Somoza, Sandinistas, and the Ever-Changing Government of Nicaragua

The three decades that passed between 1970 and the new millennium represented a period of significant change in Nicaragua. At the center of this transformation lay the government and its constant turnovers in leadership. As a result of these vicissitudes, a considerable modification in general attitude is seen as well. Gioconda Belli’s life has been nothing short of a whirlwind, but appropriately, the country to which she has dedicated all of her efforts has also demonstrated a tumultuous history in the past century. Through the accounts of this period in Belli’s memoirs, The Country Under my Skin, the details of these decades, the transformation of the government, and subsequently the military of Nicaragua are described parallels to her life.

Nicaragua went through three distinct stages during this time period. The first stage was a severe sense of uncertainty resulting from the massacre that occurred upon the Conservative Party’s efforts to overthrow the Somoza dynasty. This stage also encompassed feelings of desperation, as the general public felt that the Sandinistas were the �only chance for Nicaragua’ (Belli, 23) and the Sandinistas followed their leaders blindly in order to achieve what they believed could rescue their country from Somoza’s chokehold. The subsequent stage was activity. Nicaraguans, mainly the Sandinistas as they are the central group represented in Belli’s