ABSTRACT

This chapter explains why the Nicaraguan revolution occurred, why it was radicalized, why the United States (US) and other actors repeated much the same unsuccessful policies that each had pursued twenty years before in Cuba, and finally, why Nicaragua escaped the patterns of the past. The most fascinating and puzzling aspect of the Nicaraguan story was that all the key leaders in the US, Nicaragua, and the neighboring countries were not simply aware of the Cuban events; they were preoccupied with the parallels. Indeed, the relationship between the US, Cuba, and Nicaragua was shaped by US intervention in both countries at the turn of the century. It is significant that all three great Latin American revolutions—in Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua—began as crises of political succession and only succeeded because virtually the entire nation agreed that the problem was the dictator.