Demonstrates how Soviet foreign policy has been the instrument for projecting Moscow's power and influence in Central America, a region that has been in the US sphere of influence since 1898. The author uses Nicaragua as a case study.

Sand's reading of Central American Communist documents reveals Soviet aims for the region. Finally, the book offers a possible strategy for averting Moscow's incursion into the United States' sphere of influence.

The Americas - Soviet strategy and World War III
Nicaragua in Soviet foreign policy, 1959-1979
from revolution to Leninist state
the Sandinistas and human rights
from consolidation to expanded war
Soviet aims unmasked - an appraisal
averting checkmate - "Western strategy" reconsidered.