The Central American conflict and Cuba's foreign policy towards Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala

Abstract

The Central American conflict was one of the various expressions of a new crisis of capitalism in the 1970s. Its structural expression, of course, disrupted the political and ideological foundations on which it was based. In its dichotomous character between the internal and external, the confrontation between national liberation movements and dictatorial governments, supported by the United States, brought together diverse interests. Firstly, those of Washington, which saw in the internal Central American dispute the intervention of communism with the support of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics through Cuba. On the other hand, there was the US criticism of the internationalist and solidarity policy of the Cuban Revolution with the national liberation groups. In the case of Mexico there was a double concern: having a conflict of wide dimensions with the potential to expand on its southern border and the possibility that social criticism would cross its border. In this maelstrom of interests, the military and counterinsurgency intentions of the United States stand out, as does the support of Mexico and other countries to avoid a military solution at all costs and, on the contrary, to promote a peaceful, negotiated and Latin American solution through the Contadora Group, and finally Cuba's interest in supporting national liberation groups as part of its revolutionary objectives, but always in support of negotiated solutions under the protection of respect for sovereignty. It is precisely this last issue that allows us to observe the active role that Cuba played in the conflict and that, among other things, also addresses the demystification of Cuba's alleged ignorance of international law and diplomatic relations by maintaining close contact and collaboration with the so-called Central American guerrillas