ABSTRACT
Soviet academic views on Central America and the Caribbean are a theme that has received less attention than others from scholars interested in the subject of Soviet policy toward this region. In Soviet academic writings, Panama has been a special case in the region. Communist leaders opposed the application of "national bourgeoisie" and the revolutionary democracy concept by Soviet specialists to Latin American realities because of the implications this would have on the Communist party vanguard principle. The debates are organized around the following themes: the nature of the authoritarian regimes established in Latin America and the level of capitalist development in Latin America. The Caribbean area, more than Central America, has been traditionally neglected by Soviet specialists, in spite of its being the geographical setting of revolutionary Cuba. The applicability of the armed path to power in Central America was a conclusion most of the participants were ready to accept.
