Armed opposition to the Sandinista Government eventually divided into two main groups: The Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense ( FDN ), a U. S. supported army formed in 1981 by the CIA, U. S. State Department, and former members of the widely condemned Somoza-era Nicaraguan National Guard ; and the Alianza Revolucionaria Democratica ( ARDE ) Democratic Revolutionary Alliance, a group that had existed since before the FSLN and was led by Sandinista founder and former FSLN supreme commander, Edén Pastora, a. k. a. " Commander Zero ".

The filmmaker was persuaded to return by two wounded soldiers from the Sandinista army.

During the war against the Sandinista government, the contras carried out many violations of human rights, and evidence suggests that these were systematically committed as an element of warfare strategy.

Edgar Chamorro, a former Contra and member of the FDN's political directorate who later became a critic of the Contras, stated that during his time with the Contras, he frequently received reports about atrocities committed by Contra troops against civilians and against Sandinista prisoners: " As time went on, I became more and more troubled by the frequent reports I received of atrocities committed by our troops against civilians and against Sandinista prisoners.

A Sandinista militiaman interviewed by The Guardian stated that Contra rebels committed these atrocities against Sandinista prisoners after a battle at a Sandinista rural outpost: " Rosa had her breasts cut off.

While this action was interpreted as an attack upon leftism, Sokal, who was a committed supporter of the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua during the 1980s, intended it as a critique from within the Left.

American support for the long rule of the Somoza family had soured relations, and the FSLN government was committed to a Marxist ideology, with many of the leading Sandinista continuing long-standing relationships with the Soviet Union and Cuba.

Despite such ideas, which represented the point of view of a faction of the government, the Sandinista government remained officially committed to a mixed economy.

Author Jamie Glazov denounced Sandinista atrocities:

In April 1982, Edén Pastora ( Comandante Cero ), one of the heroes in the fight against Somoza, organized the Sandinista Revolutionary Front ( FRS ) – embedded in the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance ( ARDE ) – and declared war on the Sandinista government.

In 1984, the Sandinista government filed a suit in the International Court of Justice ( ICJ ) against the United States ( Nicaragua v. United States ), which resulted in a 1986 judgment against the United States.

These deliberate acts of violence against civilians were acknowledged by the CIA as early as late 1983, when Duane Clarridge, Latin America division chief of the CIA ’ s Directorate for Operations, reported in a secret briefing to the Senate subcommittee that his contras had murdered " civilians and Sandinista officials in the provinces, as well as heads of cooperatives, nurses, doctors and judges.

These large scale raids mainly became possible as the contras were able to use US-provided Redeye missiles against Sandinista Mi-24 helicopter gunships, which had been supplied by the Soviets.

There were isolated protests among the population against the draft implemented by the Sandinista government, which even resulted in full-blown street clashes in Masaya in 1988.

* 1985 – Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba ; American policy continues to support the Contras in their revolt against the Nicaraguan government.

Leftist critics usually argued that the United States itself created a " moral equivalence " when some of its actions, such as President Ronald Reagan's support for the Contra insurgency against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, put it on the same level of immorality as the Soviet Union.

The ubiquitous Red and Black Sandinista flag was used during the election process along with the pink as it was one of the colours of a campaign that finished its popular appearances with John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance and the Sandinista Hymn " fighting against Yanqui agressors, enemies of humanity.

The basic reader which was disseminated and used by teacher was called " Dawn of the People " based on the themes of Sandino, Carlos Fonseca, and the Sandinista struggle against imperialism and defending the revolution.

** The Sandinista National Liberation Front concludes a successful revolutionary campaign against the U. S. backed Somoza dictatorship and assumes power in Nicaragua.

During the Sandinista / Indian conflict in Nicaragua of the mid-1980s, Russell Means sided with Miskito Indians opposing the Sandinista government.

Political Pluralism – The ultimate success of the Sandinista Front in guiding the insurrection and in obtaining the leading fore within it was based on the fact that the FSLN, through the tercerista guidance, had worked with many sectors of the population in defeating the Somoza dictatorship.

Ortega was arrested for political activities at the age of 15, and quickly joined the then-underground Sandinista National Liberation Front ( FSLN ).

* Sandinista National Liberation Front ( FSLN )-28 seats ( RAAN: 15, RAAS: 13 )

* Sandinista National Liberation Front ( FSLN )-27 seats ( RAAN: 15, RAAS: 12 )

Arlen Siu ( 15 ), martyr of the Sandinista revolution.

" Nicaragua ’ s Permanent Commission on Human Rights condemned Sandinista human rights violations, recording at least 2, 000 murders in the first six months and 3, 000 disappearances in the first few years.

However, the Southern Front contributed to the Sandinista victory by tying down over 2, 000 heavily equipped Nicaraguan National Guard forces, as Somoza remained fixated on stopping Pastora, even as major cities fell to the rebels.

Early in the morning of that same day as 5, 000 Sandinista guerrillas and 10, 000 assorted " people's militia " took control of Managua's city center and called for a cease-fire, the last senior commander of the National Guard, Lt. Col. Fulgencio Largaespada Baez finally bowed to the inevitable and ordered his demoralised and exhausted soldiers to lay down their arms.

The Sandinista navy (-- MGS ), which had reached a peak strength of 3, 000 personnel in 1990, suffered a sweeping reduction to 800 by 1993.

In August 1978, La Prensa even loaned 50, 000 Cordobas to a Sandinista operation, which was never repaid.

The U. S. government produced a photo alleged to showed Miskito bodies being burned by Sandinista troops ; however, the photo was actually of people killed by Somoza's National Guard in 1978.

Her rise to power can be attributed to more than her affiliation with La Prensa, and in part was the result of the lack of international support for the Sandinista regime, the tiring of the masses of civil war, the symbol she meant to the people, and her strong campaign focus on being the opposition rather than trying to convince people to accept a political program.

Linder felt inspired by the 1979 Sandinista revolution, and wanted to support its efforts to improve the lives of the country's poorest people.

" In early 1980 the new Sandinista government formally accused Somoza Portocarrero of masterminding the 1978 assassination of opposition journalist Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Cardenal, and a June 1981 trial that convicted nine people of the crime implicated him in absentia.

Former Sandinista President Daniel Ortega suggested that Somoza Portocarrero " will be able to enter Managua, but I doubt he will be able to leave because the people will confront him with gunshots.

Human Rights Watch, the umbrella organization of Americas Watch, replied to these allegations: " Almost invariably, U. S. pronouncements on human rights exaggerated and distorted the real human rights violations of the Sandinista regime, and exculpated those of the U. S .- supported insurgents, known as the contras ....

According to Bruce E. Wright, “ the Governing Junta of National Reconstruction agreed, under Sandinista leadership, that these principles had guided it in putting into practice a form of government that was characterized by those principles .” It is generally accepted that these following principles have evolved the “ ideology of Sandinismo .” Three of these ( excluding popular participation, which was presumably contained in Article 2 of the Constitution of Nicaragua ) were to ultimately be guaranteed by Article 5 of the Constitution of Nicaragua.

* Anti-Somozistas who had supported the revolution but felt betrayed by the Sandinista government – e. g. Edgar Chamorro, prominent member of the political directorate of the FDN, or Jose Francisco Cardenal, who had briefly served in the Council of State before leaving Nicaragua out of disagreement with the Sandinista government's policies and founding the Nicaraguan Democratic Union ( UDN ), an opposition group of Nicaraguan exiles in Miami.

The Contras were soon under the control of Nicaraguan business elites who opposed Sandinista policies to seize their assets.

" The alleged violations included attacks on Nicaraguan facilities and naval vessels, the mining of Nicaraguan ports, the invasion of Nicaraguan air space, and the training, arming, equipping, financing and supplying of forces ( the " Contras ") and seeking to overthrow Nicaragua's Sandinista government.

In the 2006 Nicaraguan general election, former FSLN President Daniel Ortega was re-elected President of Nicaragua with 38. 7 % of the vote compared to 29 % for his leading rival, bringing in the country's second Sandinista government after 16 years of the opposition winning elections.

The preponderance of power also remained with the Sandinistas through their mass organizations, including the Sandinista Workers ' Federation (), the Luisa Amanda Espinoza Nicaraguan Women's Association (), the National Union of Farmers and Ranchers (), and most importantly the Sandinista Defense Committees ( CDS ).

Cuban military and DGI advisors, initially brought in during the Sandinista insurgency, would swell to over 2, 500 and operated at all levels of the new Nicaraguan government.

The 1980 Literacy Campaign is considered to have been a major contribution to Nicaraguan society during the Sandinista rule.

After the Nicaraguan revolution, the Sandinista government established a Ministry of Culture in 1980.

Moreover, the ministry created a Sandinista daily newspaper named Barricada and its weekly cultural addition named Ventana along with the Television Sandino, Radio Sandino and the Nicaraguan film production unit called the INCINE.

While most of the graves seem to be the result of summary executions by members of the Sandinista People's Army or the State Security, some contain the bodies of individuals executed by the Nicaraguan Resistance.

Sandinista: Carlos Fonseca and the Nicaraguan Revolution.

** The Sandinista Front wins the Nicaraguan general elections.

( Indeed, one of his fiercest critics was Ernesto Cardenal, a leftist Nicaraguan priest who preached liberation theology and would become the Sandinista government's Minister of Culture.

Sandinista: Carlos Fonseca and the Nicaraguan Revolution.

While countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay were dictatorships that censored elements of Nueva canción in in the late 1970s and early 1980s the Sandinista movement that rose to power with the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979 welcomed Nueva canción, and several artist gave support to the movement like Mercedes Sosa and Silvio Rodríguez who played in the Abril en Nicaragua concert in 1983.

Argüello was actively involved in Nicaraguan politics with the Sandinista National Liberation Front ( FSLN )-- the same party against whom he took up arms in the 1980s — and in 2004 was elected vice-mayor of Managua.