Leticia Herrera Sánchez

Leticia Herrera was born in Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica during the exile of her father, a Nicaraguan worker and syndicalist who was persecuted during Somoza's dictatorship.^[1] She went through a large part of her primary and secondary education in Costa Rica where, at age 14, she had already formed a socialist organization at the institute where she studied.^[2]

Thanks to a scholarship, Herrera traveled to the USSR to study at what is now the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia in Moscow, where she graduated with a degree in law. During her time at the Soviet university, she was recruited by an FSLN cell in 1968 to join the Nicaraguan guerrilla movement.

Her participation required military training, for which she traveled to Lebanon to be instructed by the Palestine Liberation Organization. In 1970, she began her return to Nicaragua, passing through Italy, Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras,^[3] until in 1974, she joined Juan José Quezada's command.^[4]

Once integrated into the unit, she was given the noms de guerre "Vichy" and "Miriam" in order to protect her identity.

That same year, she was one of the leaders of Operation December Victory, an assault on President Somoza's residence in which senior government officials were taken hostage. As a result of this raid, there were negotiations between the Somoza regime and the guerrilla command that led to the exchange of the officials for FSLN political prisoners. Its success was an important political victory for the FSLN, although the Sandinista Revolution would not take place until almost five years later.

Throughout her participation in the Sandinista Front, where she spent 10 years in hiding, Herrera performed multiple tasks, including being responsible for security of Daniel Ortega after his return to Managua following his release. A short time later, the politician would become the father of the second of Leticia's three children.^[4]