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Contras
In the history of Nicaragua, the Contras (Spanish: ''La contrarrevolución'', the counter-revolution) were the right-wing militias who waged anti-communist guerilla warfare (1979–1990) against the Marxist governments of the Sandinista National Liberation Front and the Junta of National Reconstruction, which came to power after the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979. Months after the political dynasty (1936–1979) of the Somoza family lost the Nicaraguan Revolution to the Sandinistas, the US government sponsored the remaining national-guard soldiers and Somocista politicians of the losing side as ''la Contra'', the right-wing counter-revolution. The American military assistance and financial aid granted the Contras a measure of political credibility and military utility as anti-communist militias useful to U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. In 1986, consequent to complaints of the Contras' regular violation of the human rights of Nicaraguan civilians, the Boland Ame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
FSLN
The Sandinista National Liberation Front (, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto César Sandino, who led the Nicaraguan resistance against the United States occupation of Nicaragua in the 1930s.History Matter"To Abolish the Monroe Doctrine": Proclamation from Augusto César SandinoRetrieved 29/09/12 The FSLN overthrew Anastasio Somoza Debayle in the 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution, ending the Somoza dynasty, and established a revolutionary government in its place. Having seized power, the Sandinistas ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as part of a Junta of National Reconstruction. Following the resignation of centrist members from this Junta, the FSLN took exclusive power in March 1981. They instituted literacy programs, nationalization, land reform, and devoted significant resources to healthcare, but came under international criticism for human rights abuses, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States And State-sponsored Terrorism
The United States has at various times in recent history provided support to terrorist and paramilitary organizations around the world. It has also provided assistance to numerous authoritarian regimes that have used state terrorism as a tool of repression. American support for terrorists has been prominent in Latin America and the Middle East. From 1981 to 1991, the United States Iran–Contra affair, provided weapons, training, and extensive financial and logistical support to the Contras, Contra rebels in Nicaragua, who used terror tactics in their fight against the Nicaraguan government. At various points the United States also provided training, arms, and funds to terrorists among Cuban exiles, such as Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles. Various reasons have been given to try to justify this support. These include destabilizing political movements that might have aligned with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, including popular democratic and socialist movements. Such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enrique Bermúdez
Enrique Bermúdez Varela (December 11, 1932 – February 16, 1991), known as Comandante 380, was a Nicaraguan soldier and rebel who founded and commanded the Nicaraguan Contras. In this capacity, he became a central global figure in one of the most prominent conflicts of the Cold War. Bermúdez founded the largest Contra army that fought against Nicaragua's Sandinista government; in the war, the Contras were supported by the US and the Sandinistas were supported by the Soviet Union and Cuba. From 1979 until the end of the military conflict in 1990, Bermudez was the Contras' top military commander. In addition to being responsible for all of the Contras' military operations, Bermúdez ultimately helped manage the Contras' transition to an opposition political party in the early 1990s after the second election in post-Somoza Nicaragua ended in defeat for the Sandinistas. The first election, held in 1984 with alleged severe irregularities, resulted in a victory for the Daniel Ortega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contra War
The Nicaraguan Revolution () began with rising opposition to the Somoza family, Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the ouster of the dictatorship in 1978–79, and fighting between the government and the Contras from 1981 to 1990. The revolution revealed the country as one of the major proxy war battlegrounds of the Cold War. The initial overthrow of the Somoza dictatorial regime in 1978–79 cost many lives, and the Contra War of the 1980s took tens of thousands more and was the subject of fierce international debate. Because of the political turmoil, failing economy, and limited government influence, during the 1980s both the Sandinista National Liberation Front, FSLN (a Left-wing politics, leftist collection of political parties) and the Contras (a right-wing politics, rightist collection of counter-revolutionary groups) received aid from the Soviet Union and the United States, respectively. A peace process started with the Sapoá Accords in 1988 and the Contra War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicaraguan Revolution
The Nicaraguan Revolution () began with rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the ouster of the dictatorship in 1978–79, and fighting between the government and the Contras from 1981 to 1990. The revolution revealed the country as one of the major proxy war battlegrounds of the Cold War. The initial overthrow of the Somoza dictatorial regime in 1978–79 cost many lives, and the Contra War of the 1980s took tens of thousands more and was the subject of fierce international debate. Because of the political turmoil, failing economy, and limited government influence, during the 1980s both the FSLN (a leftist collection of political parties) and the Contras (a rightist collection of counter-revolutionary groups) received aid from the Soviet Union and the United States, respectively. A peace process started with the Sapoá Accords in 1988 and the Contra War ended after the signing of the Tela Accord in 1989 and the demobilization of the FSLN ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicaragua
Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America after Guatemala and Honduras. Nicaragua is bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean and shares maritime borders with El Salvador to the west and Colombia to the east. The country's largest city and national capital is Managua, the List of largest cities in Central America#Largest cities proper, fourth-largest city in Central America, with a population of 1,055,247 as of 2020. Nicaragua is known as "the breadbasket of Central America" due to having the most fertile soil and arable land in all of Central America. Nicaragua's multiethnic population includes people of mestizo, indigenous, European, and African heritage. The country's most spoken language is Spanish language, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boland Amendment
The Boland Amendment is a term describing a series of U.S. legislative amendments passed between 1982 and 1986, aimed at limiting U.S. government assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua. The Reagan Administration supplied funding and military training to the Contras until revelations of human rights abuses led United States Congress, Congress to cut off aid through the Boland Amendment. The Boland Amendment was passed over a series of five legislative amendments that increasingly restricted forms of aids and the source of the aid. The most significant effect of the Boland Amendment was the Iran–Contra affair, during which the Reagan Administration circumvented the Amendment in order to continue supplying arms to the Contras. This was achieved by funneling money to the Contras that was generated by secret arms sales to Iran. When revealed to the public, Congress attempted to prosecute John Poindexter, Vice Admiral John M. Poindexter, United States Navy, U.S. Navy (USN), and his d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Charly
Operation Charly () was allegedly the code-name given to a program during the 1970s and 1980s undertaken by the junta in Argentina with the objective of providing military and counterinsurgency assistance to right-wing dictatorships and insurgents in Central America. According to Noam Chomsky, the operation was either headed by the Argentine military with the agreement of the United States Department of Defense, or was led by the U.S. and used the Argentinians as a proxy. The exportation of the "Argentine" method to Central America Argentina's military involvement in Central America began during the Nicaraguan Revolution between 1977 and 1979, when Argentina began supporting the Somoza family regime in Nicaragua in its fight against the Sandinista Front. Argentina supported the Somoza dictatorship until its overthrow by the Sandinistas in July 1979. In November 1979, before the 13th Conference of American Armies in Bogotá, Colombia, junta leader General Roberto Eduardo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolfo Calero
Adolfo Calero Portocarrero (December 22, 1931 – June 2, 2012) was a Nicaraguan businessman and the leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest rebel group of the Contras, opposing the Sandinista government. Calero was responsible for managing the bank accounts into which money was deposited and then used to buy supplies and arms for the Contras. He was brought to testify at hearings of the U.S. Congress in May 1987. Early life and education Calero was born on December 22, 1931, in Managua, to Adolfo Calero Orozco (1899–1980) and María Portocarrero (1911–1944), who had married in 1927. The oldest of four children, he attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, where he graduated in 1953, and Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. In Managua, he managed the Coca-Cola bottling plant. Career Calero was associated with the Conservative Party of Nicaragua. From 1963, he was an informer for the CIA. Before the 1979 overthrow of the govern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anti-communist
Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in an intense rivalry. Anti-communism has been an element of many movements and different political positions across the political spectrum, including anarchism, centrism, conservatism, fascism, liberalism, nationalism, social democracy, socialism, leftism, and libertarianism, as well as broad movements #Evasion of censorship, resisting communist governance. Anti-communism has also been expressed by #Religions, several religious groups, and in art and #Literature, literature. The first organization which was specifically dedicated to opposing communism was the Russian White movement, which fought in the Russian Civil War starting in 1918 against the recently established Government of Vladimir Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Guard (Nicaragua)
The Nicaraguan National Guard (, otherwise known as ) was a militia and a gendarmerie created in 1925 during the United States occupation of Nicaragua, occupation of Nicaragua by the United States. It became notorious for human rights abuses and police corruption, corruption under the regime of the Somoza family (1936–1979). The National Guard was disbanded when the Sandinista National Liberation Front, Sandinistas Nicaraguan Revolution, came to power in 1979. Creation Prior to the U.S. occupation, the long period of civil strife had encouraged the development of a variety of private armies. The freshly elected government of President Carlos José Solórzano requested that the United States Marine Corps, U.S. Marines (equally interested in central control) remain in Nicaragua until an indigenous internal security force could be trained; for that effect, the Nicaraguan government hired in 1925 a retired U.S. General to help set up a new paramilitary gendarmerie force, titled th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
