NICARAGUA Speaking Bitterness
Light, Julie
On a recent visit to the States a friend asked me. "So. are the Sandinistas washed up?" I took a deep breath. Where to begin? Since they lost the elections more than a year ago. the Sandinistas...
...to be debated in urban barrios and rural communities throughout Nicaragua...
...You can't erase ten years from someone's life in the workplace, in the home or on the land...
...Social Democracy obscures the real issue: The point is to find new ways of organizing...
...Working commissions have drawn up documents on Sandinista philosophy and bylaws...
...changes are necessary...
...Bless the day the Front lost the elections...
...It definitely restricted internal criticism...
...the only member of the Assembly to vote against a resolution supporting the measures was labor leader Dimaso Vargas...
...Gn.sroots activists...
...Those talks were broader in scope and centered on political agreements, including cuts in the army...
...The truce broke down in March when the government announced a drastic anti-inflation package aimed at stimulating exports and winning the approval of multilateral lending institutions...
...Others argue that the population is sick and tired of conflict, and that stability will give the Sandinistas room to maneuver to protect what is left of the revolution...
...This new open- ness comes from being out of office...
...We can speak of two sets of negotiations: one on the level of the formal talks, and the other at the level of the elites," said Grigsby...
...Hard-line UNO mayors have also encouraged former Contras to take over state farms and agricultural cooperatives...
...The strikes were also a litmus test of the army's working relationship with the government...
...Others are opti- mistic: The beating at the polls was a blessing in disguise...
...For opposition may make the task easier: Rodriguez, the solution lies not in the "We have to strengthen civil society, 19% elections, but in a vision that looks the women's movement and other gracsto the long-term...
...We have been more tolerant of our damn enemies than of each other," remarked Sofia Montenegro, adding that the Sandinistac' stint in the opposition may make the task easier: "We have to strengthen civil society, the women's movement and other gracsroots projects...
...While the trade union talks were underway, the government held parallel meetings with a high-level Sandinista commission headed by former president Daniel Ortega...
...it's one of growth...
...On the other hand, neither the unions nor the Sandinista political leaders have much room to maneuver...
...Many Sandinista rank and file are disappointed and resentful...
...an editor at Barri cada.theSandinistadaily...
...orthodox" or "Social Democrats vs...
...The enormous responsibility of running the country forced the Sandinista Front to subordi- nate its interests to those of the govern- ment...
...for whom personal integrity is as important a. politics, are eager to have new blood in the party...
...After two weeks of escalating strikes and protests, the unions entered into a second agreement with the government, which promised to raise wages at the end of May if buying power had not increased by then...
...The "Sandinista pitiara"-the divvy- ing up of spoils by some officials4id more to hurt the FSLN's credibility than losing the elections...
...Some worked like hell and were left with nothing...
...policy and Nicaraguan business interests that undermined popular support for the Sandinistas in recent years...
...Labor groups showed both the will and the ability to go out on strike, even when it was politically inconvenient for the FSLN...
...MarxistLeninists...
...They'll come in good time...
...In exchange, the unions agreed to hold off on wage demands and militant job actions for at least six months...
...Ortega has since pledged to "depoliticize" the armed forces and has complied with instructions to slash the size of the army by more than half...
...After yearsof sacrifice.many activists' lives are in pieces...
...The most important roots projects...
...Last November, former Contras and UNO mayors spurred on by Vice President Godoy seized several major highways, including the main road linking the Pacific and Atlantic coasts...
...The "pragmatists" within the Sandinista leadership, for their part, have vowed to strengthen the UNO moderates surrounding Chamorro in the face of rightist opposition...
...For every step backwards they try to take, we'll hold our ground...
...when we learned who would be the rats that must abandon ship...
...For the first time...
...taking a break from political activism But most remain Sandinistas...
...Former Contras were caught with arms caches in Managua and accused of treason...
...Each region will elect delegates to the party congress...
...Many Sandinistas see the alliance with the "Violeteros" as more tactical than strategic...
...The relationship between the FSLN and the FNT is still ambiguous...
...because they are the ones who down party control...
...of the FSLN's National Directorate...
...district leaders are being elected by the rank and file, rather than named by higher-ups...
...The crisis is as personal a. it is political...
...Violent clashes between Sandinista trade unionists and former Contras and other strike-breakers last July threatened to plunge the country into civil strife...
...Part: militants hope this consensus will tak, shape in the coming months, as thm FSLN holds local and regional assem blies leading to its first party congres July 19-21...
...Rafael Solis, the former secretary of the legislative assembly, sent shock waves through the FSLN when he published an opinion piece in Barricada proposing that the Sandinistas "cogovern" with more moderate elements of the UNO alliance...
...They argue that the FSLN leadership has failed to grasp the importance of independent social movements...
...Party Congress Sparks Debate While many party leaders and ac- tivists have been sharply critical from behind the scenes over the years...
...Party leaders say the process lead- ing up to the July congress is as impor- tant as what happens at that meeting...
...The Sandinista leadership took on the role of a "stabilizing center," given the Chamorro government's lack of a solid base of popular support...
...because they are the ones who will bring it to another defeat or The Sandinistas are clearly far from being washed up...
...Another factor exerting pressure on both the government and the FSLN is an incipient but militant right-wing grassroots movement...
...It's there that revoluthing right now is to win back the m n d tionary culture is preserved...
...They saw their friends get killed by the Contras...
...including the National Directorate...
...one community organizer told me...
...Sandinista representatives recently joined forces with UNO legislators to elect Chamorro ally Alfredo C6sar as head of the National Assembly...
...The decision by top Sandinistas to postpone the congress from February to July threw cold water on the debate NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS for several months, prompting some to wonder whether the leadership would allow a no-holds-barred discussion...
...Orthodox Sandinistas see the pragmatists' moves to cooperate with the government as a continuation of the accommodation to U.S...
...for example, are more likely The Sandinistas are clearly far from to strike a chord with the FSLN's po- being washed up...
...The "Violeteros" appear more threatened by Vice President Virgilio Godoy's appeal to the radical Right than by the Sandinistas...
...The February 1990 elections were followed by months of late nights of "speaking bitterness...
...Divisions within the FSLN are painted as a debate between two emerging currents: "pragmatists vs...
...The debate, in fact, is not a new one: There is an echo of the old tendencies from the Sandinistas' guerrilla days, when the question of class alliances and insurrectional strategy was a major point of contention...
...while others appropriated cars and houses before leaving office...
...But the Front has to win back the people's trust...
...I am convinced that concertaci6n, co-government agreements, understandings between two political groups, or whatever you want to call it, has to be done on the basis of the rights won by the people of Nicaragua over the last ten years," explained Milu Vargas, director of the Managuabased Center for Constitutional Rights and a former legal advisor to the National Assembly...
...Mar- riages failed under the strain: no one had time for their kids...
...State power we've lost...
...will bring it to another defeat or Local actions to address daily sur- triumph...
...The FSLN' search for identity began with a han look at its past...
...The next elections don't helps, but power is not the state-it's matter...
...The demobilized Contras demanded farmland, while the UNO mayors called for several cabinet resignations starting with Humberto Ortega, presidential advisor (and Chamorro son-in-law) Antonio Lacayo and Government Minister Carlos Hurtado...
...Strikes Test Concertacidn The backdrop to the debate is the past year of labor tension over government economic policies and fears of privatization...
...Last October, negotiations among the government, both Sandinista and pro-government unions, and the conservative business organization COSEP, resulted in a temporary truce...
...Current battlelines are drawn around how closely to collaborate with the government of President Violeta Chamorro to bring about stability and economic recovery...
...They are proposing a democratic opening without completely democratizing," said former Sandinista official Ram6n Meneses, adding that he fears the "old guard" will not let those they consider inexperienced run the show...
...And that would lead to another civil war...
...The union movement is at a difficult crossroads," asserts Grigsby...
...which had to back wartime policies...
...This closed the space for debate within the Front...
...Proposals to upgrade the FSLN's observer status in the Socialist International to full membership, for instance, are viewed as a step towards becoming a more traditional party acceptable to Europe and even the United States...
...Humberto Ortega ordered troops to dismantle barricades, but vowed the Sandinista army would never turn its guns on protesters...
...They stress that the only way to safeguard poor and working people's interests is to keep the pressure on from below, even if it puts the FSLN on a collision course with government moderates...
...COSEP, angered by the government's concessions on reprivatization, walked out of the talks without signing the agreement...
...The plan devalued the c6rdoba by 400%, but raised wages by only 160%-250...
...Co-governing would not entail sharing cabinet posts, Solis maintained, but would be a process of finding common ground...
...the litmus test of whether the congress is truly democratic will be if heads roll when the 600 delegates have their first opportunity to elect top party leaders...
...the Sandinistas have been in crisis...
...The conflict was eventually resolved, but not before at least 3 people were killed and more than a dozen wounded...
...A wide spectrum of party cadre and grassroots groups see democratizing the FSLN as vital to overcoming the demoralization that has plagued the popular movement...
...Had they won the elections, the Sandinistas would likely have been forced to implement measures not drastically different from those of the Chamorro administration...
...Chamorro promised to move gradually in reprivatizing the economy and postponed massive layoffs...
...We have been more tolerant Antonieta Rodriguez notes that politi- of our damn enemies than of each cal work in her neighborhood is at an other," remarked Sofia Montenegro, all-time low, but a food co-op and other adding that the Sandinistac' stint in the practical projects are thriving...
...They postponed education and careers...
...Sandinista political leaders by and large supported the government plan...
...Since the July strikes, however, proUNO unions have gained ground, while much of the Sandinista rank and file, more anxious about job security, has been less willing to take militant action...
...With few resources tosolve the population's problems, many offi- cials began to turn a deaf ear to com- plaints from below...
...Solfs also suggests that the FSLN enter the 1996 elections in alliance with Chamorro moderates...
...although so far it has considered few cases...
...It's there that revolutionary culture is preserved...
...An ethics committee has been set up to address charges of corruption...
...the FSLN's chance to win back credibility without the constraints of power...
...Another point under debate is whether to maintain the Front's traditional anti-imperialist stance, or accept Washington's "new world order...
...The last year has been a crash course in collective bargaining for the unions: "It's the first time I've seen union leaders argue economic policies and make suggestions," observed economist Arturo Grigsby, an advisor to the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives during the talks...
...fierce debate is now taking place in public, in the media and in local assemblies around the country...
...Community activist Maria purpose...
...Defense Minister Gen...
...explainec Sofia Montenegro...
...If the unions support the government, they will appear to the rank and file as accomplices to measures that cause unemployment...
...but little con sensus on what these should be...
...the debate should be one of grassroots the Front has to win back the people's democracy vs...
...The Sandinista leadership has to put it to workers bluntly: If the government falls,, we are not the ones who will take power, but rather Vice President [Virgilio] Godoy and the UNO extremists...
...For many activists...
...In June of last yea1 some 200 Sandinista leaden met in thl town of El Crucero to analyze wha went wrong in the campaign...
...The series of "social pact" accords were a watershed in trade union autonomy, according to participants...
...verticalismo, or top- trust...
...The Sandinista Front is regrouping It is searching for a new identity whe it is no longer clear what it means to b "left" or "revolutionary" in a rapidl, shifting regional and world order...
...The average 40% drop in real wages sparked a wave of strikes and work slowdowns by Sandinista unions grouped in the National Workers Front (FNT...
...Some are cynical: They had beencalled totask forpointingout what top Sandinistas now belatedly admit were serious mistakes...
...noted Luls Cani6n...
...Ther is widespread sentiment that sweepin...
...Still others are Julie Lighr is a freelance joumalisr based in Nicaragua...
...But they face a crititential base than discourses on party cal challenge: reconstructing unity of philosophy...
...Fears of a power play by the Right sent Sandinista leaders and UNO moderates running into each other's arms to resolve the conflict before it escalated out of control...
...The crisis in the Front is notonea decline...
...They wen remarkably frank about the errors o their 10-yearadministration.They now admit that imposing agricultural poli cies in the countryside helped build th~ Contras' social base and lost them thl battle for the hearts and minds of thl rural population years before the vote The economic effects of the war and the Sandinista austerity program gut- ted many of the social benefits of the revolution...
...But they face a critical challenge: reconstructing unity of purpose...
...But many grassroots activists fall outside the broad "pragmatist" or "orthodox" camps, and there is considerable crossover on specific issues...
...State power helps, but power is not the state-it's the people...
...viva1 issues...
...Implicit in these discussions is a fundamental question: should the FSLN see itself as the vanguard of a primarily popular and working class movement, or should it strive to build a multi-class, nationalist party capable of winning the 1996 elections...
...Activists complain that framing the debate as Marxism vs...
Vol. 24 • May 1991 • No. 6
