A national election is scheduled in Nicaragua in November 1996 (Rohter A7). This research examines the political environment in Nicaragua in this period of the run-up to the election.
The last general election in Nicaragua was held in 1990, when on 25 February a so-called business-oriented, non liberal government headed by Violeta Chamoro was elected (Mulligan 32). Political participation in Nicaragua on the part of those who oppose the government is most often violent, because the government in power attempts to insure that opponents cannot be victorious through the electoral process. Exceptions to that case occurred in Nicaragua in both 1984 and 1990, where the Sandinistas, the government in power on each occasion, conducted relatively free elections, both of which were recognized as such by the governments of all major western countries other than the United States.
The United States did not recognize the 1984 election as a free election because the Sandinistas won, and in late-1989 and early-1990 in the weeks leading up to the election when the Bush Administration expected the Sandinistas to win, Secretary of State Baker declared that the United States reserved the right to reject the results of the election on the grounds that they were not fair if Chamoro did not win (Chamoro A4). With the exception of countries such as Panama and Cuba, where the United States claims leasing rights, and countries such as Germany and Japan, where American troop stationing is covered by mutual defense treaties, American armed forces have spent more time in Nicaragua than in any other country. When worldwide public opinion restrained the Reagan Administration from sending American troops in to overthrow the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, the Contras were formed, armed, trained, funded, and directed by the United States government. When the Contras proved to be abject failures, both the Reagan and the Bush Administrations conducted...