Catalogue Number
NMLH.1994.168.483
Object Name
Poster
Title
Nicaragua Must Survive poster
People
Ronald Reagan
Events
Nicaraguan Revolution
Date
1980
Description
Large black and white poster. Top left in black writing "NICARAGUA MUST SURVIVE." Bottom of the poster says "DEFENDING OUR HOPES" and "A Young communist poster. 16 St John Street. London EC1. 01-251 4406". The background and main focus of the poster is a photograph of a young Nicaraguan woman smiling, holding a gun, and wearing military style clothing. There is a van and blurred figures behind her. The poster gives no indication to her name or story, and whether she consented to the photo is unknown. Underneath her photograph it names the photographer Jenny Matthews and says "Typeset and printed by Calvert's press (TU) Workers' Co-operative 01-739-1474." The poster is a display of international solidarity, with the British Communist Party displaying support with the Nicaraguan people. Nicaragua was under Spanish rule until 1821, and was occuped by America from 1909 to 1933. The Sandinista National Liberation Front is a socialist political party which took over in 1979, overthrowing the Somoza Dynasty during the Nicaraguan Revolution. The Somoza family were a hereditary dictatorship. The U.S military were involved in Nicaragua by providing aid, suspending the aid, and then the Reagan Administration and the C.I.A funded rebel groups with money, arms and training - these people were remnants of the previous dictatorship and were branded "counter-revolutionary" which was shortened to contras. They engaged in a systematic campaign of terror among the rural Nicaraguan population to disrupt the social reform projects of the Sandinistas. This de-stabilisation was funded by America. and meant many poorer Nicaraguans were murdered, raped and tortured. The revolution became a proxy war of the Cold War. In 1984, the International Court of Justice judged that the United States Government had been in violation of International law when it supported the Contras. The contras used terrorist tactics and committed an array of human rights violations. The SFLN were backed by the Soviet Union - who committed human rights violations, including the mistreatment of the Miskito people and mass executions. The murder, torture, de-stabilisation and imperial nature of the international presence in Nicaragua led to international solidarity, including the British Communist Party. Reverse inscription says "YCL Nicaragua Poster."
