March-April 1957

The Arbenz administration are not the only ones celebrating the rapid collapse of the central command structure of the Colombian military occupation. Nor are they the only ones seeking to preempt any American efforts to take advantage of the situation. In the urban centers of Ciudad de Guatemala and San Salvador, exiles from the occupied territories have long awaited the opportunity to return and liberate their homelands. With these shared interests in mind, many of these groups have received funding and materiel from the Centroamerican state over the last year. One of these groups is the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, or Sandinista National Liberation Front, a broad-tent left wing political party formed in the legacy of Nicaraguan national hero Augusto César Sandino.

Taking advantage of the rapid disintegration of the Colombian central command, the FSLN's armed wing, the Ejército Defensor de la Soberanía Nacional de Nicaragua (Army in Defense of the National Sovereignty of Nicaragua) has crossed the border from Centroamérica into Honduras, making its presence immediately known in the densely populated coastal region facing the Nicaraguan islands. Ostensibly separate from the Centroamerican government, the FSLN and EDSNN work in close consort with the Centroamérican government and military forces, and have expressed their desire to "liberate Nicaragua from the Colombians and establish a new national government that is elected by the free Nicaraguan people".

MAP