45 years after the Sandinista Revolution

The Nicaraguan Democratic Concertation, CDN-Monteverde considers that July 19, 1979, is a date surpassed by history, and by the facts diametrically opposed to the dreams of freedom, social justice and peace that the majority of Nicaraguans harbored.

Since the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) took power, it has implemented a Marxist-Leninist agenda, completely opposed to the democratic offer it initially promised. It kept Nicaraguans subjected to the will of the party-state; it annulled civic and economic liberties; it aligned itself completely with the totalitarianism of Cuba and the Soviet Union, declared the United States “the enemy of humanity”, and insisted on extending the revolution to the rest of Central America.

It also destroyed the business and productive fabric of the country, producing an unprecedented economic crisis that wiped out the middle class, sent some 200,000 Nicaraguans into exile, and pushed thousands of peasants to join the Nicaraguan Resistance, known as “La Contra”, which received arms from the United States, in order to contain Soviet expansionism in the region. The country was then plunged into another civil war that ended the lives of thousands of young men recruited for military service by State Security.

At the end of the 1980s, the cessation of Soviet support, pressure from the international community, the Contra, and the conviction that they maintained popular support, allowed for an early and closely watched electoral process to be held on February 25, 1990, where the people defeated the FSLN with their vote.

Nicaragua began a difficult process of transition to democracy, with an economy in ruins and more poverty than before the revolution. The effort to rebuild the country in freedom lasted only 16 years.

In 2007, the FSLN regained power and began a process of state capture that today has the country subjected to the most brutal authoritarianism with which the Ortega-Murillo family intends to establish a dynasty. To date, more than 350 Nicaraguans have been murdered, hundreds have been imprisoned and exiled, and more than 800,000 have migrated. The regime has unleashed an unprecedented religious persecution, and provoked the destruction of the entire political, social and business fabric of the country. Its alliance with Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, the Taliban and others, aims to reverse the democratic order of the continent.

For the CDN-Monteverde it is vital not to repeat these mistakes, therefore, it considers it fundamental that the leadership that assumes the reconstruction of post-Ortega Nicaragua be genuinely committed to the principles and ideals of the broadest freedom in all areas: political, economic, religious, ideological, social, with the non-negotiable defense of the dignity of life and human rights.

We cannot allow another July 19. Somocismo and Sandinismo must be closed chapters of our history. The new challenge will be to focus on building the democratic, free and prosperous Republic we have always dreamed of.