Sandinista Political Rule

In gaining Nicaragua the Sandinistas inherited a country in ruins with a deficit of more than 1 million dollars. In addition, there were 50,000 killed during the war, 600,000 left homeless and an economy that was completely devastated. To begin building a new government they created a Council of National Reconstruction which was comprised of five appointed members. Three of the members who were appointed were also members of the FSLN. These members were Sandinista militants Daniel Ortega, Moises Hassan and Sergio Ramirez. The two opposition members were businessman Alfonso Robelo and Violeta Barrios de Chamorro who was the widow of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro. There were only three votes needed to pass laws. During this time the FSLN also established a Council of State which was subordinate to the junta and was comprised of representative bodies. The Council of State however, only gave political parties twelve of the available forty-seven seats. The remainder of the seats were given to Sandinista organizations. Also, only three of the remaining twelve seats were given to those not allied to the FSLN. Due to the rules governing the Council of State, members not a part of the FSLN or junta all resigned in 1980.

In March of 1982 the Sandinistas declared an official State of Emergency. They stated that this declaration was in response to attacks by counter-revolutionary forces. The State of Emergency lasted for six years. Under the new lat set in effect in 1988, the Tribunales Populares Anti-Somozitas allowed for the holding of suspected revolutionaries without trial. The State of Emergency however, affected rights and guarantees that were contained in the Statute of Rights for Nicaragua. Many civil liberties were canceled. Among these were the freedom to organize demonstrations, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and the freedom to strike. A total of 24 news programs that were independently broadcast were suspended and a decree was issued ordering all radio stations to hoop up to a government radio station every six hours.

On October 5th, 1985 the Sandinistas further broadened the State of Emergency and suspended several more civil rights. A new regulation was also introduced that forced organizations outside of the government to submit any statement that it wanted to make public to the Censorship Bureau for prior censorship. By 1986 only 2157 of the 8,000 ex-Guardia members previously incarcerated were still being held. Out of these only 39 were still alive in 1989.

In 2006 Daniel Ortega was elected president with 38% of the country’s vote. This occurred despite the fact that the Sandinista Renovation Movement continued to oppose the FSLN and ran former Sandinista Herty Lewites as its presidential candidate. Lewites died just months before the election actually took place.

During these elections the FSLN also took 38 seats in the congressional elections making it the largest party. The split in the Constitutionalist Liberal Party aided the FSLN in becoming the largest party in Congress though it should be noted that the Sandinista vote had a very minute split between the FSLN and MRS.