Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Latin America, the United States and the Birth of Israel: The case of Somoza's Nicaragua

1988; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 20; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0022216x00003047

1469-767X

Ignacio Klich,

Political and Social Dynamics in Chile and Latin America

With the downfall of the Somoza regime and coming to power of the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) in July 1979, Israeli– Nicaraguan relations declined, to be eventually cut off three years later. An important contributing factor to the deterioration and breach of relations was Israel's involvement with Anastasio (Tachito) Somoza Debayle, in particular the military assistance which his faltering regime received from the Likud government until shortly before the end. By no means Tachito's sole armourer, 1 the salience of Israel's role was, nonetheless, noted by many, including Somoza Debayle himself. 2 This, however, was justified by Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin as the sole honourable course of action in view of earlier favours to the Zionist cause, going back to the pre-state period, by Tachito's father, Anastasio (Tacho) Somoza García.