This book analyses the relationships between late socialist Hungary and its two key political and ideological partners in Latin America in the 1980s: Cuba and Nicaragua. Using the framework of the Cold War international system, it shows how Hungarian leaders viewed Latin America both as a potential market and as a space for East-West competition, while also seeking to expand their room for manoeuvre within the constraints of Soviet expectations.
By focusing on the entanglements between smaller states, Mónika Szente-Varga offers new insights into the functioning of the Cold War beyond superpower dynamics. Structured around eight comparative case studies, Hungary’s Late Cold War Relations with Cuba and Nicaragua examines the exchanges, norms and practices that shaped relations among these countries. In doing this, it argues that Soviet-aligned satellite states were not necessarily passive, but in fact could take advantage of the conflict to further their national interests.
Challenging the notion that Soviet bloc countries were isolated, this book highlights patters of cooperation, competition and rivalry. By drawing on archival sources, newspapers and oral histories, it uncovers a dense web of entanglements between the Soviet bloc and the Global South, making an original contribution to Cold War history.
