding and marching with a picture of Arlen Siu and the FSLN flag in Jinotepe 3 years after her death

Early life

Arlen Siu was born on 15 July 1955 in Jinotepe, Nicaragua. Her father, Armando Siu Lau, was born in Guangdong, China, and immigrated to Nicaragua in the late 1940s after serving in the Communist Revolutionary Army.[1] He later married a Nicaraguan woman. Arlen Siu attended La Escuela Normal de Señoritas (Young Women's Normal School) in Jinotepe and UNAN, where she often sang with Marlene Álvarez, a member of the band Grupo Pancasán.[2]

Career

Siu was 18 when she joined the Sandinistas.[1] She had already attained a level of national celebrity as a talented songwriter, singer, and guitarist by the time she joined the movement. She was killed on August 1, 1975,[3] during an ambush near El Sauce, Leon, Nicaragua, by soldiers from Anastasio Somoza Debayle's National Guard. She was 20 years old.

Many in Nicaragua consider Siu one of the earliest deaths in the revolutionary movement. Her artistic works and critical essays on Marxism and feminism served as an inspiration to both the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan women's movement.[1] Her picture was often displayed at FSLN celebrations throughout Nicaragua. Managua and El Rama have neighborhoods named after her, and a park in León is also named after her.[4]

Siu wrote a song called "Maria Rural", and since her death it has been sung by Álvarez and Grupo Pancasán, among others.[5]

References
  1. Roshni Rustomji-Kerns; Rajini Srikanth; Leny Mendoza Strobel (1999). Encounters: People of Asian Descent in the Americas. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 119–120. ISBN 0-8476-9145-4.
  2. "Personalidades en la Musica de Nicaragua: Pancasán hizo su historia" (in Spanish). Manfut. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
  3. "Mujeres Que Hacen La Revolución: Arlen Siu". Mujeresrevolucionaria.blogspot.fr. 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2013-04-19.
  4. "Parque de León sin recursos". La Prensa (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  5. Randall, Margaret (1980). Todas estamos despiertas: Testimonios de la mujer Nicaragüense de hoy. Siglo XXI. pp. 122–123. ISBN 968-23-1011-3.
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