Sandinista Human Rights.

[Andy Bowden]

Do any comrades have details on alleged abuses by the Sandinistas on Human Rights Abuses?

Regarding the Miskito indians and alleged extrajudicial killings, etc.

[Andy Bowden]

http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/indian/miskitos.htm

Here is an article I found about the Sandinistas and the Miskitos - was the treatment of the indians justified with the Contra war that was being fought?

[The Grey Blur]

Here is an article I found about the Sandinistas and the Miskitos - was the treatment of the indians justified with the Contra war that was being fought?
No - it only served to make the Miskitos resistant to the Sandinistas. The Sandinistas should have allied with and armed the Indians, instead of treating them as inferior and eventually allowing the CIA to use them in the way that they did

There were many factors why the Sandinistas failed, the indigenous conflict was only a small part of this

[Andy Bowden]

No - it only served to make the Miskitos resistant to the Sandinistas. The Sandinistas should have allied with and armed the Indians, instead of treating them as inferior and eventually allowing the CIA to use them in the way that they did

Hmm, true. It should be noted that the Sandinistas did eventually realise that they had been trying to enforce modernisation without taking into account the customs of the indigenous tribes.

So yes, it did provide Reagan and the Contras with a propaganda coup.

On the other hand though, it should be remembered that many indigenous leaders did work alongside the Contras. And as far as I'm concerned that can never be justified. Some of the indigenous leaders (the ones with CIA funding) actually tried to keep the war between them and the Sandinistas to go on longer :o


http://www.newint.org/issue186/wars.htm

[Janus]

The Miskitos and the other indigenous people in the highlands made up the backbone of the Contra movement. They were not funded directly and were out of the international spotlight because they were within Nicaragua itself. They received their funds from the ex-Guardia organizations that were established outside of Nicaragua.

As far as I know, there were abuses by the Sandinistas but it was mainly the policies of the Sandinistas and the treatment that the highlanders felt which caused them to join the resistance.