The Sandinista Revolution: A Global Latin American History

Description

The Sandinista Revolution and its victory against the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua gripped the United States and the world in the 1980s. But as soon as the Sandinistas were voted out of power in 1990 and the Iran Contra affair ceased to make headlines, it became, in Washington at least, a thing of the past. Mateo Jarquín recenters the revolution as a major episode in the history of Latin America, the international left, and the Cold War. Drawing on research in Nicaragua, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica, he recreates the perspective of Sandinista leaders in Managua and argues that their revolutionary project must be understood in international context. Because struggles over the Revolution unfolded transnationally, the Nicaraguan drama had lasting consequences for Latin American politics at a critical juncture. It also reverberated in Western Europe, among socialists worldwide, and beyond, illuminating global dynamics like the spread of democracy and the demise of a bipolar world dominated by two superpowers. Jarquín offers a sweeping analysis of the last left-wing revolution of the twentieth century, an overview of inter-American affairs in the 1980s, and an incisive look at the making of the post–Cold War order. Front Matter__i(1) Table of Contents List of Maps Preface Writing the History of the Nicaraguan Revolution List of Abbreviations Introduction 1 The Old Regime and a Transnational Conspiracy 2 Rise of the Sandinistas 3 In the Labyrinth of Latin American History 4 Revolution without Borders 5 A Kind of Civil War 6 The Nicaraguan Question in International Affairs 7 A Seat at the Table The Central American Peace Accords 8 The Revolution after the Central American Peace Accords Conclusion Fall of the Sandinistas and the Twilight of the Cold War Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index