Politics during the Cold War in Latin America involved the rise and fall of leftist and conservative governments which either embraced democratic practices or resorted to authoritarian rule. Interestingly, after the rise of Castro in Cuba, the United States began to take a moderate approach towards foreign relations. Under President Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress initiative, the U.S. would promote reform in Latin America through the building of public housing and universities, as well as funded land reform. The U.S. came to the conclusion that backing dictators would only result in more Castros and subsequently, would support middle-class centrist politicians such as, Romulo Betancourt and Arturo Frondizi in Argentina; Fernando Belaunde in Peru; and Eduardo Frei in Chile.

However, with the election of Marxist Chilean President Salvador Allende, the U.S. had come to grips with the failure of its centrist approach. Allende’s election represented the popular rejection of centrism and so, the U.S. began to fund any opportunity which would create enough instability that would result in the ousting of leftist governments – these opportunities so often came in the form of dictatorships. As stated by David F. Schmitz, “Advocates of greater military aid for [Anastasio] Somoza argued that Latin American military leaders, such as that Nicaraguan dictator, worked more closely with the United States than any other groups, and those who come to this country and see what we have and what we can do are frequently our most useful friends in those countries” (Wood 2019, 244). Administrations following President Nixon would align themselves with dictators such as Somoza since they gave them the assurance that the threat of communism would be rooted out from internal politics.

Returning back to the topic of Nicaraguan politics, the document illustrated above reveals a court case heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding Sandinista Nicaragua’s accusation of the U.S. violating its sovereignty, with evidence pointing as early as 1981. For instance, furious at the newly Marxist government in charge of Nicaragua – after they ousted the Somoza regime – the Reagan administration “launched an economic blockade and pressured the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to freeze the country out of international markets… More significantly, his administration played a key part in creating and funding the Contras, former National Guard members who by 1981 were launching regular incursions into Nicaragua from bases in Honduras” (Dawson 2022, 265). In light of the violent clashes between the Sandinista and the Contras, much of the anticipated change that the leftists wished to implement had to be diminished on account of the resources needed to maintain control over the state. As a consequence of American reaction to their government, the Sandinista implemented elections in 1984 because “they needed a democratic mandate to establish their legitimacy” with foreign observers invited (Dawson 2022, 265). The results were overwhelmingly supportive of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) which only bolstered Latin American rejection of U.S. centrism.