NICARAGUA: 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF SANDINISTA REVOLUTION

(20 Jul 1999) Spanish/Nat
Thousands celebrated, on Monday, the twentieth anniversary of Nicaragua's Sandinista revolution that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza.
The former President and continuing chief Sandinista, Daniel Ortega, addressed a rally in central Managua while smaller scale celebrations took place nearby with the breakaway Sandinista Renewal Movement.
The party has been battered by internal differences but still commands a wide bed of support in a country still struggling to return to peace.
It has been a day of celebration for supporters of the Sandinista National Liberation Front.
Marches, speeches and rallies were staged throughout the country on this, the twentieth anniversary of the revolution that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza.
Secretary General of the Sandinista National Liberation Front Daniel Ortega spoke to hundreds of supporters in a rally held in the capital Managua.
It was he who, on July 19, 1979, led a coup which brought down nearly five decades of Somoza family rule and replaced it with over ten years of Marxist inspired government.
The Sandinista Party continues to be Nicaragua's most powerful opposition movement and the anniversary is a source of pride for Sandinistas and non-Sandinistas who joined forces to oust the Somoza family.
Ortega, who has toured numerous villages as part of the anniversary celebrations this week, warned his party would do the same again if necessary.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Thanks to the revolution. Thanks to the revolution we don't have a Somozista dictatorship kicking the people around, firing bullets at them because if they tried to kick us around, shoot at us and boot out the FMLN we would again take up arms just as we did 20 years ago to overthrow the Somozistas."
SUPER CAPTION: Daniel Ortega
He also warned of right wing elements attempting to agitate where Sandinistas are often found within the ranks.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"All this campaign waged against the army and all they have done against the police is not a step in the right direction. What they are doing is sowing winds. And he who sows a wind reaps stormy weather."
SUPER CAPTION: Daniel Ortega
Ortega has come under fire recently from former Sandinista Vice-President, Doctor Sergio Ramirez Mercado, who founded the Sandinista Renewal Movement in 1995 with prominent intellectuals.
The move split the party.
In a recently published book, 'A Dios Muchachos', Mercado criticises the Sandinista Revolution, including Ortega's leadership.
Mercado served as Ortega's Vice-President throughout the 1980's.
The Renewal Movement, set up as a more moderate alternative to the main party, also held a rally in the capital.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
Well, I think that we are a party without a great deal of resources to get people together. We were able to find a few buses and the people who here today came in these buses. We are not a party of millionaires or of huge companies, nor do we have a huge bed of support in order to be bigger. I am sure that if we had more resources, more people from all over Nicaragua would have come.
SUPER CAPTION: Sergio Ramirez Mercado
In 1990 Daniel Ortega lost the presidency to Violeta Chamorro.
But he has remained a leading figure in Nicaraguan politics and is a harsh critic of the leadership of President Arnoldo Aleman.
And while many Nicaraguans continue to live in poverty and lack many basic securities, his fiery rhetoric against Aleman will keep the memory of civil war alive.

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