Esquipulas Peace Agreement

The US government refused to recognize the Sandinista regime's legitimacy to represent Nicaragua in The Esquipulas Process, on the basis that the Sandinistas had taken power in a 1979 coup d'etat against the dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, establishing the Junta of National Reconstruction. Although in 1984 the Sandinistas held an election, in which they won the majority of the votes, the main opposition parties boycotted this election under US pressure, and the US was able to claim that the victory was illegitimate. However the June 1986 outcome of the International Court of Justice case Nicaragua v. United States created a "major shift in the regional context" which ultimately persuaded the other Central American leaders to accept Nicaragua as an equal partner. The November 1986 disclosure of the Iran–Contra affair further weakened the US influence on the process. ==After Esquipulas==

In subsequent years, Esquipulas laid the groundwork for the Oslo Accord (not to be confused with the 1993 Oslo Accords between the Israeli government and the PLO). This was a preliminary agreement between the Guatemalan National Reconciliation Commission (CNR) and the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity (URNG) which brought to an end more than three decades of strife in Guatemala. It also inspired the signing of a general peace agreement in El Salvador, the Chapultepec Peace Accords and others. Arias' efforts on behalf of the Esquipulas Peace Agreement earned him the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize. ==See also==