On July 21 a force of between 150 and 300 men, made up mostly of discharged members of the Sandinista Popular Army (EPS), but also including some former contras, seized the northern Nicaraguan city of Estelí.
The group, which calls itself the Workers and Farmers Revolutionary Front (FROC) and is led by former EPS major Victor Manuel Gallegos, took over two small police stations, the mayor's office and other government buildings in Estelí, a city of 140,000.
Several banks were looted, and the hospital was occupied. The rebels kidnapped the Nicaraguan ambassador to Honduras, Noel Rivas, along with his wife, son and driver. The Estelí police chief was also taken hostage. All hostages were later released unharmed.
The rebels' demands of the government included financing for small and medium-sized industry and farmers without any political restrictions, debt forgiveness, legalisation of land, lots and houses distributed under the Sandinista government, and a range of social and economic reforms. The rebels asked for amnesty and safe conduct for the members of the FROC and their "military prisoners" in return for leaving the town peacefully.
Although the FROC was willing to negotiate an end to the takeover, the government sent in army troops to dislodge the men, with support from MiG-17 helicopters and BRT tanks, as well as at least two Katiuskas Soviet-made multiple rocket launchers. Although one source said 6000 troops were sent in, most sources say 1000, still an excessive number to dislodge between 100 and 300 men who were willing to negotiate.
The combat, which lasted about 25 hours, left 45 dead and 98 wounded, according to the Nicaragua Network Hotline. The battle was described as the worst violence in Nicaragua since the contra war ended in June 1990.
In the end, however, it was the Sandinista deputies to the National Assembly and community leaders, not the
army, who convinced the rebels to leave the town.
Somewhere between 45 and 59 rebels turned themselves in to the non-government human rights commission, cheered by hundreds of Estelí citizens. The remainder went off into the mountains. It was rumoured that the rebels who turned themselves in and those who turn themselves in soon will receive amnesty.
Estelí residents asked why so much force was needed to displace a group who "were asking only for justice, a little land and resources to be able to work, in order to survive and to feed their children and parents". One resident said: "There were neither winners nor losers here, because those who confronted each other were part of the same family of Sandinista brothers [and sisters]... What happened here should make everybody stop and think."
Although residents think Gallegos was wrong in his actions, they sympathise with his motives. One of the rebels, Oscar Zeledon, explained: "We had no intention of fighting with the army, since what we wanted was only that President Violeta Chamorro's government fulfil the promises it has made many times over".
One Estelí resident described the EPS actions against the rebels as reminiscent of National Guard attacks during the time of the Somoza dictatorship.
The National Directorate of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) responded to the attack by condemning the rebels but also demanding that the government do something about the "just demands of the population harassed by hunger and unemployment".
Right-wing elements in Nicaragua connected the rebels' seizure of Estelí directly with comments, which they described as "threats", made by former president Daniel Ortega on July 19, at the celebration of the 14th anniversary of the triumph of the Sandinista revolution.
Army head General Humberto Ortega expressed concern that the incident would be used by some sectors in the US to cut aid to Nicaragua.
[From Nicaragua Network (New York) via Pegasus.]