U.S. Intervention and Regime Change in Nicaragua (review)

This is a book with great potential that ultimately disappoints the reader with its narrowness and lack of analysis. As ambassador to Nicaragua during the early collapse of the Somoza regime, Maricio Soláun possessed a unique position at the intersection of domestic Nicaraguan politics, the increasingly desperate efforts of the Somoza family to retain power, and the policy debate within the Carter administration as it attempted to navigate an unfolding Latin American disaster. Unfortunately, only the first topic receives anything close to the attention it deserves.

Soláun's discussion of his efforts to mediate a diplomatic solution to the Nicaraguan crisis is perhaps the strongest portions of the book. In two gigantic chapters entitled "Neutrality" and "Mediation," he relates the minutiae involved in bringing Somoza, the Sandinistas, the Frente Amplio Opositor, the Catholic Church, and other factions to the table to discuss a peaceful means to resolve the deteriorating situation in Nicaragua. As a primer on the variety of political actors in the country at the end of the seventies, this narrative is useful. However, beyond the point-counterpoint process of negotiations over Somoza's removal, the author rarely offers detailed analysis of the actions taken or includes the benefits that twenty-five years of hindsight and a massive array of declassified documents now offer the contemporary audience. Soláun reflects late in the book that "In retrospect, sadly the feverish exercise in diplomacy seems very futile, even ridiculous" (p. 252). At some point, the reader is forced to agree.

The book reveals very little that is new about the Somoza regime. Soláun rarely moves beyond the characterization of the Central American dictator as a messianic figure enamored of his own flawed grasp of power. At certain points, the author lends a degree of subtlety to his topic. The discussion of Somoza's interpretation of prebendas sociales, a reference to his understanding of social welfare and patrimonialism, was an interesting addition to the conventional wisdom on the strongman. The absence of insight on the U.S. policymaking process is an additional disappointment. There is a sense throughout the book, confirmed in its later pages, that the embassy in Managua enjoyed little support from the Carter White House. Consequently, the dialogue between the embassy and the State Department, the National Security Council, and the president himself is largely absent. This is understandable to a point, given Soláun's status as an academic and an outsider in what was a contentious and often distracted administration foreign policy structure. It does not explain the almost total lack of insight into the inner workings of the Nicaraguan country team. Soláun's immediate subordinates are barely mentioned in the narrative. Nor is there any sense of internal policy debate between the various offices of the embassy. The military attaché, CIA station personnel, and embassy political officers merit hardly a mention. Throughout, the ambassador remains the primary protagonist.

For serious scholars and individuals interested in the period, Jack Binn's The United States in Honduras: An Ambassador's Memoir (2000) offers a superior perspective on U.S. diplomacy in Latin America at the brink of the Reagan era. Similarly, older studies by Robert Pastor offer a much better perspective on the policy process during this transitional time. The recent works of Katherine Hoyt or Timothy C. Brown will also prove more useful for readers pursuing historical analysis of internal Nicaraguan politics.