From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: "Sandinista Mismanagement": Somoza's Legacy
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 1992 22:52:34 GMT


    "When the Sandinista leaders entered the capital, Managua, they [..]
    faced tremendous problems. 50,000 people had been killed and 100,000
    wounded in the revolutionary war. Before fleeing the country, Somoza
    had bombed schools, hospitals, factories, and housing.

    "Somoza had looted the national treasure and left the country with
    one of the world's highest per capita debts

[Oxfam fails to add that the Sandinista government upon coming into
power actually declared it would honor the debts the U.S.-backed
dictator Somoza created]

******************************************************************

[From Oxfam America's 83/84 report (see bottom):]

"Sandino was reluctant to see his country under Somoza's control and
refused to lay down his arms. Immediately after the departure of the
U.S. occupation force, Somoza arranged Sandino's assassination. With
this bloody act the long reign of the Somoza family began.

The National Guard quickly became the personal army of the Somozas.
With political power came economic power, passed on from father to
sons. The family came to own a quarter of Nicaragua's land, plus
banks, ports, newspapers, airlines, a shipping fleet, and many
industries. One of them was a plasma corporation that exported the
blood of the country's poor. In 1979, Anastasio Somoza Debayle, son of
the original dictator, was estimated to be the ninth richest man in
the world.

  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
  [ Two Photos: "The Ramas are  one of three Indian groups living
  near Nicaragua's Atlantic coast. They were displaced from their
  land during the  Somozas'  rule and  now live on   an offshore
  island. A  government grant of a large  tract of land will now
  allow those who wish to return to the mainland to do so" ]
  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The incredible greed and corruption of the Somozas alienated even
their fellow landowners and businessmen, who could not get what they
thought was their fair share of wealth and political influence under
Somoza's system. Simmering resentment of Somoza reached a boiling
point in the after-math of the 1972 earth-quake, when funds intended
for relief were channeled into the hands of Somoza and his associates.
During the 1960's and 1970's, a new revolutionary movement developed
in Nicaragua. Its deepest roots were in the countryside, where
Catholic clergy and lay workers had been helping peasants organize for
higher wages and an end to evictions from the land. They were aided by
the Sandinista Liberation Front (FSLN), founded in 1961. Although the
peasants' protests were peaceful, they were brutally suppressed by
Somoza's National Guard. When even parish priests were killed for
teaching that poverty was not the will of God, the peasants took up
arms in self-defense.

Between 1977 and 1979, the peasant-based resistance became a full-scale
armed rebellion. The Sandinistas were the leaders of this broad
revolutionary movement which included workers, students,
professionals, clergy, and businessmen. By July, 1979, it was clear
that the uprising could not be put down, and the U.S. government
arranged for the departure of Somoza to Miami.

                        Reconstruction Begins
                        =====================

When the Sandinista leaders entered the capital, Managua, they were
greeted with jubilation. They now had the responsibility of governing,
but they faced tremendous problems. 50,000 people had been killed and
100,000 wounded in the revolutionary war. Before fleeing the country,
Somoza had bombed schools, hospitals, factories, and housing.

Somoza had looted the national treasure and left the country with one
of the world's highest per capita debts. The economy was stunted by
decades of development that favored the rich. It was further battered
by soaring energy costs and falling world prices for export crops.

The Sandinista's approach to rebuilding their country was a pragmatic
one, conditioned more by Nicaraguan reality than by any predetermined
ideology. As a result, their economic program has both conservative
and radical aspects. On the one hand, no attempt has been made to
nationalize the economy on a large scale. About 70% of business,
industry, and agriculture remins in private hands. On the other hand,
minimum wage laws, food price supports, and a ceiling on land rents
help protect the poor from exploitation, and the government directs
most of its resources toward meeting their needs.

[...]

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