Frente Sandinista Revolutionary Nicaragua

On July 17, 1979, the embattled president of Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza DeBayle, fled Managua, leaving his regime defenseless as the rebels embarked on the capitol. After more than a decade of rebellion against the Somoza government, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN), wrested control of Nicaragua from the Somoza’s tyranny. The ideological guerillas finally wielded the power to implement their revolutionary goals for the people of Nicaragua. Under the guidance of the FLSN revolutionary Nicaragua experienced several radical changes to its government and society. The Sandinistas implemented sweeping agricultural, education, land, and societal reforms, eager to empower the proletariat
the Somoza’s had preyed upon for nearly a half century. Despite the plundered national treasury and a staggering foreign debt of $1.6 billion dollars, the Sandinista government orchestrated several successful government reforms and campaigns.
The Sandinista government displayed considerable accomplishments in regards to their education policies. The Somozaist government policies resulted in a massive scale of illiteracy amongst Nicaragua’s adult population. The Somozas actively stifled educational opportunities in Nicaragua. An educated populace of poor posed a threat to the Somoza’s regime. The dynasty enriched itself through misappropriation of foreign aid and domestic funds for health, education, and other social programs. Cronyism and embezzlement defined the reality of Nicaragua throughout the decades of Somoza rule. Life for Nicaragua’s urban and rural poor under this kleptocracy presented virtually no opportunities of an education. To achieve their ambition dream of a socialist Nicaragua, the FLSN, faced an absolutely daunting task. Roughly 720,000 Nicaraguans were illiterate when the Sandinistas assumed controlled of the country. Despite the considerable hurdles the Sandinistas faced in executing their educational goals, their reforms proved to be exceptionally successful as it made significant improvements to the national rate of literacy amongst adults and most notably for women, given that the reforms were cut back after hostilities from counterrevolutionaries erupted in 1985.
Through the mobilization of thousands of volunteers, the FSLN succeeded in increasing literacy and student enrollment for both men and women. However, the educational efforts of the Sandinistas proved unsustainable. The Sandinistas encountered several obstacles to prolonged success in their educational gains. These obstacles include the of an adequate long-term strategy for maintaining their rapid short-term achievements, the resumption of hostilities in Nicaragua, and the loss of government control in the 1990 election curtailed the longevity of the Sandinistas education efforts. Primary sources on the topic provide two aspects of the Sandinistas education policies. Interviews, speeches, and manifestos from key members of the FSLN provided an insight into the ideological goals of the FSLN’s education policy. The FSLN document, The Historic Program of the FSLN, details the intended reforms for education in Nicaragua after the FSLN’s revolution occurred. Chief among its goals, the eradication of illiteracy laid the foundation for the National Literacy Campaign that reduced Nicaragua’s “illiteracy rate from 50.3% to
12.9%.” Statistical data is another type of primary source that provided a realistic view of the impact that the FSLN’s policies had on Nicaragua. The United Nations’ statistical accounts offer a wide variety of statistics including national literacy rates, enrollment data for both male and female students, the percentage of the population that enrolled in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education, as well as enrollment ratio by gender. The data provided by the UN Statistical office in the Statistical Yearbook, showcased the significant decline in illiteracy and increased rates of women’s participation and enrollment in education. There exists a considerable amount of secondary sources that encompass the development of the Sandinista regime and their policies.
However, a factor involved in sourcing from secondary sources covering the Sandinistas are the biases held by some authors. These biases fall on both sides of the isle. Many authors how have written about the Sandinista reforms expressed a sympathetic account of the FSLN’s actions and policies. In contrast works carry a stigma against the FSLN government for its leftist policies. However, works farther withdrawn from the immediate decades (1970s and 1980s) of the Nicaraguan Revolution exhibit a greater removal from the politics of the Cold War and allow for a more nuanced depiction of the Sandinistas. Kenneth Morris’ Unfinished Revolution, is a modern history of the Sandinista Revolution and inclusive analysis of its actors and policies. Another factor to note about the availability of secondary sources was the decline in works about the Sandinista revolution over time. The majority of works were written in the 1980s and 1990s. Books like Morris’ Unfinished Revolution, however were written after the election of Daniel Ortega in 2006, which marked the end of a sixteen-year absence of a FSLN president of Nicaragua. Ortega’s reelection seemingly provoked a resurgence in interest about the FSLN and their politics, which means several works have been produced within the last several
years. The Sandinistas accomplished an unlikely task of educating hundreds of thousands of neglected Nicaraguans in an astoundingly short period of time. The mobilization tactics and the use of volunteers reflected the Sandinistas socialist ideology and vision for Nicaragua. The successes, challenges, and policies present a topic worthwhile of study as it represented a considerable achievement in educational technique and government organization which remains impressive in its scale today.