Carlos Fonseca Amador, Silvio Mayorga, and Tomás Borge Martínez founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1961 at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua in Managua. Approximately twenty members formed the initial core group during the 1960s.
Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigned on the 17th of July 1979 and fled to Miami on the 19th of July when the FSLN entered Managua. His Nationalist Liberal Party became practically defunct as many government functionaries chose exile.
In 1985 the Agrarian Reform distributed land representing about seventy-five percent of all land given to peasants since 1980. Daniel Ortega gave each peasant title to land and a rifle to defend it during ceremonies held throughout the countryside that year.
Five Central American heads of state signed Esquipulas II Accord on the 7th of August 1987 defining measures to promote national reconciliation end hostilities democratize hold free elections terminate assistance to irregular forces negotiate arms controls assist refugees.
In the 1990 Nicaraguan general election the UNO Coalition won power including three Liberal factions three Conservative parties three Social-Christian groups two Social democrats two Communists and one Central American Unionist. The Sandinistas lost this second election remaining out of power until 2006.