Nicaragua Caught Between Extremes

By Jill Smolowe

This time the Sandinistas got what they wanted. After 10 days of paralyzing and often violent labor strife, the government of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro capitulated to the demands of pro-Sandinista government employees. Despite Chamorro's effort to hold the line on government spending, the National Workers' Front was granted a 43% wage hike for July and was promised another unspecified increase next month. The 800 public servants fired since Chamorro's inauguration on April 25 were granted compensation. And the government suspended plans to return to private ownership properties confiscated during the 10 years of Sandinista rule. With those concessions, virtually every prong of Chamorro's campaign to decentralize and restructure Nicaragua's bankrupt economy has been blunted.

If the immediate issues were economic, the underlying agenda was intensely political. Chamorro's unenviable challenge is to convince a hungry, impoverished population that deepening discomfort in the short term is a necessary evil for long-term economic recovery. The problem is that every time Chamorro asks Nicaraguans to make a sacrifice, she hands the Sandinistas a powerful issue around which to rally political support. Former President Daniel Ortega Saavedra's postelection threat last February to "rule from below" is proving effective. Last week's strike was the second by public servants since Chamorro took office and the second that ended in concessions. Chamorro is fast learning that while she holds the power to act, the Sandinistas maintain the power to thwart her actions.

The recent unrest began on July 2, with a peaceful walkout of government employees that gradually shut down state-run banks, closed the national airport and halted public transportation. When talks to end the work stoppage failed and the government pronounced the strike illegal, union leaders vowed to step up the pressure. That threat brought extremists from both sides into the streets, resulting in the most violent political clashes in the capital since the 1979 insurrection that gave the Sandinistas power.

As both Chamorro and Ortega appealed for calm, hotheaded civilians armed with rocks, Molotov cocktails and AK-47 rifles erected cobblestone barricades, ignited piles of tires and engaged in sporadic gunfire. From some trenches flew the red-and-black Sandinista flag, from others Nicaragua's blue-and-white flag. At least four civilians died and scores were wounded. Fretted a local businessman: "This must be how Beirut began."

With Nicaragua on the brink of chaos, Chamorro offered last Wednesday to reopen talks with the unions and Sandinista leaders. By the next morning, agreement was reached and calm restored. Union leaders pointed triumphantly to the long list of concessions. Chamorro's supporters hailed as a victory the army's decision to obey orders and not back the strikers. They cited with particular pride a public pledge of loyalty made by Daniel's brother, General Humberto Ortega, who heads the armed forces.

The Sandinistas seemed disinclined to push their protest as far as full- scale revolt. Nevertheless, Chamorro acted wisely to bring a swift halt to the unrest. As the rapid acceleration of violence showed, militants of all political stripes are eager to use any pretext to bash former foes. At the height of last week's confusion, her staunchest conservative critic, Vice President Virgilio Godoy, called for the formation of "Brigades of National Salvation," apparently hoping to deputize the armed groups that clashed with strikers. Not surprisingly, Chamorro's prudence was denounced by Godoy and other conservatives within her 14-party alliance who charge that the President has isolated herself politically and is proceeding with her reforms too slowly while conceding too much to the Sandinistas.

Since day one, the watchword of the Chamorro presidency has been reconciliation, and in that she has enjoyed a measure of success. In April she prodded the Sandinistas and U.S.-backed contras to sign a permanent cease- fire, which was followed two months later by the demobilization of the rebel forces, ending Nicaragua's 10-year civil war. But other aspects of reconciliation continue to elude her. She has not harmonized the competing interests of her supporters and detractors or brought Nicaraguans to accept the bitter pill of economic retrenchment. Perhaps most difficult of all, she has not persuaded extremists of either right or left to take the path of moderation, the only path that can pull Nicaragua out of its perennial misery.

With reporting by Tim Coone/Managua and Andrea Dabrowski/Mexico City