Last living founder of Sandinista movement dies

MANAGUA, Nicaragua — The last surviving founder of the Sandinista guerrilla movement that overthrew Nicaragua’s U.S.-backed right-wing dictatorship in 1979 has died. Tomas Borge Martinez was 81.

First Lady Rosario Murillo said in a simultaneous broadcast on Radio Ya and other stations that Borge Martinez died late Monday. Murillo also serves as a government spokeswoman.

She did not give a cause of death, but Borge Martinez had been hospitalized for several weeks, reportedly for respiratory problems.

Borge joined with Carlos Fonseca Amador and others in 1961 to found the National Sandinista Liberation Front, which overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.

The party governs Nicaragua, under Sandinista President Daniel Ortega.