Nicaragua Libre

Mik spent time documenting various rallies with political parties, including the Sandinistas, in Nicaragua during the run up to the polls on the 25th February 1990.

He also captured a slice of everyday life for the Nicaraguans, focussing on the true reality of Nicaragua after the 1979 Revolution.

Text/Abstract from Mik's Side Gallery Exhibition - Newcastle Upon Tyne - July 1990

'Throughout Nicaragua's history the country has been subjected to foreign control, the Sandinistas popular resistance to the Somoza regime, forged a new sense of national identity which had been denied by foreign domination. During the years which have followed the 'triumph' over Somoza, the Sandinista's have stuck to their own brand of Socialism: the principle of government for the poor rather than the privileged, and by the people rather than a ruling class.

The true reality of Nicaragua after the 1979 Revolution has been that of a poor country whose attempts to build a better future had been blocked by economic sanctions, internal destabilisation from outsiders and the crippling effects of a counter-revolutionary (Contra) war financed by the United States of America.

It is with this background that Nicaraguans went to the polls on the 25th February 1990. The main opposition to the ruling Sandanista government, U.N.O. (United Opposition Party) was made up of fourteen separate political parties and included groups as diverse as: The Independant Liberal Party, The National Conservative Party, The Nicaraguan Socialist party and the Communist Party of Nicaragua. The only common link between this unlikely coalition was atotal dislike of the Sandanista's and the willingness to fill their coffers with US Dollars.

COSEP an American backed right wing business organisation had been heavily involved with the U.N.O. election campaign and actively promoted a U.S. financed strategy entitled 'The Blue & White Plan for National Salvation'. The plan which was firmly supported by 'Le Prensa' the national newspaper edited by Violetta Chamorro the U.N.O. presidential candidate, did not recognise the 1987 Nicaraguan Constitution and called for the disbanding of the Niacaraguan Armed Forces, the re-privatisation of the economy and a complete reversal of the Agrarian Reforms, to give land which had been given to 'campasinos' back to the big landowners. Their plans were denounced as a complete return to 'Somocismo'.

The election slogans during the campaign were simple and to the point, the Sandanista's stated "Things Will Get Better" U.N.O. " Things Will Change" - How much better and how much change would remain to be seen in future years.