Nicaragua and Palestine: Solidarity in Action

This NSCAG briefing illustrates the enduring solidarity between the two small nations covering almost 100 years.

It begins with Colombian born Palestinian Coronel Antonio Dahud joining Sandino’s guerrilla army against US occupation of Nicaragua in the late 1920s, and his subsequent journey to Palestine to join the 1936 Palestinian revolt. It continues to this day exemplified by Nicaragua’s case against Germany in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for “facilitating the commission of genocide” in Gaza.

A bond developed between Nicaragua’s Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in the 1960s and 70s, based on mutual solidarity against colonial oppression. After the 1979 Sandinista revolution, Nicaragua became the first Central American country to establish diplomatic relations with Palestine in 1980.

Simultaneously Israel cemented its reputation as a supplier of weaponry to repressive states, including the Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. Israel later supplied arms and training to the US backed contra forces fighting to overthrow the new revolutionary government in Nicaragua.

The briefing also outlines two ways in which solidarity has continued over the past year through Nicaragua’s support for Palestine in the International Court of Justice, and people-to-people sharing of health care policies and medical knowledge.

This includes Palestinian doctors training their Nicaraguan counterparts in trauma surgery and Nicaraguan Ministry of Health sharing information about the country’s free community health care system with Palestinian medical personnel.

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