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The '''Sandinista National Liberation Front''' ({{lang-es|Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional}}) is a Nicaraguan leftist, revolutionary [[socialist]] political party that was swept to power in 1979 in a popular revolution that overthrew the [[Somoza]] dictatorship. Following their seizure of power the Sandinistas ruled [[Nicaragua]] for roughly 12 years from 1979 to 1990. Their organization is generally referred to by the initials '''FSLN''' and its members are called, in both English and Spanish, '''Sandinistas'''. The Opposition to the [[Anastasio Somoza Debayle|Somoza]] government began with the anti-imperialist imperatives of [[Augusto César Sandino|Augusto C. Sandino]], decades prior to the '''Nicaraguan Revolution'''.
The Sandinistas had complicated beginnings, and were the product of three disparate social and ideological groups -- each of which had independently taken the name "Sandinistas" -- uniting together in cooperation against the Somoza regime. The first of the groups was organized by [[Eden Psstora]] in the late 1950's. Pastora was a close friend of Panama's dictator, and eventually became the Sandinista's military commander in chief. Another group was put together in [[1961]] by a few young [[Marxist]] students whose leader was the [[KGB]] agent [[Carlos Fonseca]]. These two groups quickly united to fight togetherunified, and for many decades the FSLN was the main group opposing the dictatorship of the Somoza family. Later, they were joined by a group of urban business men and professionals led by a powerful Nicaraguan corporate lawyer, [[Joaquin Chamorro]], through whom was persuaded [[Arturo Cruz]], a wealthy banker who was intimate with the wealthy and influential among the Nicaraguan professional class. Together, these three gruopsgroups made up the FSLN, or Sandinistas.
After emerging victorious from a brief [[civil war]] the FSLN formed a democratic government and led it from 1979 until 1990, at which time they lost the majority in the national elections. During this nascent period of the new Nicraguan state, the FSLN faced aan terroristeleven waryear by a proxy army formed and supportedinsurgency by the [[United States]], who had become involved because of opposition from a minority of powerful nationalists in corporate industry who opposed the FSLN's [[land reform]], system of nationalized healthcare, and sweeping educational and business reform. Although the FSLN initially sought peaceful alignment and cooperation with the U.S., the military aggression and the international isolation brought against it by the U.S. eventually forced the FSLN to purchase weaponry and supplies from communist bloc countries such as the [[Soviet Union]] and [[CubaContras]].
The FSLN organized Nicaragua's first elections in 1984, in which the Sandinistas won a majority. The elections were boycotted by the [[Contra]] opposition who alleged that it was unfair, despite the fact that the elections were validated by both UN and Western European observers. Eight parties stood in the election, 3 to the Left of the FSLN, 4 to Right, and no other parties joined the protest. The newly elected assembly created Nicaragua's current constitution and continued to administer Nicaragua over the course of two more election cycles, but in 1990 they agreed to hold early elections as part of a ceasefire agreement with the United States. The FSLN lost the 1990 elections by a narrow margin, amongst some controversy over electoral fairness because of the military and economic pressures which were initiated by the U.S., including such techniques as increased military over-flights, reorganization and re-deployment of the Contra rebels, as well as a pointed advertising campaign which implied that unless the U.S.-backed candidate was elected the aggression would continue. Despite the questionable nature of the elections, the FLSN peacefully surrendered power after a narrow loss.
The FSLN remains one of Nicaragua's leading parties, in opposition to the [[Constitutional Liberal Party]] (PLC). Despite the fact that the FSLN is no longer the ruling party in Nicaragua, its revolution affected many facets of Nicaraguan society and its legacy has left a lasting impression in the country.
The FSLN was formally organised in 1961 by recent [[KGB]] recruits [[Carlos Fonseca Amador]], [[Tomás Borge Martínez]] and [[Silvio Mayorga]]. The word "Sandinista" appeared two years later, when Amador inserted it into the name of the nascent movement. It eventually became [[Marxist-Leninist]] based, and like many [[Communist]] groups began to present its struggle as a "movement for national liberation"; they pointed to the injustices committed by the [[kleptocracy|kleptocratic]], U.S.-imposed [[Somoza]] dictatorship and how it was oppressing and exploiting the Nicaraguan people and violating their rights. The Sandinistas took their name from [[Augusto César Sandino]] (1895–1934), a leader in the country's nationalist rebellion against the United States military occupation of Nicaragua in the 1920s and early 1930s until his [[assassinated|assassination]] in 1934 by the U.S.-created [[Nicaraguan National Guard|National Guard]] ({{lang|es|''Guardia Nacional''}}) enabled the U.S. supported [[Anastasio Somoza García]] to seize control of the country. The Somoza family ruled the country from 1936 until their overthrow by the Sandinistas in 1979.
As part of [[Aleksandr Shelepin]]’s grand strategy of using national liberation movements as a spearhead of the [[Soviet Union]]’s foreign policy in the [[Third World]], in 1960 the KGB organized funding and training for twelve individuals that Fonseca handpicked. These individuals were to be the core of the new Sandinista organization. In the following several years, the FSLN tried with little success to organiseorganize [[guerrilla warfare]] against the government of [[Luis Somoza Debayle]]. After several failed attempts to attack government strongholds and little initial support from the local population, the National Guard nearly annihilated the Sandinistas in a series of attacks in [[1963]]. Disappointed with the performance of Shelepin’s new Latin American “revolutionary vanguard”, the KGB reconstituted its core of the Sandinista leadership into the ISKRA group and used them for other activities in Latin America.
During the following three years the KGB handpicked several dozen Sandinistas for intelligence and sabotage operations in the [[United States]]. In 1966, this KGB-controlled Sandinista sabotage and intelligence group was sent to the U.S.-[[Mexico|Mexican]] border. Their primary targets were southern [[NORAD]] facilities the oil pipeline running from [[El Paso, Texas]] to [[Costa Mesa, California]]. A support group, codenamed SATURN, passed as migrant farm workers to conceal themselves and smuggle in arms caches. In 1967, the reconstituted Sandinista forces suffered another major defeat during a major [[United States National Guard|National Guard]] offensive. One of the original Sandinista founders, [[Rigoberto Cruz Arguello]], was killed in this attack.
===Educational assistance===
Cuba was instrumental in the [[Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign]]. Nicaragua was a country with a very high rate of illiteracy, but the campaign succeeded in lowering the rate from 50% to 12%. This was a huge campaign to take on but it succeeded with the help of Cuba. Cuba not only served as a model for Nicaragua but also provided technical assistance and advice to Nicaragua. The [[Nicaraguan Literacy Campaign]] was one of the success stories of the Sandinistas' reign and Cuba played an important part in this; Cuba provided teachers on yearly basis after the revolution. Prevost states that “Teachers were not the only ones studying in Cuba, about 2,000 primary and secondary students were studying on the Isle of Youth and the cost was covered by the host country (Cuba)” (Prevost, 126).
Critics of the campaign contend that this effort was thinly disguised communist indoctrination, and point to the fact that elementary school books taught basic mathematics with illustrations of hand grenades. The suppression of catholic schools, and the introduction of foreigners in a lead role in this effort caused resentment among the campesino population.
Cuba has helped Nicaragua in huge projects such as road building roads, railway, power plants and sugar mills. Cuba helped Nicaragua build the first overland route linking Nicaragua’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts in order to expedite the flow of the $1 Billion in Soviet military aid used to enable the FSLNs iron fisted rule. The road crossed 260 miles of jungle although full completion of the road and usage was hindered by the [[Contra (guerrillas)|Contra war]]. Another significant feat was the building of the Tipitapa-Malacatoya sugar mill. It was completed and inaugurated during a visit by [[Fidel Castro]] in January of 1985. The plant used the newest technology available and was built by workers trained in Cuba. Also during this visit Castro announced that all debts incurred on this project were absolved (Prevost, 127). Cuba also provided numerous technicians to aid in the sugar harvest and assist in the rejuvenation of several old sugar mills. Cubans also assisted in building schools and other projects that would ensure the survival of the Nicaraguan revolutionary government.
===References===
Prevost, Gary. “Cuba and Nicaragua: A special Relationship?”. ''The Sandinista Legacy: The Construction of Democracy, Latin American Perspectives''.17.3 (1990): 120-137 [Bibliography ▼Online Link [http://www.jstor.org/view/0094582x/di013076/01p00467/0?currentResult=0094582x%2bdi013076%2b01p00467%2b0%2c00&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FArticleLocatorResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26ArticleTitle%3DCuba%2Band%2BNicaragua%253A%2BA%2Bspecial%2Brelationship%26Author%3D%26JournalTitle%3D%26ISSN%3D%26MonthSeason%3D%26Day%3D%26Year%3D%26vo%3D%26is%3D%26StartPage%3D]
''Spelling and Literacy campaign in Cuba and Nicaragua''. Writing System Alternatives. 2000.Access 2 April 2006<http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas/whispanref.htm>
CNN Interactive. ''CNN Cold War: Interview with Daniel Ortega''. Access: 2 April 2006. <http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/18/interviews/ortega/>
==Sandinista rule (1979–1990)==
The Sandinistas inherited a country in ruins with a debt of 1.6 [[billion]] [[United States dollar|dollars (US)]], an estimated 50,000 war dead, 600,000 homeless, and a devastated economic infrastructure. To begin the task of establishing a new government, they created a Council (or {{lang|es|''junta''}}) of National Reconstruction, made up of five members – Sandinista militants [[Daniel Ortega]] and [[Moises Hassan]], novelist [[Sergio Ramírez|Sergio Ramírez Mercado]] (a member of "the Twelve"), businessman [[Alfonso Robelo Callejas]], and [[Violeta Barrios de Chamorro]] (the widow of Pedro Joaquín Chamorro). The preponderance of power, however, remained with the Sandinistas and their mass organizations, including the Sandinista Workers' Federation ({{lang|es|''Central Sandinista de Trabajadores''}}), the Luisa Amanda Espinoza Nicaraguan Women's Association ({{lang|es|''Asociación de Mujeres Nicaragüenses Luisa Amanda Espinoza''}}), and the National Union of Farmers and Ranchers ({{lang|es|''Unión Nacional de Agricultores y Ganaderos''}}).
The dominant rebel leaders who controlled the FSLN such as Daniel Ortega were strongly authoritarian Marxist. However the new [[junta]] initially contained a broad spectrum of ideologies. Upon assuming power, its political platform included the following:
*Nationalization of property owned by the Somozas and their collaborators.
*Land reform.
The Sandinistas are blamed by some for using poor tactics to combat the Contras, resulting in the death of thousands of young Nicaraguan conscripts. The Sandinistas used their battalions consisting of 600 conscripts in three waves of 200 to attack Contra positions. These battalions would be ordered to attack machine-gun nests in the hope that by the third wave the Contras would run out of bullets and be overrun. Nicaragua, a country with just about 3 million inhabitants, could not afford the luxury of losses in ratios of 20-to-1 as Russia did with the Germans in [[World War II]] and the North Vietnamese against the Americans.
==The 1984 Nicaraguan election==
On November 4 1984, [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]] won the first ever election in Nicaragua winning 67% of the votes, the presidency, and 61/96 seats in the National Assembly(Sklar,200) The [[United states|United States]] attempted to influence the election by administering a [[propaganda]] campaign in favor of the opposition parties and by stepping up its support of the Contras. However, many parties boycotted the ballots complaining about the fairness of the elections.
As the election drew close, Washington continued to pressure the opposition outside the Coordinadora to join abstentionist forces. The United States repeatedly offered opposition parties financial support to drop out of the election(Sklar, 198). Inset below, Daniel Ortega casts his vote in the 1984 Nicaraguan election.
<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:38583351 ortegavote238.jpg|right|Description Daniel Ortega casts his vote in the 1984 Nicaraguan election]] Photo from [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/5/newsid_2538000/2538379.stm www.bbc.co.uk]
-->
William I. Robinson reported that Washington applied a multi-strategic strategy in an attempt to boycott of the 1984 election among the internal Nicaraguan opposition, and claimed the United States referred to the election as a “[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet Soviet] - style sham”(Robinson,30).
The United States published a number of articles associating the FSLN with [[terrorism]] and [[communism]](Spence,183). The U.S. government reported to the media that the Sandinistas as undemocratic, and repression of church, press, and opposition. The same government headed by the Reagan Administration pointed out that Nicaragua was heavily associated with the Soviets and Cubans(Spence, 184).) The Contras too, attempted to express their position in Nicaragua. They reported, via 3 different radio stations, la Voz de Sandino, Radio 15 de Septiembre, and Radio Miskut, that the Sandinistas were anti-democratic and that they were violating human rights. (Frederick,136).
<!--'''References'''
Frederick, Howard H. “Electronic Penetration,” in Reagan Versus the Sandinistas: The Undeclared War on Nicaragua, ed. Thomas W. Walker (Boulder: Westview Press, 1987).
New Perspectives Quarterly http://www.digitalnpq.org/archive/1984_85_fall_winter/what_US.html
Robinson, William I. A Faustian Bargain: U.S. Intervention in the Nicaraguan Elections and American Foreign Policy in the Post-Cold War Era. Boulder: Westview Press, Inc, 1992.
Sklar, Holly. Washington’s War on Nicaragua. Toronto: Between the Lines, 1988.
Spence, Jack. “The U.S. Media: Covering (Over) Nicaragua,” in Reagan Versus the Sandinistas: The Undeclared War on Nicaragua, ed. Thomas W. Walker (Boulder: Westview Press, 1987).
Walker, Thomas W. ed. Revolutions & Counterrevolution in Nicaragua. Boulder: Westview Press, 1991.
Tower, John. et al. Report to the President’s Special Review Board. Washington, 1987.
==External links==
[http://www.schule.de/englisch/state_of_the_union/group7/project/nicaraga.htm Nicaraguan History]
[http://www.country-studies.com/nicaragua/institutionalization-of-the-revolution,-1984.html Country Studies]
[http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2479 Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/stories/november/5/newsid_2538000/2538379.stm BBC.co.uk]
[http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Project%20Censored/CensoredNews_1984.html Third World Traveler]
[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/WJW.htm Global Security]
[http://www.digitalnpq.org/archive/1984_85_fall_winter/what_US.html New Perspectives Quarterly]
(--Stefan M 12:31, 12 April 2006 (EDT))-->
==Sandinista human rights abuses==
*Moore, John Norton, ''The Secret War in Central America: Sandinista Assault on World Order.'' university Publications of America, 1987.
*Nolan, David. ''The Ideology of the Sandinistas and the Nicaraguan Revolution.'' Coral Gables, Fla.: University of Miami Press, 1984.
▲* Prevost, Gary. “Cuba and Nicaragua: A special Relationship?”. ''The Sandinista Legacy: The Construction of Democracy, Latin American Perspectives''.17.3 (1990) : 120-137 [Bibliography
*Smith, Hazel. ''Nicaragua: Self-determination and Survival.'' Pluto Press, 1991. ISBN 0745304753
*Zimmermann, Matilde. ''Sandinista: Carlos Fonseca and the Nicaraguan Revolution.'' Duke University Press, 2001.
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