Forget, use, dispute Reflections about the process of the memory in Nicaragua

Abstract

In this article we reflect on the processes of memory and treatment of the past elaborated in / about Nicaragua. 1979 and 1990 mark the dates of the last two political transitions in Nicaraguan history. Despite their differences, both processes argued that the construction of the new Nicaragua meant forgetting the immediate past that preceded them, be it that of the Somoza dictatorship or the Sandinista revolution. Forgetting the past or using it instrumentally was the imperatives of pacification. In the second part of the article we present three processes of memory that question forgetting as a support for pacification. We argue that the actor (s) referred to and their ways of resisting are plural, with collective identities and statements from the margins of public discourse. Through these dialogues, it is possible to recognize the existence of memory initiatives that name and stress the limits of the horizon of pacification and democratization imposed during the transitions of recent history.