Nicaragua, socialism and Sandanistas

[glevy at acnet.pratt.edu]

The Sandinistas, like the ANC is today, were a heterogeneous organization
with many different factions and political perspectives.  Ortega, in my
view, was a centrist who attempted to accommodate the different factions
of his own party.

It is true that many Sandanista forces favored socialism (especially
those forces who were aligned with Castroism).  But, the Nicaraguan
government, under Sandanista leadership, never argued that they wanted to
build socialism in Nicaragua.  The Nicaraguan government under Ortega et.
al. consistently said that they were in favor of maintaining a market
economy but with significant reforms and nondependent development.  Their
economic vision and policies could be described as left Keynesian and
Social Democratic.

Jerry


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