Jimmy Carter's compromise: Nicaragua. (ex-president mediates agreement on land seized and redistributed under Sandinista rule)(Brief Article)

ORDINARY Nicaraguans are still paying for a decade of Sandinist misrule. Early gains in education and health have been wiped out by the mess that the Sandinists made of the economy. And even their land distribution, which did help many peasants, has proved a mixed blessing: the legal morass till now surrounding seized property has been the chief obstacle to fresh investment. But on that front there is at last hope.

The seized land, about 25% of all arable land, was distributed among 170,000 families. Many were poor, long abused by the ruling Somozas or the rich who prospered…