Part two: from 1979                                                                                           

1979 – Broad coalition of forces led by the Sandinistas (FSLN) overthrows the Somoza dictatorship that ruled Nicaragua for 43 years.


Part of celebratory poster for AMNLAE, the Luisa Amanda Espinosa Association for Nicaraguan Women, which was set up in August 1979. Luisa Amanda was the first   woman (mujer) to die in combat against Somoza's National Guard.

 

1980 – Sandinistas launch a UNESCO-acclaimed literacy crusade.
Urban  volunteers (brigadistas) worked alongside peasants in the day and taught them reading, writing, basic arithmetic and other subjects in the evenings. Illiteracy was reduced from over 50% to 12% in under six months.


Photo by Fiona Macintosh

1981 – In an attempt to overthrow the Sandinista government the Reagan administration begins financing and training the contras, a mercenary army based in Honduras.


1984 – First free and fair elections in Nicaragua’s history won by the FSLN with 67% of the vote. Daniel Ortega becomes President.


Sandinista National Directorate 1985.
Left to right: Tomás Borge, Victor Tirado, Humberto Ortega, Henry Ruíz, Daniel Ortega, Jamie Wheelock, Bayardo Arce, Carlos Núñez, Luís Carrión.

Photo by Lou Dematteis
 

1985 – The Reagan administration declares that Nicaragua poses a threat to the national security of the US and uses this as a justification for imposing a trade embargo.

1986 – World Court rules that the US war against Nicaragua is in violation of international law and orders the US to pay reparations. The US refuses to accept the jurisdiction of the Court or to pay the estimated £12 billion damage to the country’s infrastructure.

1987 – Contadora peace agreement signed by the presidents of the five Central American countries. This leads to the beginning of negotiations between the Sandinista government and the contra.

1987 - Nicaraguan Constitution approved by the National Assembly after nation-wide consultation.

1981 to 1990 – US backed contra war leads to the deaths of 30,000 on both sides.

1983 to 1987 - Gradual recognition of indigenous demands for autonomy. Peace negotiations and wide public consultation culminate in passing of a Law of Autonomy of the Atlantic Coast.

1990 – Second free and fair elections give shock result; they are won by US- backed 14-party UNO coalition led by Violeta Chamorro.
FSLN becomes largest opposition party.


Violeta Chamorro
Photo credit: United States Library of Congress, Public Domain

1990 – Demobilisation of 22,000 contras and 235,000 army personnel.

1992 – The US temporarily suspends aid to Nicaragua demanding the return of property to former owners (now US citizens).

1991 to 2002 Imposition of IMF/World Bank ‘free’ market economy which stabilises the economy but results in cutbacks in public expenditure, privatisation and a flood of foreign products into the country which undermines local production. Unemployment reaches 70% and 40% of the population live in extreme poverty.


1996 – Presidential and National Assembly elections won by the right wing Liberal Alliance. Arnoldo Aleman becomes President, Eduardo Bolaňos Vice-President.



Photo taken at the inauguration in 1997
Credit: Tomas Starhardte



1997 – Nicaragua’s foreign debt stands at $6.4 bn, one of the highest per capita debts of any country in the world.

1998 – Zoilamerica Narvaez accuses her stepfather Daniel Ortega of sexual abuse.

1998 – New 3 year Enhanced Structural Adjustment (ESAF) package signed between the Nicaraguan government and the IMF.

1998 – Liberal (PLC) government implicated in a scandal involving a plane used for the transport of cocaine - the first of many such scandals to come to light.

1999 - A controversial pact is signed between the FSLN and the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) to reform state institutions and the electoral law.

2000 - Municipal elections result in considerable gains for the FSLN (Sandinista Party) in urban areas where they win the main towns in 11 of the 17 departments including Managua. However, the PLC (Constitutionalist Liberal Party) secures overwhelming victories in rural areas.

2000 - Nicaragua enters the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative along with 22 other countries. Providing that Nicaragua complies with IMF/World Bank structural adjustment conditionality, the country’s debts will be reduced from $6.4bn to $1.9bn over the next few years.
The conditions, however, are resulting in drastic cuts in public services.


Coffee workers and others displaced by Hurricane Mitch still survive in appalling conditions. The Oxford Leon Trust is working with communities to rebuild their lives.

www.oxfordleon.org



2001 - President Bush nominates Cold War warriors Otto Reich and John Negroponte to key foreign affairs posts. In the 1980s Reich ran a government office that engaged in covert propaganda activities to undermine the Sandinista government and Negroponte was US ambassador to Honduras. Negroponte’s candidature is ratified by Congress immediately after September 11th. Otto Reich’s candidature proves so controversial that the Bush administration bypassed Congress and appointed Reich during a Congressional recess over Christmas 2001 (Reich later resigns in June 2004)

2001 - Convicted Iran-contra criminal Elliot Abrams is appointed by President Bush as National Security Council’s senior director for democracy, human rights and international operations.

2001 – With the FSLN ahead in the polls the Bush administration sends an envoy to Nicaragua to undermine the position of the FSLN in the forthcoming elections and to help forge an anti Sandinista alliance. Post September 11th, the US intensifies the campaign to undermine the FSLN in general and Daniel Ortega in particular with the Bush administration labelling past, present and future opponents of US foreign policy as ‘terrorists.’

November 2001 – Elections for the presidency, National Assembly and Central American Parliament. PLC candidate Enrique Bolaños wins the presidency with 56% of the vote. The second placed candidate was the FSLN – Convergence candidate Daniel Ortega with 42%.

2002 – President Enrique Bolaños attempts to bring corrupt members of the Aleman administration to trial. Arnoldo Aleman, ex-President and now President of National Assembly, uses his majority in the assembly to block anti-corruption legislation.

December 2003 - Aleman sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $17 million for money laundering, embezzlement of public funds, fraud and electoral crimes. A year later he is transferred to house arrest. Between 2003 and 2007 this sentence is gradually relaxed to 'house' imprisonment, 'regional' imprisonment and 'within-country' imprisonment as a result of deals with the FSLN as part of the pact.

Jan 2004 - World Bank cancels 80% of Nicaragua's debt to the institution.

2004 - Mayagna people of Awastingni win landmark ruling on land rights in the Interamerican Court of Human Rights.
Bolaños government instructed to demarcate lands within the year.

July 2004 - Agreement with Russia to write-off Nicaragua's multi-billion-dollar Soviet-era debt.

October 2005 - Political crisis eases as the National Assembly agrees to delay constitutional reforms, which will weaken the powers of the president, until President Bolaños leaves office in 2007.

April 2006 - The National Assembly approves the Dominican Republic - Central American Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA) with the US.

November 2006 – Elections for the presidency, National Assembly and Nicaraguan representatives to the Central American parliament. Despite massive interference by the US Daniel Ortega becomes president with 37% of the vote and the FSLN wins the largest number of seats in the National Assembly but does not have overall control.

December 2006 – President-elect Daniel Ortega announces appointments to key government agencies and ministries, several of whom held posts in the Sandinista government of the 1980s.

January 2007 – Miguel de Castilla Urbina, the new Minister of Education, announces that school fees will be abolished from 11 January. Previously 50% of all pupils dropped out by the end of the school year because parents could not afford to pay the fees.

March 2007 – President Ortega highlights the failure of the US to recognise the 1986 World Court ruling declaring the 1980s contra war illegal and the refusal of the US to pay Nicaragua’s US$17 billion claim for compensation.

March 2007 -The National Assembly ratifies Nicaragua’s membership of ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas). ALBA includes Venezuela, Cuba, and Bolivia is an alternative to the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Under the agreement Venezuela begins to provide Nicaragua with oil on more favourable terms than the international market.

March 2007 - Ministry of Education begins consultation with civil society on a Plan of Operations 2008 – 2012 and curriculum proposals. To meet increased enrolments, the Plan outlines the development of school infrastructure, increases in teacher numbers to meet increased enrolments, improvements in teacher training, and a programme of social action to tackle the causes of school absenteeism and dropout.

April 2007 – As part of a health plan the government commits to a free health service starting with the end of fees for consultations and payment for medicines.

May 2007 – Launch of Zero Hunger programme which the government hopes will benefit 75,000 campesinos in the first 5 years. The programme focuses on environmental protection, prevention of deforestation, diversifying production, increasing self-sufficiency in food and fuel and thereby decreasing imports


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