Upset in Managua Shocks Nicaraguans Here : Los Angeles: Pro-Sandinistas feel a sense of numbness and loss. Others express joy at fall of ‘totalitarian’ regime.

By early Monday morning, pro-Sandinista activists in Los Angeles began hearing unexpected reports on the international telephone, fax and computer network they had created to bring them news of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s victory.

“The first thing that came to my mind was shock,” said Carol Wells, a 44-year-old art history professor who founded one of Los Angeles’ first Nicaraguan solidarity groups in 1982. “I felt numb. I looked at all the hard work we’ve done over the years, and I asked myself what we could have done differently.”

Hundreds of Southern California activists like Wells have harvested coffee, taught English and even played baseball in Nicaragua to support the Sandinista government in its war against the U.S.-backed Contras. For them, Monday morning was a time to mourn a serious defeat for the revolution they still believe was committed to social justice and equality.

For other Southern California residents, however, Monday was a day to celebrate the fall of what they saw as a totalitarian government.

Although the center of anti-Sandinista activity is in Miami, a small group of anti-Sandinista activists in Los Angeles also has struggled, in relative anonymity, to overthrow Ortega’s government.

“This has been a day of joy for all Nicaraguans,” said Cesar Aviles, 55, of the Nicaraguan Patriotic Coalition, which bands several Southern California groups supporting President-elect Violeta Barrios de Chamorro. “I have plane reservations to go see the inauguration.”

Aviles said he was exiled from Nicaragua in 1982. He later joined the guerrilla fighters of Eden Pastora, a hero of the revolution against the late dictator Anastasio Somoza who turned against his former Sandinista allies once they became the government. Aviles said he gave up the armed struggle in 1984 and came to Southern California when his wife became ill.

“I’m not here of my own free will,” said Aviles, a civil engineer who now lives in Alhambra. “I’m here because the Sandinistas put a gun to my head.”

Aviles said local Chamorro supporters hope to bring Vice President-elect Virgilio Godoy to Los Angeles in the coming months. He said they plan to celebrate their victory with a Catholic Mass on Sunday.

“Nicaragua has suffered for these past 10 years,” Aviles said. “This is a moment for reconciliation and to pray for the health of all Nicaraguans.”

Not all of the 80,000 Nicaraguans who live in Southern California are climbing on the Chamorro bandwagon, however.

Ramon Diaz, 50, said he will continue his work in Los Angeles for the Sandinista National Liberation Front in spite of Sunday’s electoral defeat.

“I think that (the defeat) was a direct result of U.S. intervention,” Diaz said. “The U.S. embargo of Nicaragua created chaos in Nicaragua. The economic situation was such that the people felt there was no way the Sandinistas could reactivate the economy because the U.S. wouldn’t lift the embargo while the Sandinistas stayed in power.”

Diaz was also one of about 100 Sandinista supporters who gathered Sunday night at the “Peace Center” in West Los Angeles for what they expected would become a victory celebration.

Via telephone and computer links with Nicaragua, the Sandinista supporters received early returns around midnight showing Ortega leading in Managua by 2 to 1. At that point, most of the activists went home.

Wells was among the activists who left the “victory” rally early. She received the news of Ortega’s defeat when a friend called her home at 5:45 a.m.

Wells said that despite her disappointment over the Sandinistas’ defeat, she will continue to work for social justice in Nicaragua.

“We believed in what the Sandinistas were trying to do,” Wells said. “We opposed what the U.S. was doing to them. There is absolutely no regret over the work we have done. It was something that I believed in and that I still believe in.”