A guerrilla leader, he tenaciously resisted US intervention in Nicaragua from 1926–1933. His anti-imperialist stance attracted wide support in Latin America. After US marines withdrew, Sandino became leader of a cooperative farming scheme. Seen as a liberalizing influence, he was assassinated by Anastasio Somoza’s National Guard. The Sandinista Liberation Front, which defeated the Somoza dynasty in 1979, considered itself the spiritual heir of Sandino.