For the Mayangna, an escape from the conflict was only possible after a genuine shift occurred in the Sandinistas’ own nationalist ideology, which moved beyond a purely rhetorical acceptance of the ‘differences’ on the Coast towards a practical commitment to embrace them as part of the process of constructing a new society. After President Daniel Ortega announced in December 1984 that the Sandinistas would recognise the Atlantic Coast’s right to autonomy, the Mayangna ethnic organisation SUKALWALA began direct negotiations with Tomás Borge, the head of the Northern Zelaya Autonomy Commission, and won the exemption of the Mayangna from the draft. Soon after, in April 1985, the recently elected Assemblea Nacional passed an amnesty decree, proposed by Mayangna leader Ronas Dolores Green amongst others, which specifically covered 'miskitos, sumos, ramas y creoles.' This helped to restore Mayangna trust in the Sandinistas, and paved the way for the return to Nicaragua of the Mayangna refugees and ex-combatants in Honduras, harassed there as they were by the Miskitu.