Transatlantic Fascism and the Myth-Making of Rubén Darío as National Symbol in Somocista Nicaragua, 1932–67

This paper presents the transatlantic intellectual and political influence of Franco’s Hispanidad project in portraying Nicaraguan poet Ruben Darío as a national symbol and the embodiment of mestizaje in his motherland. First, this paper focuses on the Francoist intellectual Ramiro Maeztu’s political appropriation of Darío’s poetry to legitimate and expand the cultural and political project of Hispanidad. The paper then examines Nicaraguan intellectuals such as Pablo Antonio Cuadra. By embracing the Hispanidad project developed in Franco’s Spain, Cuadra led the ideological shaping of Nicaragua as a mestizo nation, which in real terms represented the hegemonic dominance of the “Hispanic race” and the erasure of indigenous and black people from contemporary Nicaragua. Lastly, this paper presents the 1941 and 1967 Somocista commemorations of Ruben Darío, demonstrating the foundational influence of the Hispanidad project in the myth-making of Darío as the embodiment of a mestizo Nicaragua while institutionalizing the poet as Nicaragua’s national symbol.