Sandinista!

Their next album “Sandinista!” was also extremely political, including songs about not only British politics, but about leftist revolutions around the world, the US draft, and covert military operations. The song “Washington Bullets” was their most specific and extensive political statement where they commented on the tortures occurring in Chile, the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, the revolution in Nicaragua, Soviet killings in Afghanistan, and communist China’s interference in Tibet.

“As every cell in Chile will tell
The cries of the tortured men
Remember Allende, and the days before,
Before the army came
Please remember Victor Jara,
In the Santiago Stadium,
Es verdad - those Washington Bullets again

And in the Bay of Pigs in 1961,
Havana fought the playboy in the Cuban sun,
For Castro is a colour,
Is a redder than red,
Those Washington bullets want Castro dead
For Castro is the colour...
...That will earn you a spray of lead

For the very first time ever,
When they had a revolution in Nicaragua,
There was no interference from America
Human rights in America

Well the people fought the leader,
And up he flew...
With no Washington bullets what else could he do?

'N' if you can find a Afghan rebel
That the Moscow bullets missed
Ask him what he thinks of voting Communist...
...Ask the Dalai Lama in the hills of Tibet,
How many monks did the Chinese get?
In a war-torn swamp stop any mercenary,
'N' check the British bullets in his armoury
Que?
Sandinista!”

Eleni Mitoulis