The Central American country of Nicaragua barely makes it into the world news media nowadays. Not so long ago its civil war between opposing forces of the so-called Sandinistas and Contras was grabbing the headlines for the ferocity of the conflict and for the inevitable involvement of the US and Russia.
What most East Devon people are unaware of is how the
Nicaraguan civil war tragically split a family with strong local links. Born in
Lympstone in 1868, Frederick William Fley later moved to Budleigh Salterton
before deciding to cross the Atlantic and settle in Nicaragua’s coffee-growing
region of Managua.
The story of how his grandsons found themselves fighting on
opposite sides in the country’s civil war of the 1980s was reported by the
world’s media as a tragic example of the way in which the conflict had torn
families apart.
‘Uncles shot at nephews, brothers at brothers, and we even
know of fathers and sons who were on opposite sides of the conflict,’ as
Nicaragua-based journalist Carlos Powell wrote so poignantly.
You can read more about the Fley family in Nicaragua at https://budleighpastandpresent.blogspot.com/2023/12/from-budleigh-to-nicaragua-fascinating.html
If you are interested in the history of early America,
and Roger Conant as a peacemaker in troubled times you can join the Devon
Peacemaker Festival Facebook group at
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