ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the management of Nicaragua's commanding heights by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), with emphasis on the critical agrarian sector. More than two thousand agricultural estates and enterprises were confiscated, ranging from small farms to huge cattle ranches to sugar refineries and representing one-fourth of Nicaragua's land under cultivation and an even higher percentage of the means to process agricultural products. State enterprises serve as a counterpoint to the private sector; by suggesting an alternative to private management and embodying the threat of nationalization, they can pressure private entrepreneurs and managers into at least superficially meeting state demands. State enterprises provide patronage-like benefits to the local population, principally employment. The triumph of the FSLN in ousting Somoza and in subsequently consolidating power led to the strengthening of state authority and the growth of state responsibilities. Perhaps more significantly, the state extended its activity into areas previously dominated by private enterprise.
