Nicaragua occupies a special place among the countries of Central America. No, in terms of the level of socio-economic development, ethnic composition of the population, culture, historical past, this country is not much different from other states in the region. The main difference is the specificity of the political history of Nicaragua in the twentieth century. Apart from Cuba, it is the only country in Latin America where leftist guerrillas came to power after a long and bloody struggle. Secondly, it is, perhaps, the only ally of Russia in Central America and one of the few allies of our country in the New World as a whole. The complexities of Nicaragua's political history were reflected in the nature of its armed forces. They are among the most combat-ready in Central America, which was caused by decades of participation in the civil war and the constant strengthening of the armed forces from the government, which feared coups and external aggression.
General Zelaya's reforms
Like most of Central America, until 1821 Nicaragua was ruled by the Spanish crown and was part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. In 1821, the country's independence from Spain was proclaimed, after which Nicaragua became part of the United Provinces of Central America. Within the framework of this federation, the country existed until 1838, until it proclaimed its political independence. One of the main reasons for Nicaragua's withdrawal from the federation was friction with Costa Rica over the ownership of the port of San Juan del Sur. Naturally, immediately after the proclamation of the political independence of Nicaragua, the question of creating its own armed forces arose. Nevertheless, for a long time, the Nicaraguan army, like the armed forces of neighboring states, was a poorly organized and poorly armed formation. Only in the 1890s. then president of the country, Jose Santos Zelaya, embarked on a military reform aimed at creating a professional army of 2,000 soldiers and officers.
Coming to power in 1893, Jose Santos Zelaya strove for the maximum modernization of Nicaraguan society. General Zelaya was not as simple as other Latin American military dictators - he read a lot, admired the experience of the French Revolution, and most importantly, he intended to significantly reduce the degree of political and economic dependence of Nicaragua on the United States. Since Zelaya maintained good relations with British and Japanese diplomats, he was convinced that, with the help of the two powers, he would be able to push the Americans away from the de facto government of Nicaragua. Zelaya was called a "liberal dictator" - he introduced universal suffrage (by the way, earlier than in the Russian Empire), universal compulsory primary education, allowed divorce, introduced the Labor Code. Zelaya dealt significant blows to the positions of the church, but American corporations suffered the most - Zelaya tried to force them to pay taxes to the Nicaraguan government. The construction of railways began in the country, new schools were opened, a Nicaraguan steamship company was founded and a lake merchant fleet was built. For the country's armed forces, the reign of Zelaya was marked not only by the beginning of the creation of a professional army, but also by the opening of the Military Academy for the training of career officers. Zelaya invited Chilean, French and German officers to Nicaragua - military instructors who were supposed to establish the process of training already Nicaraguan commanders. However, the lack of financial resources prevented the Nicaraguan government from implementing the conceived plan of military reform and by 1909 the number of the country's armed forces reached only 500 people.
President Zelaya tried to pursue an independent foreign policy, which ultimately led to his overthrow. First, Zelaya announced a boycott of the United Fruit Company, which controlled 15% of the country's banana plantations. He decided to create the Bluefields-New Orleans shipping line to market tropical fruits, bypassing the American company. But finally, the "cup of patience" of the United States was overflowing with the receipt of a loan from Great Britain, the main political and economic competitor of the United States in the region. With a loan, Zelaya approached Japanese corporations with a proposal to build a new Nicaraguan Canal. If this idea succeeded, the monopoly of the Panama Canal would have been destroyed, which means that a severe blow would have been inflicted on the political and economic positions of the United States not only in Central America, but in the world as a whole. The American government decided to act preemptively and to destabilize the situation in Nicaragua. To this end, the American authorities began to support the Nicaraguan opposition, which has long sought to overthrow President Zelaya. On October 10, 1909, General Juan José Estrada accused President Zelaya of embezzlement and corruption and rebelled in Bluefields. This is how the Coastal Revolution began. Government troops under the command of General Salvador Toledo came out to suppress the rebels, but their advance was stopped by the explosion of a military transport. Two American citizens were accused of sabotage, who were shot by the verdict of the Nicaraguan military tribunal. So the fate of Zelaya was finally decided - the United States did not forgive the Nicaraguan president for the execution of its citizens. Under the pressure of circumstances, Zelaya left the post of president of the country on December 21, 1909 and soon left the country. Assessments of his rule are still controversial: pro-American forces accuse Zelaya of all mortal sins, from corruption to racism, and the left sees in Zelaya a progressive ruler who sought to turn Nicaragua into a prosperous state.
After the overthrow of Zelaya in 1909, the political situation in Nicaragua was seriously destabilized. The struggle for power between yesterday's allies in opposition to Zelaya has escalated. Officially using the pretext of "protecting the national interests of the United States," in 1912, units of the American marines were introduced into Nicaragua. The American occupation lasted, with a one-year break for 1925-1926, until 1933 - for twenty-one years the country was under the de facto control of the American military command. At the same time, the United States, seeking to restore order in the country and strengthen the puppet regime, initially took action to strengthen the Nicaraguan army. The maximum strength of the armed forces of Nicaragua, in accordance with the Convention on the Reduction of Arms, signed in 1923, was 2,500 soldiers and officers. The use of foreign military advisers for the training of the Nicaraguan army was allowed, which the Americans also sought to take advantage of, putting under control the system of combat training of the Nicaraguan army. On February 17, 1925, the US State Department presented to the Nicaraguan government a detailed plan to modernize the Nicaraguan military and transform it into the National Guard. According to the American military, the Nicaraguan National Guard was supposed to combine the functions of the army, navy and national police and turn into a single power structure of the country. The Nicaraguan Congress adopted the proposed plan in May 1925, and on June 10, 1925, Major Calvin Cartren of the American Army began training the first units of the Nicaraguan National Guard.
National Guard of Nicaragua - stronghold of the dictator Somoza
From 1925 to 1979, the National Guard served as the armed forces of Nicaragua. Its first military operation took place on May 19, 1926, when units of the National Guard, trained by American military instructors, managed to defeat the units of the Nicaraguan Liberal Party in the battle of Rama. On December 22, 1927, the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister and the Chargé d'Affaires of the United States of America signed an agreement establishing the strength of the Nicaraguan National Guard at 93 officers and 1,136 National Guards. Officer positions in the Nicaraguan National Guard were occupied mainly by American citizens - officers and sergeants of the United States Marine Corps units stationed in Nicaragua. In accordance with the agreement, all military property located on the territory of the country was transferred to the jurisdiction of the country's National Guard. On February 19, 1928, the creation of the National Guard was legitimized by an appropriate law passed by the National Congress of Nicaragua. Naturally, the United States of America took the most active part in organizing, training and arming the Nicaraguan National Guard. In fact, the National Guard was a military-police formation that acted in the interests of the pro-American Nicaraguan elite. The soldiers and officers of the National Guard were dressed in American uniforms and armed with American weapons, and they were trained by military instructors from the American Marine Corps. Gradually, the number of the Nicaraguan National Guard was increased to 3,000 soldiers and officers. The command staff began to be trained at the "School of the Americas", as well as in military schools in Brazil. Throughout the 1930s - 1970s. The National Guard played a vital role in the political life of Nicaragua. It was the national guards who directly suppressed the uprising led by the people's hero Augusto Sandino.
On June 9, 1936, Anastasio García Somoza (1896-1956), who held the post of commander of the National Guard, came to power in Nicaragua as a result of a military coup.
In fact, Somoza was not a professional military man - all his youth he was engaged in various dark affairs, being a hereditary criminal. The entry of Somoza - a man of extremely dubious origin - into the Nicaraguan political elite happened by chance. Having visited America, where he was also involved in criminal activities, Somoza returned to his homeland and was able to marry profitably. So he received the post of political chief of the city of Leon. Then, having met General Moncada, Somoza became responsible for his interaction with the American command, enlisted the support of the Americans and was appointed commander of the Nicaraguan National Guard. A man with a criminal past and without education received the rank of general. After a short time, Somoza seized power. So the dictatorial regime of the Somoz clan was established in the country, which existed until the end of the 1970s. Despite the fact that Somoza was an openly corrupt politician, closely associated with criminals and carried out political repression against opponents, he enjoyed the full support of the United States of America. This was facilitated by the fanatical anti-communism of Anastasio Garcia Somoza, who with all his might sought to suppress the communist movement in Central America, and before the outbreak of World War II did not hide his sympathy for German Nazism and Italian fascism. During the reign of Anastasio Somoza and his sons Luis Anastasio Somoza (1922-1967, ruled 1956-1963) and Anastasio Somoza Debayle (1925-1980, ruled 1963-1979), military and political cooperation between Nicaragua and the United States continued. In 1938, the history of the Nicaraguan Air Force, created as part of the National Guard, began. In 1942, a small number of aircraft were purchased in the United States and aircraft instructors were hired, and by 1945 the Nicaraguan National Guard Air Force numbered about 20 aircraft. Thanks to American assistance, Nicaragua had the strongest air force in Central America for some time. At the same time, the Air Force of the National Guard, where the most educated officers served, became the nucleus of sedition in the country's armed forces. In 1957, it was the aviation officers who were preparing a conspiracy against the rule of the annoying country of the Somoza surname.
Back in the years of World War II, under the Lend-Lease program, supplies of American weapons to the Nicaraguan National Guard began. American aid intensified after the signing of the 1947 Inter-American Mutual Assistance Treaty in Rio de Janeiro. In 1954, the US-Nicaraguan agreement on military assistance was concluded, in accordance with which the United States provided Nicaragua with weapons, military equipment and equipment. To organize the combat training of the National Guard of Nicaragua, 54 officers and 700 sergeants and soldiers of the American army arrived in the country. Given Somoza's anti-communist stance, the US government viewed Nicaragua at that time as one of the main bulwarks against Soviet influence in Central America. Military aid intensified following the events in Cuba. The Cuban Revolution contributed to the revision of the American military-political program in Latin America. American military instructors began to focus on the anti-guerrilla training of the army and police units of Latin American countries. The National Guard of Nicaragua was no exception, which had to enter into a long armed struggle against the Sandinista National Liberation Front (SFLO), a left-wing rebel organization. It should be noted here that the Somoza regime by the mid-1950s. managed to get pretty tired of the majority of the Nicaraguan intelligentsia. In 1956, the young poet Rigoberto Lopez Perez managed to sneak into a ball in the city of Leon, where General Somoza was present, and shoot the Nicaraguan dictator seven times. Peres himself was shot by Somoza's bodyguards, but the seventh bullet fired by the poet and hitting the dictator's groin was fatal. Although Somoza was evacuated by a US Navy helicopter to the Panama Canal zone, where the best American surgeons flew, including President Eisenhower's personal physician, a few days later the 60-year-old dictator passed away. After the assassination of Somoza, the American command and special services began to invest even more forces and resources in equipping the National Guard of Nicaragua.
In December 1963, Nicaragua became a member of the Central American Defense Council, which played an important role in the US military-political strategy in the region. As a member of the bloc, Nicaragua in 1965 took part in the occupation of the Dominican Republic by American troops. In parallel, the country's National Guard regularly participated in the suppression of workers 'and peasants' uprisings in Nicaraguan cities. Demonstrations of protest without a twinge of conscience were shot from firearms. As the Sandinista National Liberation Front became more active, the National Guard was strengthened.
In 1972, the Nicaraguan National Guard numbered 6,500 soldiers and officers. By 1979, it almost doubled and consisted of 12 thousand soldiers and officers. Since in 1978 an embargo was imposed on direct arms supplies to the Somoza regime from the United States of America, Israel became the main supplier of the Nicaraguan government. In addition, the organizational and consulting assistance of the Nicaraguan National Guard was intensified by the command of the Argentine armed forces. By 1979, the Nicaraguan National Guard numbered about 12 thousand people. The National Guard included army, aviation, naval and police units. The army component of the Nicaraguan National Guard included: 1 presidential guard battalion, 1 armored battalion, 1 "Somoza battalion", 1 engineer battalion, 1 military police battalion, 1 howitzer artillery battery with 12 105-mm howitzers in service, 1 anti-aircraft artillery battery, armed with machine gun and anti-aircraft artillery installations, 16 separate security companies (in fact - ordinary infantry companies that performed military-police functions and deployed in the administrative centers of all departments of the country). The Nicaraguan National Guard Air Force consisted of 1 combat aviation squadron, 1 helicopter squadron, 1 transport squadron and 1 training squadron. The naval forces of the National Guard, in fact representing the country's coast guard, were stationed at naval bases in Corinto (Pacific coast of Nicaragua) and Puerto Cabezas (Atlantic coast). In addition, there were coast guard posts in San Juan del Sur and Blufields. Also part of the National Guard were the commando units created in 1968 and better known as the “black berets”. In 1970, the National Police of the National Guard of Nicaragua was created, in addition, there was the Special Anti-Terrorist Brigade, a motorized police unit for special purposes. Officer cadres for the country's National Guard were trained in several military educational institutions. The main educational institution of the country's armed forces remained the Military Academy of Nicaragua, opened in 1939. Army officers were trained at the National Infantry School, opened in 1976 and headed by the son of the country's president, 25-year-old Colonel Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero (1978-1979, already at the end of the regime of the Somoza clan, Colonel Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero served as commander of the National Guard of Nicaragua, later he emigrated to the United States, where he currently resides). Air Force officers were trained at the Nicaraguan Air Force School, and the National Guard Police Academy was established to train police officers.
Sandinistas - at the origins of the modern army of Nicaragua
The main military opponent of the Somoza regime remained the Sandinista National Liberation Front. The history of this left-wing patriotic organization began on July 23, 1961, when in exile, in the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, a group of left-wing radical students created a revolutionary front. Its predecessor and foundation was the Democratic Youth of Nicaragua, founded in March 1959 by the revolutionaries Carlos Fonseca and Silvio Mayorga. Initially, the front was simply called the National Liberation Front, and from July 22, 1962, it began to be called Sandinista, as a sign of the organization's commitment to the ideological and practical legacy of Augusto Sandino. After the death of Carlos Fonseca in 1976, three factions emerged in the SFNO. The "Long People's War" faction united supporters of the combined actions of urban and rural organizations. Urban cells were to recruit supporters among Nicaraguan students and provide funding for the organization, while rural cells were to set up base camps in the highlands and launch a guerrilla war against the government. The "Proletarian Tendency" faction, on the other hand, adhered to the idea of creating a proletarian party and unleashing a guerrilla war in the cities - by the forces of urban workers. The Third Force faction advocated a general popular uprising with the involvement of all forces opposed to the Somoza regime. On March 7, 1979, the United National Leadership of the Sandinista National Liberation Front was formed in Havana, consisting of 9 people. Among them was Daniel Ortega, the current president of Nicaragua, and then a 34-year-old professional revolutionary, behind whom were decades of guerrilla warfare and leadership of the SFLN combat guerrilla formations. The SFLN forces were divided into three main components: 1) mobile partisan detachments of Sandinistas, 2) detachments of "people's militia" staffed by peasants, 3) non-military mass organizations, Civil Protection Committees and Committees for the Protection of Workers. The most combat-ready part of the SFLO was the La Liebre (Hare) detachment, which had the status of a special purpose strike group and was directly subordinate to the SFLN main military command. The detachment was armed with automatic weapons, bazookas and even mortars. The commander of the detachment was Walter Ferreti, nicknamed Tshombe, and his deputy was Carlos Salgado.
At the end of 1978, the fighting units of the Sandinista National Liberation Front stepped up their operations throughout Nicaragua, which prompted the country's leadership to declare a state of siege. But these measures could no longer save the Somoz regime. On May 29, 1979, the FSLN Operation Final began, which culminated in the complete collapse of the Somoza regime. On July 17, 1979, the President of the country of Somoza and other members of his family left Nicaragua, and on July 19, 1979, power in the country officially passed into the hands of the Sandinistas. The victory of the Sandinista revolution marked the beginning of an era of transformational transformations in the life of Nicaragua. This event could not but have an impact on the fate of the country's armed forces. The Nicaraguan National Guard was disbanded. Instead, in July 1979, the Sandinista People's Army of Nicaragua was created, based on yesterday's guerrillas. On the eve of the seizure of power in the country, the SFLO numbered 15 thousand people, including 2 thousand fighters served in detachments formed like ordinary ground units, another 3 thousand people served in partisan detachments and 10 thousand people were the peasant militia - "The police". After coming to power, the Sandinistas carried out a partial demobilization of the partisans. In 1980, universal conscription was introduced for persons over 18 years of age (it was abolished in 1990). A system of military ranks was introduced in the Sandinista People's Army, and a campaign was launched to eradicate illiteracy among the military. Considering that the overwhelming majority of the soldiers were from peasant families in the Nicaraguan province, the elimination of illiteracy was no less important for the Sandinista army than the establishment of the process of combat training. The official decree on the creation of the Sandinista People's Army was adopted on August 22, 1979. Despite the defeat of the Somoz regime, the Sandinistas had to wage an armed struggle against the "contras" - detachments of opponents of the revolution, who made constant attempts to invade Nicaragua from neighboring Honduras. Many former national guardsmen of the Somoza regime, peasants dissatisfied with the policy of the Sandinista government, liberals, representatives of ultra-left groups, also opposed to the Sandinista National Liberation Front, fought in the contras. Among the "contras" there were also many representatives of the Miskito Indians, inhabiting the so-called. "Mosquito Coast" and traditionally opposed to the central Nicaraguan authorities. In many contras units, there were also active officers of the American CIA, whose tasks were to coordinate the actions of the counterrevolutionaries and to train them.
Due to the difficult military-political situation in the country, the size of the Sandinista People's Army was significantly increased. So, in 1983, 7 thousand people served in the ranks of the Sandinista People's Army. Several thousand more people served in the formations of the people's militia, staffed by armed peasants of the border provinces. Following the passage of the Patriotic Military Service Act (1983), a 45-day military training course was mandated for all Nicaraguans between the ages of 18 and 25. The course program included physical training, training in shooting from firearms, throwing a grenade, elementary skills of action as part of infantry units, camouflage and entrenching. In addition to the actions of the Contras, the invasion of Grenada by the US army and US allies was a serious cause for concern of the Sandinista leadership. Thereafter, the Sandinista People's Army was brought to full combat readiness, and its numbers increased even more. By 1985, about 40 thousand people served in the armed forces of Nicaragua, another 20 thousand people served in the Sandinista people's militia.
The Sandinista People's Army was commanded by the President of the country through the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff. In the 1980s. the post of the country's defense minister was held by Daniel Ortega's brother Umberto Ortega. The entire territory of Nicaragua was divided into seven military areas. Several infantry brigades and separate infantry battalions, as well as artillery, anti-aircraft artillery battalions or batteries, mechanized and reconnaissance units, were stationed on the territory of each of the military regions. The country's armed forces included the ground forces, the air force, the naval forces, and the border troops. Light infantry battalions were formed to fight the Contras. In 1983 there were 10 of them, in 1987 the number of battalions was increased to 12, and later - and 13. At the end of 1985, the formation of reserve battalions began. In addition, the Sandinista People's Militia operated in the country. It was self-defense units, staffed by peasants and created during the civil war. The police were armed with small arms. It was in the composition of the people's militia in the course of the war with the Contras that the battalions of light infantry, armed with small arms and specially trained for waging war in the jungle and identifying the rebels - the Contras, were included. So yesterday's partisans and revolutionaries for a fairly short time were forced to form their own counter-partisan units. As for the military training and combat training of the Nicaraguan army, after the Sandinista revolution, new allies - Cuba and the Soviet Union - began to provide main assistance to Nicaragua. Moreover, if the USSR mainly supplied weapons and military equipment, then Cuba was engaged in the direct training of Nicaraguan military personnel.
The gradual normalization of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States after the start of the "perestroika" policy was reflected in the military-political situation in Nicaragua. In 1988, the Soviet Union stopped providing military assistance to this Central American country. In 1989, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega suspended the recruitment of young men for military service. However, subsequent events in Central America once again forced the Sandinista leadership to bring army units on alert - the reason for this was the US Army's intervention in Panama in December 1989, which ended in the capture of Panamanian President General Manuel Noriega and his delivery to the United States. Since 1990, a gradual reduction in the number and reform of the organizational structure of the Sandinista People's Army began. The number of the country's armed forces was reduced from 61 thousand to 41 thousand servicemen. In December 1990, the conscription of Nicaraguans for military service was officially canceled. The cessation of armed confrontation with the Contras contributed to the further reduction of the armed forces of Nicaragua, their reorientation to the service of protecting state borders, fighting crime, helping the population in eliminating the consequences of natural disasters and emergencies. In 1995, the Sandinista People's Army was renamed the National Army of Nicaragua. By this time, the number of the country's armed forces had dropped to 15, 3 thousand people. In 2003, the United States of America offered Nicaragua to destroy all stockpiles of MANPADS obtained in the 1980s. from the Soviet Union.
National Army of Nicaragua in the modern period
Currently, the armed forces of Nicaragua have about 12 thousand troops and consist of the ground forces, the air force and the naval forces. The ground forces, numbering 10,000 soldiers and officers, include: 6 regional commands, 2 infantry detachments, 1 light mechanized brigade, 1 special purpose brigade, 1 military transport regiment, 1 engineer battalion. The ground forces are armed with 62 T-55 tanks, 10 PT-76 tanks, 20 BRDM-2 tanks, 166 armored personnel carriers, 800 field artillery pieces, 371 anti-tank guns, and 607 mortars. The Nicaraguan Air Force serves about 1,200 soldiers and officers. The Air Force includes 15 combat and 16 transport helicopters, 4 An-26 aircraft, 1 An-2 aircraft, 1 T-41 D aircraft and 1 Cessna 404 aircraft.
The Nicaraguan Naval Forces has 800 people, 7 patrol boats and 16 small boats are in service. In June 2011, the Nicaraguan Navy began to form a special battalion of 300 soldiers and officers, whose main task is to combat smuggling and drug trafficking in the territorial waters of Nicaragua. In addition to the armed forces, Nicaragua's paramilitaries include the Nicaraguan National Police. She often performs in conjunction with army units. The history of the modern Nicaraguan police is rooted in the combat path of the Sandinista militia. At present, the country's national police have become less paramilitary than before, when they represented the de facto counterpart of the gendarmerie or internal troops.
Currently, the Nicaraguan National Army is commanded by the President of the country through the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the General Staff. The country's armed forces are recruited by recruiting volunteers for military service under contract. The following military ranks are established in the armed forces of Nicaragua: 1) general of the army, 2) major general, 3) brigadier general (rear admiral), 4) colonel (fleet captain), 5) lieutenant colonel (captain of a frigate), 6) major (corvette captain), 7) captain (fleet lieutenant), 8) first lieutenant (frigate lieutenant), 9) lieutenant (corvette lieutenant), 10) first sergeant, 11) second sergeant, 12) third sergeant, 13) first soldier (first sailor), 14) second soldier (second sailor), 15) soldier (sailor). As you can see, the military ranks of Nicaragua generally resemble the army and naval hierarchy of the neighboring Central American states - Guatemala and El Salvador, whose armies we talked about in the previous article. The training of the officer corps of the Nicaraguan army is carried out at the Military Academy of Nicaragua, the oldest military educational institution in the country. National Police officers are trained at the Walter Mendoza Martinez Police Academy.
After Daniel Ortega returned to power in the country, Russia again became one of the most important military and political partners of Nicaragua. In 2011 alone, 5 engineering vehicles were delivered from the Russian Federation to Nicaragua. By 2013, an ammunition demilitarization plant was built, where industrial explosives are obtained from old shells. It is noteworthy that the Training Center of the Land Forces of Nicaragua, opened in the same April 2013, was named after the outstanding Soviet commander, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov. In August 2014, the Nicaraguan army received 23-mm ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns, a training complex for Mi-17V-5 helicopters and parachutes, worth 15 million dollars. In 2015, with Russian assistance, the Nicaraguan Army's Humanitarian Rescue Unit was equipped with a noble and important mission of rescuing people during natural disasters and eliminating the consequences of emergencies in the country. Nicaragua is currently one of the most important military-strategic partners of the Russian Federation in the New World. In recent years, the pace of military cooperation between the two countries has been growing. For example, in early January 2015, Russian naval warships were able to stay in the territorial waters of Nicaragua, and Russian military aircraft - in the country's airspace. The military-political cooperation between Russia and Nicaragua is very alarming for the United States of America. There are good reasons for concern. The fact is that there is a project for the construction of the Nicaraguan Canal with the participation of Nicaragua, Russia and China. If this happens, the long-standing goal of the Nicaraguan patriots, for which President Jose Santos Zelaya was overthrown, will be realized. However, the United States will most likely try to make every effort to thwart plans to build the Nicaraguan Canal. Scenarios of mass riots, an "orange revolution" in Nicaragua are not ruled out, and in this context, military cooperation with Russia and the possible assistance that Russia can provide to a distant Latin American country is of particular importance for the country. It should be noted that with the return of the Sandinistas to power in Nicaragua, contras detachments became more active in the country, which went over to armed actions against the Nicaraguan government. In fact, supported by the American secret services, the modern "contras" still insist on the resignation of Daniel Ortega and the ouster of the Sandinista from power in the country. Apparently, the American special services are specially "training" a new generation of counter-revolutionary rebels in Nicaragua to destabilize the political situation in the country. The US leadership is well aware that the very likelihood of a successful completion of the construction of the Nicaraguan Canal is connected with the fact whether Daniel Ortega and, in general, the Sandinistas, who are in patriotic and anti-imperialist positions, remain in power.
