ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the rationale behind Nicaragua's policies toward Latin America, and the context in which these policies are developed. It discusses Nicaragua's relationships with Cuba and with the Contadora Group on both a bilateral and a multilateral level. The chapter explores the always sensitive relationship with the United States, including its affected strategic interests, client regional regimes, paramilitary and counter-revolutionary sponsored groups, and diplomatic initiatives. Nicaragua's nationalism, as reasserted by the Sandinista regime, is intimately and definitely based on a collective, deeply felt anti-imperialist sentiment. In addition to joining the Nonaligned Movement countries, Nicaragua's foreign policy has been determined within a nonaligned framework which has included: establishing a voting record at the United Nations expressing its principled international political posture. Nicaragua has been accused by the Ronald Reagan administration of building an army and military facilities beyond what its natural defense needs would suggest.
