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Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War Paperback – August 3, 2016

by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (Author), Margaret Randall (Foreword)

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Human rights activist and historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has been described as “a force of nature on the page and off.” That force is fully present in Blood on the Border, the third in her acclaimed series of memoirs. Seamlessly blending the personal and the political, Blood on the Border is Dunbar-Ortiz’s firsthand account of the decade-long dirty war pursued by the Contras and the United States against the people of Nicaragua.

With the 1981 bombing of a Nicaraguan plane in Mexico City—a plane Dunbar-Ortiz herself would have been on if not for a delay—the US-backed Contras (short for los contrarrevolucionarios) launched a major offensive against Nicaragua’s Sandinista regime, which the Reagan administration labeled as communist. While her rich political analysis of the US-Nicaraguan relationship bears the mark of a trained historian, Dunbar-Ortiz also writes from her perspective as an intrepid activist who spent months at a time throughout the 1980s in the war-torn country, especially in the remote northeastern region, where the Indigenous Miskitu people were relentlessly assailed and nearly wiped out by CIA-trained Contra mercenaries. She makes painfully clear the connections between what many US Americans today remember only vaguely as the Iran-Contra “affair” and ongoing US aggression in the Americas, the Middle East, and around the world—connections made even more explicit in a new afterword written for this edition.

A compelling, important, and sobering story on its own, Blood on the Border offers a deeply informed, closely observed, and heartfelt view of history in the making.

Print length

312 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date

August 3, 2016
Dimensions

6 x 0.79 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0806153849
ISBN-13

978-0806153841
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“This is an impressive, astounding, and truthful historical document. . . . Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz tells a story that is moving, profoundly human, and enlightening.” —Gioconda Belli, author of The Country under My Skin

“Captures a messy snapshot of our country and [Dunbar-Ortiz’s] own life. A living embodiment of the philosophy ‘the personal is poltical,’ she navigates a dense narrative river through her early, youthful enthusiasm for social change, moving upstream toward a hard-edged and realistic perception of the undertows of political waters . . . she reveals an unbowed human spirit—a major ingredient in victory.” —Jewelle Gomez, author of The Gilda Stories

“Dunbar-Ortiz is clearly a memoirist of great skills and even greater heart. She’s a force of nature on the page and off.” —Dave Eggers, author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

About the Author

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a writer, teacher, historian, and social activist, is Professor Emerita of Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies at California State University, East Bay, and author or editor of numerous scholarly articles and books, including the award-winning An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, as well as two other memoirs.

Margaret Randall is a feminist poet, writer, photographer, and social activist who has published more than 80 books, including Sandino's Daughters: Testimonies of Nicaraguan Women in Struggle and To Change the World: My Years in Cuba.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Oklahoma Press; Revised edition (August 3, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 312 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0806153849
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0806153841
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 15.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.79 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,251,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #106 in Nicaragua History
- #1,039 in Historical Latin America Biographies
- #2,287 in Caribbean & Latin American Politics

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Nancy Elsenheimer

Three Stars

Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

There were interesting history stories but too much of the author's journey.

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Robert J. Allison

not up to quality of a peoples history of north ...

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2015

Verified Purchase

not up to quality of a peoples history of north American before and after colonialism. too scattered and too much about her.

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Daniel Morgan

Terribly self-absorbed, with some interesting anecdotes

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2020

Despite being an American from Oklahoma whose highest professional role was a teaching professor in the CSU system, the author imagines herself to not only be fully capable of plunging into the Miskitu War, but of actually having valuable insight to contribute. By her own admission, her Spanish was rusty to the point that she did not understand “mono” (79); she learned no Miskitu (78); she spoke no French (203) even though half of her self-ordained mission was to represent various causes to the UN. Thus, for the entirety of her supposed help for the MIskitu cause, she was unable to communicate with the Miskitu, with the Pacific Nicaraguans, or with most of the international organizations in the region. What a scholar! In addition, the author made many mistakes. She cited Quiche as being “the language of a majority of Mayans”, which is incorrect (117). She slandered Jose Barreiro as a possible CIA agent, which she admitted was wrong in a footnote (128). She described MIguel D’Escoto as a “former priest”, despite the fact that he never stopped being a priest and celebrated Mass with the blessing of Pope Francis (145). She also keeps describing Pacific Nicaraguans as “Latinos” which is an entirely foreign American idea; more accurate would be the native “mestizo” or the regional “ladino” (132). Of course, this is probably due to the fact that for the decade she was in Nicaragua, she had no idea what anybody was saying.

Boundless ignorance never diminished the author’s sense of self-importance. Upon hearing some Canadian Natives talking about the Miskitu, “I quickly realized that they did not know much about the situation and had been reading from a report the had received from Nicaragua”, which is the moment she knew her life would change forever (52). She wanted to “try to get the International Indigenous Treaty Council and other North American Native organizations and individuals to rally support for the Miskitu with the revolutionary process and try to help the Sandinista leadership understand indigenous aspirations,” (81). And what prepared her for this work? “I would concentrate on the Miskitia, doing the work I was most prepared for. I felt the study I had done in the mid-1970s on the history of land tenure in New Mexico provided a template for me to analyze the issues of people . . . “ (95). Just to be clear, an Oklahoman thinks that a book she wrote about New Mexico would prepare her for Caribbean Central America, a region she has no personal, official, or academic connection to and where she speaks no relevant language.

Of course, she stumbled along throughout this entire journey. She admitted arguing with a Tamil lawyer about the possibility of civil war in Sri Lanka, which she thought was inconceivable; she was proven wrong a year later when that same lawyer became a leading insurgent (168). Her bright idea to prevent the US invasion of Grenada was to go there with a bunch of US citizens; no one agreed with her, and she was proven wrong when the US actually used the presence of US medical personnel as an excuse to invade (172). The Sandinistas restricted access to war zones for foreign reporters. The author “thought this was a mistake, but the Sandinistas argued, rightly as it turns out, that the mainstream US media was easily manipulated by the Reagan administration” (172). The Sandinistas were apparently more savvy than she was, since her interview with “Time” was turned into an anti-Sandinista piece. “How could I be so naive as to trust a Time reporter? I will never again trust my judgment . . . ” (194). As one critic stated, “She has done more damage to the Miskitu cause - and the Sandinistas - than any other person.” (237). If only she had taken that criticism to heart.

At every step of the way, anyone who disagreed with her vision is out to get her. “Is someone in charge of discrediting me at the CIA or the FBI?” (241). On that same page, the author took issue with an article by Penny Lernoux in a magazine called “The Nation”, where Penny, the official Latin America correspondent who focused on liberation theology and was a devout Catholic, was critical of the Sandinistas. The author wrote a 14-page response which she “truly believed that they would publish the full text” (241); she is perplexed when she is asked to resubmit an 800 word letter to the editor because they never explained “why the didn’t give me a full opportunity to reply” (242).

The best example of this is with Brian Wilson, the man who laid on a train-track to block US military supplies and lost his legs as a result. “Brian saw himself as one of hundreds of thousands of maimed Nicaraguans . . . Although my wounds were not anywhere close to Brian’s, I felt the same” (253). The upshot is that when Brian Wilson told her to focus on her alcoholism so that she could "be alert and contribute to the struggle", she was "resentful" because of his "self-righteousness" (254). She has the temerity to regard a man who lost both his legs for the cause as "self-righteous" because he told her to put down the bottle. “Hope was palpable across Nicaragua, although everyone was war-weary, including me” (257). This is all coming from someone whose sole contribution to the Revolution was to visit as an American and then go to some conferences at the UN. She never fought in the war, she never brought supplies, she never mediated between political figures, she contributed no useful skills to alleviate the physical or mental suffering of Nicaraguans. She never put her life, money, or even career at risk. She sacrificed nothing, contributed nothing, and lost nothing, but is still somehow a victim.

The author perpetuates the same sort of colonialist mentality that she criticized with the US, viewing the Miskitu as benighted people whom she can enlighten with her insights. As noted above, the entire premise is that she went to Nicaragua despite having no background, language ability, or practical skills. She described the Miskitu as “brainwashed by US missionaries” (93). She takes a cold view towards both the Catholic and Moravian churches, describing the Moravians in particular as acting “swiftly to bring their Miskitu worshippers into the circle of US influence” (99). According to her, “the king and the Miskitu Kingdom created by the British continued to define modern Miskitu aspirations for self-determination”; however, this was all part of a “colonized mentality” (206). At no point does Roxanne ever ask WHY so many Miskitu supported a kingdom, or were interested in working with the Americans, or distrusted the Sandinistas. At no point does she examine the deep divides within the Sandinistas in the Pacific region, in particular the power struggles between the military generals and the more social/cultural leaders. Despite Nicaragua being an officially Christian socialist republic for the past 40 years, she does nothing to analyze either Marxism or revolutionary Catholicism in the minds of the populace. In her mind, nobody in Nicaragua has their own ideas, or agenda, or agency - everyone is the pawn of the Moonies or the CIA or is just part of a big misunderstanding, and she is the savior who will bring peace and harmony by raising awareness.

In fact, the author speculates that she personally stopped a US invasion of Nicaragua. When she published a paid ad (paid by someone else) about the Miskitu Contras in the NY Times, “I believe this ad could well have been a factor in the Reagan administration’s decision to continue to fight the war through proxies instead of sending US troops” (174).

This book is actually a fun read, if you want to read either genuinely intriguing anecdotes from the Contra War, or about delusions of self-importance and grandeur.

One person found this helpful

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John Green

Casts a Light on Indigenous Politics

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2006

"US officials railed against the Sandinistas for nationalizing property, but they had never criticized the dictator Somoza for personally owning much of the country..."

Blood on the Border is Roxanne Dunbar-Oritz's maddening search for identity amidst the life-or-death Sandinista Revolution and collapsing social movements in the U.S. during the Ronald Reagan `80s.

As a witness to many great crimes against humanity, the author deftly balances between her own struggles with alcohol, humanizing the Nicaraguan people (especially the misunderstood and maligned indigenous Miskitu people) and recounting harrowing run-ins with "the other side" in the form of CIA agents, State Department officials, mercenary guns-for-hire, Christian fundamentalists and Somozistas.

This is a well-written, important contribution to the history of the Sandinista Revolution and the U.S. Left in the 1980s. Specifically, its unique focus on the role of indigenous people in a wider social revolution is invaluable. The misunderstandings with the Sadinistatas and manipulation of the Miskitu and other Atlantic Coast Indians by the U.S./Contras is telling of the present war on Iraq's ethnic conflict.

The author's post-Maoist politics shine through her actions--including her obsession with the United Nations--and leads one to wonder if her tremendous knowledge, talents and convictions might have been more helpful had they not brought her to UN conference after conference?

The better we understand Nicaragua and the United States' dirty war against the Sandinistas, the better we will be poised to confront today's imperialism. After all, the author observes, from then-U.S. Ambassador to Honduras John Negroponte to then-Reagan advisor Donald Rumsfeld, it's a lot of the same cretins running the show today.

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