The Revolutionary Process in Nicaragua

Abstract

The articles in this issue constitute a particularly timely addition to the sparse literature on contemporary conditions in Nicaragua. They address crucial issues having to do with the nature, context, and direction of Nicaragua's revolutionary process. U.S. economic and military aggression against Nicaragua has escalated since the Reagan administration came into office. Over the last four years, the U.S. government has carried out an undeclared war against the revolutionary regime. The increasing military attacks on targets inside Nicaragua by the U.S.-backed counterrevolutionary forces based in neighboring Honduras and Costa Rica have resulted in a large number of casualties-close to 8000 civilians and soldiers. Included in this total have been many teachers, health workers, local officials, and government technicians involved in carrying out social reforms aimed at improving the living conditions of the general population. In addition, these attacks have destroyed or damaged a significant portion of the country's economic infrastructure of bridges, roads, ports, storage facilities for oil and water, power lines, and the like. Moreover, the Reagan administration has waged a relentless campaign of economic aggression aimed at destabilizing Nicaragua's economy through cutting it off from sources of essential imports, loans, and credits. In view of these conditions, it is remarkable that the revolutionary regime has undertaken the institutionalization of a system of representative