The
Sandinista National Liberation Front (
Spanish:
Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional) is a
Nicaraguan political party founded on the broad
leftist principles of the
popular front. It led a revolution that in 1979 overthrew the
Somoza political dynasty. Following their seizure of power, the Sandinistas ruled
Nicaragua for roughly 11 years from 1979 to 1990, during which time they established
democratic elections[1] and a national constitution, among other sweeping reforms. Their organization is generally referred to by the initials
FSLN and its members are called, in both English and Spanish,
Sandinistas. Opposition to the
Somoza government was inspired by what Sandinistas termed the
anti-imperialist struggle of
Augusto C. Sandino during the thirties, decades prior to the "Nicaraguan Revolution".
a short history of Nicaragua which is a very short one but gives you an idea of what the country has gone through! We arrived in Leon after a very long bus ride from Honduras. Leon is a town in which the sandinista revolution is celebrated. The town is very old with the oldest church in Central America, I said a prayer for all us dodgy catholics! We then went on down to Granada on the shores of lake Nicaragua, that sounds really easy! We used a road that in places had been washed away so it become a dirt track the dust was horrific, the driver was very good. I was pleased he actually carried a gun under the seat because the road was very dangerous. The locals had placed ropes across the road to act like a gate so we would have to pay a fee to cross! He just drove through. We had to avoid pigs, cows, horses, people, other cars and of course the scary locals! It took about 4 hours so the arrival into Granada was wonderful.
It is very much like a spanish town and very hot with lots of thunder and lightening ! very scary as I was in the swimming pool at the time. We met John the street artist who sang us a song about the freedom of women in Nicaragua using all our names.
We then went to the island of Imetepe on the lake of Nicaragua which is really two volcanos added together. I have a great tan now! we swam in the lake which is very odd as it had great waves. we then headed for Costa Rica which of course is another story!
