The Nicaraguan Revolution - Six Years after the Sandinista Electoral Defeat

On 25 April 1990 Violeta Chamorro assumed the presidency of Nicaragua, two months after her National Opposition Union (UNO) coalition scored a decisive electoral victory ending 11 years of rule by the revolutionary Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). The backers of President Chamorro both inside and outside of Nicaragua expected her administration to move quickly to dismantle the revolutionary projects of the Sandinistas. This article will give an assessment of Nicaraguan society based on the questions: what gains of the Sandinista revolution have been overturned by the Chamorro administration and what gains have been protected by the Sandinistas and their supporters. Additionally, it will analyse the current relationship of political forces within Nicaragua with an eye toward the prospects for social change in the coming years