Third World, Two Fronts: Palestine, Sandinistas, and Mexico’s Middle Power in the Cold War

This article critically examines Mexico’s Cold War foreign policy by exploring the contradictions between its public support for anti-colonial movements abroad and its simultaneous repression of similar demands domestically. By analyzing two emblematic cases—Mexico’s symbolic solidarity with the Palestinian national movement and its institutional involvement in the Nicaraguan Revolution—the study demonstrates how state actions and non-state solidarity groups collectively reinforced Mexico’s image as a committed advocate of Third World causes. This performative international stance, however, effectively obscured and justified authoritarian practices at home. Ultimately, the article argues that Mexico’s Cold War diplomacy was not defined by ideological coherence or neutrality but rather operated through a carefully orchestrated dialectic between international solidarity and domestic control.