HAVANA TIMES – On December 20, 2023, marked 40 years since the departure of the first German work brigade to Nicaragua. Between 1983 and 1990, several thousand people, mostly young, traveled to Nicaragua to express their solidarity with the Sandinista revolution by participating in coffee harvesting, housing construction, health care, and other projects. We wanted to support the Sandinistas in building a free and self-determined society. After the fall of dictator Somoza, the goal was to build a new fair economic system, reshape global relations, and involve solidarity activists in the political process (agrarian reform, housing construction, and improvements in education and health).
We identified largely with these objectives. After many years of military dictatorships and US interventions in Latin America, Nicaragua became a beacon of hope because the Sandinista revolution was an attempt to combine social justice, political pluralism, and humanistic ethics. The work brigades combined practical assistance with political symbolism, specifically their use as human shields against the threat of US intervention. The missions of the brigades were not only a practical criticism of German poli