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Abstract
This paper seeks to understand the construction of a broad alliance between the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), a socialist inspired guerrilla group, and various Latin American liberal and authoritarian governments, mainly Venezuela, Costa Rica, Panama and Cuba, between 1977 and 1979. I will seek to understand the construction of this unusual partnership, as well as the deep conflicts and mistrust that existed between the parties during the revolutionary upheaval in Nicaragua. This process will be examined by analysing the way Cold War politics and Latin American regional tensions shaped the events leading to the Sandinista revolution.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Dr. Vanni Pettinà for his support of my research, and for reading a first draft of this article.
Notes
1 Anthony Lake, Somoza Falling: A Case Study of Washington at Work (Amherst: University of Massachusetts, 1989); Robert Pastor, Condemned to Repetition: The United States and Nicaragua (New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1987); Lawrence Pezzullo, At the Fall of Somoza (Pittsburg: University of Pittsburg Press, 1993); William M. LeoGrande, Our Own Back Yard: The United States in Central America, 1977–1992 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998).
2 This paper draws from a number of archives in Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the United States. These are the abbreviated notations: NARA: National Archive and Records Administration, Washington D.C.; AGN-Mexico: Archivo General de la Nación, Ciudad de México; AH-SRE: Archivo Histórico Genaro Estrada, Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, Ciudad de México; IHNCA-UCA: Instituto de Historia de Nicaragua y Centroamérica, Universidad Centroamericana, Managua; AGN-Costa Rica: Archivo General de la Nación Costa Rica, San José. Telegrams from the State Department will be referenced by their title, origin and date. Their full source is: NARA, Record Group 59, Central Foreign Policy Files, Electronic Telegrams, 1978.
3 Daniel J. Sargent, ‘World Order Politics’, A Superpower Transformed: The Remaking of American Foreign Relations in the 1970s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 230–60.
4 Robert Pastor, from the National Security Council, and Anthony Lake, from the State Department, were only two of many officials involved in the Nicaraguan crisis that shared a deep belief that American unilateralism was to blame for many tragedies in Latin America. Pastor, Condemned to repetition. The United States and Nicaragua, 79.
5 Foquismo theory followed Ernesto Guevara and Régis Debray’s writings on revolutionary theory in colonial, post colonial and underdeveloped regions. Foquismo argued that that a politically motivated armed group (foco) could create the appropriate conditions for revolution in rural areas not suitable for revolution according to traditional Marxist thought.
6 ‘Carta de Humberto Ortega al Frente Norte’ 7 January 1979, IHNCA-UCA, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, 0049, 5 folios (bis), 4.
7 National Security Archive, ‘Cuba-Nicaragua Outside Support to FSLN’ Defence Intelligence Agency. [Classification Excised], Cable. 19 November 1977, 2 pp, https://search.proquest.com/docview/1679049719?accountid=15172 (accessed 17 January, 2018).
8 Humberto Ortega, La epopeya de la insurreccion (Managua: Lea Grupo editorial, 2004), 321.
9 Dirk Kruijt, ‘The mature years (early 1970s–late 1980s)’, in Cuba and revolutionary Latin America: An oral history (London: Zed Books, 2017).
10 William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh, Back Channel to Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014), 157–58.
11 Gustavo Iruegas, Diplomacia en tiempos de Guerra: Memorias del embajador Gustavo Iruegas (Mexico: Instituto Mora, 2013), 198.
12 Ernesto Cardenal, La revolución perdida (Madrid: Trotta, 2004), 33; Ortega, La epopeya..., 393.
13 Sergio Ramírez, Adiós muchachos (México: Alfaguara, 2015), 139.
14 ‘Carta de Humberto Ortega al Frente Norte’ 7 January 1979, AH-IHNCA-UCA, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, 0049, 5 folios (bis), foja 4.
15 ‘President Perez sends letter to president Carter on Nicaragua’, Telegram 01053 from the American embassy in Caracas to the State Department, 31 January 1978, NARA.
16 ‘Request for reaction to Perez letter on Nicaragua’, Telegram 01199 from the American embassy in Caracas to the State Department, 4 February 1978, NARA.
17 ‘Nicaragua business leaders urge US action on Nicaraguan crisis’, Telegram 00566 from the American embassy in Managua to the State Department, 5 February 1978, NARA.
18 ‘Indications of anti-embassy sentiment among segments of private sector’, Telegram 00521 from the American embassy in Managua to the State Department, 2 February 1978, NARA.
19 ‘Presidential reply to Perez letter on Nicaragua’, Telegram 043981 from the State Department to the American embassy in Caracas, 18 February 1978, NARA.
20 ‘President Pérez comments again on Nicaragua’, Telegram 02218 from the American embassy in Caracas to the State Department, 7 March 1978, NARA.
21 Ibid.
22 Ramírez, Adiós muchachos, 174–5.
23 Ernesto Cardenal, La revolución perdida, 60.
24 Ortega, La epopeya..., 341.
25 Ibid., 391.
26 Manuel Mora Salas,‘Una brigada de nombre Calufa’, in Los amigos venían del sur, ed. Jose Picado Lagos (San José: Universidad Estatal a Distancia, 2014), 39.
27 Fernando Camacho, ‘En silencio tuvo que ser’, Ibid., 56.
28 Anthony Lake, Somoza Falling: A Case Study of Washington at Work (Amherst: Massachusetts University Press, 1989), 113.
29 Pastor, Condemned to repetition, 83.
30 ‘President Carazo’s views on Nicaragua’, Telegram 03750 from the American embassy in San Jose to the State Department, 1 September 1978, NARA.
31 ‘Telegrams from the Mexican embassy in Guatemala; San Salvador; Tegucigalpa’, 7 September 1978, AH-SRE, Topographic Classification III-3340–3, Nicaragua 1978.
32 El imparcial, Guatemala City, 7 September 1978, AH-SRE, Topographic Classification III-3340–3, Nicaragua 1978.
33 ‘Memorandum para información superior’, Telegram from the Mexican embassy in Managua to the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 13 September 1978, AH-SRE, Topographic Classification III-3340–3, Nicaragua 1978.
34 ‘Telegram from the Mexican embassy in Managua to the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores’, 29 August 1978, AH-SRE, Topographic Classification III-3340–3, Nicaragua 1978.
35 Ortega, La epopeya..., 352.
36 ‘Investigaciones sobre las declaraciones de Ramon Quiroz al Lic. José Rafael Cordero Crocheri’, AGN–Costa Rica, Presidencial, Signatura, 2350; ‘Declaración de Fernando Trejos al Organismo de Investigación Judicial’, 20 November 1980, AGN–Costa Rica, Presidencial, Signatura 2402; Ortega, La epopeya de la insurrección, 391.
37 María Dolores Ferrero Blanco, La Nicaragua de los Somoza 1936–1979 (Managua: IHNCA, Universidad de Huelva, 2012), 250.
38 ‘Guatemalan position on Nicaragua’, Telegram 05354 from the American embassy in Guatemala City to the State Department, 11 September 1978, NARA.
39 Ibid.
40 ‘Informe sobre la posición de Honduras ante los acontecimientos políticos de la república de Nicaragua’, AGN-Costa Rica, Presidencia, Signatura 2402.
41 Venezuela sent two Canberra bombers, two O.V. 10 fighter-bombers and a C-123 transport aircraft. ‘Comunicado de prensa’, 14 September 1978, AGN-Costa Rica, Presidencia, Signatura 00157.
42 ‘Nicaragua MFM’, Telegram 08735 from the American embassy in Caracas to the State Department, 14 September 1978, NARA.
43 José Picado Lagos, ‘Queríamos ser como el Che’, in Los amigos venían del sur, ed. Picado Lagos, 137.
44 ‘Consultations with president Pérez on Nicaragua’, Telegram 08801 from the American embassy in Caracas to the State Department, 17 September 1978, NARA.
45 Iruegas, Diplomacia en tiempos de guerra, 191.
46 ‘International appeal for mediation’, Telegram 234252 from the State Department to the American embassy in Managua, 15 September 1978, NARA.
47 Only Guatemala would later join the mediation process.
48 ‘Talk with Torrijos’ Telegram 06765 from the American embassy in Panama to the State Department, 18 September 1978, NARA.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 ‘No saben ni cuando ni cómo’, Agencia Centroamericana de Noticias, 27 September 1978, AGN-Costa Rica, Presidencia, Signatura, 00157.
52 ‘Conversation with president Perez’, Telegram 237004 from the State Department to the American embassy in Caracas, 19 September 1978, NARA.
53 ‘Talk with Carazo’, Telegram 06809 from the American Embassy in Panama to the State Department, 19 September 1978, NARA.
54 Ibid.
55 ‘Vigilancia y Seguridad Territorial. Ministerio de Seguridad Pública’, September 1978, AGN-CR, Presidencial, Signatura 000156.
56 ‘Carazo-more on Nicaragua’, Telegram 03998 from the American Embassy in San Jose to the State Department, 21 September 1978, NARA.
57 ‘Nicaraguan situation’, Telegram 06930 from the American Embassy in Panama to the State Department, 22 September 1978, NARA.
58 ‘Message for President Pérez from President Carter’, Telegram 241478 from the Secretary of State to the American Embassy in Caracas, 22 September 1978, NARA.
59 ‘Conversation with general Torrijos’, Telegram 06967 from the American Embassy in Panama to the State Department, 23 September 1978, NARA.
60 ‘Nicaraguan situation’, Telegram 09042 from the American embassy in Caracas to the State Department, 23 September 1978, NARA.
61 ‘Acting secretary’s discussion with Mexican foreign minister Roel on Nicaragua’, Telegram 244324 from the State Department to the American embassy in Mexico, 26 September 1978, NARA.
62 ‘Jorden-Mission talk with Perez’, Telegram 06900 from the American Embassy in Panama to the State Department, 21 September 1978, NARA.
63 ‘Letter from Jimmy Carter to Rodigo Carazo, 25 October 1978’, AGN-CR, Presidencial, Signatura 00078.
64 Ortega, La epopeya de la insurreccion, 391.
65 Pastor, Condemned to repetition, 102.
66 AGN–Costa Rica, Presidencial, signatura 00154, foja 003.
67 ‘Telegram from Manuel Noriega to Juan Echeverría Brealey, 12 September 1978’, AGN–Costa Rica, Presidencial, Signatura, 000100.
68 ‘Jorden Mission-Talk with Perez’, Telegram 06900 from the American Embassy in Panama to the State Department, 21 September 1978, NARA.
69 Ramírez, Adiós muchachos, 245.
70 ‘Nicaragua: conversation with President Perez’, Telegram 09609 from the American Embassy in Caracas to the State Department, 11 October 1979, NARA; Kruijt, ‘The mature years...’.
71 ‘Aspectos básicos de los acuerdos de unidad del FSLN’, IHNCA-UCA, Frente Sandinista Liberación Nacional, 0050.
72 Ortega, La epopeya de la insurreccion, 392.
73 Ibid.
74 David Bermúdez, ‘En alitas de cucaracha’ in Los amigos venían del sur, ed. Picado Lagos, 26–7.
75 Fidel Castro, La paz en Colombia (La Habana: Editorial Política, 2008), 128–9; ‘Declaración de Fernando Trejos al Organismo de Investigación Judicial’, 20 November 1980, AGN-CR, Presidencial, Signatura 2402.
76 ‘Venezuela’s President Perez and Nicaragua: Background and analysis’, Telegram 09689 from the American Embassy in Caracas to the State Department, 14 October 1978, NARA.
77 Pastor, Condemned to repetition, 133.
78 Kruijt, ‘The mature years...’; Ramírez, Adiós Muchachos, 82.