![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/395000/images/_398860_sandanista150.jpg)
Nicaraguans have been celebrating the 20th anniversary of the leftist Sandinista revolution that overthrew 46 years of dictatorship in the country and threatened the US dominance in Central America.
Despite the stifling heat, some 20,000 people packed into the main Square of the Revolution in downtown Managua for what has become an annual celebration.
From early morning, bus-loads of peasants, draped in the familiar red and black colours of the Sandinista Liberation Front had begun arriving from all over the country.
Attendance was boosted by the fact that 19 July remains a national holiday in Nicaragua in spite of the 10 years that have passed since the Sandinista government fell from power.
The organisers even flew in a popular singer from the Dominican Republic to entertain the crowds while they were waiting under the hot sun for the appearance of the veteran Sandinista leader, Daniel Ortega.
In his hour-long speech, the 54-year-old former president repeatedly called for unity amongst his supporters and waved aside criticism of his leadership and the party's controversial political negotiations with the right-wing government.
Drawing on images from the country's not-so-distant past, Mr Ortega said that, if necessary, the Sandinistas were prepared to take to the barricades again in order to defend what he called the rights of the majority poor.
Ortega has come under heavy criticism for the talks he has been personally leading with president Arnoldo Aleman, which, critics say, seek to bring personal benefits to both leaders.
In a symbolic show of protest, some 500 Sandinista dissidents, including many of Ortega's most prominent former comrades, boycotted the main celebrations Monday and carried out their own rally at another city square a mile away.
On 19 July, 1979, the Sandanista rebels drove from power the US-backed regime of general Anastasio Somoza and set about trying to reform the country's archaic political and economic system.
The Sandinistas themselves lost power at the ballot box in 1990, voted out by a population tired of the effects of civil war and a crippling economic crisis.
Country profiles
Sandinista anniversary under a cloud
(19 Jul 99 | Americas)
Sandinista leader may face abuse trial
(20 Jul 99 | Americas)
Former Sandinista leader denies abuse charges
(29 May 98 | Americas)
Sandinista Information (in Spanish)
Nicaraguan National Assembly (in Spanish)
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