When the Sandinista Liberation Front triumphantly marched into Managua, Nicaragua, on July 19, 1979, the air was filled with joy, youthful enthusiasm, and vigor. Accompanying the Sandinistas in the victory march were conservative businessmen, Catholic priests, peasants, urban workers, and leftist intellectuals. All were part of the pluralistic alliance that defeated Anastasio Somoza and his hated National Guard, the country's only security force under the forty-five-year dictatorship of the Somoza family.