La Pasionara Brigade - Reunion


	1856 In the 1850's the US start to take a greater in Nicaragua which is seen, before the Panama Canal, as the possible location for an easy crossing of Central America. In 1856 an American Adventurer named William Walker briefly became president.


	1912 With Nicaragua sliding into civil war President Taft sends a contingent of US marines. They stay, beginning two decades of direct American involvement in Nicaraguan politics. .


	1927 Through out the 1920's Nicaraguan Presidents are approved in Washington and supported in power by US troops, the Nicaraguan National Guard are also trained by the US. US bankers have a major role in controlling the Nicaraguan economy. By 1927 resentment of US imperialism has escalated to the point where 2000 US marines are sent to support an American-approved presidential candidate.

1934

One of those leading the resistance is General C�sar Augusto Sandino. When opposition leader Juan Bautista Sacasa comes to a compromise arrangement with the US Sandino refuses to lay down his arms. Instead he launches a guerrilla campaign from the mountains in the North.

Sandino and his men lay down their arms when US troops finally leave in 1933. In February 1934 Sandino and several of his aides dine with President Sacasa. As they leave after dinner they are gunned down by members of the National Guard. The assassination has been ordered National Guard commander, Anastasio Somoza.

1937

President Sacasa soon fell victim to Somoza's ambition and was removed from office. After some constitutional niceties Somoza's formal induction as president took place 1 January 1937 the Somza family would rule Nicaragua for the next four decades. They do so with economic and political support from the USA and by the end of their, brutal and corrupt period in power it is calculated that the family has amassed a fortune in the region of $1000 million.

Somoza was assassinated in 1956 and the presidency is assumed by his elder son, Luis Somoza Debayle who dies in 1967. His younger brother Anastasio Somoza Debayle takes over.


	1978 Sandinista guerrillas make a surprise attack on the National Palace in Managua, taking more than 1000 people hostage. Their demand for the release of fifty-nine political prisoners is granted and they march out of the city to the cheering crowds .


	1979 Somoza, is put under pressure to resign, even the Carter administration in the US is reluctant to support him, he refuses to do go. Violent civil war follows, in June 1979 Sandinista troops start to capture town after town throughout Nicaragua. In July Somoza flees to Miami. A year later he is assassinated in Paraguay.

1980

The Sandinistas take power in a country ravaged by the civil war. It is calculated that some 30,000 have died in the fighting and that half a million are homeless. The defeated National Guard who escaped over the border into Honduras to prepare a counter attack they become known as the Contras.

Important industrial and financial enterprises are nationalized (including anything once owned by the Somoza clan), but 50% of the economy remains in private hands. The Sandaistas also undertake a, UNESCO acclaimed, literacy crusade in 1980.

1984

CIA efforts to cripple Nicaraguan infrastructure include covert attacks on bridges and fuel depots. In 1984 they even arrange for mines to be laid in Nicaraguan harbours.

Congress does however pass The Boland amendment, in 1984, which bans any further provision of military aid to the Contras.

Meanwhile in Nicaragua elections are held and Daniel Ortega, the Sandanista presedential candidate, wins 67% of the vote. International observers pronounce the election as free and fair but the US denounces it as fraudulent.


	1985 The Reagan administration declares that war torn, poverty stricken Nicaragua poses a threat to the national security of the US and uses this as a justification for imposing a trade embargo.


	1986 The World Court rules that the US actions Nicaragua, including the mining of poert is in violation of international law and orders the US to pay reparations. The US refuses to accept the jurisdiction of the Court or to pay the estimated �12 billion damage to the country's infrastructure.

1987

The presidents of the five Central American countries come together to sign the Contadora peace agreement. This leads to the beginning of negotiations between the Sandinistas and the contra.

This was also the year that La Passionara Brigade visited Nicaragua.


	1992 The US temporarily suspends aid to Nicaragua in a dispute over the return of property to former owners.


	1998 The Liberal Alliance government is implicated in a corruption scandal involving a plane used for the transport of cocaine.


	1999 A controversial pact is signed between the FSLN and the Constitutional Liberal Party (PLC) to reform state institutions and the electoral law.


	2000 The Sandinistas make considerable gains in urban areas where they win the main towns in 11 of the 17 departments including Managua. However, the PLC (Constitutionalist Liberal Party) secures overwhelming victories in rural areas.

2001

Under President Bush some of the more nasty characters from the 1980's make a come back. Otto Reich who ran a government office engaged in covert propaganda activities to undermine the Sandinista government becomes assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, John Negroponte who was US ambassador to Honduras is appointed US ambassador to the UN and Convicted Iran-contra criminal Elliot Abrams is appointed National Security Council's senior director for democracy, human rights! .

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