Communist leanings and U.S. backed Contras American support for the long rule of the Somoza family had soured relations, and the FSLN government was committed to a Marxist ideology, with many of the leading Sandinista continuing long-standing relationships with the Soviet Union and Cuba. United States President Jimmy Carter, who had cut off aid to Somoza's Nicaragua the previous year, initially hoped that continued American aid to the new government would keep the Sandinistas from forming a doctrinaire Marxist–Leninist government aligned with the Soviet bloc, but the Carter administration aid was minimal, and the Sandinistas turned to Cuban and Eastern European assistance to build a new army of 75,000, including T-55 tanks, heavy artillery and HIND attack helicopters, that made the Sandinista Army more powerful than its neighbors. The Soviets also pledged to provide MiG 21 fighters, but the aircraft were never delivered.
Communist leanings and U.S. backed Contras American support for the long rule of the Somoza family had soured relations, and the FSLN government was committed to a Marxist ideology, with many of the leading Sandinista continuing long-standing relationships with the Soviet Union and Cuba. United States President Jimmy Carter, who had cut off aid to Somoza's Nicaragua th,e previous year, initially hoped that continued American aid ,to the new government would keep the Sandinistas from formi,ng a doctrinaire Marxist–Leninist government aligned with the Soviet bloc, but the Carter administration aid was minimal, and the Sandinistas turned to Cuban and Eastern European assistance to build a new army of 75,000, including T-55 tanks, heavy artillery and HIND attack helicopters, that made the Sandinista Army more powerful than its neighbors. The Soviets also pledged to provide MiG 21 fighters, but the aircraft were never delivered.