The Carter Administration’s Policy Toward Nicaragua: Images, Goals, and Tactics

Academics and political activists alike have devoted a great deal of attention to U.S. policy toward Nicaragua in recent years. Oddly, current interest in that relationship has not resulted in many in-depth analyses of the Carter administration's actions despite every indication that they are far more interesting and puzzling than those of the Reagan administration. It is commonly argued that the Carter administration's foreign policies in general, and toward Central America in particular, were confused, incoherent, lacking in strategy, and inconsistent. ' Inconsistencies in policy toward Nicaragua included termination of aid in 1977 followed by the release of twelve million dollars in military aid in 1978; criticisms of human rights abuses by Anastasio Somoza and the National Guard in 1977 but praise for Somoza's performance in that area in 1978 and efforts to prevent the destruction of the National Guard; the encouragement of democratic