Sandinista revolutionary government (Nicaragua, first period)

Doctrine — stated goals and content

Revolutionary mixed-economy programme following the July 1979 overthrow of Somoza. Core content: expropriation of Somoza-family holdings and conversion into the Area of Public Property (APP), comprising roughly a quarter to a third of GDP; 1981 and 1986 agrarian-reform laws that transferred land to cooperatives and individual peasants; nationalisation of the banking system, foreign trade, and insurance; literacy and health campaigns; price controls on basic consumption goods; and a managed córdoba with progressively wider multiple exchange rates. The 1987 Constitution formalised a mixed economy with recognised private, cooperative, and state sectors. External environment was dominated by the US-backed Contra war from 1981, the 1985 US trade embargo, and the withdrawal of US and multilateral financing. Defence spending rose above 20% of GDP; the fiscal deficit was monetised and inflation accelerated to hyperinflation levels peaking above 13,000% in 1988. The 1988 February and June stabilisation packages cut the deficit sharply but could not contain inflation in the Contra-war context. The movement ended electorally in February 1990 with the UNO victory under Violeta Chamorro. Framework records both the redistributive and social-service achievements (literacy, health-post expansion, land redistribution) and the macroeconomic collapse attributable to the combined effect of war, embargo, and fiscal dominance.