A Compilation of Various Historians Views on Nicaragua's Miskitu Caribbean Coast. Accepted by Directors of the RCCN Native to Nicaragua & Aware of Firsthand Knowledge that would Accredit the Information Below:

Breifs From: 'Autonomy and the Miskito Indian Community of Nicaragua'

  An Article By : Penelope Andrews http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AboriginalLB/1988/31.html 

A Breif History:

The Atlantic Coast comprises half the land mass of Nicaragua. Tensions between the country's two main regions (the Pacific and Atlantic coasts) have their origins in the 17th and 18th centuries when the Miskitos allied themselves with the British to defend against incursions by the Spanish. Both parties saw the alliance as expedient: the British to protect their commercial domination of the Caribbean region; and the Miskitos sought protection from the British against the ravages of Spanish imperialism.

The British secured their position in this alliance by entrenching the position of the Miskito monarchy and for several decades a line of Miskito kings, educated in England and loyal to the British crown, served British interests on the Atlantic coast. Britain supplied the Miskitos with arms and ammunition; all the while the resistance of the indigenous peoples was channelled against Spanish colonialism in favor of British interests. At the same time the seeds of distrust and prejudice against the Pacific coast, which was to linger for several decades, was being sown.

In 1838 Nicaragua gained its independence and in 1860 the Treaty of Managua was signed between Britian and the new republic. This effectively meant that the Atlantic region came under the sovereignty of the government of Managua. The area was designated a Miskito reserve and the Miskito King retained the authority to grant land tides. In 1894 the Miskito reserve was abolished and the Atlantic coast incorporated fully into Nicaragua.

Between the late 1890's and the early 1900's, United States companies obtained permission from the Miskito king (who still had the authority to grant land titles) for the expansion of banana plantations throughout the Atlantic Coast region. This heralded the beginnings of United States economic and political involvement, which soon came to dominate not only the region, but Nicaragua itself. In fact, as an insignia to their intentions, the United States Marines invaded Nicaragua in 1912 and remained there on and off until the Somoza dynasty came to power in 1936.

Over the succeeding decades, United States companies and the Somoza families business interests plundered the region's natural resources, which involved massive quantities of gold, silver, lumber and seafood. Resistance to the pillage was met with brutality (on the part of Somoza's agents) or co-option (access to United States goods and relatively high wages) and United States cultural values were reinforced by missionaries and the intense campaign provided by the Alliance for Progress in the 1960's and 1970's.

By the time the Sandinista government came to power in 1979, the Atlantic Coast legacy was one of abandonment and dire deprivation. The standard of living of the majority of the inhabitants was miserable, there was hardly an infrastructure and in fact the indigenous population had no concept of, and in fact, no faith in the central government in Managua These decades of neglect had a dual consequence: -firstly, because they were so isolated, the coastal peoples were able to develop their own traditions, customs, language, religious and cultural patterns which were distinct from those developed on the Pacific Coast. Secondly, there developed a justifiable mistrust for the authorities in Managua, which was to prove problematic for the Sandinista government when they attempted to introduce their national agenda for development on the Atlantic Coast.

In 1981, however, problems began to surface. The reasons were complex and varied, but it appears that a fundamental source of the conflict was the perceived insensitivity of the central government towards the indigenous peoples. When Sandinista representatives arrived on the Atlantic Coast they assumed the social and economic policies devised in Managua could apply to the Atlantic Coast. In their enthusiasm and zeal to implement these policies, they ignored the traditions and indeed the complex history of the region. Their narrow focus on redressing economic and social problems came to a clash with a growing sense of ethnic identity among the Miskito community, an ethnic identity which in fact burgeoned during the days of the struggle for liberation led by the Sandinistas. This conflict was immediately utilised by indigenous leaders, who, playing on traditional animosity between the country's two coasts, promoted a separatist movement (which the Reagan administration found expedient to encourage and support).

To certain sections of the Miskito leadership, however, this was not sufficient and in 1981 armed Miskito and other indigenous groups, with the help of the C.I.A. carried out a series of attacks against communities and government posts on the Honduran borders. The government responded with the evacuation of several communities; these measures were criticised strongly in anti-Sandinista quarters and used substantially in Washington's propaganda campaign against the Sandinsta government. The armed confrontation continued for a few years.

During 1984 negotiations began between the indigenous people of the Atlantic coast and the central government. These negotiations revolved not only around solving the armed conflict, but initiatives were also set in motion for the discussion of regional autonomy for the region. A general amnesty was declared shortly thereafter by the government whereby Miskito Indians who had joined the contra rebels could return to Nicaragua without reprisals.The autonomy project was initiated by the setting up of an Autonomy Commission which prepared a draft autonomy proposal containing, inter alia, a statement of general principles, the objectives of regional autonomy and a proposal for the structure, functions and organisation of the autonomous regional government.

Consultation on the autonomy proposal begin in earnest in 1985 and in 1986 a multi-ethnic assembly was held with representatives of all ethnic groups and communities of the Atlantic Coast. At that assembly consensus was sought on crucial issues such as the borders of the autonomous region, the use of natural resources and the structure and electoral system of the regional government. Thereafter the Autonomy Commission set to work on the draft of the Autonomy Law to be ratified in a later multi-ethnic assembly in 1987, and further debate and ratification by the National Assembly. The Autonomy Law was passed in 1987.