More than six months after President Violeta Barrios de Chamorro defeated Sandinista leaders in national elections, she has made clear her determination to seek reconciliation with her former Sandinista opponents.

In the initial silence of so many political leaders - even Sandinista opponents - about Narvaez's accusations, in the former silence of so many veteran Sandinistas who said they knew about Ortega's abuse of her all along, you witness a culture of obedience to powerful men's prerogatives.

Plan to Back Opposition The Communist Party is expected to join other Sandinista opponents to back a single slate of opposition candidates in upcoming local elections.

Her Sandinista opponents are still entrenched in power.

But Sandinista opponents pointed out that Sandinista leaders have always prided themselves on the discipline of their movement and that they had never before permitted strikes by state workers, sometimes breaking up job actions with the police and tear gas.

Their Sandinista opponents have also tended to be more moderate than those who fought on the Salvadoran left.

As for accusations that he is secretly a Somoza sympathizer, he retorts that it is his Sandinista opponents who are guilty of autocratic attitudes and behavior.

Some Sandinista opponents have questioned the sincerity of the party's new self-analysis, portraying it as a political tactic rather than a genuine change of ideological direction.

Mr. Bolanos heads the country's principal business federation and is among the most articulate and uncompromising Sandinista opponents in Nicaragua.

"If you are a good Communist, die where you are," Mr. Galeano said he radioed his Sandinista opponent.