The Contras were rebel groups fighting against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua from 1979-1990. They received extensive military support from the U.S. government, which viewed the left-leaning Sandinistas as a threat. Despite vast resources, the Contras struggled to become a viable military force. Covert U.S. backing continued through the Iran-Contra affair. The war ultimately ended in peace negotiations and elections in 1990, though it devastated Nicaragua and killed over 30,000 people.

1. Contras

2. Background
• Somoza: overthrown 1979
• When Somoza leaves, the National Guard of
Nicaragua crumbles
• Sandinistas in power

3. Contras:
• Various rebel groups fighting against the Sandinista
government of Nicaragua
• Active 1979–1990
• Operate in almost all rural areas of Nicaragua
• Force of 23,000 troops
• Rebel fighters usually referred to themselves as
comandos

4. FDN
• Fuerza Democrática
Nicaragüense
• The earliest and
largest Contra groups
(1981)
• Under the command
of Colonel Enrique
Bermúdez (ex NG)

5. Contras
• FDN merged with:
• 15th of September Legion, which comprised mostly
former members of Somoza's National Guard
• Nicaraguan Democratic Union, an organization of
émigrés from the business and professional
classes.
• MILPAS movement, bands led by disenchanted
former MAP-ML guerrillas.

6. Legión Quince de
Septiembre
• Formed by Officers of the defeated NNG against the FSLN
• Based in Guatemala City
• Lead by Colonel Enrique Bermúdez
• The Legion staged kidnappings and bank robberies, called
"special operations", in Guatemala and El Salvador.
• Local leftist guerrillas were already doing this
• Argentina and Reagan provided assistance and pressured
union with UDN

7. UDN
• Unión Democrática Nicaragüense
• founded in late 1980 by José Francisco
Cardenal (FL)
• Armed Branch: FARN, Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias Nicaragüenses
• Supported by the anti-Sandinista Reagan
Administration and Argentina's military junta

8. UDN-FARN
• UDN unites with FDN
• Those who disliked this union remained in the
now UDN-FARN
• under the command of Fernando Chamorro

9. Fernando "el negro"
Chamorro Rappaccioli
• (1933—September
6, 1994)
• Nicaraguan rebel
fighting both the
Somoza and
Sandinista regimes

10. Chamorro opposed to
Somoza Regime
• In 1977, after his friend Edén Pastora rejoined
FSLN, Chamorro met with Sandinista
strategist Humberto Ortega and agreed to
cooperate in the fight against Somoza
• Captured by the National Guard

11. Chamorro opposed to
Sandinista Regime
• Goes into exile July '81
• Joins UDN where his brother was a key figure
• opposed to the UDN's decision in August 1981 to merge with the
former National Guardsmen
• El Negro and FARN formed with the ARDE (Alianza
Revolucionaria Democrática) against the EPS from the South,
while FDN and YATAMA fought the Northern front, from
Honduras.
• Retires after the ARDE is absorbed by the Unidad Nicaragüense
de Opocición

12. MILPAS
• Originally Milicias Populares Anti-Somocistas
• Fighting alongside FSLN
• after Somoza Debayle is overthrown, unsatisfied
members revived it as Milicias Populares Anti-
Sandinistas
• Associated with the Frente Obrero and MAP-ML
• Merged into FDN in '85 and many MILPAS vets. were
heads of regional commands

13. U.S. Support

14. U.S. Support of the
Contras
• Virtually, all the different Contra groups were
united as the Nicaraguan Resistance
• Carter and the U.S. gov. started aiding the
Contras in their early stages, both military and
financially
• April 1982, the CIA assumed direct operational
control of the Contra war (T. Walker, 1987)

15. • The U.S. government viewed the leftist
Sandinistas as undemocratic
• opposed its ties to Cuba and the Soviet Union
• Reagan accused the Sandinistas of importing
Cuban-style socialism and aiding leftist
guerrillas in El Salvador
• His administration and the U.S. media labeled
the Sandinistas as undemocratic despite the
1984 Nicaraguan elections were declared fair
by foreign observers

16. "The United States has played a very
large role in financing, training,
arming, and advising the contras
over a long period. The contras only
became capable of carrying out
significant (para)military operations
as a result of this support." As seen
at: Gill 1989, p. 329

17. Cases of the Sandinista government repression
included:
• it's censorship of La Prensa, a pro-Contra
newspaper financed by the CIA
• estimated 4,000 political prisoners charged
with either aiding the Contras or being former
members of the National Guard
(Human Rights Watch, 1986)

18. No more excuses...
• Congress had approved tens of millions of
dollars
• The U.S. public did not support the contra aid
• Reagan's allegations of Soviet influence in
Nicaragua turned out to be exaggerated

19. ...so
• Congress cut off all funds for the contras in 1985 by
the third Boland Amendment.
• First Boland Amendment first passed 12/1982
outlawed U.S. assistance to the contras for the
purpose of overthrowing the Nicaraguan
government, while allowing assistance for other
purposes.
• 10/1984 actions by all U.S. government agencies
were forbidden (not only CIA or DD)

20. Reagan insists
• President Reagan claimed Nicaragua was "an unusual and
extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the
United States" and declared a "national emergency"
• He imposed a trade embargo to "deal with that threat"
• Nicaragua was isolated from the West, forcing the Sandinistas to rely
Eastern assistance.
• Moscow declined to offer the quantity of aid it provided to close
communist allies.
• After U.S. support was banned by Congress, the Reagan
administration covertly continued it. These covert activities culminated
in the Iran–Contra affair.

21. Iran-Contra affair
• Illegal covert operation
• 1984 and 1986, $34 million from third
countries and $2.7 million from private
sources were raised for the Contras
• It started as an attempt to free American
hostages being held in Lebanon by Iranians

22. • Lt. Col. Oliver North
was in charge of
these Covert
operations, along
with the national
Security Council

23. • Iran was under an arms embargo from the
United States
• The plan was to facilitate arms and weapons to
Iran by shipping them to Israel
• In Israel, an arms dealer would take them to
Iran and sell them to the Iranians who would
pay the Israeli
• The US would resupply Israel and would
receive the payment which on the most part
would go to funding of the Contra rebels

24. Consequences of the
affairs
• Daniel Sheehan uncovers the affair, leading to
a scandal
• 14 members of Reagan's administration were
charged, including the Secretary of Defense,
and 11 were convicted
• October 1986, military aid to the Contras is
reinstalled, one month before the scandal

25. And yet, despite astronomical levels of military support, the
United States failed to create a viable military force in
Nicaragua. That's quite remarkable, if you think about it. No
real guerrillas anywhere in the world have ever had
resources even remotely like what the United States gave
the contras. You could probably start a guerrilla insurgency
in mountain regions of the US with comparable funding.
Why did the US go to such lengths in Nicaragua? The
international development organisation Oxfam explained
the real reasons, stating that, from its experience of working
in 76 developing countries, "Nicaragua was...exceptional in
the strength of that government's commitment...to
improving the condition of the people and encouraging their
active participation in the development process."
Excerpt from: Noam Chomsky's account of the US-backed “contra” counter-insurgency in
Nicaragua against the left-wing government brought to power on the back of a popular mass
movement from below.

26. Success
• Contras were weakening, losing power and
strength
• October 1987, they launched a successful attack
both from the northern front and the southern
• US Redeye missiles vs. Soviet Mi-24 helicopter
gunships
• But Sandinista government had major National
support

27. Success
• US cuts military support
• Both sides are strongly pressured to end the
conflict
• Contras agree to meet with the FSLN with
support from Central American presidents
and agree on piece to allow fair elections in
1990

28. Aftermath
• By the end of the war, over 30,000 Nicaraguans
were killed
• tens of thousands were wounded.
• Contra attacks on economic targets and the
U.S. embargo devastated the country's
agricultural system and infrastructural facilities
— making Nicaragua the poorest country in the
Western Hemisphere next to Haiti