The Sandinista Guerrilla, Revolution and Legacy

Abstract

The chapter covers a period of six decades of the transformation of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) from its origins as a small guerrilla group in the early 1960s to the present. First, we examine the organizational development, internal dynamics and strategic orientation of the Frente as an insurgent group until the defeat of the Somoza regime in 1979. Next, we address the period of the 1980s, the decade of the Sandinista revolutionary government, following both its government style and the military operations during the Contra War. Then we analyze the trajectory of the FSLN as an opposition party (1990–2007). Finally, we survey the consecutive FMLN governments as the dominant political force once again in the government ending with the wave of popular protests from 2018 on.