A Review of Stephen Kinzer's Blood of

Brothers
Ask a question with any remote political connotations, such as whether organic agriculture can support
high yields or whether income affects happiness, and it becomes a near impossibility for any casual
reader to sort out ust what the truth of the matter is! And this is what happens in cases where some
degree of scientific obectivity, through the use of testable hypotheses and verifiable measurements, is
available to elucidate the issue! "o approach political drama directly e#pecting obectivity, where
science is often of little relevance, is like walking in on a saloon fight and hoping that after they finish
smashing the bar and some faces those involved will give a calm analysis of the deficiencies in their
own arguments! "hankfully, on occasion there does appear a book or two that eschews bias to the best
of the author$s ability and Stephen Kinzer$s Blood of Brothers, a tale of the rise and decline of
Sandinista fortunes in a desperate %icaragua, is one such book! "his account by a mainstream
American reporter covering a communist regime avoids much of the hyperbole and knee&erk polemics
which permeates many 'estern accounts of the communist world!
(t is clear from beginning to end that Kinzer understands the important and positive role played by the
Sandinista rebels for the people of %icaragua! )e asserts that it was the Sandinistas who allowed
%icaragua to escape the troubles many of its neighbor states shared by toppling the Samoza
dictatorship and allowing for free elections, whereas in *uatemala, +l Salvador, and )onduras
elections only served as a fa,ade of popular support for the dictators who were never removed from
power! -ut then Kinzer is no communist and the failings of the Sandinista regime are ust as well
documented as its successes!
"he Sandinistas came to power after having spent over fifteen years in guerilla warfare, he e#plains,
and their e#istence was so shrouded in secrecy that even as they prepared to embark on the successful
overthrow of Samoza and the brutal %ational *uard they hardly appeared as a significant political
factor to ournalists or the general %icaraguan population! "heir success ultimately lay, Kinzer argues,
in their adoption of the Sandinista name, a tribute to Augusto Sandino who led %icaraguan forces
against the imperialist occupation by .nited States marines in the /012s! -y adopting the name of
Sandino their communist program was overshadowed by their promise of national liberation from the
influence of the .nited States and they gained widespread popular support from the people! 3nce
victorious, however, conflicts of belief arose almost immediately between the new Sandinista regime
and the population they now governed! )aving come to power on the promise of national liberation,
their efforts to reorganize the economy along the model of other e#tant communist countries and their
atheistic contempt for the 4atholic 4hurch drew resistance from a deeply religious and traditional
country, much of it poor, rural, and uneducated! -ut at his point, as Sandinista programs of universal
education and e#panded healthcare made temporary forward movement, there were plenty of
supporters to challenge these detractors!
'hat Kinzer goes on to illustrate is the advent of the civil war with the contra forces, supplied and
trained by the .nited States, and the consequent actions of the Sandinista government to ail dissenters,
forcibly migrate indigenous populations, and restrict freedom of the press! )e documents with equal
care the Sandinista mismanagement of the economy and the genocidal actions of the Reagan
administration, bent on securing 5atin America for .nited States interest even if it should mean the
annihilation of the %icaraguan people and the support of sadistic dictators! Kinzer$s writing is the
epitome of ournalistic honesty that$s only goal is to reveal the plights and tragedies manifest in the
wrinkles of grief, the scars, and the tears of human faces!
)owever, it would not be true to say he never errors! 6rom time to time he does make broad political
statements such as that the Sandinistas were pursuing 7economic policies that had already failed in
every country on earth where they had been tried!8 As 4homsky notes, this commonly held belief
demands scrutiny! "he economic failures of communist countries are often compared to the
overwhelming success of countries like the .nited States, 6rance, and +ngland, but this approach
fundamentally undermines any argument! "o compare the Soviet economy at its collapse with the
American economy, which was far more developed than Russia$s in the late /092s when the last
e#perimentation with open markets was abandoned there, would be a fallacious e#ercise! )owever, one
may grant Kinzer the benefit of the doubt that he was talking mostly of the agrarian sector, which
would have been most of the %icaraguan economy, and which was indeed a massive failure in
communist countries, the institution of state run communes in the .!S!S!R! turning it from a grain
e#porter to a grain importer! At the very least, these blanket statements are few and far between, rarely
butting into the deft craftsmanship of Kinzer$s historical narrative! "here are other minor issues, such
as his crediting %icaraguan economic collapse almost entirely to the Sandinista state when .!S!
pressure played a maor role in foreign aid and his seeming sympathy for La Prensa, a 4(A funded
newspaper supportive of the contra movement against the government and actively censored by the
Sandinistas! A similar newspaper supportive of an attacking military in any other country at war would
hardly be allowed to e#ist! 3ne can, however, understand the displeasure of a ournalist at the
restrictions place on any newspaper!
'hatever its flaws, the book$s achievements in chronicling another chapter of %icaragua$s chaotic
history deserves attention! "he prose flows in short, clear sentences as one would e#pect of a news
correspondent and this is all the better as it allows no barrier to the progress of human drama! :age by
page the desire to know the fate of the %icaraguan people builds to become as into#icating as the
ineluctable mysteries of a )itchcock film!