1979–1990 anti-Somoza revolution and Sandinista rule
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Nicaraguan Revolution" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(July 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it.(April 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Spanish. (May 2019) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the Spanish article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 5,027 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Spanish Wikipedia article at [[:es:Revolución Sandinista]]; see its history for attribution.
You should also add the template {{Translated|es|Revolución Sandinista}} to the talk page.
For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
(Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Nicaraguan Revolution
Part of the Central American crisis and the Cold War
From left to right: FSLN guerrillas entering León, bodies of people executed by the Nicaraguan National Guard, FSLN soldier aiming an RPG-2, a government spy captured by guerrilla forces, bombings by the National Guard air force & destruction of towns & villages taken by guerrilla forces.
Date
19 July 1961 – 25 April 1990 (28 years, 9 months and 6 days)
19 July 1961 – 17 July 1979 (first phase: FSLN Rebellion)
17 July 1979 – 25 April 1990 (second phase: Contra War)
Location
Nicaragua
Result
FSLN military victory in 1979
Overthrow of Somoza government in 1979
Insurgency of the Contras
FSLN junta led by Daniel Ortega take power of Nicaragua in 1981[26]
Electoral victory of FSLN in 1984
Electoral victory of the National Opposition Union in 1990
Belligerents
Somoza regime (1961–1979)
National Guard
Contras (1979–1990)
FDN
UDN
Fifteenth of September Legion
ARDE
MILPAS (after 1979)
KISAN/YATAMA
RN
Supported by:
United States
Costa Rica (1982–1986)[1]
Israel[2]
Saudi Arabia[3][4][5]
Taiwan[6]
Honduras[7]
Panama (1981–1987)[8]
Chile (1973–1990)[9] Argentina (1976–1983)[5]
Colombia
Imperial State of Iran (until 1979)
Islamic Republic of Iran (Indirectly, since 1979)[10]
Brunei[11]
People's Republic of China[12][13]
Poland[12]
Romania[13]
Portugal[13]
FSLN
EPS
MAP-ML (1978–1979)
MILPAS
Panama (1978–1979)[14][15]
Supported by:
Soviet Union (1980–1990)
Costa Rica (1978–1982)[1]
Libya[16]
Cuba[17]
Bulgaria[18]
Czechoslovakia (until 1989)[19]
East Germany (until 1989)[18]
Hungary (until 1989)
Poland (until 1989)[12]
North Korea[19]
PLO[19]
Algeria[20]
Mexico[21]
France[22]
Sweden (medical support)[23][24]
Chile (1970–1973)
Venezuela (1978–1979)[15][14]
Canada (1984–1990)[25]
Commanders and leaders
Luis Somoza
Anastasio Somoza
Enrique Bermúdez
Adolfo Calero
Aristides Sánchez
Alfonso Robelo (1982–1988)
Edgar Chamorro (1979–1984)
Edén Pastora (1982–1986)
Fernando Chamorro (1981–1987)
Daniel Ortega
Carlos Fonseca Amador †
Humberto Ortega
Joaquín Cuadra
Tomás Borge
Edén Pastora (until 1981)
Hugo Spadafora
Casualties and losses
1978–79: 10,000 total killed[27]
1981–89: 10,000–43,000 total killed; best estimate using most detailed battle information is 30,000 killed.[27]
Part of a series on
Political revolution
By class
Bourgeois
Communist
Counter-revolutionary
Democratic
Proletarian
By other characteristic
Colour
From above
Nonviolent
Passive
Permanent
Social
Wave
Methods
Boycott
Civil disobedience
Civil disorder
Civil war
Class conflict
Coup d'état
Demonstration
Guerrilla warfare
Insurgency
Mutiny
Nonviolent resistance
Protest
Rebellion
Riot
Samizdat
Strike action
Tax resistance
Terror
Examples
English
Atlantic
American
Brabant
Liège
French
Haitian
Spanish American
Serbian
Greek
1820
1830
July
Belgian
Texas
1848
Italian states
February
German
Hungarian
Eureka
Bulgarian unification
Philippine
Iranian
First
Second
Young Turk
Mexican
Chinese
Xinhai
Communist
Cultural
1917–1923
Russian
German
Siamese
Spanish
August
Guatemalan
Hungarian (1956)
Cuban
Rwandan
Nicaraguan
Argentine
Carnation
Saur
People Power
1989
Yogurt
Velvet
Romanian
Singing
Bolivarian
Bulldozer
Rose
Orange
Tulip
Kyrgyz
Arab Spring
Tunisian
Egyptian
Yemeni
Euromaidan
Second Arab Spring
Sudanese
Politics portal
v
t
e
The Nicaraguan Revolution (Spanish: Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) to oust the dictatorship in 1978–79, the subsequent efforts of the FSLN to govern Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990,[28] and the Contra War, which was waged between the FSLN-led government of Nicaragua and the United States–backed Contras from 1981 to 1990. The revolution marked a significant period in the history of Nicaragua and revealed the country as one of the major proxy war battlegrounds of the Cold War, attracting much international attention.
The initial overthrow of the Somoza dictatorial regime in 1978–79 was a dirty affair, and the Contra War of the 1980s took the lives of tens of thousands of Nicaraguans and was the subject of fierce international debate. Because of the political turmoil, failing economy, and decreasing government influence, during the 1980s both the FSLN (a leftist collection of political parties) and the Contras (a rightist collection of counter-revolutionary groups) received large amounts of aid from the Cold War superpowers (respectively, the Soviet Union and the United States).
A peace process started with the Sapoá Accords in 1988 and the Contra War ended after the signing of the Tela Accord in 1989 and the demobilization of the FSLN and Contra armies.[29] A second election in 1990 resulted in the election of a majority of anti-Sandinista parties and the FSLN handing over power.
^ abResearch Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada (1 May 1989). "Participation of Costa Rican government in arms smuggling, for Sandinistas in 1979 and for Contras in mid-1980's". UNHCR. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
^Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair, 1995. pp. 165, 271, 481.
^"CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy". Retrieved 10 April 2015.
^"Reagan Says Saudi Talked of Contra Aid". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. 14 May 1987. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
^ ab"Saudi Arabia and the Reagan Doctrine – Middle East Research and Information Project". December 1988. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
^"Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs – the Iran-Contra Affairs".
^McManus, Doyle (6 March 1987). "Private Contra Funding of $32 Million Disclosed : Leader Shows Secret Bank Data in Effort to Prove Rebels Did Not Get Money From Iran Arms Sales". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
^"The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations". Retrieved 10 April 2015.
^The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability. p. 255.
^"Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs". www.brown.edu. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
^"Iran–Contra Hearings; Brunei Regains $10 Million". The New York Times. 22 July 1987. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
^ abc"Poland and China Reportedly Sent Arms to Contras". The New York Times. 2 May 1987. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
^ abcLandslide: The Unmaking of the President, 1984–1988. p. 143.
^ abBrown, Jonathan C. (2022). "Omar Torrijos and the Sandinista Revolution". The Latin Americanist. 66: 25–45. doi:10.1353/tla.2022.0003. S2CID 247623108.
^ abSánchez Nateras, Gerardo (2018). "The Sandinista Revolution and the Limits of the Cold War in Latin America: The Dilemma of Nonintervention During the Nicaraguan Crisis, 1977–78" (PDF). Cold War History. 18 (2): 111–129. doi:10.1080/14682745.2017.1369046. S2CID 218576606.
^Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair, 1995. pp. 216, 485.
^"The Soviet Union and Revolutionary Warfare: Principles, Practices, and ..." Retrieved 10 April 2015.
^ abReport of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair, 1995. p. 27.
^ abcReport of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair, 1995. p. 485.
^Dickey, Christopher (19 July 1981). "Arab States Help Nicaragua Avoid Ties to Superpowers". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
^"Mexico's Support of the Sandinista Revolution". Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo.
^Echikson, William (15 July 1982). "France Warms Up to Nicaragua – As US Fumes". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
^"Our work in Nicaragua". Swedish International Development Corporation Agency (www.sida.se). 2009. Archived from the original on 15 June 2013.
^"Sandinistas Find Economic Ally In Socialist Sweden". philly-archives. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
^Bishop, Adam (2 September 2009). With Them and Against Them: Canada's Relations With Nicaragua, 1979–1990 (Master Thesis). University of Waterloo.
^"Daniel Ortega", Encyclopædia Britannica (15th ed.), 1993
^ abLacina, Bethany. "The PRIO Battle Deaths Dataset, 1946–2008, Version 3.0: Documentation of Coding Decisions" (PDF). International Peace Research Institute, Oslo. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
^Louis Proyect, Nicaragua, discusses, among other things, the reforms and the degree to which socialism was intended or achieved.
^Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia Nicaragua, State-based conflict, Peace efforts, https://www.ucdp.uu.se/country/93
and 24 Related for: Nicaraguan Revolution information
The NicaraguanRevolution (Spanish: Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship...
The Nicaraguan Health System. PATH. Birn AE, Zimmerman S, Garfield R. (2000). To decentralize or not to decentralize, is that the question? Nicaraguan health...
Women played a role in the NicaraguanRevolution. Those who joined the Sandinista movement in the revolutionary Nicaragua essentially fought a battle:...
after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistance against the United States occupation of Nicaragua in the 1930s. The FSLN overthrew Anastasio...
The Catholic Church in Nicaragua is the Nicaraguan part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, curia in Rome, and...
Government in Nicaragua, which had come to power in 1979 following the NicaraguanRevolution. Among the separate contra groups, the Nicaraguan Democratic...
political party in Nicaragua, led to a sharp decrease in Nicaragua–United States relations, particularly after the NicaraguanRevolution. In 1981, President...
ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6 Uhlig, Mark A. (27 February 1990). "Turnover in Nicaragua; NICARAGUAN OPPOSITION ROUTS SANDINISTAS; U.S. PLEDGES AID, TIED TO ORDERLY...
The Nicaraguan Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas de Nicaragua) are the military forces of Nicaragua. There are three branches: the Navy, the Army...
found that polluted water led to 17% of all Nicaraguan deaths. From 1945 to 1960, the U.S.-owned Nicaraguan Long Leaf Pine Company (NIPCO) directly paid...
(along with those of Corinto and Puerto Sandino) as part of the NicaraguanRevolution. Bluefields was destroyed by Hurricane Joan in 1988 but was rebuilt...
The Nicaraguan Democratic Force (Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense, or FDN) was one of the earliest Contra groups, formed on August 11, 1981 in Guatemala...
more than ten years (1965–1977). A former member of the Nicaraguan Sandinistas, he was Nicaragua's minister of culture from 1979 to 1987. He was prohibited...
a Nicaraguan guerrilla brigade which had a training camp in southern Honduras. On June 24, 1959, the brigade was ambushed by Honduran and Nicaraguan troops...
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution, (in Soviet historiography) or October Coup, was a revolution in Russia led...
unexpected strength of Madriz, the U.S. Nicaraguan Expeditionary Squadron completed its withdrawal from Nicaraguan waters. On May 27, 1910, U.S. Marine Corps...
the Oriente province, Fonseca believed Nicaragua'sRevolution would begin with mass insurgency in the Nicaraguan countryside. Carlos Fonseca is considered...
journey to Nicaragua, when Somoza was battling insurgents. The same year, he was depicted in Under Fire, set during the 1979 NicaraguanRevolution, this time...
socialist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) during the NicaraguanRevolution of 1961–1990. Widespread discontent with the Somoza regime, fostered...
Partido Liberal Constitucionalista, PLC) is a political party in Nicaragua. At the Nicaraguan general election of 5 November 2006, the party won 25 of 92 seats...
November 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician who has been the 58th President of Nicaragua since 2007. Previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990...
and banks. During the NicaraguanRevolution and the Civil War, thousands of Nicaraguans left the country. After the 1990 Nicaraguan Elections some people...
that of Nicaraguan women. Additionally, women criticized AMNLAE leadership for their assumption that they knew what was best for all Nicaraguan women without...
Global Information
Politics portal