Human Rights in Nicaragua Under the Sandinistas

In July 1979, the Sandinista-led revolutionary junta pledged to the people of Nicaragua and the Organization of American States that it would fully respect human rights. The Sandinistas have systematically violated this pledge, trampling on the rights of the Nicaraguan people as they pushed aside the democratic members of the original revolutionary coalition and worked to consolidate their Marxist-Leninist regime. Sandinista “mass organizations” serve as an intelligence network and provide a mechanism for social control. The record shows that Sandinista violation of human rights is a primary cause of the growing resistance to their regime, not a result. Whereas Nicaragua was united in 1979, the Sandinistas’ betrayal of the revolution has divided the nation. The Sandinistas have attempted to crush groups that oppose their Marxist-Leninist system, including democratic parties, the private sector, independent labor confederations, and even the church. They have suppressed the free press, directly controlling the television system, most radio stations, and both of the country’s newspapers. Contents include the human rights commissions, instruments of repressions, integrity of the person, basic civil rights, basic political rights, and the Indians and Creoles of the Atlantic Coast.