The FSLN and the Politics of Legitimation in the Cold War: Sandinista Revolutionaries and Transnational Activism

In 1979, Nicaraguan revolutionaries of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), obtained the international legitimacy needed to defeat the Somoza dictatorship. This chapter examines the FSLN’s campaign for legitimacy in the late 1970s. It argues that activists in the Americas and Europe were at the heart of the Sandinistas’ international strategy. They influenced public opinion, introduced revolutionaries to journalists and civil society groups, and lobbied governments to recognize the FSLN as the legitimate representative of the Nicaraguan people. In doing so, these solidarity activists paved the road towards the Sandinistas’ transformation into a legitimate political actor on the global stage.