ABSTRACT
The Nicaraguan government, fearing that the Ronald Reagan administration's hostility threatened to destroy the revolution, was eager to negotiate an agreement that would block what the Sandinistas perceived as the US government's campaign to overthrow them. For Nicaragua the Caraballeda declaration was a diplomatic victory. The new Reagan administration was hardly predisposed to good relations with the one-and-a-half-year-old revolutionary government in Managua. As relations between Nicaragua and the United States deteriorated throughout 1981, the Mexican government became concerned about the direction of the Reagan administration's policies. The full extent of the Reagan administration's cynicism was revealed a year later when a National Security Council document was leaked to the press. As relations between the United States and Nicaragua continued to deteriorate, US allies in the region began to take a more active role in attempting to resolve the deepening dispute. Contadora called on the United States to accept limits on its military options in Central America.
