Nicaragua: Gestures of Civility

For the first time since the Marxist-led Sandinista government came to power in 1979, prisoners were exchanged with one of the three major guerrilla groups that oppose the regime. In a village on Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast, Misurasata, an armed resistance movement of Miskito Indians, freed two Sandinistas and their bodyguard, who had been captured by the Miskitos in September. The next day, the Sandinistas released three Miskitos held as subversives. Said Brooklyn Rivera, a Misurasata leader who helped arrange the exchange: “The Sandinistas have learned that we are not counterrevolutionaries. Rather, we are Indians fighting for the just rights of our people, for land rights and autonomy.”

MeanwHile, the 10,000-member Nicaraguan Democratic Force, largest of the anti-Sandinista groups, reportedly declared a twelve-hour cease-fire for Nicaragua’s Nov. 4 election. The move was described as a gesture of sympathy for Nicaraguan voters. “Our highest concern is to defend the civilian population,” said Frank Arana, an F.D.N. spokesman. “We know that out of terror, many will be required to cast ballots in the electoral farce.”