# Documents on the Nicaraguan Resistance/Document 5

​ Document 5
UNITED NICARAGUAN OPPOSITION PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES
Under the protection of God and interpreting the hopes of the great majority of people in Nicaragua, who with heroic patriotism shook off the yoke of the previous dictatorship and now suffer the repression by force of arms of new tyrants and foreign intervention;
GIVING HOMAGE :
To the noble sacrifice of the democratic resistance forces which have shed their blood and continue to offer their lives in an unequal war against an army in the service of Soviet imperialism, from which it receives direction, training, weapons and supplies;
To the civic courage and democratic vocation of the political parties, labor and social organizations, ethnic minorities and individuals who have maintained a firm attitude against the abuses of the military tyranny of the Sandinista Front;
AFFIRMING:
Components of the UNO/FDN Military Forces
This chart focuses on the headquarters and combat components of military forces of the United Nicaraguan Opposition/Nicaraguan Democratic Force (UNO/FDN) as reported in November 1985. At any given time, organizational and authority relationships can fluctuate because of communications difficulties, dispersal of units, and other operational requirements of the war in Nicaragua .
RECOGNIZING:
That the courage and sacrifice of different sectors comprising the nation have created, in the face of repression, the conditions for the liberation of Nicaragua, faithful to the historic tradition that has led them to rise up in arms when their freedom and democratic aspirations have been snatched away from them;
CONSIDERING:
The historic democratic determination of the Nicaraguans, translated in the past struggles against the Somoza dynasty and in the present struggle against the totalitarianism of the Sandinista Front, the firm belief in a juridical order and respect for the constitution of the country and the sacrifices for the full exercise of its precepts;
COMMITTED:
To the unrestricted observance of the human rights of all Nicaraguans without exception, the establishment of a State of Law which permits the full development of the individual and the promotion of social justice;
RECOGNIZING:
That the tragic situation of Nicaragua, embroiled in chaos as a consequence of the present dictatorship, requires the adoption of special and urgent measures in the political, economic and social arenas which guarantee the quick and orderly transition toward a democratic State, by means of a Provisional Government of a duration strictly limited by the needs of the transition;
REAFFIRMING:
Our commitment to peace and democracy contained in the Pronouncements of San Jose of March 1, 1985, of San Salvador of June 12 , 1985, and our support for the calls for National Dialogue demanded by the Democratic Coordinator and the Nicaraguan Bishops Conference ;
TAKING INTO ACCOUNT:
The civil war of Nicaragua, which threatens the peace of the region and of the American continent, brought about by the failure of the military tyranny of the Sandinista Front to fulfill the resolutions of the XVII Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting of the Organization of American States of June 23, 1979 which, in an action which set a precedent in our continent, explicitly withdrew its recognition of one of the member governments in order to grant it to an insurgent force, which committed itself to establish democracy and respect the human rights of all Nicaraguans without exception;
CONVINCED:
That the solidarity and reconciliation of all Nicaraguans, as well as the support and understanding of the peoples and governments of the free world, will contribute effectively to the creation of the indispensable conditions so that a democratic and pluralistic process is established which guarantees peace, sovereignty and freedom to our people;
THEREFORE:
On behalf of the Directorate of the United Nicaraguan Opposition and with the full support of its Permanent Advisory Committee, we propose to the Nicaraguan people and inform our sister Latin American nations and the democratic governments of the world, while at the same time requesting their support and solidarity, the Principles and Objectives of a Provisional Government of National Reconciliation .
PRINCIPLES AND OBJECTIVES
I. Regarding the Political System:
1. To democratize Nicaragua guaranteeing and promoting political pluralism and the participation of all citizens at the local and national level, through the exercise of representative democracy, respecting their ethnic, cultural and religious values;
2. To establish a political system which guarantees the separation and independence of the powers of the government;
3. To establish a rule of law which assures the equality of the citizens before the law; respect for, the full exercise of, and effective development of Human Rights through the independence of the Judicial Power; giving guarantees to national Human Rights organizations, and adhering strictly to international obligations deriving from written agreements;
4. To guarantee the strictest respect for freedoms, especially those of speech, association, worship and unions with respect for agreements numbers 87 and 98 of the International Labor Organization, such as the undeniable right to strike;
5. To recognize the primacy of Civil Society over the State and the achievement of the common good as its principal objective;
6. To create an autonomous electoral system which guarantees representative democracy and respect for the popular will, freely expressed in periodic elections, assuring alternability in office, through the principle of non re-election.
7. To promulgate a Civil Service Law, establishing the administrative career. There will be created the National Comptrollership Commission to guarantee the efficient and honest use of public funds and State resources;
8. To abolish any and all types of capital punishment and to eliminate permanently and unequivocally the special tribunals which have been abusively created by the Sandinista Front;
9. To decree a General Amnesty for political and related common crimes, as an expression of the process of rehabilitation and reconciliation, without exception;
10. To recognize the historic rights of the indigenous peoples of Nicaragua, adopting special administrative and de velopmental measures in order to accelerate the progress of the Atlantic Coast; fostering the participation of its people in matters affecting the region. preserving their cultural identity and strengthening the nationality and territorial integrity of the Nation;
11. To demilitarize society by subjecting the military to the civil authority, proceeding to dismantle military, para-military and security organizations and the organizations of repressive nature of the Sandinista regime;
12. To create a National Army in the service of the Nation and the defense of its sovereignty, of adequate proportions for those objectives and composed principally of those Freedom Fighters who wish to serve professionally and loyally in democratic institutions, and by other Nicaraguans who also meet the conditions of moral character. No person with a record of human rights violations will be able to become a part of the new National Army.
II. Socio-Economic Affairs:
1. To recognize the family as the basis of society, making its protection a fundamental objective of the Government of Reconciliation;
2. To give preferential use of state resources to satisfy basic human needs: especially employment, food, health, education and housing;
3. To assure that education responds to the fundamental principles of freedom of instruction and the right of parents to select the best for their children. The preservation and the development of culture and sports will be an important ​part of the programs of teaching, outreach and information.
4. To carry out an integral agrarian reform, which responds to the natural right of private property, taking into account efficiency in the utilization of resources and the utility of giving land to those who work it;
5. To establish a new social contract, democratically adopted, which recognizes the equitable participation of all sectors of civil society, both in effort as well as in benefits;
6. To provide immediate assistance to the victims of the civil war, providing programs which permit their rehabilitation and economic security;
7. To adopt measures which facilitate full participation in productive civilian life by combatants who do not join the new army and national police;
8. To promote and facilitate the return of exiles through programs to finance the creation of jobs and the adoption of legal, economic and customs measures and other incentives;
9. To formulate and execute an immediate program of action and the securing of resources for the reordering and reactivation of the national economy and the providing of jobs for the Nicaraguan people;
10. To abolish state centralism and return to the private sector all those productive, commercial and service activities which said sector is able to carry out more efficiently for the common good;
11. The Government of Reconciliation, as guarantor of the common good and social peace, will observe and promote the principles of: social justice, freedom of association, work as a source of well-being and wealth, the indispensable contribution of laborers and peasants to the development of the country, as well as solidarity with the less favored sectors of the population, private property as the expression of a natural right and the sovereignty of Nicaragua over its natural resources;
12. To consolidate and perfect the Central American Common Market and to promote foreign investment as important measures to bring about socio-economic development.
III. Foreign Policy:
To adopt a foreign policy which protects the peace and strengthens the independence and sovereignty of the Nation, founded on the principles of the inter-American system; supported in the fulfillment of international accords, cooperation and friendly relations, especially with those countries which practice representative democracy, and in the permanent determination to contribute to the economic, social and political integration of the Central American fatherland.
IV. Plan and Program:
A Program of Government will be presented for the consideration of a consultative body in which will be represented the various democratic, political, social and labor organizations which will implement these principles. It will establish the procedures so that, by the eighth month after the installation of the new Government of Reconciliation, it will hold elections for a Constituent Assembly. After eighteen months it will hold general elections with guarantees to assure the free participation of all citizens and the integrity of the elections.
Among the preferred objectives to be considered by the consultative body should be the following: Reorganization of the Judicial Power; Municipal Autonomy; reorganization and integrity of Public Administration; health and social security; education; culture; housing; transportation; infrastructure; sports; policies of incentives for the various productive sectors; the financial system; agrarian reform; commerce; foreign investment; reduction of the foreign debt; fiscal, monetary and credit policies, giving special attention to the development of cooperatives and the balanced action of the State.
We reiterate that the liberation of our fatherland requires the participation of all the democratic sectors of the Nicaraguan people, as well as the solidarity and support of the peoples and governments of the countries of the Americas and the other free peoples of the world.
At the same time, we pledge ourselves to respect the consensus of Nicaragua's democratic spectrum in the selection of those who will implement the initial task of national reconstruction. Furthermore, we pledge ourselves to assure that it shall be the people, by means of an electoral process in full enjoyment of their rights and freedoms, who will elect the Constituent Assembly and, later, the national authorities.
Caracas, Venezuela, Cradle of Liberator Simon Bolivar, the twenty-second day of January of Nineteen Eighty-six.
Adolfo Calero