In Central America Nicaragua enjoys a reputation as the country of poets, artists and revolutionaries. Yet, a great part of its twentieth century history is marked by oppression and dictatorship. For forty years Nicaragua was ruled by the Somoza clan. This family monopolised just about every profitable sector of the economy, while abandoning the people to their fate and poverty.
1961 saw the formation of the opposition, the Sandinista national liberation movement, or FSLN. After years of struggle and bloodshed, Somoza was finally brought down. A broad federation of liberal and democratic forces had united to bring down the dictatorship.
Economic and social chaos prevailed in the country. By means of widespread campaigns against illiteracy and health promotion schemes the new government attempted to improve rural living conditions. However, this brief period of peace already came to an end in 1981. "The contras", a guerrilla group which was hostile to the government, plunged Nicaragua into a new state of civil war. The USA supported the policy of destabilisation because the Sandinistas had preferred closer relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. US-international aid was stopped and the country's economic situation deteriorated.
The Sandinistas lost the presidential elections in 1990 and handed over the power to a somewhat conservative coalition government, which managed to maintain a narrow majority in the 1996 elections. The pressure of high debt abroad is an obstacle to the country's economic development. Furthermore, in November 1998 Hurricane Mitch caused disastrous damage, which cost several thousand lives.