The Sandinista Revolution

During the forty-three year Somoza dictatorship a revolution was proved inevitable. During the period of the Somoza regime many conflicts between the government and the people arose. Some of these conflicts were mainly with the National Guard, but in 1978 conflicts hit its climax. In 1978, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, a salient newspaper editor and leader to the Somoza opposition was assassinated; it is believed that by one of Somoza's business man. This mans death gave a deep feeling of commotion throughout the country, establishing a nation wide strike against the Somoza government. The National Guard responded to the attacks by assassinating many civilians and violating many others rights.

On August 1978, a Sandinista Commando (headed by Eden Pastora) seized control of the national palace, and all congressmen were taken hostage. This uprising did not last long; negotiations were quickly reached, but the National Guard's image on invincibility was shattered. This victory sparked the general population, many uprisings followed. The National Guard did not react well to these uprisings; many massacres came, and this made the general population angry. This gave the Sandinistas an advantage; they were gaining many recruits for their revolution, and the business class of Nicaragua supported the idea of ones again calling to a general national strike.

Negations to take Somoza out of power were developed by the United States, but these efforts where crushed when Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Panama joined Cuban efforts and supported the Sandinistas. The majority of the business class then decided that despite their Communist ideals, the Sandinistas were the best option that they had, and supported them. On July, 19, 1979 Somoza was forced to resign, and a forty-three year dynasty came to an end. The government was the turned over to the Council of National Reconstruction, which was selected by the Sandinistas.

The Sandinistas had appointed a broad-based cabinet which included non-Sandinistas to rebuild a destroyed nation. Their goals were mainly to improve healthcare, literacy and land reforms for the poor. It did not take much time to prove that power rested only on the Sandinistas. By 1980, all non-Sandinista leaders had left the government. The relation with the Catholic Church deteriorated greatly, and the relation with the United States had been blocked. In 1981, the United States (Ronald Reagan) started supporting