Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Polls & Peace
By the late 1980s the Nicaraguan economy was again desperate. Civil war, the US trade
embargo and the inefficiencies of a centralized economy had produced hyperinflation, fall-
ing production and rising unemployment. As it became clear that the US Congress was pre-
paring to grant the Contras further aid, Daniel Ortega called elections that he expected
would give the Sandinistas a popular mandate to govern.
The FSLN, however, underestimated the disillusionment and fatigue of the Nicaraguan
people. Economic problems had eclipsed the dramatic accomplishments of the Sandinistas'
early years: redistributing Somoza lands to small farming cooperatives, reducing illiteracy
from 50% to 13%, eliminating polio through a massive immunization program and redu-
cing the rate of infant mortality by a third.
The Unión Nacional Opositora (UNO), a broad coalition of 14 political parties opposing
the Sandinistas, was formed in 1989. UNO presidential candidate Violeta Barrios de
Chamorro had the backing and financing of the USA, which had promised to lift the em-
bargo and give hundreds of millions of dollars in economic aid to Nicaragua if UNO won.
The UNO took the elections of February 25, 1990, gaining 55% of the presidential votes
and 51 of the 110 seats in the National Assembly, compared with the FSLN's 39. Ortega
had plenty of grounds for complaint, but in the end he went quietly, avoiding further con-
flict.
Hyperinflation played havoc with Nicaragua's currency during the war. Immediately prior to
Somoza's fall, one US dollar would buy you 10 córdobas but it eventually peaked at 3.2 mil-
lion to the dollar. The Sandinistas were unable to print money fast enough and resorted to
stamping existing bills with new values.
