SUMMARY
FSLN (Frente Sandanista de Liberación Nacional: Sandinista National Liberation Front) was a leftist guerrilla movement that emerged in 1961 with the aim of overthrowing the Somoza family regime that had been controlling the Government of Nicaragua since the 1930s. It engaged in an intrastate conflict against the government until President Somoza resigned and they took control of the capital, Managua, on 19 July 1979. Following this, FSLN took over as the Government of Nicaragua.
The group was originally called the National Liberation Front but it added “Sandinista” to its name after two years to relate itself to the organized resistance against US occupation of Nicaragua as a protectorate, which had been led by Augusto César Sandino during the thirties. Consequently, its fighters became commonly referred to as “Sandinistas”. The main objectives of the FSLN were a military takeover and the establishment of “a revolutionary government based on a worker - peasant alliance.” Further, the new government would “eliminate foreign policy submission to Yankee imperialism” and “support authentic unity with the fraternal peoples of Central America”; this would be achieved by coordinating “the effects to achieve national liberation”. Between 1975 and 1976, the FSLN separated into three factions that remained committed to the same ideology but divided over their revolutionary strategy and personal differences. These three factions were: the Proletarians (Proletarios), Prolonged Popular War and the Insurrectional Faction or Third Way. Of the three factions, the Proletarians were the most dogmatic; they adhered to traditional Marxism and the indoctrination of the masses to facilitate an armed insurrection. The Prolonged Popular War faction also believed in a lengthy war of attrition carried out by the masses but were also influenced by Maoism whilst the Third Way was the most ideologically plural. It argued for an immediate insurrection rather than a longer-term campaign and played down its Marxist ideology, instead appealing to a broader audience committed against the Somoza government regime. The three factions returned together to form a loose alliance in October 1977 but this fell apart not long after. Nonetheless, the factions agreed to form another united front in December 1978, which was formally confirmed in March 1979.
The FSLN was based in Nicaragua but also had safe havens in Honduras and Costa Rica. Students initially dominated the membership of the FSLN as the movement sprang from a small group of student activists, who were discontent with the conditions in Nicaragua. Yet, as the FSLN carried out its campaign against the government, its membership broadened to include a substantial portion of the Nicaraguan peasant population. In 1978, the FSLN had 1500 troops but this rose to 5000 in 1979. FSLN membership was distributed as 20%, 35-40% and 40-45% across the Proletarians, Prolonged Popular War and Third Way factions.
The FSLN was led by a National Directorate, which consisted of nine members - three leaders from each faction. Subordinate to this were the political, international and logistics committees as well as wings for the general staff, international training schools and international brigades. During the period of factional separation, the Third Way created the ‘Group of Twelve’ as their political wing whilst the Proletarians and Prolonged Popular War factions formed a combined political entity called the ‘United People’s Movement’. Both factional political units collaborated with external political groups and after the factions reunited, the Group of Twelve and United People’s Movement also combined to form the ‘National Patriotic Front’ (FPN) with several other political groups such as Los Doce and the Nicaraguan Democratic Movement in February 1979. The FPN was a broad political alliance that the FSLN participated in whilst retaining its independence; FSLN orders continued to be issued from the National Directorate. It also had one member, as did the FPN, within a five-member provisional Nicaraguan multiparty government-in-exile established in Costa Rica on 18 June 1979 by the anti-government opposition.
José Carlos Fonseca Amador, Silvio Mayorga, and Tomás Borge Martínez had all been engaged in activism against the Somoza government regime prior to coming together to found the FSLN in 1961. Mayorga and Fonseca Amador and were killed in 1967 and 1976 respectively but Tomás Borge Martínez became one of the leaders of the Prolonged Popular War faction, alongside Henry Ruiz and Bayardo Arce. All three became members of the FSLN National Directorate after it reunited. The other National Directorate members were: Jaime Wheelock, Luis Carrion and Carlos Nunez, who were the leaders of the Proletarians faction; as well as Victor Tirado, Humberto Ortega and Daniel Ortega, who were the leaders of the Third Way faction. Daniel Ortega also served as the FSLN member in the provisional government-in-exile formed in June 1979. Hence, he effectively became leader of the government when the multiparty government-in-exile replaced the Somoza regime one month later as the FSLN had military control of the Managua. Ortega officially became President of Nicaragua after winning presidential elections in November 1984.
FSLN depended heavily upon the international support of Cuba, which shared its Marxist aspirations, to transform the FSLN resistance into a popular armed insurgency in 1978 and 1979. The country played a vital role in uniting the three FSLN factions in 1978, it sent weapons and other material to support the FSLN and it trained FSLN fighters in Cuba as well as in clandestine sites in Nicaragua and Costa Rica. There were also reports of PLO advisors being present in Nicaragua as well as war material being received from Panama and Venezuela, although these were unconfirmed.
