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Nicaragua: Soviet-Cuban Pawn or Non-aligned Country?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jiri Valenta
Jiri Valenta*
Affiliation:
East European and Strategic Studies of the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) of the University of Miami
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Extract

It is now six years since the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) toppled the regime of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Even today, the nature of the FSLN - its road to power, its political complexion and orientation, and its objectives - remains the subject of heated debate. Some still argue that the Sandinista regime is a nationalistic, non-aligned, although radical, Third World government. Others emphasize the Marxist-Leninist overtones characterizing its seizure and consolidation of power, its foreign relations, and its efforts to introduce socialist transformation to Nicaraguan society.

Basically, there are two exaggerated views of Nicaraguan foreign policy: one depicts Nicaragua as a communist pawn of Moscow and Havana; the other views Nicaragua as a classical non-aligned Third World nation. Neither school of thought reflects the complex reality of Nicaraguan politics and foreign policy.

Type
Nicaraguan Foreign Policy: Two Views
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 27 , Issue 3 , Fall 1985 , pp. 163 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1985

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