Sandinistas

The Sandinistas are a political party in Nicaragua founded in the early 1960s. The party rose to prominence in 1979 after overthrowing the National Guard party ruled by Luis Somoza Delbaye.iExplore: Nicaragua History Destabilized by the United States in its efforts to shut down Communist governments, the Sandinistas lost the presidency in 1990.iExplore: http://www.iexplore.com/dmap/Nicaragua/History Nicaragua History] In 2006, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega once again resumed the presidency of Nicaragua under the new Sandinista Renovation Movement.Infoplease: Sandinistas

1. Full name: Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN)
2. Founded: 1961
3. Political Philosophy: Socialism
4. Leader: Daniel Ortega
5. Preceeded by: Violetta ChamorroHow Stuff Works: History of Nicaragua: The Sandinista Regime and After
6. Fought the Contras revolutionary group in the late 1980sThe New York Times: Sandinistas Call Off Contra Meeting (March 9, 1988)
7. Split into two parties, the FSLN and Sandinista Renovation MovementInfoplease: Sandinistas

• "Without the United States, there simply would not have been an armed uprising in our country." — Daniel Ortega

• "My purpose in fighting the Sandinista Front at that time was not to wage war against them but to convey to the Sandinista government the message that the peasants and many other Nicaraguans did not agree with [the introduction of] new things which were alien to the way of life that we knew, and that if what they were trying to do was to implant a totalitarian communist regime, well, we weren't going to agree to that. And that's how we began the struggle." — Oscar Manuel Solbavarro, on why he joined the Contras against the SandinistasCNN: Interviews: Oscar Solbavarro