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By: Ward Udinski and Tristan Kowalski

Nicaragua. By: Ward Udinski and Tristan Kowalski. Before the Revolution. Somoza family dictatorship in power for 43 years Funded and armed by U.S. Anastasio Somoza Debayle was last dictator in family He used the lower class to support the wealthy people in Nicaragua

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By: Ward Udinski and Tristan Kowalski

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  1. Nicaragua By: Ward Udinski and Tristan Kowalski

  2. Before the Revolution • Somoza family dictatorship in power for 43 years • Funded and armed by U.S. • Anastasio Somoza Debayle was last dictator in family • He used the lower class to support the wealthy people in Nicaragua • Revolutionaries rebelled calling themselves Sandinistas - named after Augusto Sandinos legacy • Sandino opposed U.S. intervention since 1927 with guerilla warfare until his assassination

  3. Video Clip Sandinista Revolution

  4. FSLN Revolution Results

  5. Political Changes • Anastasio Somoza forced to leave the country and flees to Miami • Unstable government • Sharp decline in U.S. support - fear of communism • Free elections offered • Goal of socialism and nonaligned foreign policy not achieved - instead became gateway for communism in Latin America (talks w/Iran)

  6. Economic Changes • Workers supposedly guaranteed better wages • Elite landowning properties were nationalized to make profit • Tried to mimic command economy of Cuba and USSR- gov’t regulation • Huge inflation led to spiraling economy • Remained a poor state - had the resources but no international support - especially from U.S. • Half of country continues to live on less than $2/day

  7. Social Changes • Peasants benefit from land reforms • Workers are able to form unions and are guaranteed conditions in the workplace • Inspired many revolutionaries throughout Latin America • Sense of unity arises BUT • 76% of adults are illiterate today, contributing to a dwindling economy and foreign dependence

  8. U.S. and the Contras • Reagan becomes president in 1980 and promises to destroy the FSLN - fear of communism • Supported and trained group of counterrevolutionaries known as the contras • Reagan hoped the Contras could undermine revolutions also happening in El Salvador and Guatemala

  9. Contras plans for destruction • Attempt to destroy the Nicaraguan economy • Scare innocent citizens with landmines, kidnapping, rape, torture and murder • 40,000 people are killed by 1990 forcing 62.5% of the government budget to be spent on defense • When Reagan hears of gruesome destruction, he bans all further aid to the contras

  10. Results of Revolution • Workers wages eventually drop due to bad economy • Worker unions lose ability to strike and have no power • Nicaragua is poorest nation in South America • FSLN loses power to contras but regains status when Daniel Ortega is named president again in 2007

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