The Sandinistas celebrate defeat of the Somoza regime. Image used under the Creative Commons license
In 1979 the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) seized control of the National Palace in Managua, ousting the Somoza regime and embarking on an agrarian reform and literacy campaign, among other social services. The ten-year period of Sandinista rule, led by Daniel Ortega, is referred to as “the Revolution.” Florence Babb explains that “the Sandinistas transformed the rural land holding system, urban manufacturing, and the distribution of goods and services so that those who had been disenfranchised gained access for the first time to economic openings for a respectable livelihood.”
Under Sandinista rule, illiteracy shrank from 62% to 12%. Women’s rights and public health improved. Despite this, several factors caused the earlier, optimistic years of the Revolution to give way to disillusionment: internal strife within the FSLN, a withdrawal of foreign aid, an economic embargo, and the Contra War.
The Contra War
Oliver North testifies before the Iran-Contra committee. Image used under the Creative Commons license
The Reagan Administration in the United States viewed the FSLN victory as a communist threat “in our backyard” and funded the Contra War, which raged throughout the 1980s. Internal strife was present as well; the Miskito tribe on the Caribbean coast disagreed with the Sandinista’s land reforms and so waged a civil war.
United States Congress, through the Boland Amendment, voted to quit aiding and abetting the Contras, but Reagan’s National Security Advisor, Oliver North, sold weapons to Iran (despite a trade embargo) and funneled the profits from these sales to the Contras. Nicaragua sued the United States in the World Court at the Hague and won 12 billion dollars, but the United States did not honor the ruling.
1990 Presidential Election
The elections in 1990 were the first in the history of democracy in which a revolutionary junta peacefully gave way to democratic elections. Backed by the U.S., Violeta Chamorro won the election and became Nicaragua’s first female president. The assassination of Chamorro’s husband, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, by Somoza is the event that many cite as the catalyst for the Sandinista Revolution’s success. A member of the oligarch, Chamorro Cardenal’s death persuaded the last bastion of Somoza supporters to turn against him. His widow briefly supported the Sandinistas but quickly became disillusioned with the cause.
Of the 1990 elections, Babb relates, “In hindsight, Nicaraguans’ yearning for peace and economic security carried the vote, coupled with increasing criticism of the Sandinista government’s management of the [war and economic] crisis.” Rapid privatization ensued.
