Cuba and Nicaragua established diplomatic ties on 3 September 1905. Relations between the two countries were particularly positive during Nicaragua's initial Sandinista period and have been strong since the 2007 election of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.

History

Cuba and Nicaragua established diplomatic relations on 3 September 1905. During the rule of the

Somoza family The Somoza family () is a political family which ruled Nicaragua under a dictatorship over a period of forty-three years, from 1936 to 1979. Founder, Anastasio Somoza García – who served as the President of Nicaragua from 1937 until 1956 – ...

dictatorship, Nicaragua was hostile to socialist Cuba. Nonetheless, When Nicaragua's capital

Managua Managua () is the capital city, capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and one of the List of largest cities in Central America, largest cities in Central America. Located on the shores of Lake Managua, the city had an estimated population of 1, ...

was destroyed by an earthquake in 1972, Cuba supplied a disaster relief team to assist in recovery. In 1979, the

Sandinista revolution The Nicaraguan Revolution () began with rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the ouster of the dictatorship in 1978–79, and fighting between the government and the Contras from 1981 to 1990. The revolution r ...

in Nicaragua overthrew the Somoza family. Relations between Cuba and Nicaragua countries were close during the revolutionary Sandinista period in Nicaragua. After the success of the Sandinista revolution, Cuba provided health care workers to Nicaragua to establish clinics for the poor of Nicaragua and to establish training centers for Nicaraguan health care workers. In September 1979,

Fernando Cardenal Fernando Cardenal Martínez (26 January 1934 – 20 February 2016) was a Nicaraguan Jesuit and liberation theologian. Family Fernando Cardenal was born into a wealthy and influential family in Granada, Nicaragua, as the fifth son of Rodolfo Ca ...

traveled to Cuba to study the success of the Cuban literacy campaign. Following the visit, Cardenal invited Cuban literacy experts to Nicaragua to provide Sandinista literacy campaign organizers with support and technical assistance. Over the course of the 1980s, Cuba provided approximately 90,000 tons of oil to Nicaragua per year. Cuba provided the Sandinistas with military advisors. According to

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

, these advisors were primarily military instructors. To help Nicaragua establish rural schools, Cuba supplied primary school teachers to the country. Cuban primary school teachers were the largest single group of aid workers provided by Cuba to Nicaragua during the 1980s, with their numbers peaking at 4,000 in 1984. After the

United States invasion of Grenada The United States and a coalition of Caribbean countries invaded the small island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela, at dawn on 25 October 1983. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, it resulted in military occupation with ...

, Cuban concerns that the United States might also invade Nicaragua increased and Cuba removed its female primary school teachers from the country. Cuba provided further aid workers to Nicaragua after flooding in 1991, a 1992 volcanic eruption, and hurricanes in 1988 and 1998. Relations between the two countries deteriorated when the Sandinista government was voted out of office. Following the 2007 election of

Daniel Ortega José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (; ; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician and dictator who has been the president of Nicaragua, co-president of Nicaragua since 18 February 2025, alongside his wife Rosario Murillo. He was the 54th an ...

to the presidency in Nicaragua, relations between the two countries again became close. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in early 2020, Nicaragua was among the fourteen countries to which Cuba sent medical teams as part of its medical internationalism.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuba-Nicaragua Relations

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

Bilateral relations of Nicaragua

History

See also

References