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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 October 2021
This article analyzes the revolutionary diplomacy of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) through the prism of Nicaraguan and Western European relations during the final decade of the Cold War. It contends that —despite the FSLN's ideological affiliation with Third World national liberation movements, Cuba, and the socialist bloc—the campaign to influence Western European foreign policies was central to the Sandinista government's international strategy. By pushing Western European governments to play a prominent role in Central America's violent Cold War conflicts, the Sandinistas sought to undermine US power in the isthmus and alter the inter-American dynamics that shaped their region's history up to the late 1970s. Furthermore, by building financial ties with Western European countries, the FSLN could avoid complete financial dependency on the Soviet bloc and strengthen Nicaragua's image as a nonaligned state. The Sandinistas’ campaign to challenge US hegemony in Central America through a pragmatic outreach to Western Europe was largely successful, but it came at the cost of implementing domestic reforms that ran counter to their own ambitions. Ultimately, this prompted the FSLN to hold elections in 1990, which resulted in their removal from power.
The author thanks Tanya Harmer for the excellent collaboration and generous feedback on this article. Thanks also to members of the Global Cold War Research Cluster at Utrecht University, the contributors to this special issue, and the editors and peer reviewers at The Americas for their helpful feedback on earlier versions of this piece.
1. Active during most of the Cold War period, the Socialist International was an influential umbrella organization of socialist, labor, and social democratic parties.
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4. Even though he collaborated with the FSLN, Kühl did not describe himself as a Sandinista. A young upper-class Nicaraguan of German descent, he was more closely aligned with the center-left Movimiento Democrático Nicaragüense.
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6. “Nicaragua krijgt hulp socialisten,” De Volkskrant, July 23, 1979.
7. Primarily written from the Nicaraguan perspective, this article adopts a loose definition of Western Europe, which includes the European Commission, EC member states, and the Scandinavian countries, as well as Greece, Spain, and Portugal.
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51. For a full discussion of why this outreach was successful, the foundations it built on, and how it evolved, see Eline van Ommen, “Sandinistas Go Global: Nicaragua and Western Europe, 1977–1990” (PhD diss.: London School of Economics, 2019).
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