U.S. Involvement In Nicaragua Essays - Nicaraguan Revolution

U.S. Involvement in Nicaragua U.S. Involvement in Nicaragua Not very many Americans know the truth that lies beneath the U.S.' involvement in Nicaragua. Most would be surprised to find out that U.S. armed forces and politicians violated U.S. laws and deliberately sabotaged Nicaragua's stable government by paying the dictator's henchmen to kill Nicaraguan citizens. The United States is considered one of the major superpower nations in this world. It is highly influential to other countries and often takes responsibility to intervene with other another country's problems?especially when it deals with the spreading of communism. When Nicaragua's dictatorship was overthrown by the popular Sandinistas, a communist regime was successfully put in place. The U.S. immediately feared that Nicaragua's surrounding countries would eventually become communist due to the Domino Theory. The negative impact of becoming further engaged in the Nicaraguan politics was destructive to both the U.S. and Nicaragua. These actions destabilized the Nicaraguan economy, encouraged civil violence, and motivated members of the American government to violate certain laws to continue their aid to the guerillas. To fully comprehend the negative impacts of U.S. intervention in Nicaragua, one must be somewhat familiar with Nicaragua's history. The period in which the Somoza family ruled Nicaragua started on New Year's Day in 1937, when Anastasio Somoza Garcia had himself elected president. The Somozas ran Nicaragua as their own private estate; "...all three Somozas were dictators who ran the affairs of their country to their personal benefit and against the interests of the vast majority of their countrymen" (Walker 16). Under their dominion, life for the Nicaraguan citizens was harsh, because they suffered from abject poverty. They lived in inadequate housing, ate and dressed poorly, and were overall extremely oppressed by their leaders' corruption. When the people finally realized that life wasn't going to get any better, they decided to turn to their only other option, the communist Sandinista government. The U.S. were so anti-Communist that they began to send large sums of money to Somoza's Guardsmen (who the leaders of the Contras) in order to sabotage the Sandinista government. One of the goals the U.S. would like to achieve when dealing with Third World nations is to help them become more industrialized and economically stable. Unfortunately, the opposite of this occurred in Nicaragua. Before U.S. involvement, Nicaragua's economy was reasonably sturdy in the sense that there was a consistent flow of money in and out of the country. "With increasing investment in Nicaragua, as a result of the Alliance for Progress, and the Central American Common Market, this was a period of unprecedented progress" (Pastor, 35). It is obvious that stronger nations would not invest their time and money into a country that was economically declining, thus displaying that at this time, Nicaragua was doing quite well for a Third World nation. With the correct equipment and help from richer nations, Nicaragua could have benefited from the high quality of its land and resources, which would raise the citizen's yearly income and help with overcoming destitution. U.S. money for the reconstruction of Managua after the incredibly huge "Christmas Earthquake" in 1972 never reached where it was most needed. Instead, Anastasio Somoza Debayle (the president of Nicaragua at the time) "transformed a tragic national loss into a personal financial gain" (Pastor, 36). Somoza's greediness enticed him to pocket the money instead of directing the funds where they were intended to go. Thus very little was done to help the disaster victims and this is just another example of how his dictatorship was oppressive to the people. This quandary could have been simply avoided if the U.S. had sent an official to manage the money and secure its proper usage. Through the 1960's, Nicaragua received from the U.S. $92.5 million in economic aid, and $11 million in military aid. From 1971 to 1976, Nicaragua received three times that amount in economic aid but less in military. (Pastor, 43) From these statistics, it seems that Nicaragua's economy is being supported by U.S. funding more each year. It is fair to say Nicaragua's economy was dependent on U.S. aid. When Somoza issued terror raids on his people, the U.S. chose to impose sanctions withdrawing all funding to Nicaragua. By advertising Somoza's acts of human brutality, the U.S. was able to persuade other countries to consider terminating their current aid to Nicaragua. Not only did Nicaraguan slip further into debt, but also the situation worsened for the poverty-stricken people. "Nicaragua's economy had failed to attain its prerevolution level in 1983. Investment had stagnated or declined, depending on the sector. The external debt, which was high at $1.5 billion in 1979, reached $3.8 billion in