ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the background to the Contra war that tried to resist the FSLN after their 1979 victory. Rather than focusing on the entire Contra resistance, we look specifically at the indigenous communities on the Atlantic Coast who fought against the Sandinistas not to restore the old regime, but to protect their communities from a perceived threat to their existence. In this chapter we address the complex imagery and relationships indigenous groups and Mestizos from the Pacific Coast held of each other and how these images contributed to the violence that ensued after the revolution. The chapter brings forth data based on interviews with indigenous community leaders, including women, as well as data from the historical record. We explain why the people of the Atlantic Coast rebelled and what motivated women to participate, including the ideological rigidity with which Sandinistas implemented their Marxist ideology and the religious and cultural differences that existed among these groups.
