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Chapter Reference: Neocolonialism; Nationalism; Revolution; Reaction
From the time U.S. troops entered Cuba in the War of 1898 until the 1930s, the United States intervened militarily in Latin America on repeated occasions. Unlike most of these interventions, however, the Nicaraguan intervention of the 1920s became a fierce and protracted war between U.S. marines and nationalist guerrillas led by the famous Augusto César Sandino. It was in remembrance of these first Sandinistas that the Marxist movement founded in the 1960s called itself the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN). A paper on the first Sandinistas and the U.S. intervention in Nicaragua should be based on an overview of U.S. policy from 1898 to the emergence of Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy. The Nicaraguan intervention can then be used as a case study. Nationalist guerrilla leader Augusto César Sandino left writings that are available in English, providing an interesting and convenient primary source for students to interpret.
Questions for Analysis and Further Reflection:
- What led the United States to intervene militarily in Nicaragua in the 1920s, and how did this intervention fit into the larger context of U.S.-Latin American relations prior to the 1930s? What was the outcome of the war with the forces led by Sandino?
- How did the moment of nationalism play out in Nicaragua, and how did nationalism facilitate Sandino's rise to fame? What has been the trajectory of Sandino's legacy since the 1930s?
- How did U.S. policy toward Latin America change in the 1930s, and what, if any, part did the experience in Nicaragua have in shaping the so-called Good Neighbor policy?
Bibliography: (Titles with ** are good starting places.)
** Burns, E. Bradford. At War in Nicaragua: The Reagan Doctrine and the Politics of
Nostalgia. New York: Harper & Row, 1987.
A concise historical account of the war the United States waged by proxy in Nicaragua in the 1980s, linking it back to the period of U.S. intervention in Nicaragua and Central America in the 1920s and 30s.
** Cabezas, Omar. Fire from the Mountain: The Making of a Sandinista. Translated by
Kathleen Weaver. With a foreword by Carlos Fuentes and an afterword by Walter
LaFeber. New York: Crown Publishers, 1985.
An engaging personal narrative of how he became a Sandinista fighter and leader in the 1960s and 1970s.
** Gilderhus, Mark T. The Second Century: U.S.-Latin American Relations since 1889.
Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2000.
This history of U.S.-Latin American relations provides a helpful overview in chapters one and two.
** Hodges, Donald C. Intellectual Foundations of the Nicaraguan Revolution. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1986.
________. Sandino's Communism: Spiritual Politics for the Twenty-First Century. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1992.
** Macaulay, Neil. The Sandino Affair. Reprint. Originally published Chicago: Quadrangle
Books, 1967. Micanopy, FL: Wachoota, 1998.
The most complete historical account in English of the rise of Sandino and his clash with the United States. Though dense in parts, it is clearly written and a good starting point.
Navarro-Génie, Marco Aurelio. Augusto César Sandino. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University
Press, 2002.
Aurelio's study of Sandino focuses on the leader's religious leanings and the connections between millenarianism and the fight against U.S. marines.
** Ramírez, Sergio, ed. Sandino: The Testimony of a Nicaraguan Patriot, 1921—1934.
Translated with an introduction by Robert Edgar Conrad. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1990.
The translated writings of Sandino himself offers students direct access to his thinking.
** Sheesley, Joel C. Sandino in the Streets. Translated and edited by Wayne G.
Bragg. With a prologue by Ernesto Cardenal and an introduction by Jack W.
Hopkins. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.
A collection of well-written essays and wonderful photographs on Sandino and his legacy.
Other Resources:
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