DOCSLIB.ORG

The Nicaraguan Revolution–Six Years After the Sandinista Electoral Defeat

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Nicaraguan Revolution–Six Years After the Sandinista Electoral Defeat ThirdWorld Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 307± 327, 1996 TheNicaraguan revolutionÐ six years afterthe Sandinista electoral defeat GARYPREVOST On25 April 1990 Violeta Chamorro assumed thepresidency of Nicaragua, two monthsafter her National Opposition Union ( UNO)coalitionscored a decisive electoralvictory ending 11 years ofruleby therevolutionary Sandinista National LiberationFront ( FSLN).Thebackers of President Chamorro both inside and outsideof Nicaragua expected her administration to move quickly to dismantle therevolutionary projects of theSandinistas. This article will give an assessment ofNicaraguan society based on the questions: what gains of the Sandinista revolutionhave been overturned by the Chamorro administration and what gains havebeen protected by the Sandinistas and their supporters. Additionally, it will analysethe current relationship of political forces withinNicaragua with an eye towardthe prospects for social change in the coming years. 1 Sandinista achievements Toanswer the two questions that have been posed, it is ®rst necessary todraw abalancesheet on the11 years ofSandinistarule with an eye to cataloguingthe transformationof Nicaraguan society that did emerge during this time period. Transformationsin eight areas willbe discussed brie¯ y: agrarianreform, worker’s rights,creation of a moredemocratic economy, women’ s rights, eliminationof the historic repressive apparatus, democratic political processes, education,health care; AtlanticCoast autonomy process. In analysing the successes ofthe Sandinista revolution and ultimately assessing thesuccess and failureof the current government to overturn these gains, it is importantto acknowledgethat many of the gains of the Sandinista period had already been erodedby the effects ofthe contra warand the Sandinistas’ own policies even beforeChamorro assumed of®ce. This chapter does not seek todraw a balance sheeton theyears ofSandinistapower. That has beenaccomplished elsewhere, 2 ratherthis work begins with the accomplishments of the Sandinista revolution andanalyses those changes that have occurred since 1990. Agrarianreform is atthe top of the list of Sandinista achievements because itis oftencited as thesingle most important development of the 1980s in Nicaragua.Nicaragua is primarilyan agrarian country. By 1990 the agrarian reformhad affected more than half of thecountry’ s arableland, bene® ting some Gary Prevost is atthe Department of Government, St John’ sUniversity, POBox2000, Collegeville, MN56321-2000,USA 0143-6597/96/020307-21$6.00 Ó 1996Third World Quarterly GARY PREVOST 60%of allrural families. Also, by 1990the majority of farms werein thehands ofsmall and medium size producers,in contrast to the historic maldistribution oflandgoing back to the colonial times. Initially the Sandinista land reform had concentratedon creating a signi®cant state sector for agro-export but beginning in1985 much greater emphasis was placedon land distribution to individual campesinos andby 1989 the small private producers and the cooperatives were responsiblefor 47% of allagricultural production (Baumeister, 1989: p 34).The campesino sectorbene® ted from the government’ s policyof easy creditterms andtechnical assistance alongwith state-run processing and storage facilities. Thisstep forward was partiallyoffset by commercialpolicies that kept producer priceslow. In oneof its® nalacts theoutgoing Sandinista-led National Assembly passed lawsdesigned to protectthe agrarian reform from its possible dismantling bythe Chamorro government. While the laws could not make up for 10 years offailure to grant the necessary titles,they have provided a legalbasis to strugglefor the maintenance of this gain. Asigni®cant expansion of workersrights, especially the right to form unions andengage in collective bargaining, was ade®nitive achievement of Sandinista power.Prior to 1979 only about 30 000Nicaraguans (less than10% of the workers)were trade union members andstrikes or even collective bargaining weremade virtually impossible by theSomoza regime. By theend of the1980s therewere more than 2000 workplace unions with some 55%of the working populationunionized ( BarricadaInternacional ,1989:p 2).New laws enacted by theNational Assembly guaranteed the right to strike and collective bargaining. Sometrade union rights, including the right to strike were, suspended during the contra war,but strikes occurred throughout the 1980s. Most labour confronta- tionswere settled through dialogue with the FSLN. Duringthe Sandinista years aconsiderabletransformation of the Nicaraguan economyoccurred in the direction of theinterests of Nicaragua’s poormajority. Throughgovernment intervention, unemployment was sharplyreduced, basic necessitiessuch as foodand clothing became accessible to a muchgreater proportionof the population, and the gap in the standard of living between the ruraland urban areas was narrowed.These gains were achieved through a combinationof government credit policies and a subsidisationof basic necessi- tieswith export revenues. This achievement, probably more than any other, was alwaysfragile and by 1990 the combination of the contra warand Sandinista economicpolicies undermined this transformation. Inthearea ofwomen’s rightsthe gains of the1980s were numerous including paidmaternity leave; equal access toeducation; legal equality in relation to divorce,adoption and parental responsibility; a measure ofeconomic indepen- dence,and the inclusion of sex educationin the school curriculum. Of course, thesegains occurred in the context of a traditionalmale-orientated society and witha Sandinistagovernment that often resisted women’ s demandsout of alack ofcommitment to women’ s rightsand a deferenceto the Roman Catholic hierarchy.However, even with those limitations, women had emerged by 1990 as muchgreater players in Nicaraguan society than ever before. Sometimesoverlooked in recitationsof revolutionaryachievements, especially byoutside observers, was theelimination of the repressive apparatus of the 308 THE NICARAGUAN REVOLUTION Somozaregime and its replacement by an army and police force under civilian politicalcontrol. The brutality of Somoza’ s NationalGuard is wellchronicled andone of the Sandinista government’ s ®rst acts was theestablishment of the SandinistaArmy and the Sandinista police without any involvement of persons connectedto the National Guard. In many bureaucratic areas theSandinistas wereforced to depend on some Somozaholdovers, but not in the police and army.As aresult,when the Sandinistas handed over state power in 1990 they leftbehind army and police institutions imbued with a revolutionaryconscious- ness andinsulated from penetration by NorthAmerican institutions. The Sandin- istaarmy and police were not immune from human rights abuses. Rather they wereunder strict political supervision and their human rights record compared quitefavourably with their Central American neighbours. Disappearances and killingsby government forces werecommon-place in the 1980s in El Salvador, Guatemalaand Honduras. This simply did not happen on any comparable scale inNicaragua. AnotherSandinista achievement hailed by virtually all analysts was the establishmentof a democraticconstitutional and electoral process thatresulted inNicaragua’ s ®rst trulypeaceful and legal transfer of politicalpower from one partyto another.During the Somoza era andbefore Nicaragua had the facade of ademocraticconstitution and elections, but the political reality was adictator- shipthat rigged elections and operated outside the law. The 1987 constitution, whichcombined Western liberal democratic norms with a revolutionarysocial conscience,was thecentrepiece of the new political progress. In addition, Nicaraguaconducted two honest elections, in 1984 and 1990, the second of whichsaw theSandinistas defeated but committed to the democratic will. Inthe area ofeducation the 1980s saw signi®cant gains, particularly in the earlyyears. The 1980 Literacy Crusade, cited as amodelcampaign by the UnitedNations, dramatically reduced illiteracy, particularly in the rural areas. TheNicaraguan government also committed a greatershare ofresources to educationthan any previous administration. By 1989 the school population had grownfrom 300 000 to 1 millionand the government launched a follow-upto theLiteracy Crusade in the form of 17000 education collectives providing adult educationto 200 000 Nicaraguans (Norsworthy, 1991: p 109).Education was, however,undermined by the contra waras resources werediverted away to the militaryand schools were forced to close in areas ofheavy ® ghting. Provisionof healthcare tothewhole of theNicaraguan population was greatly expanded,especially during the early years ofthe revolution. For the ® rst time Nicaraguagained a truenational health system underthe Sandinistas. During the Somozaera onlyabout 15% of the population received care. Substantial expansionwas achievedin both curative and preventative medicine. More than 400new health clinics and several major hospitals were built around the country. Governmentexpenditures on health care morethan tripled (Norsworthy, 1991: p 116). Afterinitial serious mistakes, the Sandinista government enacted an autonomy statutefor Nicaragua’ s Atlanticcoast that is asigni®cant achievement for the rightsof theindigenous peoples of theAmericas. Nicaragua’ s easterncoast, rich inminerals and other natural resources, had long been exploited with no care for 309 GARY PREVOST theenvironment nor the non-Hispanic population that lived there. Initially the Paci®c
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Organization of American States Electoral Observation Mission Municipal Elections Nicaragua
    ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES ELECTORAL OBSERVATION MISSION MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS NICARAGUA November 5, 2017 FINAL REPORT TABLE OF CONTENTS I. FINAL REPORT TO THE PERMANENT COUNCIL ...............................................................................1 1. BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................. 1 2. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 3. PRE-ELECTORAL STAGE .................................................................................................................... 2 4. ELECTION DAY .................................................................................................................................. 4 5. POST-ELECTORAL STAGE .................................................................................................................. 6 6. RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................................................................................................... 7 6.1. Electoral Organization and Technology ................................................................................. 7 6.2. Voter Registry ......................................................................................................................... 9 6.3. The Electoral Branch ............................................................................................................ 11 6.4. Election dispute resolution
    [Show full text]
  • Download It From
    IMD Partner in Democracy A NNUAL R EPORT 2005 The IMD – an institute of political parties for political parties The Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD) is an institute of political parties for political parties. Its mandate is to encourage the process of democratisation in young democracies by providing support to political parties as the core pillars of multi- party democracy. IMD works in a strictly non-partisan and inclusive manner. Through this approach, the Institute endeavours to contribute to properly functioning, sustainable pluralistic political party systems. It also supports the activities of civil society groups which play a healthy role in multi-party democracies, even though they are not part of any formal party structure. IMD was set up by seven Dutch political parties in 2000 in response to requests for support from around the world. The IMD’s founding members are the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA), Liberal Party (VVD), Christian Democratic Party (CDA), Democratic Party (D66), Green Party (GroenLinks), Christian Union (ChristenUnie) and Reformed Party (SGP). Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy Korte Vijverberg 2 2513 AB The Hague The Netherlands Address per September 1, 2006: Passage 31 2511 AB The Hague The Netherlands T: +31 (0)70 311 5464 F: +31 (0)70 311 5465 E: [email protected] www.nimd.org IMD Partner in Democracy A NNUAL R EPORT 2005 Partners in Democracy Preface Without properly functioning political parties, resulted in a study for the European Parliament entitled democracies do not work well – a fact that is not yet No lasting Peace and Prosperity without Democracy & fully recognised within the international development Human Rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Analysis: Arnoldo Aleman, Liberal Alliance Could Govern Nicaragua Guest Author
    University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository NotiSur Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) 11-3-1995 Analysis: Arnoldo Aleman, Liberal Alliance Could Govern Nicaragua Guest Author Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/notisur Recommended Citation Guest Author. "Analysis: Arnoldo Aleman, Liberal Alliance Could Govern Nicaragua." (1995). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/ notisur/12058 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NotiSur by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LADB Article Id: 55877 ISSN: 1060-4189 Analysis: Arnoldo Aleman, Liberal Alliance Could Govern Nicaragua by Guest Category/Department: Nicaragua Published: 1995-11-03 By William I. Robinson [The author, who recently visited Nicaragua on a fact-finding tour, teaches sociology at the University of New Mexico and is Research Associate at the Center for International Studies in Managua. He is a former LADB news analyst. His latest book, "Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization and US Intervention, Hegemony, and Democracy in the 21st Century," will be published in 1996 by Cambridge University Press.] Managua. - Although Nicaragua's October 1996 general elections are still a year away, the elections already dominate the country's political scene. Out of a hodgepodge of 32 political parties and 20 presidential hopefuls, Nicaragua's four-party Alianza Liberal, and its candidate, Arnold Aleman, is the undisputable front runner. The Alianza Liberal has become the strongest political force in Nicaragua. It not only leads in the polls but is perhaps better organized throughout the nation than its principal adversary, the tightly-disciplined, yet waning, Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (FSLN).
    [Show full text]
  • Culture and Arts in Post Revolutionary Nicaragua: the Chamorro Years (1990-1996)
    Culture and Arts in Post Revolutionary Nicaragua: The Chamorro Years (1990-1996) A thesis presented to the faculty of the Center for International Studies of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Tatiana Argüello Vargas August 2010 © 2010 Tatiana Argüello Vargas. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled Culture and Arts in Post Revolutionary Nicaragua: The Chamorro Years (1990-1996) by TATIANA ARGÜELLO VARGAS has been approved for the Center for International Studies by Patrick Barr-Melej Associate Professor of History José A. Delgado Director, Latin American Studies Daniel Weiner Executive Director, Center for International Studies 3 ABSTRACT ARGÜELLO VARGAS, TATIANA, M.A., August 2010, Latin American Studies Culture and Arts in Post Revolutionary Nicaragua: The Chamorro Years (1990-1996) (100 pp.) Director of Thesis: Patrick Barr-Melej This thesis explores the role of culture in post-revolutionary Nicaragua during the administration of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro (1990-1996). In particular, this research analyzes the negotiation and redefinition of culture between Nicaragua’s revolutionary past and its neoliberal present. In order to expose what aspects of the cultural project survived and what new manifestations appear, this thesis examines the followings elements: 1) the cultural policy and institutional apparatus created by the government of President Chamorro; 2) the effects and consequences that this cultural policy produced in the country through the battle between revolutionary and post-revolutionary cultural symbols in Managua as a urban space; and 3), the role and evolution of Managua’s mayor and future president Arnoldo Alemán as an important actor redefining culture in the 1990s.
    [Show full text]
  • Sandinistas Dominate Local Elections in Nicaragua Benjamin Witte-Lebhar
    University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository NotiCen Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) 11-30-2017 Sandinistas Dominate Local Elections in Nicaragua Benjamin Witte-Lebhar Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen Recommended Citation Witte-Lebhar, Benjamin. "Sandinistas Dominate Local Elections in Nicaragua." (2017). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen/ 10481 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NotiCen by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LADB Article Id: 80464 ISSN: 1089-1560 Sandinistas Dominate Local Elections in Nicaragua by Benjamin Witte-Lebhar Category/Department: Nicaragua Published: 2017-11-30 Nicaraguan leader Daniel Ortega and the governing Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) added to their more than decade-long winning streak with a near-sweep in nationwide municipal elections. The contests––held Nov. 5 and tepidly approved by observers from the Organization of American States (OAS)––tightened the Ortega regime’s already meaty grip on the country (NotiCen, Feb. 16, 2017, June 29, 2017, and Oct. 19, 2017) but also prompted a handful of confrontations that left several people dead. Overall, the Sandinistas won 135 of the nation’s 153 municipalities, including all 15 departmental capitals plus Bilwi (Puerto Cabezas) and Bluefields, the main cities in the Región Autónoma de la Costa Caribe Norte (North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, RACCN) and the Región Autónoma de la Costa Caribe Sur, (South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, RACCS) respectively, according to the Consejo Supremo Electoral (CSE), Nicaragua’s electoral authority.
    [Show full text]
  • Nicaragua: United States Assistance to the Nicaraguan Human Rights Association and the Nicaraguan Resistance
    Columbia Law School Scholarship Archive Faculty Scholarship Faculty Publications 1988 Nicaragua: United States Assistance to the Nicaraguan Human Rights Association and the Nicaraguan Resistance Suzanne B. Goldberg Columbia Law School, [email protected] Lee Crawford Kevin Reed John Tennant Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Human Rights Law Commons, and the International Law Commons Recommended Citation Suzanne B. Goldberg, Lee Crawford, Kevin Reed & John Tennant, Nicaragua: United States Assistance to the Nicaraguan Human Rights Association and the Nicaraguan Resistance, 1 HARV. HUM. RTS. YB. 260 (1988). Available at: https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/1109 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Scholarship Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Human Rights Yearbook / Vol. 1 NICARAGUA: United States Assistance to the Nicaraguan Human Rights Association and the Nicaraguan Resistance The question of providing aid to the Nicaraguan Resistance has been significant to United States human rights policy throughout the Rea- gan Administration. Although events have changed repeatedly during the winter of 1988, including a truce between the Nicaraguan Gov- ernment and the Resistance and a Congressional decision not to provide military aid to the Resistance, the underlying policy issues remain constant. The Harvard Human Rights Yearbook presents two notes, infra, discussing the Military Construction Appropriations Act of 1987, which granted $100 million in aid to the Nicaraguan Resis- tance. The first note discusses the Nicaraguan Human Rights Asso- ciation (Asociacidn Nicaraguense Pro-Derechos Humanos "ANPDH"), a human rights organization sponsored and funded by the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • THE ELECTORAL PROCESS in NKARA GUA: DOMESTIC and Interllri TIONAL INFL UENCES
    THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN NKARA GUA: DOMESTIC AND INTERllrI TIONAL INFL UENCES THE REPORT OF THE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION DELEGATION TO OBSERVE THE NICARAGUAN GENERAL ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 4,1984 BOLETA ELECTORAL PARA REPRESENTANTES A LA ASAMBLEA NACIONAL REPUBUCA DE NICARAGUA CONSEJO SUPREMO ELECTORAL REGION lV i L PPSC )f MAP-ML PsAo:Al /I YOViYIEYFDt3E WPULAR ACCKm POWWl WAXlSTA CRlSTlANO LENINISTA mu--MIPIQ- I An official publication of the LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION November 19, 1984 Reprinted here with the permission of the Latin American Studies Association - Bill Becker - REPORT OF THE The range of options available to the Nicaraguan voter LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION on most issues was broad, but it would have been even DELEGATION TO OBSERVE THE NICARAGUAN broader if the U.S. Government had not succeeded in per- GENERAL ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 4,1984 suading or pressuring key opposition leaders to boycott or withdraw from the election. We found that the behavior of U.S. officials during the six months preceding the elections SUMMARY OF FINDINGS was clearly interventionist, apparently designed to delegitim- ize the Nicaraguan electoral process by making sure that the FSLN had no externally credible opposition to run against. In August, 1980, the Sandinista (FSLN) government in External critics of the Nicaraguan process have argued Nicaragua pledged that elections would take .place within five that, because legitimate opposition groups (especially Arturo years (i.e., sometime in 1985). That timetable was accelerated, primarily due to external pressures. The date of Cruz and his Coordinadora coalition) were "excluded" from the process, the elections were illegitimate and uncompeti- November 4, 1984, was selected so that Nicaragua would tive.
    [Show full text]
  • Overview Print Page Close Window
    World Directory of Minorities Americas MRG Directory –> Nicaragua –> Nicaragua Overview Print Page Close Window Nicaragua Overview Updated on 3 June 2008 Environment Peoples History Governance Current state of minorities and indigenous peoples Environment Nicaragua is bordered on the north by Honduras and on the south by Costa Rica. Over 90 per cent of its people, and the centres of government and the economy are located on the narrow Pacific Plains. The majority of Nicaragua's minorities live in the very sparsely populated tropical Atlantic lowlands, which comprise over 56% of the national territory. Peoples Main languages: Spanish, English Creole, Miskitu, Sumu, Rama Main religions: Christianity (Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Moravian, Episcopal) Main minority groups: Miskitu, Creoles (9%, CIA 2007), Mayangna (Sumu), Garífuna, Rama Nicaragua's indigenous minorities (5%, CIA 2007) comprise five different groups speaking six different languages. Their communities are located mainly in the rainforests and lagoons of the Atlantic Coast Region. It contains the nation's richest reserves of natural resources and the second largest tropical jungle in the Americas after the Amazon in Brazil. Nicaragua also has substantial minorities of Middle East and East Asian origin. History Nicaragua is unique in Latin American colonial history. It was colonized simultaneously on the western Pacific side by Spain and on the eastern Atlantic coast by Britain. Under Spanish rule the indigenous Central and Pacific coast populations were almost annihilated. Many were enslaved and shipped to South America to work in Spanish colonial precious metal mines. Over time the remaining indigenous groups mixed with the Spanish colonizers, out of which evolved the dominant Spanish-speaking, Catholic mestizo culture of today.
    [Show full text]
  • The Right of Indigenous Peoples to Political Participation and the Case of Yatama V
    THE RIGHT OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES TO POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND THE CASE OF YATAMA V. NICARAGUA Maia Sophia Campbell* “[T]he right of self-determination may be satisfied where a people enjoys an effective voice, through its own representatives, in the governing of a democratic State, and suffers no disadvantage or discrimination.”1 I. INTRODUCTION Violence and protests erupted on the streets of Puerto Cabezas after Nicaragua denied a major indigenous political party, YATAMA, participation in the November 2000 municipal elections.2 Due to the exclusion of the YATAMA party, between 85% and 95% of voters in the region abstained from voting in the elections; in some areas less than ten votes were cast.3 Failing to reach any redress in Nicaraguan domestic courts, the YATAMA party sought relief from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case of YATAMA v. Nicaragua is a landmark legal precedent for guaranteeing indigenous peoples the right to political participation. The case marks the first time an international tribunal has found that a state violated political rights and equal * J.D., University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law, 2007; B.A., Pomona College, 2001. Thank you to Jim Anaya for his valuable comments on earlier drafts of this Note, and to the editors at the Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law for their helpful editing assistance. 1. U.N. Econ. & Soc. Council [ECOSOC], Sub-Comm’n on Prevention of Discrimination & Prot. of Minorities, Working Group on Indigenous Populations, Working Paper: Standard-Setting Activities: Evolution of Standards Concerning the Rights of Indigenous People, ¶ 19, U.N.
    [Show full text]
  • The Democratic Problematic in Central America and the Surprising Case of Nicaragua1
    The Democratic Problematic in Central America and the Surprising Case of Nicaragua1 by Craig W. Auchter Butler University Discussion Paper No. 89 January 1996 1. Democracy: The Central American Variants Perceptions of what democracy is or ought to be vary according to historical contexts, analytical constructs, and ideological convictions. This is clearly evident when we look at the alternative possibilities offered by the liberal tradition with its emphasis on individual rights and competition; the Marxist tradition which focuses on modes of production and social class solidarity; and the organic tradition's more holistic approach and corporatist linkage of state and society. Elite and popular tendencies within each of these traditions yield yet more disparities: elite pluralism and citizen participation within liberalism; Leninist dual power and parliamentary socialism within Marxism; and exclusionary corporatism and inclusionary corporatism within the organic tradition.2 Comparisons often tend to be raw as when, in a conversation with then Nicaraguan Vice President, Sergio Ramírez, novelist Salman Rushdie quoted Nina H. Shea, program director for the International League for Human Rights, who stated, _Repression in Nicaragua is not as conspicuous or as bloody as in other parts of Central America. But it is more insidious and systematic._ Ramírez shot back, _You see, if we do not murder and torture people as they do in Salvador, it just proves that we are so fiendishly subtle._3 In the mind of some critics, as long as the Sandinistas remained in power, that was _proof_ of their anti-democratic nature. When the party accepted its defeat in the 1990 elections and ceded power to the Chamorro government, outgoing President Daniel Ortega was able to claim credit for the successful transition to democracy in NicaraguaCwithout renouncing the Sandinista ideals of social class solidarity and national unity.
    [Show full text]
  • Background- Nicaragua1 Nicaragua Is a Small Central American
    Background- Nicaragua1 Nicaragua is a small Central American country (pop. 6 million, 2017 est.) that has experienced repeated U.S. military intervention and the decades-long dictatorship of the Somoza family. In 1980, leftist Sandinista guerillas overthrew the Somozas and the U.S. responded by funding the violent Contra guerilla counter-insurgency. Despite the violence, Nicaragua successfully transitioned to democracy but continues to struggle with sporadic government violence, lack of respect for indigenous political and land rights, and authoritarianism. Its current president, Sandinista Daniel Ortega, has retained power for over a decade through increasingly dubious elections. Nicaragua’s early years were marked by internal conflict and external intervention. Before the arrival of the Spanish, Nicaragua was inhabited by diverse communities of farmers and hunter- gatherers, whose total population may have been as much as a million. After the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s, European diseases and enslavement decimated the population, reducing it to tens of thousands. Nicaragua became a neglected backwater of the Spanish empire and the British allied with the Miskito people to gain control of much of Nicaragua’s Caribbean coast. In the early 1800s, Nicaragua joined other Central American countries in achieving independence. However, independence inflamed centuries-old rivalries between Nicaragua’s two principal cities: the middle class and Liberal León and the aristocratic and Conservative Granada. The two sides sought foreign backing in their fight for control, with the Conservatives generally obtaining support from Britain and the Liberals generally obtaining support from the United States. In 1855, the Liberals invited American adventurer William Walker to assist them in defeating the Conservatives.
    [Show full text]
  • Details of Nicaraguan Election Returns (S/ S) Deborah Tyroler
    University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository NotiCen Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) 3-28-1990 More Details Of Nicaraguan Election Returns (s/ s) Deborah Tyroler Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen Recommended Citation Tyroler, Deborah. "More Details Of Nicaraguan Election Returns (s/s)." (1990). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/noticen/3862 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin America Digital Beat (LADB) at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in NotiCen by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LADB Article Id: 070926 ISSN: 1089-1560 More Details Of Nicaraguan Election Returns (s/s) by Deborah Tyroler Category/Department: General Published: Wednesday, March 28, 1990 [From Barricada Internacional, issue 311, in 03/06/90 report by Barricada USA, P.O. Box 410150, San Francisco, CA 94141.] Parties UNO: National Opposition Union PSOC: Social Conservative Party PLIUN: National Unity Liberal Party PRT: Workers Revolutionary Party FSLN: Sandinista National Liberation Front MAP-ML: Marxist-Leninist Party PSC: Social Christian Party PUCA: Central American Unionist Party PCDN: Democratic Conservative Party of Nicaragua MUR: Revolutionary Unity Movement Yatama: Children of the Motherland Mojume: Multi-ethnic Youth Movement NATIONAL Registered voters: 1,753,912 Votes for president and vice president: 1,510,838 (86.1% of registered voters) Total valid votes: 1,420,544 UNO: 777,557 (54.7%) PSOC: 5,793 PLIUN: 3,151 PRT: 8,590 FSLN: 579,886 (40.8%) MAP-ML: 8,115 PSC: 11,136 PUCA: 5,065 PCDN: 4,500 MUR: 16,751 (1.2%) National Assembly seats UNO: 51 FSLN: 39 PSC (Yatama): 1 MUR: 1 REGION I (Esteli, Madriz, Nueva Segovia) National Assembly UNO 66,241 (47.5%) 4 seats FSLN 67,035 (48.1%) 5 seats Municipal councils UNO: (1)* El Jicaro, Somoto.
    [Show full text]