David Francois - Nicaragua, 1961-1990 (1) The downfall of the Somoza Dictatorship

Nicaragua, 1961-1990. Volume 1

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Published by Helion & Company 2018

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Text David Franois 2018

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Color profiles and maps as credited Helion & Company Limited 2018

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ISBN 978-1-911628-21-7

eISBN 978-1-91311-841-9

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CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

INTRODUCTION

B etween the mid-1970s and the early 1980s, Central America experienced a period of quick and massive revolutionary mobilisation. Within only a few years, the region, which distinguished itself for decades for its complete political opposition to change, and its dependency on the United States, became one of the most rebellious on the American continents. This confusion had its roots in Nicaragua, where on 19 July 1979, half a century of social conflict culminated in the revolutionary overthrow of the Somoza family dictatorship that had reigned over the country for 42 years. Indeed, within less than two years, between 1977 and 1979, the strongest dictatorship with the most powerful army in the region, and the support of the American superpower, collapsed against a handful of barefoot guerrillas and a largely unarmed population.

Beyond the myth of Davids victory over Goliath, the Sandinista revolution was rooted in a history of violence in concordance with the countrys strategic position between the north and south of the American continent and between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It was also the result of a long struggle with roots long before the epic of Sandino and finally embodied in the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). The latter led a fight of nearly 20 years before achieving victory. For many years it remained an isolated and weak force, but knew how to learn from its failures and long periods of deadlock. Sandinista also took advantage of the mistakes of his opponent, the last of the Somozas, a character whose hubris, as in Greek tragedies, finally caused defeat. Above all, the Sandinista victory fitted into one of those short windows of history where the impossible becomes suddenly possible. The general context with the success of the theology of liberation in some areas of the Catholic Church, the election of Jimmy Carter to the presidency of the United States, Americas bad conscience after the Nixon years and the presence of social democratic or reformist governments in neighbouring countries came together to make possible the Sandinista victory.

Although the 1979 upheaval was part of a specific national and international political context, it was above all a military conflict in which men, equipment and strategies clashed. If in the first two domains, the Somoza dictatorship had the advantage, its COIN strategy was a fiasco, alienating the majority of the population and aggravating its international isolation without ever succeeding in defeating its opponent. The Sandinistas knew how to rediscover and put into practice an insurrectional strategy, theorized by the Communist International On this point, the Sandinistas were perfect disciples of the father of the Russian Revolution.