Nicaragua History

Political History

Much of Nicaragua's early politics following independence was characterized by the rivalry between the liberal elite of LeÐ"Ñ-n and the conservative elite of Granada. This rivalry sometimes spilled into civil war. Initially invited by the liberals in 1855 to join their struggle against the conservatives, a U.S.-born adventurer named William Walker won the Liberals' war so easily that it seemed like he barely even fought. As a result, he saw the chance to take over the country. Walker appointed himself as president in 1856. Fearing the possibility of his plans for expansion, several Central American countries united to drive him out of Nicaragua in 1857, ironically supported by American industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had earlier sponsored Walker's pirating of Nicaragua. Walker was executed in neighboring Honduras on Sept. 12, 1860.[1] A period of three decades of conservative rule ensued.

Taking advantage of divisions within the conservative ranks, JosÐ"© Santos Zelaya led a liberal revolt that brought him to power in 1893. Zelaya ended the long-standing dispute with the United Kingdom over the Atlantic Coast in 1894, and incorporated the Mosquito Coast into Nicaragua.

Nicaragua offered assistance to the Allies during World War II, and was the first country in the world to ratify the UN Charter[2]. Nicaragua has seen many interventions by the United States. Below is a select summary of U.S. interventions in Nicaragua:[3]

1894: Month-long occupation of Bluefields

1896: Marines land in port of Corinto

1898: Marines land at port of San Juan del Sur

1899: Marines land at port of Bluefields

1907: "Dollar Diplomacy" protectorate set up

1910: Marines land in Bluefields and Corinto

1912-33: Bombing, 20-year occupation, fought guerrillas

1981-90: CIA directs exile (Contra) revolution, plants harbor mines against government

Nicaragua has also experienced lengthy periods of military dictatorship, the longest one being the rule of the Somoza family for much of the 20th century. The Somoza family came to power as part of a US-engineered pact in 1927 that stipulated the formation of the National Guard to replace the small individual armies that had long reigned in the country.[4] The only Nicaraguan general to refuse to sign this pact (el tratado del Espino Negro) was Augusto CÐ"©sar Sandino who headed up to the northern mountains of Las Segovias, where he fought the US Marines for over five years.[5]

Augusto Cesar SandinoAfter U.S. Marines withdrew from Nicaragua in January 1933, Sandino and the newly-elected Sacasa government reached an agreement by which he would cease his guerrilla activities in return for amnesty, a grant of land for an agricultural colony, and retention of an armed band of 100 men for a year.[6] There followed a growing hostility between Sandino and Anastasio Somoza Garcia, chief of the national guard, which prompted Somoza to order the assassination of Sandino.[7] [8] Fearing future armed opposition from Sandino, Somoza invited him to a meeting in Managua, where Sandino was assassinated on February 21 of 1934 by the National Guard. Following the death of Sandino was the execution of hundreds of men, women, and children.[9]

With Sandino's death and using his troops, the National Guard, to force Sacasa to resign, Somoza had taken control of the country in 1937 and destroyed any potential armed resistance.[10] Somoza was in turn assassinated by Rigoberto LÐ"Ñ-pez PÐ"©rez, a Nicaraguan poet, in 1956. Luis Somoza Debayle, the eldest son of the late dictator, officially took charge of Nicaragua after his father's death.

Luis Somoza, remembered by some for being moderate, was in power only for a few years and then died of a heart attack. Then came president, Rene Schick which most Nicaraguans viewed "as nothing more than a puppet of the Somozas".[11] Somoza's brother, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, who succeeded his father in charge of the National Guard, held control of the country, and officially took the presidency after Schick. In 1961, a young student, Carlos Fonseca, turned back to the historical figure of Sandino, and founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). The FSLN was a tiny party throughout most of the 1960s, but Somoza's utter hatred of the FSLN and heavy-handed treatment of anyone he suspected to be a Sandinista sympathizer gave many ordinary Nicaraguans the idea that the Sandinistas were much stronger than was the case.

Some Nicaraguan historians point to the 1972 earthquake that devastated Managua as the final 'nail in the coffin' for Somoza. Some 90% of the city was destroyed, and Somoza's brazen corruption, mishandling of relief (which prompted Pittsburgh Pirates star Roberto Clemente to personally fly to Managua on December 31, 1972- a flight that ended in his tragic death)[12] and refusal to rebuild Managua flooded the ranks of the Sandinistas with young disaffected Nicaraguans who no longer had anything to lose.[13]

The sons of Anastasio Somoza GarcÐ"­a: Anastasio Somoza Debayle and Luis Somoza Debale; both became presidentsSomoza acquired monopolies in industries that were key to rebuilding the nation, not allowing other members of the upper class to share the profits that would result from the reborn economic activity. This weakened Somoza further since even the economic elite were reluctant to support him. In 1976 a synthetic brand of cotton, one of Nicaragua's economic pillars of the epoch, was developed. This caused the price of cotton to decrease, placing the economy in great trouble.

These economic problems propelled the Sandinistas forward in their struggle against Somoza by leading many middle and upper class Nicaraguans to see the Sandinistas as the only hope for ridding the country of the brutal Somoza regime. The January 1978 assassination of Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, the editor of an important newspaper in Nicaragua and an ardent opponent of Somoza, is believed to have been the spark that that led to extreme general disappointment against Somoza. The intellectual planners and perpetrators of the murder were at the highest echelons of the Somoza regime and included the dictator's son, "El Chiguin", Somoza's President of Housing, Cornelio Hueck, Somoza's Attorney General, and Pedro Ramos, a close