The Importance of Sign Language in Nicaragua

In 1979 Nicaragua underwent a huge change as left-wing Sandinista rebels ended decades of rule by the brutal Samosa dictatorship. The new revolutionary government had an agenda of education for all and sent students out into the countryside to teach the peasants to read and write. But also Nicaragua's disparate Deaf community was, for the first time, offered the chance of vocational training and schooling. How and why did a new sign language emerge from this tiny impoverished Central American country?