Arlen Siu Bermúdez (15 July 1955 – 1 August 1975) was a singer-songwriter, essayist and Sandinista revolutionary, who became one of the first casualties during the insurrection against Somoza. Early life Arlen Siu was born on 15 July 1955 in Jinotepe, Nicaragua. Her father, Armando Siu Lau, was born in Guangdong, China, and immigrated to Nicaragua in the late 1940s after serving in the Communist Revolutionary Army. He later married a Nicaraguan woman. Arlen Siu attended La Escuela Normal de Señoritas (Young Women's Normal School) in Jinotepe and UNAN, where she often sang with Marlene Álvarez, a member of the band Grupo Pancasán. Career Siu was 18 when she joined the Sandinistas. She had already attained a level of national celebrity as a talented songwriter, singer, and guitarist by the time she joined the movement. She was killed on 1 August 1975, during an ambush near El Sauce, Leon, Nicaragua, by soldiers from Anastasio Somoza Debayle's National Guard. She was 20 years old. Many in Nicaragua consider Siu one of the earliest deaths in the revolutionary movement. Her artistic works and critical essays on Marxism and feminism served as an inspiration to both the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan women's movement. Her picture was often displayed at FSLN celebrations throughout Nicaragua. Managua and El Rama have neighborhoods named after her, and a park in León is also named after her. Siu wrote a song called "Maria Rural", and since her death it has been sung by Álvarez and Grupo Pancasán, among others. References External links Famous Nicaraguans 1955 births 1975 deaths 1975 crimes in Nicaragua 1975 murders in North America 1970s murders in Nicaragua Nicaraguan women writers Nicaraguan revolutionaries Assassinated Nicaraguan people Nicaraguan people of Chinese descent Nicaraguan communists People murdered in Nicaragua 20th-century Nicaraguan women singers People of the Nicaraguan Revolution 20th-century Nicaraguan women writers 20th-century Nicaraguan writers Communist women writers Nicaraguan socialist feminists People from Carazo Department National Autonomous University of Nicaragua alumni Nicaraguan feminists Nicaraguan women activists