Editing Nicaraguan Armed Forces (section)

===Military under the Sandinista government, 1979–1990===
{{main|Sandinista Popular Army}} {{see also|FSLN}}
To replace the [[National Guard (Nicaragua)|National Guard]], the Sandinistas established a new national army, the '''[[Sandinista Popular Army]]''' ''(Ejército Popular Sandinista—EPS)'', and a police force, the [[Sandinista Police]] ''([[Policía Sandinista]])''.<ref name=":0">Bras, Marisabel. "Consolidation of the Revolution, 1979-80". In {{Harvnb|Merrill|1994|p=41}}.</ref> These two groups, contrary to the original Puntarenas Pact were controlled by the Sandinistas and trained by personnel from [[Cuba]], Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0" /> Opposition to the overwhelming FSLN influence in the security forces did not surface until 1980.<ref name=":0" />

Meanwhile, the EPS developed, with support from Cuba and the Soviet Union, into the largest and best equipped military force in [[Central America]].<ref name=":0" /> Simultaneously, with the introduction of Patriotic Military Service (1983), a conscription system, EPS forces reached approximately 80,000 active-duty members by 1990.<ref name=":0" /> Patriotic Military Service required males, ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-six, to serve four years in the military (two years active duty and two years in the reserves).<ref name=":5">Tartter, Jean R. "Sandinista People's Army, 1979-90". In {{Harvnb|Merrill|1994|p=199}}.</ref> This conscription system did not require women to enlist; however, they could do so voluntarily.<ref name=":5" />

The Patriotic Military Service system was an extremely unpopular initiative taken by the Sandinista government.<ref name=":5" /> Draft dodging was rampant as young men fled the country in order to avoid conscription.<ref name=":5" /> Additionally, massive demonstrations and antidraft protests plagued the country.<ref name=":5" /> The unpopularity of the draft was believed to have been a large factor in the Sandinista election defeat in 1990.<ref name=":5" />

The Armed Forces performed very well in terms of human rights under the Sandinistas. Upon visiting Nicaragua, human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Americas Watch, and the Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States found “little evidence of the extreme types of human rights violations so common under…US-backed regimes.”<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Nicaragua: The First Five Years|last=Walker|first=Thomas W.|publisher=Praeger Publishers|year=1985|location=New York|pages=114}}</ref> These organizations were also unable to find any examples of state-sponsored death squads, use of physical torture propagated by the state, and very few disappearances/executions.<ref name=":4" /> Although the investigations led by human rights organizations excluded unruly soldiers acting violently on their own accord. In this context, it was discovered that the government's “usual response…was to investigate and discipline those responsible.”<ref name=":4" />