Cuba and Nicaragua

Abstract

The question of the relationship between the governments of Cuba and Nicaragua and their respective ruling parties has become a highly politicized part of the ongoing debate over the Central American policy of the United States. This article will seek to examine that highly charged exchange and explore through historical analysis and an assessment of the current situation the actual nature of that relationship. The article will document the origins of the cooperation between Cuba and the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional (Sandinista National Liberation Front, or FSLN) in the early 1960s, the shifts in their relationship over time, the role of Cuba at the time of the Sandinista triumph in 1979, and the nature of their relations during the nearly 11 years that the FSLN has held state power in Nicaragua. The FSLN was founded in July 1961 under the combined leadership of Tomas Borge, Carlos Fonseca, and Silvio Mayorga. Its founding had its roots in the long struggle against the Somoza family dynasty and the domination of the country by North American political and economic interests.1 The Frente took its name from Augusto Sandino, the legendary Nicaraguan guerrilla fighter who fought a seven-year war against the U.S. Marines and the Nicaraguan National Guard until his assassination in 1934.2 The founding of the FSLN in 1961 definitely had its main roots in the wars of Sandino and the subsequent struggles against the dictatorship, particularly the assassination of the elder Somoza in 1956 by Rigoberto L6pez. In that sense the FSLN was and is today a strongly nationalistic movement. However, there was another important component to the birth of the FSLN and that was the triumph of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in Cuba two years earlier. Like the FSLN, the 26th of July Movement was primarily a nationalist organization. It fought to rid Cuba of a hated dictator, Batista, and to end