This site, built from 1889 to 1890 during the second presidential term of Roberto Sacasa to defend the city, was converted during the Somoza dictatorship into the scene of assassinations and the most cruel torture to political prisoners. The fortress was declared National Historical Patrimony at the 14 of July of 1983.
The fort is located on the hill of Acosasco, outside the city limits of the city of Leon, in the South, in a strategic point. The Chiquito River skirts the hill in the North, surrounded by vegetation and with passable access throughout the year. The building has the best views of the city and the volcanic mountain range of the Marrabios.
Historical facts
It was built as a military fort between 1889-1890 during the second presidential mandate of Roberto Sacasa and was abandoned during the administration of Juan Bautista Sacasa. It was later enabled as a prison during the Presidential period of Anastacio Somoza Debayle. From 1979 to 1986 it was also used as a military base. |
Description
The fort was built for the defense of the city, on the top of the hill of Acá rectangular that forms a tip of spear, simple. It has wide walls in slope with upper c that are used like trenches. It has entries through vaulted corridors on each side, here they placed war materials. The place that today occupies the central building primitively was the yard of arms and ammunition deposit. A series of constructions with the purpose of amplis Time embrasures and reservoirs were erected to store the water. |
The Fort of Accidental Death
The Fortin was the place where the last National Guard forces retreated during the war of 79. From there the high chiefs were disbanded by helicopter to Managua, and the troop, as always, fled on foot but was exterminated along Of the road. The latter were shot down by Izapa, Salinas Grandes and La Paz Centro, where the armed people had no mercy on them. Any contemporary person from the time of the Somoza remembers with great terror the dark days of "El Repollal", as they called the large terrain around the Fort of Acosasco, "since any prisoner who was sent to that place hardly returned alive to his House, it is more never known his whereabouts, "says poet Guillermo Ramos, 70 years old. The murdered were left in the open air, and their skulls scattered across the land from afar looked like cabbages. But the crimes carried out in the Fortín increased at the end of the sententa with the struggle led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front. "I remember that boy was walking along the river and listening to the heartbreaking cries of the prisoners who were to be executed. After several shots, silence reigned in the place and we were afraid to stop the walk," recalls Dr. Rigoberto Sampson, Current mayor of León. |