Some might say that Nicaragua has been merely a pawn in the US battle against Soviet-Cuban Communist control in Latin America. Relationships between the US and Nicaragua go back to the Gold Rush and Cornelius Vanderbilt’s attempts to expedite the travel between the two coasts of the US. Vanderbilt bought the rights to shuttle fortune-seekers across Nicaragua to avoid their having to cross the width of the United States or travel around Cape Horn. …showed first 75 words of 652 total…

…showed last 75 words of 652 total…In the 1996 election, a former Sandinista general ran and appeared to lead an aboveground campaign promising a peaceful future. Bibliography 1. Serrill, Michael S.. "Improbable Comeback." TIME International Magazine 14 Oct. 1996. 06 Sep. 2000. . 2. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. "Background Notes: Nicaragua." . Sept. 2000. US State Dept.. 25 Sept. 2000. . 3. Jenkins, Tony. Nicaragua and the United States; Years of Conflict. New York: Watts, 1989. 4. Burns, E Bradford. At War in Nicaragua; the Reagan Doctrine and the Politics of Nostalgia. New York, Harper & Row, 1987.