Commander Zero passed away from unspecified causes although there are rumours of Covid-19 infection. From the NY TImes (behind a paywall, so I’m not gonna bother linking.)
Edén Pastora, a hero of the 1979 Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua who was known by his nom de guerre, Commander Zero — and who later turned against his victorious comrades in arms in a long counterrevolutionary war of words and guerrilla attacks that failed to budge the socialist regime in Managua — died early Tuesday in a military hospital in that city, the capital of Nicaragua. He was 83.
A grandson, Álvaro Pastora Gutiérrez, said the cause was a heart attack. He said Mr. Pastora had been gravely ill when he was admitted to the hospital, though he did not identify the nature of the illness.
Mr. Pastora’s wife told a local newspaper that the cause was bronchopneumonia. His family had denied rumors that Mr. Pastora had contracted Covid-19. The government has been widely accused of listing pneumonia as the cause of death in Covid cases as a way to dispel reports that the pandemic was out of control in Nicaragua.
I hadn’t caught this story when it first broke back in June. Commander Zero ‘made a stunning debut’ in 1979 in a Castro-like underdog story but never followed up on it in terms of future successes. After becoming disillusioned with the victory he helped win for the Communists he picked up his rifle, went back into the jungles, and tried starting a revolution against them. He never had any great successes after his initial one and he eventually wound up as a somewhat charismatic figure popping up in the spotlight once in a while to tweak the nose of whatever government had caught his attention. Sort of a Central American Don Quixote, tilting at political windmills. I always kinda thought it’d be interesting to get a selfie with him someday just for fun. Plus, he probably could have used the money. Kinda funny…I like the HiPower and the G3, same as he did apparently, judging from the pictures.
““The first thing we revolutionaries lose is our wives. The last thing we lose is our lives. In between our women and our lives, we lose our freedom, our happiness, our means of living.” – Eden Pastora
For those who are curious, one of the qualities of any nickname is that you don’t get to choose it. Many years ago I was talking to someone about my preparedness projects and they said something along the lines of “Do they know about your secret life as Commander Zero?” and thats how that appellation came to be.
” Many years ago I was talking to someone about my preparedness projects and they said something along the lines of “Do they know about your secret life as Commander Zero?” and thats how that appellation came to be.”
Ah, I wondered about how that name came about. Clever that.
It is remarkable that the man survived to such an old age. Most revolution leaders are killed by just as a lesson to others (so much for the naughty corner !).
Very happy to hear it was the other Commander Zero that died. My first look at the post and I thought we’d just had another Old Remus passing in the blogosphere.
The only thing that can kill me is me.
Had the same reaction, reminded me of logging in to weapons man and learning that hognose was gone.
That was my first thought too Jeff. Glad you’re still on the right side of the grass Commander.
Now that was a click bait title. Glad you’re still with us.
I thought that I had heard the name Edén Pastora before. It just took a bit to place him as the leader of the Contras.
Pastora learned as so many do, that the winners of revolutions are rarely, if ever, better than the ones they replace.
Shit, that headline practically gave me angina, I thought it was you,
the American one.
Thank God it wasn’t
Please don’t do that again
One man’s terrorist is another man’s patriot. Look at the founders. Everyone was under the death penalty who was a member of Congress and in the Continental Army leadership.
As Obi wan Kenobi replied ” It depends on your point if view.”
Under today’s subjective definitions, those founders were ‘insurrectionists’.
Ah ha – so thats where the name comes from, and you’re right in that you can never chose your nickname. And a fitting one it is. I’ve nicknamed many others that have stuck over the years but none, (thankfully) have ever come up with one that stuck to me.
And yup, agreed they were insurrectionists, but they laid out the foundation of the greatest nation ever devised. Until we once again take it back and continue with its greatness. After all, the hard work is already done in that we’ve already got a Constitution. We just refuse to send people to administer it that can actually (or will) read and adhere to it.
Time to fight back like you mean it. Do not obey, do not co-operate, do not comply with any fraudulent gov or any of its agencies.
When the governed become ungovernable – Let Them Herd Cats…….
They do not care about the Constitution, they do not care about rule of law, they lust for power for powers sake, and from now forward they will do absolutely anything to maintain it.
You are endowed with God given rights, let none take them from you. You do not need permission, you have those rights by your very humanity.
Long Live Our Republic
Look up “Irish Democracy.” They can’t do anything, other than kill us, if we refuse to obey.
That’s the reason so many Irish came to America. British Tyranny. We were the Wild Geese. Many a sea Captain put his ship and his life and freedom on the line to take the Irish out of Ireland.
In the ships manifest it would list the number of wild geese the ship carried. Since then the Sons of Ireland have fought in nearly every Army on the planet. They filled the ranks of the mercenary units including Mike Hoares 5 Commando which carried a round patch with a goose in flight and the notation ” Wild Geese.” Many even fought in the many Mexican revolutions and the Texian War of Independence.
LOVE THIS. Always wondered about your nickname
Just so as we adopted the appellations of “bitter clingers”, “deplorables”, now we are proudly “insurrectionists”. CTH has renamed the daily comment thread as “Resistance Day 2” for today.
Garrison Keillor once said that there was a name he was called in grade school, and if you thought he’d tell you, you have another think coming: “Wild horses could not drag that name from my lips”. I laugh because the same is true for me.
As a nom-de-guerre, Commander Zero is one to be proud of.
Got the “pineapples” too?
I had a crappy day at work, and like Jeff, read the first 2 lines, and thought “Oh sh*t, just the way to end the day!” Glad to see it was your name-sake. Stay safe!
RIP. I used to follow him and the contrast in the news when I was growing up. Thanks for the info I missed his passing as well.