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Nicaragua, from Somoza to
Contras to a reborn Ortega
The Sandinistas marched into
Managua in 1979 with broad
support after toppling the hated
dictatorship of Anastasio
Somoza, but — as in Cuba after
Castro's revolution — moderate
allies soon fell away as the
rebels took a radical tack — a
lurch toward Soviet backing that
accelerated as the U.S. turned
increasingly hostile.
The United States soon jumped in
to support and organize a
rebellion that began with
disgruntled Somoza loyalists who
become known as the Contras. The
effort became so important to
Reagan administration officials
that they secretly sold arms to
Iran's Islamic government to
finance the rebellion.
The United States also imposed a
crippling embargo, depriving
Nicaragua of vital spare parts
for its machinery, most of which
was American in origin, and of
what had been for years its most
important export market.
American aid, which poured in
for a time after the revolution
suddenly stopped, and Nicaragua
was in such straights that it
appointed a cabinet minister in
charge of getting help wherever
he could.
Barren store shelves, rationing,
rampant inflation, property
confiscations, a forced military
draft and repression of dissent
drove wealthier Nicaraguans
abroad and eventually wearied
the poor. The Sandinistas
accepted a regional peace plan
meant to end the Contra war. It
called for an election in 1990,
which Ortega lost to Violeta
Chamorro, who had been part of
the first governing junta in the
giddy post-Somoza days of 1979.
Ortega made two more failed runs
for president before winning
this month's election.
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