The Red Affair: FMLN–Cuban relations during the Salvadoran Civil War, 1981–92

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the leftist Salvadoran revolutionary organisation FMLN and the Cuban regime throughout the Salvadoran civil war in the 1980s. In light of interviews conducted by the author in 2007 and 2008 with some of the highest-ranking leaders of the FMLN, it re-evaluates existing primary and secondary sources on the topic. This study demonstrates that despite its autonomous roots, the FMLN's development, growth, and achievements throughout the Salvadoran civil war were indissolubly linked to its relationship with Cuba. By placing Cuba as a nodal point in the Salvadoran civil war, the idea of ‘unilateralist’ US hegemony in the region throughout the Cold War is brought into question, as is the notion that the Soviet Union fashioned Havana's foreign policy. Furthermore, this analytical paradigm begins to shed light on the importance of transnational historical analyses.