The U.S. diplomatic corps found itself without a coherent policy in response to the power struggle between Nicaraguan President Juan Bautista Sacasa and National Guard leader Anastasio Somoza GarcÃÂa during 1936. Sacasa appealed repeatedly to the U.S. minister in Nicaragua, Arthur Bliss Lane, for advice and a statement of support, but the diplomat was instructed to remain neutral. When Somoza emerged as Nicaragua’s dictator, the United States chose to recognize his government in contradiction of treaties signed in 1907 and 1923, signaling a new, noninterventionist phase for U.S. Central American policy.
