THE ENDS OF MODERNIZATION: DEVELOPMENT, IDEOLOGY, AND CATASTROPHE IN NICARAGUA AFTER THE ALLIANCE FOR PROGRESS A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by David Johnson Lee December 2015 Examining Committee Members: Dr. Richard Immerman, Advisory Chair, History, Temple University Dr. Harvey Neptune, History, Temple University Dr. David Farber, History, University of Kansas Dr. Michel Gobat, History, University of Iowa © Copyright 2015 by David Johnson Lee All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT This dissertation traces the cultural and intellectual history of Nicaragua from the heyday of modernization as ideology and practice in the 1960s, when U.S. planners and politicians identified Nicaragua as a test case for the Alliance for Progress, to the triumph of neoliberalism in the 1990s. The modernization paradigm, implemented through collusion between authoritarian dictatorship and the U.S. development apparatus, began to fragment following the earthquake that destroyed Managua in 1972. The ideas that constituted this paradigm were repurposed by actors in Nicaragua and used to challenge the dominant power of the U.S. government, and also to structure political competition within Nicaragua. Using interviews, new archival material, memoirs, novels, plays, and newspapers in the United States and Nicaragua, I trace the way political actors used ideas about development to make and unmake alliances within Nicaragua, bringing about first the Sandinista Revolution, then the Contra War, and finally the neoliberal government that took power in 1990. I argue that because of both a changing international intellectual climate and resistance on the part of the people of Nicaragua, new ideas about development emphasizing human rights, pluralism, entrepreneurialism, indigenous rights, and sustainable development came to supplant modernization theory. The piecemeal changes in development thinking after modernization corresponded not to a single catastrophic shift, but rather obeyed a catastrophic logic of democratic empire, in which U.S. and Nicaraguan politics were characterized by a dialogue about ideas of development but U.S. power remained the final determining factor. Though the new ideas did not replace modernization's former unifying power, they nonetheless constitute the contemporary paradigm of neoliberalism. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is a pleasure to thank all the people who made this project possible. Temple University’s History Department provided an ideal setting to encourage creativity grounded in rigorous scholarship. Richard Immerman, David Farber, Harvey Neptune, and Arthur Schmidt all provided invaluable mentorship, helping me see this project through from its earliest vague outline to its completion. Michel Gobat provided thoughtful and incisive comments and encouragement. My frequent trips to Central America and to archives around the United States were made possible by generous grants and scholarships from the Temple University Graduate School, the Center for Force and Diplomacy, the Center for the Humanities, and the College of Liberal Arts. The Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations also provided travel funding. The staff at the many archives I visited in working on this project provided a great deal of support. I’m especially grateful for the kind and patient staff at the archive and library at the Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica in Managua. None of this would have been possible without the many friends and colleagues who provided support and guidance. Alex Elkins read and helped improve countless drafts of my work, often helping me articulate what I wanted to say before I quite knew myself. Colbert Root, aided mightily by Brittany, courageously slogged up and down the mud-strewn mountains of prose I inflicted upon him. Jared Brey and Juliana Rausch also persevered in keeping up a steady flow of good ideas, good conversation, and good spirits. Ben Webster helped critique my work early in the process, and Phil Lewin accompanied me on the first of what would be many trips to Nicaragua. Noelle Egan proved to be an able reader and good travel company. Lara Gunderson and Leah Trangen were great companions in figuring out what the canal was all about. Kelsey Baack helped me find my way to El Castillo. Maria José Gonzalez and Margarita Loring provided wonderful hospitality in Barrio Monseñor Lezcano. Aynn Setright and Lillian iv Hall helped orient me in the country to which they’ve devoted so much work and affection. Casa Ben Linder provided a welcoming space to meet other people as fascinated by Nicaragua as I was. Eimeel Castillo helped me get to know her beloved Managua. My students at Temple University, The College of New Jersey, Philadelphia University, and Holy Family University constantly reminded me why I got into the business of scholarship and persevered through all its difficulties. I would especially like to thank the gentlemen at Garden State and Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facilities, who were the best students I could ever hope to have. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER 1. DE-CENTERING MANAGUA: POST-EARTHQUAKE RECONSTRUCTION AND REVOLUTION IN NICARAGUA .................................1 2. DIS-INTEGRATING RURAL DEVELOPMENT ......................................................47 3. PLURALISM, DEVELOPMENT, AND THE NICARAGUAN REVOLUTIONS........................................................................................................106 4. RETRACING IMPERIAL PATHS ON THE MOSQUITO COAST: THE CASE OF NICARAGUA’S MISKITO INDIANS AT THE END OF THE COLD WAR AND BEYOND ...................................................................................152 5. CONCERTACION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: INSTITUTIONALIZING PRECARITY IN POST-WAR NICARAGUA ...............192 EPILOGUE ......................................................................................................................240 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................261 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. A graphic illustration of the totality of the downtown’s destruction, showing the city’s numerous fault lines………………….……………………………….53 2. Planners’ vision of a decentralized Managua, with an unspecified "government" at the center…………………...…………………………….…...66 3. Illustration of post-earthquake Managua, showing the class structure of the emerging city. Housing projects were deliberately placed in areas marked as “low income.” ......................................................................................................68 4. Advertisement for Managua’s Metrocentro Mall to the south of the destroyed city center echoed planners' language of “development poles”: “Why go to the poles when you can be at the center?”…………………………..………......70 5. “Dawn in Las Américas”: Residents using water stations in the night.………...73 6. Artist’s rendering of the "El Paraíso" urban development……………….…..... 83 7. The illustrations heading each chapter of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro’s Richter 7, depicting the post-earthquake threat to Nicaragua………………... 108 8. Two front age images from La Prensa…………….…….................................. 116 9. La Prensa illustration of the workings of Plasmaféresis………………………118 10. Advertisement for Tur-Nica……………………………………........................ 164 11. Frontispiece for Nietschmann’s manuscript, depicting himself with the Indian rebels of “Yapti Tasba.” ………………………………........................ 220 12. Cover of "Fourth World Revolution: With Yapti Tasba Guerrillas Fighting the Sandinista Invasion.” …………………………………………………….. 220 13. Nietschmann's illustration of the Soviet-Cuban “dry canal,” whose style evokes the common Reagan administration-produced illustrations of the Nicaraguan threat to the Caribbean...................................................................221 14. Nietschmann’s depiction of the “States” and “Nations” of Central America, showing indigenous rights to control much of the region’s territory and spanning state borders.……………………………………………………..….221 15. While arguing that the Miskito “moral economy” had been violated, Nietschmann also noted that Miskito access to imported consumer goods was severely curtailed under the FSLN..……………………………………….......222 vii 16. Hugo Spadafora, guerrilla………………………………………………….....223 17. Hugo Spadafora, theorist. The caption reads: “Hugo at work editing our manuscript in San Jose, January 1984……………………..………………….223 18. Nietschmann helping turn warriors into students..……………………….…...224 19. A Misura member at the Tegucigalpa seminar wearing a Soldier of Fortune t-shirt…………………………………………………………………………..224 20. Antigona at the Universidad Centroamericana……...………………………..285 21. Antigona, Teatro Justo Rufino Garay..………………………………………..286 22. Hugo Chávez overlooking Avenida Bolívar.......................................................290 23. Mini-Managua in Paseo Xolotlán……………………………………………..291 viii INTRODUCTION