Nicaragua: The Inner Struggle

The first part of my report from Nicaragua in the Spring 1986 Dissent ended with a promise that I would deal with some of the countervailing forces that serve to moderate the centralizing tendencies within Nicaragua—what they are, and to what extent they are significant. I have chosen to examine this concatenation of forces with regard to one particular issue—the State of Emergency, imposed in October 1985, and still in force. An extremely controversial measure, the decree promulgating the State of Emergency, and its specific provisions, have been hotly debated within and outside of Nicaragua. I have chosen the State of Emergency as the lens through which to examine the Nicaraguan situation because of its sweeping nature, and ...