Nicaraguan Armed Forces

Nicaraguan Armed Forces
Fuerzas Armadas de Nicaragua (Spanish)
MottoPatria y Libertad (English: "Fatherland and Freedom")
Founded1925; 101 years ago (1925) (as National Guard)
2 September 1979; 46 years ago (1979-09-02)
Current form1995; 31 years ago (1995)
Service branches
HeadquartersManagua
Websiteejercito.mil.ni
Leadership
Supreme Commanders-in-ChiefsDaniel Ortega
Rosario Murillo
Minister of DefenseRosa Adelina Barahona Castro
Commander-in-Chief of the ArmyJulio César Avilés Castillo
Personnel
Military age18 years of age
ConscriptionNo
Active personnel45,000[1]
Expenditure
Budget$32 million[2]
Percent of GDP0.9% (2012 est.)[3]
Industry
Domestic suppliersIndustria Militar Coronel Santos López
Foreign suppliers China
 Cuba
 Czech Republic
 India
 Indonesia
 Iran
 North Korea
 Mexico
 Poland
 Russia
 Ukraine
 Vietnam
Former:
Israel
Taiwan
Related articles
HistoryNicaraguan Revolution
RanksNicaragua military ranks

The Nicaraguan Armed Forces (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas de Nicaragua) are the military forces of Nicaragua. There are three branches: the Navy, the Army, and Air Force.

History

Nicaraguan military members train during a visit by the U.S. Navy

National Guard, 1925–1979

Main article: National Guard (Nicaragua)

The long years of strife between the liberal and conservative political factions and the existence of private armies led the United States to sponsor the National Guard as an apolitical institution to assume all military and police functions in Nicaragua.[4] The marines provided the training, but their efforts were complicated by a guerrilla movement led by Augusto César Sandino.[4] Sandino opposed the United States-backed military force, which was composed mostly of his political enemies, and continued to resist the marines and the fledgling National Guard from a stronghold in the mountainous areas of northern Nicaragua.[4]

Upon the advent of the United States Good Neighbor Policy in 1933, the marines withdrew.[4] Having reached a strength of about 3,000 by the mid-1930s, the guard was organized into company units, although the Presidential Guard component approached battalion size.[4] Despite hopes for an apolitical force, however, the National Guard soon became the personal tool of the Somoza dynasty.[4] Expanded to more than 10,000 during the civil war of 1978–79, the guard consisted of a reinforced battalion as its primary tactical unit, a Presidential Guard battalion, a mechanized company, an engineer battalion, artillery and antiaircraft batteries, and one security company in each of the country's sixteen departments.[4]

The National Guard's main arms were rifles and machine guns, later augmented by antiaircraft guns and mortars.[4] Although Nicaragua was not actively involved in World War II, it qualified for United States Lend-Lease military aid in exchange for U.S. base facilities at Corinto.[4] Additional shipments of small arms and transportation and communication equipment followed, as well as some training and light transport aircraft.[4]

United States military aid to the National Guard continued under the Rio de Janeiro Treaty of Mutual Defense (1947), but stopped in 1976 after relations with the administration of Anastasio Somoza Debayle (1967–72, 1974–79) worsened.[4] Some United States equipment of World War II vintage was also purchased from other countries—Staghound armored cars and M4 Sherman medium tanks from Israel and F-51 Mustang fighter aircraft from Sweden.[4] Except for minor frontier skirmishes with Honduras in 1957 over a border dispute, the National Guard was not involved in any conflict with its neighbors.[4] The guard's domestic power, however, gradually broadened to embrace not only its original internal security and police functions but also control over customs, telecommunications, port facilities, radio broadcasting, the merchant marine, and civil aviation.[4]

Military under the Sandinista government, 1979–1990

Main article: Sandinista Popular Army
See also: FSLN

To replace the National Guard, the Sandinistas established a new national army, the Sandinista Popular Army (Ejército Popular Sandinista—EPS), and a police force, the Sandinista Police (Policía Sandinista).[5] These two groups, contrary to the original Puntarenas Pact were controlled by the Sandinistas and trained by personnel from Cuba, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union.[5] Opposition to the overwhelming FSLN influence in the security forces did not surface until 1980.[5]

Meanwhile, the EPS developed, with support from Cuba and the Soviet Union, into the largest and best equipped military force in Central America.[5] Simultaneously, with the introduction of Patriotic Military Service (1983), a conscription system, EPS forces reached approximately 80,000 active-duty members by 1990.[5] Patriotic Military Service required males, ranging in age from seventeen to twenty-six, to serve four years in the military (two years active duty and two years in the reserves).[6] This conscription system did not require women to enlist; however, they could do so voluntarily.[6]

The Patriotic Military Service system was an extremely unpopular initiative taken by the Sandinista government.[6] Draft dodging was rampant as young men fled the country in order to avoid conscription.[6] Additionally, massive demonstrations and antidraft protests plagued the country.[6] The unpopularity of the draft was believed to have been a large factor in the Sandinista election defeat in 1990.[6]

The Armed Forces performed very well in terms of human rights under the Sandinistas. Upon visiting Nicaragua, human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Americas Watch, and the Human Rights Commission of the Organization of American States found “little evidence of the extreme types of human rights violations so common under…US-backed regimes.”[7] These organizations were also unable to find any examples of state-sponsored death squads, use of physical torture propagated by the state, and very few disappearances/executions.[7] Although the investigations led by human rights organizations excluded unruly soldiers acting violently on their own accord. In this context, it was discovered that the government's “usual response…was to investigate and discipline those responsible.”[7]

Nicaraguan Armed Forces, 1990–1995

Under an agreement between President-elect Chamorro of the National Opposition Union (Unión Nacional Oppositora – UNO) and the defeated FSLN party, General Humberto Ortega, former defense minister and commander in chief of the EPS under the Sandinistas, remained at the head of the armed forces.[8] By a law that took effect in April 1990, the EPS became subordinate to President Chamorro as commander in chief.[8] Chamorro also retained the Ministry of Defense portfolio.[8]

Chamorro's authority over the EPS was very limited.[8] There were no Ministry of Defense offices and no vice ministers to shape national defense policies or exercise civilian control over the armed forces.[8] Under the Law of Military Organization of the Sandinista Popular Army enacted just before Chamorro's election victory, Humberto Ortega retained authority over promotions, military construction, and force deployments.[8] He contracted for weapons procurement and drafted the military budget presented to the government.[8] Only an overall budget had to be submitted to the legislature, thus avoiding a line-item review by the National Assembly.[8]

Sandinista officers remained at the head of all general staff directorates and military regions.[8] The chief of the army, Major General Joaquín Cuadra Lacayo, continued in his pre-Chamorro position.[8] Facing domestic pressure to remove Humberto Ortega and the risk of curtailment of United States aid as long as Sandinistas remained in control of the armed forces, Chamorro announced that Ortega would be replaced in 1994.[8] Ortega challenged her authority to relieve him and reiterated his intention to remain at the head of the EPS until the army reform program was completed in 1997.[8] This date was later advanced to the first half of 1995.[8]

The army reform measures were launched with deep cuts in personnel strengths, the abolition of conscription, and disbanding of the militia.[8] The size of the army declined from a peak strength of 97,000 troops to an estimated 15,200 in 1993, accomplished by voluntary discharges and forced retirements.[8] Under the Sandinistas, the army general staff embodied numerous branches and directorates artillery, combat readiness, communications, Frontier Guards, military construction, intelligence, counterintelligence, training, operations, organization and mobilization, personnel, and logistics.[8] Most of these bodies appear to have been retained, although they have been trimmed and reorganized.[8] The Nicaraguan Air Force and Navy were also subordinate to the army general staff.[8]

Since 1990 the mission of the EPS has been to ensure the security of the national borders and to deal with internal disturbances.[8] Its primary task has been to prevent disorder and violence wrought by armed bands of former Contra and Sandinista soldiers.[8]

In November and December 1992, the EPS was deployed alongside the National Police to prevent violence during demonstrations by the National Workers' Front for improved pay and benefits.[8] The EPS and the Frontier Guards also assist the police in narcotics control.[8] A small EPS contingent works alongside demobilized Contras in a Special Disarmament Brigade to reduce the arsenal of weapons in civilian hands.[8]

National Army of Nicaragua, 1995–2006

In 1995, the National Army of Nicaragua (Ejército de Nicaragua), having never previously been fully apolitical evolved, through constitutional reforms, into a more traditional Central American military.[9] As ties to the FSLN weakened, military leaders turned over power regularly without “fuss,” refrained from becoming involved in the political realm, and the overall size of the military significantly decreased.[9]

National Army of Nicaragua, 2006–present

Under President Ortega, multiple changes have occurred strengthening FSLN control over the national military. During 2010, the national assembly “passed changes that allowed [the] politicization of the country’s security forces, while expanding these agencies’ domestic powers.”[10] This change effectively erased the shift towards being an apolitical force from 1995 to 2006. Then in 2014, President Ortega supported a constitutional reform removing the defense and governance ministries “from the security forces’ chain of command, reducing oversight and leaving [President] Ortega in charge of appointing military and police commanders.”[11] This action enhanced President Ortega’s political and personal control over the nation’s security forces and personnel.

President Ortega has also strengthened his ability to control the general population through two different national security initiatives. In 2015, the Sovereign Security Law, “erased barriers between internal and external security, and gave the Ortega government wide discretion to use coercion against any person or entity deemed a threat to the state, society, or economy.”[11] The Sovereign Security Law provided the Ortega administration the right to infringe upon the basic human rights protected in the Nicaraguan constitution, if deemed necessary. Also, CPCs “have been replaced by Family, Community, and Life Cabinets (Gabinetes).”[11] These cabinets are linked to the police and provide the government with a means to keep communities under constant surveillance.[11]

In the contemporary period, multiple changes have taken place in the military regarding purpose and structure. The military currently serves as a force for national defense, public security, civil defense, and national development. In 2014, an expansion of institutional powers granted the military with the opportunity for greater involvement in international security initiatives.[9] The National Army of Nicaragua also has the highest public approval ratings of any Nicaraguan institution.[9]

Equipment

Small arms

Name Image Caliber Type Origin Notes
Pistols
PM[12] 9x18mm Semi-automatic pistol Soviet Union
IWI Jericho 941[13] 9x19mm Semi-automatic pistol Israel
M1911[14] .45 ACP Semi-automatic pistol United States
Smith & Wesson Model 10[15] .38 Special Revolver United States
Submachine guns
Uzi[12] 9×19mm Submachine gun Israel
Sa 23[12] 9×19mm Submachine gun Czechoslovakia
Heckler & Koch MP5[16] 9×19mm Submachine gun Germany
Madsen M-50[12] 9×19mm Submachine gun Denmark
Rifles
AK[17] 7.62×39mm Assault rifle Soviet Union
AKM[12] 7.62×39mm Assault rifle Soviet Union
AK-63[18] 7.62×39mm Assault rifle Hungary
PM md. 63 5.45×39mm Assault rifle Romania
IMI Galil[12] 5.56×45mm Assault rifle Israel
M16[19] 5.56×45mm Assault rifle United States
T65 5.56×45mm Assault rifle China
ArmaLite AR-10[20] 7.62×51mm Battle rifle United States
Sniper rifles
SVD[12] 7.62×54mmR DMR
Sniper rifle 		Soviet Union
Machine guns
RPD[12] 7.62×39mm Light machine gun Soviet Union
RPK[12] 7.62×39mm Squad automatic weapon Soviet Union
M60[12] 7.62×51mm GPMG United States
KPV 14.5×114mm Heavy machine gun Soviet Union
DShK[12] 12.7×108mm Heavy machine gun Soviet Union
Browning M2[12] .50 BMG Heavy machine gun United States
Rocket propelled grenade launchers
RPG-7[12] 40mm Rocket-propelled grenade Soviet Union
RPG-26 72.5mm Rocket-propelled grenade Soviet Union
Grenade launchers
AGS-17[12] 30×29mm Automatic grenade launcher Soviet Union
M79[12] 40x46mm Automatic grenade launcher United States

Anti-tank weapons

Name Image Type Origin Caliber Notes
M18[21] Recoilless rifle United States 57mm
M40A1[22] Recoilless rifle United States 105mm
B-10[23] Recoilless rifle Soviet Union 82mm
9M14 Malyutka[24] Anti-tank weapon Soviet Union

Tanks

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
T-54/55[25] Main Battle Tank Soviet Union 136
  • 20 T-54
  • 116 T-55
T-72B1MS[25] Main Battle Tank Soviet Union 50

Infantry fighting vehicles

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
BMP-1[25] Infantry fighting vehicle Soviet Union 17

Scout cars

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
BRDM-2[25] Amphibious Scout car Soviet Union 20

Armored personnel carriers

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
BTR-152[25] Armored personnel carrier Soviet Union 102
BTR-60[25] Armored personnel carrier Soviet Union 60
BTR-70M[25] Armored personnel carrier Soviet Union 4
GAZ-2330 Tigr[26] Infantry Mobility Vehicle Russia Unknown

Artillery tractors

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
BTS-4 Armored tractor Soviet Union Unknown

Command Post Vehicles

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
BTR-50PU[25] Command vehicle Soviet Union 1

Engineering and special vehicles

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
IMR-1 Combat engineering vehicle Soviet Union Unknown
IMR Zhuk Combat engineering vehicle Soviet Union Unknown
TRM-80 Tank Repair Shop Soviet Union Unknown
MRM-M3 Tank Repair Shop Soviet Union Unknown
ARS-14 Decontamination vehicle Soviet Union 4
BRDM-2RHK Armoured chemical reconnaissance vehicle Soviet Union 2

Unmanned vehicles

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
MV-4 Demining Croatia Unknown

Utility vehicles

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
UAZ-469[27] Utility vehicle Soviet Union Unknown
Trucks
GAZ-66 Utility truck Soviet Union Unknown
Ural-4320 Utility truck Soviet Union Unknown
IFA W50 Utility truck East Germany Unknown
M35[28] Utility truck United States Unknown
M54[28] Utility truck United States Unknown

Artillery

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
Rocket artillery
BM-21 Grad[25] Multiple rocket launcher Soviet Union 18
9P132 Grad-P[25] Multiple rocket launcher Soviet Union 100
Type 63[29] Multiple rocket launcher China 33
Mortars
M-160[25] Mortar Soviet Union 4
BM-37[30] Mortar Soviet Union 579
PM-41 Mortar Soviet Union Unknown
PM-43[29] Mortar Soviet Union 24
M2 Mortar United States 4
Field artillery
ZiS-2[31] Anti-tank gun Soviet Union 174
ZiS-3[25] Field gun Soviet Union 83
BS-3[25] Field gun Soviet Union 24
D-20[23] Howitzer Soviet Union 42
D-30[32] Howitzer Soviet Union 12
M101A1 Howitzer United States 12

Man-portable air-defense systems

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
9K32 Strela-2[25] MANPADS Soviet Union 1,600
9K34 Strela-3[33] MANPADS Soviet Union 117
9K310 Igla-1 MANPADS Soviet Union 360

Towed anti-aircraft guns

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
ZPU[34] Anti-aircraft gun Soviet Union Unknown
ZU-23-2[5] Autocannon Soviet Union 18
M1A1[5] Autocannon Sweden
United States 		8

Boats

Name Image Type Origin Quantity Notes
BMK-130[25] Motorboat Soviet Union Unknown

Historical equipment

Sidearms

Rifles

Submachine gun

Machine guns

Anti tank weapons

Tanks

Tankettes

Armored personnel carriers

Utility vehicles

Field artillery

Mortars

Anti-aircraft artillery

SAM system

Personnel

Military careers

The Nicaraguan military, Fuerzas Armadas de Nicaragua, exists in a top-down hierarchy and is partitioned into multiple ranks. In order to become a Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel or Colonel, a candidate must attend Staff College (ESEM).[52] Alternatively, one may begin a military career as a Lieutenant, with the opportunity for advancement, by obtaining a bachelor's degree in Military Sciences.[53] Individuals may also attend Officers School, to gain the rank of Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, and General Staff or Army General.[52]

The Nicaraguan navy offers training other than that offered through ESEM, a bachelor's degree in Military Sciences, and Officers School. Candidates seeking to advance in the Nicaraguan navy may attend navy-specific training to become Lieutenant Commanders, Commanders, Captains, fleet Admirals, Generals, Major Generals and Generals of the Army.[52]

Despite offering advancement through ESEM training, Officers School, and a bachelor's degree in Military Sciences, most high-ranking officers choose to receive their formal military education from training opportunities in Mexico, Spain, France, China, Russia, and Cuba.[54]

Military size (manpower)

Nicaragua has a small military force with only 9,412 members as of 2010. This number includes 1,500 officers (16%), 302 non-commissioned officers (3%), and 7,610 troops (81%).[55] This relatively small armed force is supported by an extremely small $41 million-dollar defense budget (2010).[56] Such a small military budget has resulted in severe deficiencies in terms of manpower (i.e. cannot supply and employ) and modern weaponry.[57] This budget represents approximately 2.84% of the country's overall expenditures.[58]

References

  1. ^ "Nicaragua Armed Forces". 25 July 2006.
  2. ^ CIA.gov Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Rank Order – Military expenditures – dollar figure
  3. ^ "NationMaster – Nicaraguan Military statistics".
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Tartter, Jean R. "National Guard, 1927-79". In Merrill 1994, pp. 195–197.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Bras, Marisabel. "Consolidation of the Revolution, 1979-80". In Merrill 1994, p. 41.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Tartter, Jean R. "Sandinista People's Army, 1979-90". In Merrill 1994, p. 199.
  7. ^ a b c Walker, Thomas W. (1985). Nicaragua: The First Five Years. New York: Praeger Publishers. p. 114.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Tartter, Jean R. "Armed forces after 1990". In Merrill 1994, pp. 207–210.
  9. ^ a b c d Millett, Richard L. (2018). "Nicaragua: An Uncertain Future". In Kline, Harvey F.; Wade, Christine J.; Wiarda, Howard J. (eds.). Latin American Politics and Development (Ninth ed.). New York: Westview Press. p. 387.
  10. ^ Thaler, Kai M. (April 2017). "Nicaragua: A Return to Caudillismo". Journal of Democracy. 28 (2): 159. doi:10.1353/jod.2017.0032. S2CID 152214826 – via Project Muse.
  11. ^ a b c d Thaler, Kai M. (April 2017). "Nicaragua: A Return to Caudillismo". Journal of Democracy. 28 (2): 160. doi:10.1353/jod.2017.0032. S2CID 152214826 – via Project Muse.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Jones, Richard (2009). Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009–2010. Jane's Information Group. pp. 896, 897, 899. ISBN 978-0-7106-2869-5.
  13. ^ "The Deadly Arsenal Used by the Paramilitary in Nicaragua - Havana Times". 14 February 2019.
  14. ^ "Latin American Light Weapons National Inventories". fas.org. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
  15. ^ "Back from Nicaragua!". 28 May 2014.
  16. ^ Jones & Ness 2009, p. 514.
  17. ^ Jurado, Carlos Caballero (1990). Central American Wars 1959–89. Men-at-Arms 221. London: Osprey Publishing. pp. 20, 45. ISBN 9780850459456.
  18. ^ https://odin.tradoc.army.mil/WEG/Asset/a73a2393695df4d74a28434bdee9c3f3
  19. ^ SALW Guide (2021).
  20. ^ Pikula, page 45
  21. ^ Gander, Terry J.; Cutshaw, Charles Q., eds. (2001). Jane's Infantry Weapons 2001/2002 (27th ed.). Coulsdon: Jane's Information Group. ISBN 978-0-71062-317-1.
  22. ^ Military Balance 2016, p. 399.
  23. ^ a b Military Balance 2016, p. 406.
  24. ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies (2024). "Chapter Seven: Latin America and the Caribbean". The Military Balance. 124 (1): 396–457. doi:10.1080/04597222.2024.2298595. ISSN 0459-7222. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
  25. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p International Institute for Strategic Studies (13 February 2024). The Military Balance 2024 (1st ed.). Routledge. p. 444. ISBN 978-1032780047.
  26. ^ "Russia to supply armored vehicles to Nicaragua". Archived from the original on 7 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  27. ^ Foss & Gander 1999, p. 731.
  28. ^ a b "Annex C Appendix II". US Army Technical Manual of Foreign Military Sales: Battlefield Damage Assessment and Repair (PDF). Washington, D.C. 18 December 1987. p. 262. TM 9-2320-356-BD. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 September 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2013.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  29. ^ a b The Military Balance 2016, p. 406.
  30. ^ "82 mm M-37 mortar". Jane's Infantry Weapons 2002–2003. 2001. pp. 3692–3693.
  31. ^ Military Balance 2016, p. 430.
  32. ^ The Military Balance 2020, p. 430.
  33. ^ IISS 2024, p. 443.
  34. ^ Cullen & Foss 1992, p. 212.
  35. ^ Jeremy Kuzmarov (2012). Modernizing Repression: Police Training and Nation Building in the American Century. Univ of Massachusetts Press. pp. 48–. ISBN 978-1-55849-917-1.
  36. ^ Ball 2011, p. 267.
  37. ^ Ball 2011, p. 266.
  38. ^ "Communist Military Aid to Nicaragua:Trends and Implications" (PDF). CIA.gov. 8 December 1987. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  39. ^ Pegler 2010, p. 56.
  40. ^ Фотофакт // «Известия», № 140 (21217) от 20 мая 1985. Стр. 4
  41. ^ Jowett 2018.
  42. ^ Maxim guns in Honduras (U.S. Library of Congress).
  43. ^ Bickel, Keith B. (12 January 2001). Mars Learning: The Marine Corps' Development Of Small Wars Doctrine, 1915–1940 (1st ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 188. ISBN 978-0-429-96759-7.
  44. ^ Fencl, Jiří (1991). "Nejprodávanější československá zbraň" (in Czech). Militaria, Elka Press. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  45. ^ Lorain 1979, p. 19.
  46. ^ English 1984, pp. 257−258.
  47. ^ "Ребята с заднего двора | Еженедельник «Военно-промышленный курьер»". Archived from the original on 12 November 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2016.
  48. ^ O'Halloran & Foss 2002, p. 73.
  49. ^ Cullen & Foss 1996, p. 36.
  50. ^ Kinzer, Stephen (23 July 1987). "Sandinistas report capture of RedEye Missile". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  51. ^ O'Halloran & Foss 2002, p. 147.
  52. ^ a b c De León-Escribano 2011, p. 12.
  53. ^ De León-Escribano 2011, p. 11.
  54. ^ Premo, Daniel L. (March 1996). "The 'New' Nicaraguan Military: Sandinista To The 'Corps'". MACLAS Latin American Essays. 16: 117 – via Gale Group.
  55. ^ De León-Escribano 2011, p. 16.
  56. ^ De León-Escribano 2011, p. 17.
  57. ^ De León-Escribano 2011, p. 18.
  58. ^ De León-Escribano 2011, p. 37.

Works cited

allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_Nicaragua