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

In this book, Mauricio Solaún, U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua during the Carter administration, recounts his experience, and seeks to explain why a large-scale popular revolution occurred in Nicaragua against the wishes of the U.S. government. Solaún's argument is that the Somoza government was a U.S. client-state, which, because of limited domestic legitimacy, relied heavily on the United States to maintain its authority.

The Carter administration implemented its human rights policy to pressure Latin American dictatorships, including the Somoza regime, to respect human rights and make the transition to democracy. To the Nicaraguan opposition, this signaled an opening to begin mobilizing for greater democracy and human rights. Anastasio Somoza Debayle, however, retained the loyalty of his civilian and military cadres, who reinforced the dictator's stubborn predisposition and determination to stay in power. Consequently, Somoza refused to cooperate with the United States or to make genuine concessions to the opposition.

Facing this intransigence, the Carter administration nevertheless refused to take strong and direct action against the dictator because it adhered to the principle of nonintervention. As a result, U.S. policy failed to persuade Somoza to step down, get his cadres to sponsor a coup d'état, or sufficiently support the unarmed opposition; these failures led to the growth of the Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) and inevitably its ascension to power. To make this argument, Solaún provides a historical account of how the Somoza dynasty was enthroned and how it remained in power in earlier times. He then relies primarily on his own personal notes from his tenure as ambassador to explain why the regime collapsed.

The book has several strengths. It provides the audience with an extremely rich and detailed account of the relationship between the U.S. embassy and Nicaraguan political actors in the closing years of the dictatorship. This is a valuable contribution for Latin Americanists and potentially valuable for Latin American political actors as well, in that it provides a view we are not often privy to. For one thing, it reminds us that the U.S. government is not a monolithic entity. Instead, it is made up of multiple actors and agencies with often-competing interpretations, preferences, beliefs, and values. The finished product that we usually see, the official pronouncements from the president, the State Department, USAID, and ambassadors, which promote an image of unity and rational thought, are often mere façades that hide discrepancies and disagreements between actors and agencies.

Interspersed throughout the narrative are nuggets of insider observations, such as interesting quotations from Somoza that give clues to the dictator's personality, and interesting details about U.S. policy. For instance, Solaún lays out what he recounts as the major shifts in U.S. policy during his tenure. This provides a periodization of U.S. foreign policy that could be quite useful to scholars of the Nicaraguan revolution. He breaks down U.S. policy during this time into four periods and strategies: neutrality, mediation, partial withdrawal, and counterrevolutionary initiatives and mediation (failure of U.S. policy).

The book also does an excellent job of highlighting the author's frustration and impotence as a representative and functionary of the U.S. government. Solaún recounts how, for all his power as the head of the U.S. mission in Nicaragua, he was unable to get the administration to follow what he thought was the best course of action. At the same time, he effectively communicates how he had to implement policies he was uncomfortable with and promote them in public. This message comes across loud and clear throughout the text. In this sense, the book offers a good lesson for young, idealistic students who want to join the Foreign Service because they think that it offers them a way to change the world, or at least negative U.S. foreign policies. Solaún's experience offers a valuable...