Many roads to liberation: Palestinians of the Sandinista revolution

The Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua stands as a landmark in the history of the Latin American revolutionary left, providing an important point of connection and solidarity for anti-imperialist movements around the world, including the Palestinian struggle. This article documents the largely overlooked involvement of Palestinians in the Sandinista Revolution, not as a long-distance alliance between national liberation struggles but through Nicaragua’s own diasporic Palestinian population. Based on oral history, memoirs, and documentary sources, the article charts the emergence of a young generation of Palestinians in Nicaragua who joined the Sandinista movement from its inception in the early 1960s, forging new ties between Palestine and Latin America in the process. We use this history of diasporic activism to reflect on the complex nature of Palestine’s intersection with Third World liberation movements. Resisting simplified narratives of south-south solidarity, the article highlights Palestinians’ privileged socioeconomic position within countries like Nicaragua, meaning those who participated in the Sandinista Front often did so in spite of their Palestinian ancestry. We also discuss the ways in which the authoritarian turn of the current Sandinista government inflects memories of Palestinian participation in the Revolution of 1979. In a country where support for Palestine is now indelibly associated with a repressive regime, remembering the Palestinian community’s involvement in the resistance of the 1960s and ’70s is not always straightforward.<p></p>