| Led by FSLN leader DANIEL ORTEGA SAAVEDRA (b. 1945), the government engaged in a series of important economic and social reforms. During the fall of 1979, Sandinista Defense Committees tackled the damage done by nearly a decade of war and the 1972 earthquake. In 1980–81, a literacy crusade swept through the countryside, doubling the literacy rate. The Sandinistas nationalized the Somoza holdings, creating state enterprises and a land base for agrarian reform, which eventually placed one-third of the arable land in the public sector. Many large landowners remained but faced new labor and commercial regulations. The Luisa Amanda Espinosa Association of Nicaraguan Women (AMNLAE), an FSLN affiliate, also pushed through numerous initiatives for women. The government introduced social welfare programs, bringing medical care to almost 80 percent of the population. The FSLN sought to consolidate its hold on the state, putting the military under Sandinista control and centralizing authority in the FSLN Directorate. | 1 |
