Unfinished Revolution Daniel Ortega and Nicaragua's Struggle for Liberation

by Morris, Kenneth E.

• ISBN13: 9781556528088
• ISBN10: 1556528086
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-06-24
• Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books

Summary

Together with his brother Humberto, Daniel Ortega Saavedra masterminded the only victorious Latin American revolution since Fidel Castro's in Cuba. Following the triumphant 1979 Nicaraguan revolution, Ortega was named coordinator of the governing junta, and then in 1984 was elected president by a landslide in the country's first free presidential election. The future was full of promise. Yet the United States was soon training, equipping, and financing a counterrevolutionary force inside Nicaragua while sabotaging its crippled economy. The result was a decade-long civil war. By 1990, Nicaraguans dutifully voted Ortega out and the preferred candidate of the United States in. And Nicaraguans grew poorer and sicker. Then, in 2006, Daniel Ortega was reelected president. He was still defiantly left-wing and deeply committed to reclaiming the lost promise of the Revolution. Only time will tell if he succeeds, but he has positioned himself as an ally of Castro and Hugo Chavez, while life for many Nicaraguans is finally improving. Unfinished Revolution is the first full-length biography of Daniel Ortega in any language. Drawing from a wealth of untapped sources, it tells the story of Nicaragua's continuing struggle for liberation through the prism of the Revolution's most emblematic yet enigmatic hero.

Author Biography

Kenneth E. Morris is the author of two previous political biographies: Jimmy Carter, American Moralist and Bonhoeffer’s Ethic of Discipleship. He has taught at a number of colleges and universities.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. xi
The Making of a Revolutionary	p. 1
The Impress of the Past	p. 3
Don Daniel's Son	p. 17
Becoming a Sandinista	p. 26
A Few More Murderers Among Murderers	p. 39
Prison	p. 46
The FSLN Languishes	p. 57
Two Seismic Events	p. 65
The Battle Within and Without	p. 71
Making the Revolution	p. 73
Private Demons	p. 86
Managing the Popular Insurrection	p. 95
Governing an Embattled Republic	p. 113
Governing Tensions	p. 117
The Stampede of the Buffaloes	p. 131
Ronald Reagan's Dark Hobby	p. 137
EI Presidente	p. 149
The Indirect Invasion	p. 159
Governing from Below	p. 167
The Challenge of the Chamorro Administration	p. 169
The 1996 Election	p. 181
EI Pacto	p. 186
Political Values	p. 192
Two Final Pacts	p. 197
Toward a Dynasty of the Left	p. 201
Governing from Above	p. 207
The 2008 Elections	p. 218
Ideologies and Actions	p. 227
The Challenge to Daniel Ortega's Nicaragua	p. 234
Notes	p. 247
Selected Bibliography	p. 269
Index	p. 273
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