The last armed overthrow of a Latin American dictatorship took place in Nicaragua in 1979. Support for the final assault led by the Sandinista Front (FS) came from many different sectors, both inside and outside the continent. Even the US government, guided by the human rights policy established by Jimmy Carter, gave decisive support. The defeat of Somoza and the National Guard – a real force that occupied its own territory in the service of a dictator – represented a turning point in the turbulent and tragic history of Central America. Without this fact, the continental political process would be quite different. It is likely, for example, that it would not be possible to promote the peace processes that brought an end to the internal wars that took place in Guatemala and El Salvador.
Writer Sergio RamÃrez, who was declared stateless by Daniel Ortega’s government, thanks for being granted Ecuadorian citizenship
betrayal
As was inevitable, the triumph of the revolution put on the table a dilemma regarding the future regime. While the Cold War was in full swing (few people predicted that the Berlin Wall would fall in ten years), the debate was between utopian democracy and one-party dictatorship. The former has raised few expectations in a region where most attempts to implement it have failed. Another had the Cuban experience as a model who, thanks to the spread of his heroic story and the blindness of the United States, gained a following in Nicaragua and beyond. Favorably for what followed later, the definition of that future coincided with the beginning of the process of democratization in Latin America. The wave launched by Ecuador and the Dominican Republic provided a dose of optimism about the sustainability of democracy.
The challenge is particularly critical for the Latin American left, which is experiencing its second boom.
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The discussion was held in the core of the Steering Committee of National Reconstruction, and even in the leadership of the FS. In the beginning, the pluralistic composition of these two bodies was crucial to prevent the Cuban model from being realized and the history of replacing one dictatorship with another from repeating itself. There was a small reserve to suppress the excesses of the most radical faction, but various factors (poor economic management, the rise of the “contras”, the hostile policies of Ronald Reagan) prevented the consolidation of the democratic regime. The loss of the presidency in 1990 definitely buried the Sandinista Front. What later took refuge under that name was a corrupt gang, far from any ideological definition, led by Rosario Murillo and her husband Daniel Ortega. His last action was to deprive almost a hundred people of their nationality, mostly militants and leaders of the historic Sandinista Front.
As in 1979, Nicaragua once again puts the dilemma of democracy or dictatorship on the table. The challenge is particularly critical for the Latin American left, which is experiencing its second boom. The governments of that sign, except for Venezuela and Nicaragua, occupy these places because they have agreed to respect democratic rules. But this is the moment when they have to show that they stick to those rules in exercising power and that they didn’t just use them as a ladder to get there. Some have done it, others remain silent or make shy statements. The dilemma arises again and in the same place. (OR)
Source: Eluniverso
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
