View source for Contras

{{Short description|1979–1990 anti-Marxist Nicaraguan rebels}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name             = Contras
| war              = [[Contra War]] and [[Cold War]]
| image            = Contra commandas 1987.jpg
| image_size       = 275px
| caption          = The Nicaraguan Contras in [[Nueva Guinea]] in 1987
| active           = 1979–1990
| ideology         = {{ubli|[[Anti-communism]]|[[Right-wing populism]]|[[Conservatism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marco |first=Pasquale De |url= |title=Counterrevolutionaries: Inside the Contra War in Nicaragua |date=2025-04-21 |publisher=Pasquale De Marco |pages=55 |language=en}}</ref>|[[Capitalism]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marco |first=Pasquale De |url= |title=Counterrevolutionaries: Inside the Contra War in Nicaragua |date=2025-04-21 |publisher=Pasquale De Marco |pages=55 |language=en}}</ref>}}
| position         = [[Right-wing politics|Right-wing]]
| motives          = Overthrowing the left-wing [[FSLN]] government of [[Nicaragua]]
| leaders          = {{ubli|[[Adolfo Calero]]|[[Enrique Bermúdez]]| [[Nicaraguan Democratic Force|FDN]] – Commandante Franklin|[[Democratic Revolutionary Alliance|ARDE]] Frente Sur – Cúpula of 6 Regional Commandantes|[[YATAMA]] – Commandante Blas|Misura – Steadman Fagoth}}
| clans<!--listed as "groups"--> = F.D.N., A.R.D.E. Frente Sur, YATAMA, Misura
| area             = {{flag|Nicaragua}}{{efn|All rural areas of Nicaragua, especially the highland departments of [[Matagalpa Department|Matagalpa]], [[Jinotega Department|Jinotega]], [[Nueva Segovia Department|Nueva Segovia]], and [[Chontales Department|Chontales]]. Also including the departments of [[Río San Juan Department|Río San Juan]] and western [[Zelaya Department|Zelaya]]. Excluding some Pacific regions like [[Managua]] and [[Granada, Nicaragua|Granada]].<ref>Brown 2001, p.118</ref>}}
| size             = 16,000 (1986)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://onwar.com/data/nicaragua1981.html|title=Contra Insurgency in Nicaragua 1981-1990|website=OnWar|access-date=2025-07-18}}</ref>
| allies           = {{ubli|{{flag|United States|1960}} (see [[Iran-Contra Affair]])|{{flag|National Reorganization Process|name=Argentina}} (see [[Operation Charly]])|{{flag|Brazil|1968}}|{{flag|Chile}}|{{flag|Honduras|1949}}|{{flag|Israel}}|{{flag|Mexico}}|{{flag|Taiwan}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Baron |first1=James |title=The Cold War History Behind Nicaragua's Break With Taiwan |url=https://magazine.thediplomat.com/#/issues/-Mxj3YLobyh0s-8ttFLw/read |website=thediplomat.com |publisher=The Diplomat |access-date=24 April 2022}}</ref>}}
| opponents        = {{flagicon image|Flag of the FSLN.png}} [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|FSLN]]
| battles          = Major operations at [[La Trinidad, Estelí|La Trinidad]], Rama highway, [[Siuna]], and [[Bonanza, Nicaragua|Bonanza]]. Numerous FSLN  bases overrun throughout [[Jinotega]], [[Matagalpa]], [[Zelaya Department|Zelaya]], [[Chontales Department|Chontales]], and [[Río San Juan Department|Río San Juan]].
| successor        = 
}}
{{Covert United States involvement in regime change}}
{{Anti-communism|Organisations}}

The '''Contras''' ({{Langx|es|La contrarrevolución|4=the [[counter-revolution]]}}) were the [[anti-communist]] [[Right-wing politics|right-wing]] rebels who waged a [[Contra War|guerilla war]] against the [[Marxism|Marxist]] [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]] and the [[Junta of National Reconstruction]], which came to power after the [[Nicaraguan Revolution]] in 1979. The Contras war against the Sandinista government lasted from 1979 until 1990 and was one of the highest profile conflicts of the [[Cold War]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Contras Murdering Their Own: A Grisly Retribution {{!}} Alicia Patterson Foundation |url=https://aliciapatterson.org/stories/contras-murdering-their-own-grisly-retribution |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=aliciapatterson.org |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818113903/https://aliciapatterson.org/stories/contras-murdering-their-own-grisly-retribution |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The American That Reagan Killed |url=https://jacobinmag.com/2017/05/reagan-ben-linder-nicaragua-contras-sandinistas |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=jacobinmag.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Following the [[Nicaraguan Revolution]] in 1979, which led to the fall of [[Anastasio Somoza Debayle]], [[President of Nicaragua|Nicaragua's president]] by the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinistas]], various groups were formed in opposition to the Sandinistas, including by Samoza allies and former members of the [[National Guard (Nicaragua)|National Guard]], and also by Anti-Somozistas' groups whom had previously been aligned with and fought alongside the Sandinistas. The United States and several other countries [[CIA activities in Nicaragua|provided military assistance and financial aid]] to the Contras. In 1981, the CIA and Argentina's [[Secretariat of Intelligence]] persuaded several Contra groups to unite into the larger [[Nicaraguan Democratic Force]] (FDN). 

In 1986, the [[Boland Amendment]] was passed to end U.S. aid to the Contras; yet the [[Presidency_of_Ronald_Reagan|Reagan administration]] continued to illegally fund the Contras, which resulted in a scandal known as the [[Iran–Contra affair]]. By 1987, most of the Contra militias had united into the [[Nicaraguan Resistance]], within which the Nicaraguan Democratic Force was the largest group.

During the war, the Contras' tactics featured [[terrorism]] and [[human rights violations]] against civilians.<ref name="Non-governmental Terrorism">{{cite journal|last=Feldmann|first=Andreas E.|author2=Maiju Perälä |title=Reassessing the Causes of Nongovernmental Terrorism in Latin America|journal=Latin American Politics and Society|date=July 2004|volume=46|issue=2|pages=101–132|doi=10.1111/j.1548-2456.2004.tb00277.x|s2cid=221247620}}</ref><ref name="Grandin & Joseph">{{cite book|author1=[[Greg Grandin]]|author2=Gilbert M. Joseph|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJ7ZBGy0wsIC|title=A Century of Revolution|year=2010|publisher=[[Duke University Press]]|location=[[Durham, North Carolina]]|page=89|isbn=978-0822392859}}</ref><ref name="Todd">{{cite news|title = Offensive by Nicaraguan "Freedom Fighters" May be Doomed as Arms, Aid Dry Up|work = Ottawa Citizen|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aK8yAAAAIBAJ&pg=1173,187657&dq=nicaragua&hl=en|date = 26 February 1986|first = Dave|last = Todd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Albert J. Jongman|author2=[[Alex P. Schmid]]|title=Political Terrorism: A New Guide To Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, And Literature|date=1988|publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]]|isbn=978-1-41280-469-1|pages=17–18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgDks1hUjhMC}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=[[Athan G. Theoharis]]|author2=[[Richard H. Immerman]]|title=The Central Intelligence Agency: Security Under Scrutiny|date=2006|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|isbn=978-0313332821|page=[https://archive.org/details/centralintellige00rich/page/216 216]|url=https://archive.org/details/centralintellige00rich|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-27 |title=Empire Politician - 1980s: U.S. Support for Contra Death Squads in Nicaragua |url=https://theintercept.com/empire-politician/biden-contra-death-squads-nicaragua/ |access-date=2022-05-28 |website=The Intercept |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Kinzer |first1=Stephen |date=1986-02-20 |title=Contras' Attacks on Civilians Cited |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/20/world/contras-attacks-on-civilians-cited.html |access-date=2022-05-28 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Reagan administration said that the Contras' tactics did not include attacks against civilians.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |website=CIA |title=Atrocities in the Nicaraguan civil war |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP85T01058R000100170001-7.pdf}}</ref> The CIA said that Contra terrorism resulted from "the poor discipline characteristic of irregular forces", that terrorism was not an official military doctrine of the Contras,<ref name=":0" /> and that the Contra leader responsible was executed.<ref name=":0" /> The [[Global Terrorism Database]] reports that Contras carried out more than 1,300 terrorist attacks.<ref name="lafree">{{cite book |last1=LaFree |first1=Gary |author2=Laura Dugan |author3=Erin Miller |title=Putting Terrorism in Context: Lessons from the global terrorism database |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |location=London and New York |isbn=978-0-415-67142-2 |page=56 |edition=1 |quote=In Nicaragua, Contra groups including the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE), and ultimately the Nicaraguan Resistance umbrella group carried out more than 1,300 terrorist attacks, mostly in opposition to the Sandinista government.}}</ref>

After a cutoff in U.S. military support, and with both sides facing international pressure to bring an end to the conflict, the contras agreed to negotiations with the FSLN. With the help of five Central American presidents, including [[Daniel Ortega]] (then-President of Nicaragua), the sides agreed that a voluntary demobilization of the contras should start in early December 1989. They chose this date to facilitate free and fair elections in Nicaragua in February 1990.

==History==

===Origins===
The Contras were not a monolithic group, but a combination of three distinct elements of Nicaraguan society:<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 29"/>

* Ex-guardsmen of the [[Nicaraguan National Guard]] and other right-wing figures who fought in [[Anastasio Somoza García]]'s government before Somoza's government collapsed in 1979.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 29">Lee et al. 1987, p. 29</ref> The guardsmen later comprised a significant portion of the [[Nicaraguan Democratic Force]] (FDN), the largest Contra organization.<ref>"The contras are made up of a combination of: ex-National Guardsmen (especially the military wing of the FDN)" As seen at: Gill 1984, p. 204</ref> Remnants of the Guard later formed groups such as the [[Fifteenth of September Legion]], the Anti-Sandinista Guerrilla Special Forces, and the National Army of Liberation.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} Initially however, these groups were small and conducted little active raiding into Nicaragua.<ref>Dickey, Christopher. With the Contras, A Reporter in the Wilds of Nicaragua. Simon & Schuster, 1985.</ref>
* Anti-Somoza activists who supported the revolution but felt betrayed by the Sandinista government,<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 29"/> – such as [[Édgar Chamorro]], a member of the FDN's political directorate,<ref>"The contras are made up of a combination of:&nbsp;... anti-Sandinista opponents of ex-dictator Somoza (some of the members of the FDN political directorate eg Messrs. Chamorro and Cruz)" As seen at: Gill 1984, p. 204</ref> and [[José Francisco Cardenal]], who briefly served in the Council of State before leaving Nicaragua following a disagreement with the Sandinista government's policies and founding the [[Nicaraguan Democratic Union|Nicaraguan Democratic Union (UDN)]], an opposition group of Nicaraguan exiles based in [[Miami]].<ref>International Court of Justice (IV) (1986), p. 446</ref> Another example was [[MILPAS]] (Milicias Populares Anti-Sandinistas), a peasant [[militia]] led by disillusioned Sandinista veterans from the northern mountains. Founded by Pedro Joaquín González, known as "Dimas", the Milpistas were also known as {{lang|es|chilotes}} (green corn). Following Dimas' death, MILPAS bands emerged in 1980 and 1981. The Milpistas were composed largely of {{lang|es|campesino}} ([[peasant]]) highlanders and rural workers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dillon |first=Sam |title=Comandos: The CIA and Nicaragua's Contra Rebels |year=1991 |publisher=Henry Holt |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8050-1475-4 |oclc=23974023 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/comandoscianicar00dill/page/49 49–56] |url=https://archive.org/details/comandoscianicar00dill/page/49 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Horton |first=Lynn |title=Peasants in Arms: War and Peace in the Mountains of Nicaragua, 1979–1994 |year=1998 |publisher=Ohio University Center for International Studies |location=Athens |isbn=978-0-89680-204-9 |oclc=39157572 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/peasantsinarmswa00hort/page/95 95–117] |url=https://archive.org/details/peasantsinarmswa00hort/page/95 }}</ref><ref>Padro-Maurer, R. ''The Contras 1980–1989, a Special Kind of Politics''. NY: Praeger Publishers, 1990.</ref><ref>Brown, Timothy C. ''The Real Contra War, Highlander Peasant Resistance in Nicaragua''. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.</ref>
*Nicaraguans who had avoided direct involvement in the revolution but opposed the Sandinistas.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 29"/>

===Main groups===
[[File:Frente Sur Contras 1987.jpg|thumb|Contra Commandos from [[Nicaraguan Democratic Force|FDN]] and [[Democratic Revolutionary Alliance|ARDE]] n the [[Nueva Guinea]] region of [[Nicaragua]] in 1987]]
[[File:Smoke break el serrano 1987.jpg|thumb|Members of ARDE]]
In September 1981, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] and [[Argentina]]'s [[Secretariat of Intelligence|intelligenceagency]], seeking to unify the anti-Sandinista cause before initiating large scale aid, persuaded 15 September Legion, the UDN, and several former smaller groups to merge as the [[Nicaraguan Democratic Force]], which was known in [[Spanish language|Spanish]] as Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense and was often referred to as FDN, a Spanish acronym.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/cocaine/contra-story/orgs.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613051424/https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/cocaine/contra-story/orgs.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 June 2007 |title=Contra Organizations: The Contra Story – Central Intelligence Agency |publisher=Cia.gov |access-date=2014-08-18}}</ref> 

The FDN was led by its [[Enrique Bermudez]], its military commander, who led its war efforts against the Sandinistas, and [[Adolfo Calero|Adolfo Calero Portocarrero]], a Nicaraguan businessman who opposed the Somoza regime and led its political directorate.<ref>"Although Calero opposed Somoza, the FDN had its roots in two insurgent groups made up of former National Guardsmen" As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 29</ref> [[Édgar Chamorro]] later said that the UDN opposed working with the Guardsmen and that the merging only took place because of insistence by the CIA.<ref>"The UDN, including Cardenal, initially opposed any linkage with the Guardsmen. The CIA, and high-ranking United States government officials, insisted that we merge with the Guardsmen. Lt. General Vernon Walters, then a special assistant to the United States Secretary of State (and formerly Deputy Director of the CIA) met with Cardenal to encourage him to accept the CIA's proposal. We were well aware of the crimes the Guardsmen had committed against the Nicaraguan people while in the service of President Somoza and we wanted nothing to do with them. However, we recognized that without help from the United States Government we had no chance of removing the Sandinistas from power, so we eventually acceded to the CIA's, and General Walters', insistence that we join forces with the Guardsmen. Some UDN members resigned because they would not associate themselves with the National Guard under any circumstances, but Cardenal and I and others believed the CIA's assurances that we, the civilians, would control the Guardsmen in the new organization that was to be created." As seen at: International Court of Justice (IV) 1986, p. 446</ref>

Based in [[Honduras]], Nicaragua's northern neighbor, under the command of former [[Guardia Nacional (Nicaragua)|National Guard]] Colonel [[Enrique Bermúdez]], the new FDN began recruiting other smaller insurgent forces in the north.{{Citation needed|date=May 2011}} Largely financed, trained, equipped, armed and organized by the U.S.,<ref>"On the basis of the available information, the Court is not able to satisfy itself that the Respondent State 'created' the Contra force in Nicaragua, but holds it established that it largely financed, trained, equipped, armed and organized the FDN, one element of the force." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, VII (4)</ref> it emerged as the largest and most active Contra group.<ref>"The largest and most active of these groups, which later came to be known as&nbsp;... (FDN)". As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 29</ref>

In April 1982, [[Edén Pastora]] (''Comandante Cero''), one of the heroes in the fight against Somoza, organized the Sandinista Revolutionary Front (FRS) – embedded in the [[Democratic Revolutionary Alliance]] (ARDE)<ref name="Williams">{{Cite news| last = Williams| first = Adam| title = Edén Pastora: A wanted man| work = [[The Tico Times]]| date = 26 November 2010| url = http://www.ticotimes.net/News/Top-Story/News/Eden-Pastora-A-wanted-man_Friday-November-26-2010| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101215060509/http://www.ticotimes.net/News/Top-Story/News/Eden-Pastora-A-wanted-man_Friday-November-26-2010| archive-date = 15 December 2010}}</ref> – and declared war on the Sandinista government.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 32">Lee et al. 1987, p. 32</ref> Himself a former Sandinista who had held several high posts in the government, he had resigned abruptly in 1981 and defected,<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 32"/> believing that the newly found power had corrupted the Sandinistas' original ideas.<ref name="Williams"/> A popular and charismatic leader, Pastora initially saw his group develop quickly.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 32"/> He confined himself to operate in the southern part of Nicaragua;<ref>"He insisted on operating in the southern part of Nicaragua." As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 32</ref> after a press conference he was holding on [[La Penca bombing|30 May 1984 was bombed]], he "voluntarily withdrew" from the Contra struggle.<ref name="Williams"/>

A third force, Misurasata, appeared among the [[Miskito people|Miskito]], [[Sumo (people)|Sumo]] and Rama [[Amerindian]] peoples of Nicaragua's Atlantic coast, who in December 1981 found themselves in conflict with the authorities following the government's efforts to nationalize [[Indigenous people of the Americas|Indian]] land. In the course of this conflict, forced removal of at least 10,000 Indians to relocation centers in the interior of the country and subsequent burning of some villages took place.<ref>The Americas Watch Committee. "Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986" (print), Americas Watch, February 1987.</ref> The Misurasata movement split in 1983, with the breakaway Misura group of Stedman Fagoth Muller, which aligned more closely with the FDN, and the rest accommodating themselves with the Sandinistas: on 8 December 1984 a ceasefire agreement known as the Bogota Accord was signed by Misurasata and the Nicaraguan government.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bogota Accord |url=http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/services/cds/agreements/pdf/nic2.pdf |access-date=5 December 2022 |website=Ulster University}}</ref> A subsequent autonomy statute in September 1987 largely defused Miskito resistance.<ref>[http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/info-ngos/mrginicaragua39wg.pdf From Conflict to Autonomy in Nicaragua: Lessons Learned] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916224139/http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/info-ngos/mrginicaragua39wg.pdf|date=16 September 2012}}</ref>

===Unity efforts===
{{Unsourced section|date=June 2025}}
U.S. officials were active in attempting to unite the Contra groups. In June 1985 most of the groups reorganized as the [[United Nicaraguan Opposition]] (UNO), under the leadership of [[Adolfo Calero]], [[Arturo Cruz]], and [[Alfonso Robelo]], each of whom opposed the Sandinista revolution. After UNO's dissolution early in 1987, the [[Nicaraguan Resistance]] (RN) was organized along similar lines in May.

==U.S. military and financial assistance==
{{See also|CIA activities in Nicaragua}}
In front of the [[International Court of Justice]], the Nicaraguan government claimed that the Contras were altogether a creation of the U.S.<ref name="Gill 1989, p. 328">Gill 1989, p. 328</ref> This claim was rejected<ref name="Gill 1989, p. 328"/> but the evidence of a very close relationship between the Contras and the United States was considered overwhelming and incontrovertible.<ref>Gill 1989, p. 329</ref> The U.S. played a very large role in financing, training, arming, and advising the Contras over a long period, and it is unlikely that the Contras would have been capable of carrying out significant military operations without this support, given the large amount of training and weapons shipments that the Sandinistas had received from [[Cuba]] and the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>"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</ref>

===Political background===
{{See also|Reagan Doctrine|History of Nicaragua (1979–1990)}}
The U.S. government viewed the leftist Sandinistas as a threat to economic interests of American corporations in Nicaragua and to national security. U.S. President Ronald Reagan stated in 1983 that "The defense of [the USA's] southern frontier" was at stake.<ref>{{cite journal |first=John A. |last=Thompson |title=The Exaggeration of American Vulnerability: An Anatomy of Tradition |journal=Diplomatic History |volume=16 |issue=1 |year=1992 |page=23 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-7709.1992.tb00482.x }}</ref> "In spite of the Sandinista victory being declared fair, the United States continued to oppose the left-wing Nicaraguan government."<ref name="BBC On This Day" /><ref>{{cite news |quote=President Reagan renewed his commitment to the Nicaraguan insurgents Sunday, though he appeared to shift the focus of his Administration's policy away from the military situation to the need to ''restore democracy'' to the Central American country. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-05-04-mn-4758-story.html |title=President Shifts Emphasis From Contra Warfare |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=4 May 1987}}</ref> and opposed its ties to Cuba and the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c6wvAQAAIAAJ&q=+the+United+States%2C+which+is+working+through+the+contras+to+restore+democracy+to+Nicaragua+and+break+the+Sandinistas%27+Cuban+and+Soviet+ties. |title=The Foreign Connection |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=6 January 1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/12/world/mudslinging-over-contras.html | title=Mudslinging over Contras | newspaper=The New York Times| date=12 March 1986 | first=R. W. Jr. | last=Apple | access-date=21 September 2017 }}</ref> [[Ronald Reagan]], who had assumed the American presidency in January 1981, accused the Sandinistas of importing Cuban-style socialism and aiding [[FMLN|leftist guerrillas]] in El Salvador.<ref name="Fas.org">{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsdd/nsdd-017.htm |title=NSDD – National Security Decision Directives – Reagan Administration |publisher=Federation of American Scientists |date=30 May 2008}}</ref> The Reagan administration continued to view the Sandinistas as undemocratic despite the 1984 Nicaraguan elections being generally declared fair by foreign observers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ni0027) |title=Nicaragua |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=2014-08-18}}</ref><ref name="BBC On This Day">{{Cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/5/newsid_2538000/2538379.stm|title=BBC On This Day – 5 – 1984: Sandinistas claim election victory|work=BBC News|date=<!--n.d. NOT from 1984-11-05 – it was written much later-->|access-date=15 September 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/11/16/opinion/l-nicaraguan-vote-free-fair-hotly-contested-089345.html |title=Nicaraguan Vote: 'Free, Fair, Hotly Contested' |newspaper=The New York Times |date=16 November 1984}}</ref> Throughout the 1980s the Sandinista government was regarded as "Partly Free" by [[Freedom House]], an organization financed by the U.S. government.<ref name="FH1972">{{cite web | url = http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FIW%20All%20Scores%2C%20Countries%2C%201973-2012%20%28FINAL%29.xls | title = Country ratings and status, FIW 1973–2012 | access-date = 2012-08-22 | publisher = [[Freedom House]] | year = 2012 | format = Microsoft Excel}}</ref> 
 
[[File:Bush reagan.jpg|thumb|U.S. President [[Ronald Reagan]] and Vice President [[George H. W. Bush|George Bush]] in 1984. Under the [[Reagan Doctrine]], the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]] provided overt and covert assistance to the Contras.]]
On 4 January 1982, Reagan signed the [[Classified information|top secret]] National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17),<ref name="Fas.org"/> giving the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] the authority to recruit and support the Contras with $19 million in military aid. The effort to support the Contras was one component of the [[Reagan Doctrine]], which called for providing military support to movements opposing [[Soviet Union|Soviet-supported]], communist [[communist state|governments]].

By December 1981, the United States had already begun to support armed opponents of the Sandinista government. From the beginning, the CIA was in charge.<ref>Lee et al. 1987, p.3</ref> The arming, clothing, feeding, and supervision of the Contras<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 3">Lee et al. 1987, p. 3</ref> became the most ambitious paramilitary and political action operation mounted by the agency in nearly a decade.<ref>"In December 1982, ''The New York Times'' reported intelligence officials as saying that Washington's 'covert activities have&nbsp;... become the most ambitious paramilitary and political action operation mounted by the C.I.A. in nearly a decade&nbsp;...{{'"}} Lee et al. 1987, p. 33</ref>

In the fiscal year 1984, the U.S. Congress approved $24 million in aid to the Contras.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 3"/> After this, since the Contras failed to win widespread popular support or military victories within Nicaragua,<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 3"/> opinion polls indicated that a majority of the U.S. public was not supportive of the Contras,<ref>"...&nbsp;opinion polls indicated that a majority of the public was not supportive." Lee et al. 1987, p. 3</ref> the Reagan administration lost much of its support regarding its Contra policy within Congress after disclosure of CIA mining of Nicaraguan ports,<ref>"Following disclosure&nbsp;... that the CIA had a role in connection with the mining of the Nicaraguan harbors&nbsp;..., public criticism mounted and the administration's Contra policy lost much of its support within Congress". Lee et al. 1987, p. 3</ref> and a report of the [[Bureau of Intelligence and Research]] commissioned by the [[United States Department of State|State Department]] found Reagan's allegations about Soviet influence in Nicaragua "exaggerated",<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB3607DABC0BCB3&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |title=U.S. Delayed Report On Soviets in Nicaragua |newspaper=The Miami Herald |date=18 September 1984}}</ref> Congress cut off all funds for the Contras in 1985 by the third [[Boland Amendment]].<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 3"/> The Boland Amendment had first been passed by Congress in December 1982. At this time, it only outlawed U.S. assistance to the contras "for the purpose of overthrowing the Nicaraguan government", while allowing assistance for other purposes.<ref name="clr">{{cite journal |last=Riesenfeld|first=Stefan A.|date=January 1987|title=The Powers of Congress and the President in International Relations: Revisited|journal=California Law Review|volume= 75|issue= 1 |pages=405–414|doi=10.2307/3480586|quote=The Boland Amendment was part of the Joint Resolution of December 21, 1982, providing further continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 1983 |jstor=3480586 |url=http://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1975&context=californialawreview|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In October 1984, it was amended to forbid action by not only the Defense Department and the Central Intelligence Agency but all U.S. government agencies.

Nevertheless, the case for support of the Contras continued to be made in Washington, D.C., by both the Reagan administration and [[the Heritage Foundation]], which argued that support for the Contras would counter Soviet influence in Nicaragua.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Boyd |first1=Gerald M. |date=1986-02-19 |title=Reagan Says Support for the Contras Must Go Beyond 'Band-Aids' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/19/world/reagan-says-support-for-the-contras-must-go-beyond-band-aids.html |access-date=2023-01-23 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Conservative Think Tank Funneled Money to North Associates |url=https://apnews.com/article/9022634f7b9fd7ff0d23f1924c5036fa |access-date=2023-01-23 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref>

On 1 May 1985 President Reagan announced that his administration perceived Nicaragua to be "an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States", and declared a "national emergency" and a [[United States embargo against Nicaragua|trade embargo]] against Nicaragua to "deal with that threat".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12513.html  |title=Executive Order 12513—Prohibiting trade and certain other transactions involving Nicaragua |work=Federal Register |date=15 August 2016 |publisher=National Archives}}</ref> It "is now a given; it is true", the Washington Post declared in 1986, "the Sandinistas are communists of the Cuban or Soviet school"; that "The Reagan administration is right to take Nicaragua as a serious menace—to civil peace and democracy in Nicaragua and to the stability and security of the region"; that we must "fit Nicaragua back into a Central American mode" and "turn Nicaragua back toward democracy", and with the "Latin American democracies" "demand reasonable conduct by regional standard."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/03/14/is-there-a-chance-in-nicaragua/d7d4a7ff-058d-45d5-ae3b-996246bf64c0/ |title=Is There a Chance in Nicaragua? |newspaper=Washington Post |date=14 March 1986}}</ref>

Soon after the embargo was established, [[Managua]] re-declared "a policy of nonalignment" and sought the aid of Western Europe, who were opposed to U.S. policy, to escape dependency on the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1985/0516/oteg.html |title=Ortega collects warm words of support on European trip. Yet his visit is unlikely to drum up much concrete aid |newspaper=Christian Science Monitor |date=16 May 1985}}</ref> Since 1981 U.S. pressures had curtailed Western credit to and trade with Nicaragua, forcing the government to rely almost totally on the Eastern bloc for credit, other aid, and trade by 1985.<ref name="Booth, Wade, Walker, p. 112">{{cite book |first1=John A. |last1=Booth |first2=Christine J. |last2=Wade |first3=Thomas W. |last3=Walker |title=Understanding Central America: Global Forces, Rebellion, and Change |date=2014 |publisher=Avalon |page=112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcA_BAAAQBAJ |isbn=9780813349589}}</ref> In his 1997 study on U.S. low intensity warfare, Kermit D. Johnson, a former Chief of the U.S. Army Chaplains, contends that U.S. hostility toward the revolutionary government was motivated not by any concern for "national security", but rather by what the world relief organization Oxfam termed "the threat of a good example":

{{quote|It was alarming that in just a few months after the Sandinista revolution, Nicaragua received international acclaim for its rapid progress in the fields of literacy and health. It was alarming that a socialist-mixed-economy state could do in a few short months what the Somoza dynasty, a U.S. client state, could not do in 45 years! It was truly alarming that the Sandinistas were intent on providing the very services that establish a government's political and moral legitimacy.<ref name="D. Johnson, p. 19">{{cite book|first1=Kermit D. |last1=Johnson|title=Ethics and Counterrevolution: American Involvement in Internal Wars|date=1997|publisher=University Press of Americas|page=19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aPBZXeRev9AC|isbn=9780761809067}}</ref><}}

The government's program included increased wages, subsidized [[food prices]], and expanded health, welfare, and education services. And though it nationalized Somoza's former properties, it preserved a private sector that accounted for between 50 and 60 percent of GDP.<ref name="Booth, Wade, Walker, p. 107">{{cite book|first1=John A. |last1=Booth|first2=Christine J. |last2=Wade|first3=Thomas W. |last3=Walker|title=Understanding Central America: Global Forces, Rebellion, and Change|date=2014|publisher=Avalon |page=107|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcA_BAAAQBAJ|isbn=9780813349589}}</ref>

=== Atrocities ===
 
The United States began to support Contra activities against the Sandinista government by December 1981, with the CIA at the forefront of operations. The CIA supplied the funds and the equipment, coordinated training programs, and provided intelligence and target lists. While the Contras had little military successes, they did prove adept at carrying out CIA guerrilla warfare strategies from training manuals which advised them to incite mob violence, "neutralize" civilian leaders and government officials and attack "soft targets"—including schools, health clinics and cooperatives. The agency added to the Contras' sabotage efforts by blowing up refineries and pipelines, and mining ports.<ref name="Booth, Wade, Walker, p. 107" /><ref>{{cite book |quote=The Contras did prove adept at carrying out U.S. guerrilla warfare strategies, supplied in the CIA training manuals, which advised them to 'neutralize' civilian leaders, incite mob violence and attack 'soft' targets such as agricultural cooperatives. |first=Thomas W. |last=Walker|title=Revolution and Counterrevolution in Nicaragua|date=1991|publisher=Westview Press|page=335|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1FqAAAAMAAJ|isbn=9780813308623}}</ref>{{refn|name=Sklar, p. 179|As recounted by Holly Sklar, the CIA manual, ''Tayacan'', advises the paramilitaries "to neutralize carefully selected and planned targets, such as court judges ''etc.''" In the section entitled "Implicit and Explicit Terror", the manual states that it is necessary to "kidnap all officials or agents of the Sandinista government" or "individuals in tune with the regime", who then should be removed from the town "without damaging them ''publicly''".<ref name="Sklar 1988">{{cite book|first=Holly |last=Sklar|title=Washington's War on Nicaragua|date=1988|publisher=South End Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1FqAAAAMAAJ|isbn=9780813308623}}</ref>{{rp|p=179}}}} Finally, according to former Contra leader [[Edgar Chamorro]], CIA trainers also gave Contra soldiers large knives. "A commando knife [was given], and our people, everybody wanted to have a knife like that, to kill people, to cut their throats".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=2288&C=2189 |title=War Against the Poor: Low-Intensity Conflict and Christian Faith |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406110730/http://www.religion-online.org/showchapter.asp?title=2288&C=2189 |archive-date=6 April 2017 |first=Jack |last=Nelson-Pallmeyer |year=1989}}</ref><ref name="West 57th">{{cite episode |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYT8IX14W44 |series=[[West 57th (TV program)|West 57th]] |title=Nicaragua: The Dirty War |station=CBS |via=YouTube}}</ref>{{rp|at=11:34}}{{fcn|reason=missing date|date=September 2025}} In 1985 ''Newsweek'' published a series of photos taken by Frank Wohl, a conservative student admirer traveling with the Contras, entitled "Execution in the Jungle":

{{quote|The victim dug his own grave, scooping the dirt out with his hands&nbsp;... He crossed himself. Then a contra executioner knelt and rammed a k-bar knife into his throat. A second enforcer stabbed at his jugular, then his abdomen. When the corpse was finally still, the contras threw dirt over the shallow grave—and walked away.<ref name="Sklar 1988"/>{{rp|p=268}}<ref name="West 57th"/>{{rp|at=11:20}}}}

The CIA officer in charge of the covert war, [[Duane Clarridge|Duane "Dewey" Clarridge]], admitted to the House Intelligence Committee staff in a secret briefing in 1984 that the Contras were routinely murdering "civilians and Sandinista officials in the provinces, as well as heads of cooperatives, nurses, doctors and judges". But he claimed that this did not violate President Reagan's executive order prohibiting assassinations because the agency defined it as just 'killing'. "After all, this is war—a paramilitary operation", Clarridge said in conclusion.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/120079409/ |title=CIA-assisted 'contras' murdered Sandinistas, official reportedly says <!--|last?=Knight-Ridder--> |newspaper=The Arizona Republic |via=Newspapers.com |date=20 October 1984}}</ref> Edgar Chamorro explained the rationale behind this to a U.S. reporter. "Sometimes terror is very productive. This is the policy, to keep putting pressure until the people cry 'uncle{{'"}}.<ref>{{cite book|first=Mary J. |last=Ruwart|title=Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression|date=2003|publisher=SunStar Press|page=309|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IIlZAAAAYAAJ|isbn=9780963233660}}</ref><ref name="West 57th"/>{{rp|at=1:50}} The CIA manual for the Contras, ''Tayacan'', states that the Contras should gather the local population for a public tribunal to "shame, ridicule and humiliate" Sandinista officials to "reduce their influence". It also recommends gathering the local population to witness and take part in public executions.<ref name="Sklar 1988"/>{{rp|p=179}} These types of activities continued throughout the war.

In April 1987, an American aid worker named [[Benjamin Linder]] was killed by Contras. After the signing of the Central American Peace Accord in August 1987, the year war related deaths and economic destruction reached its peak, the Contras eventually entered negotiations with the Sandinista government (1988), and the war began to deescalate.<ref name="Booth, Wade, Walker, p. 107" />

By 1989 the U.S.-backed Contra war and economic isolation had inflicted severe economic suffering on Nicaraguans. The U.S. government knew that the Nicaraguans had been exhausted from the war, which had cost 30,865 lives, and that voters usually vote the incumbents out during economic decline. By the late 1980s Nicaragua's internal conditions had changed so radically that the U.S. approach to the 1990 elections differed greatly from 1984. A united opposition of 14 political parties organized into the [[National Opposition Union (Nicaragua, 1990)|National Opposition Union]] (Unión Nacional Oppositora, UNO) with the support of the United States [[National Endowment for Democracy]]. UNO presidential nominee [[Violeta Chamorro]] was received by President [[George H. W. Bush]] at the White House.

The Contra war escalated over the year before the election. The U.S. promised to end the economic embargo should Chamorro win.<ref name="Booth, Wade, Walker, p. 113">{{cite book|first1=John A. |last1=Booth |first2=Christine J. |last2=Wade |first3=Thomas W. |last3=Walker |title=Understanding Central America: Global Forces, Rebellion, and Change |year=2014 |publisher=Avalon |page=113 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcA_BAAAQBAJ |isbn=9780813349589}}</ref>

The UNO scored a decisive victory on 25 February 1990. Chamorro won with 55 percent of the presidential vote as compared to [[Daniel Ortega]]'s 41 percent. Of 92 seats in the National Assembly, UNO gained 51, and the FSLN won 39. On 25 April 1990, Chamorro assumed presidency from Ortega.<ref name="Booth, Wade, Walker, p. 113" />

===Illegal covert operations===
{{See also|Iran–Contra affair}}
With Congress blocking further aid to the Contras, the Reagan administration sought to arrange funding and military supplies by means of third countries and private sources.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 4">Lee et al. 1987, p. 4</ref> Between 1984 and 1986, $34 million from third countries and $2.7 million from private sources were raised this way.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 4"/> The secret Contra assistance was run by the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]], with officer [[Lieutenant Colonel|Lt. Col.]] [[Oliver North]] in charge.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 4"/> With the third-party funds, North created an organization called ''The Enterprise'', which served as the secret arm of the NSC staff and had its own airplanes, pilots, airfield, ship, operatives, and secret Swiss bank accounts.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 4"/> It also received assistance from personnel from other government agencies, especially from CIA personnel in Central America.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 4"/> This operation functioned, however, without any of the accountability required of U.S. government activities.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 4"/> The Enterprise's efforts culminated in the [[Iran Contra affair|Iran–Contra Affair of 1986–1987]], which facilitated contra funding through the proceeds of arms sales to Iran.

According to the London Spectator, U.S. journalists in Central America had long known that the CIA was flying in supplies to the Contras inside Nicaragua before the scandal broke. No journalist paid it any attention until the alleged CIA supply man, [[Eugene Hasenfus]], was shot down and captured by the Nicaraguan army. Similarly, reporters neglected to investigate many leads indicating that Oliver North was running the Contra operation from his office in the National Security Council.<ref>[http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/16th-may-1987/13/who-helped-oliver-north "Who Helped Oliver North?"] ''[[The Spectator]]'', 15 May 1987</ref>

According to the [[National Security Archive]], Oliver North had been in contact with [[Manuel Noriega]], the military leader of [[Panama]] later convicted on drug charges, whom he personally met. The issue of drug money and its importance in funding the Nicaraguan conflict was the subject of various reports and publications. The contras were funded by drug trafficking, of which the United States was aware.<ref name="archive">{{cite web|title =  The Contras, cocaine, and covert operations: Documentation of official U.S. knowledge of drug trafficking and the Contras|publisher= The [[National Security Archive]] / [[George Washington University]]|date = c. 1990|url = http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm }}</ref> [[United States Senate|Senator]] [[John Kerry]]'s 1988 [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Committee on Foreign Relations]] report on Contra drug links concluded that "senior U.S. policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/index.htm |title=The Oliver North File |publisher=Gwu.edu |access-date=17 August 2011}}</ref>

The Reagan administration's support for the Contras continued to stir controversy well into the 1990s. In August 1996, ''[[San Jose Mercury News]]'' reporter [[Gary Webb]] published a series titled ''Dark Alliance'', alleging that the Contras contributed to the rise of [[crack cocaine]] in California.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm|title=The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations|work=gwu.edu}}</ref>

Gary Webb's career as a journalist was subsequently discredited by the leading U.S. papers, ''The New York Times'', the ''Washington Post'', and the ''Los Angeles Times''. An internal CIA report, entitled, "Managing a Nightmare", shows the agency used "a ground base of already productive relations with journalists" to help counter what it called "a genuine public relations crisis."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Devereaux |first1=Ryan |title=How the CIA Watched Over the Destruction of Gary Webb |url=https://theintercept.com/2014/09/25/managing-nightmare-cia-media-destruction-gary-webb/|work=The Intercept |date=25 September 2014}}</ref> In the 1980s, Douglas Farah worked as a journalist, covering the civil wars in Central America for the ''Washington Post''. According to Farah, while it was common knowledge that the Contras were involved in cocaine trafficking, the editors of the ''Washington Post'' refused to take it seriously:

<blockquote>If you're talking about our intelligence community tolerating — if not promoting — drugs to pay for black ops, it's rather an uncomfortable thing to do when you're an establishment paper like the Post. If you were going to be directly rubbing up against the government, they wanted it more solid than it could probably ever be done.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/10/kill-the-messenger_n_5962708.html "Kill The Messenger: How The Media Destroyed Gary Webb"] Huffington Post, 10/10/2014</ref></blockquote>

An investigation by the [[United States Department of Justice]] also stated that their "review did not substantiate the main allegations stated and implied in the ''Mercury News'' articles." Regarding the specific charges towards the CIA, the DOJ wrote "the implication that the drug trafficking by the individuals discussed in the ''Mercury News'' articles was connected to the CIA was also not supported by the facts."<ref name="oig.justice.gov">{{Cite web|url=https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/9712/exsump1.htm|title=CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy|website=oig.justice.gov}}</ref> The CIA also investigated and rejected the allegations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/cocaine/report/conclusions.html|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20100327062446/https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/cocaine/report/conclusions.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=27 March 2010|title=Conclusions — Central Intelligence Agency}}</ref>

===Propaganda===
During the time the U.S. Congress blocked funding for the contras, the Reagan government engaged in a campaign to alter public opinion and change the vote in Congress on contra aid.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 5">Lee et al. 1987, p. 5</ref> For this purpose, the [[United States National Security Council|NSC]] established an interagency working group, which in turn coordinated the [[Office of Public Diplomacy]] for Latin America and the Caribbean (managed by [[Otto Reich]]), which conducted the campaign.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 5"/> The S/LPD produced and widely disseminated a variety of pro-contra publications, arranged speeches and press conferences.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 5"/> It also disseminated "white propaganda"—pro-Contra newspaper articles by paid consultants who did not disclose their connection to the Reagan administration.<ref>"It also disseminated what one official termed 'white propaganda': pro-Contra newspaper articles by paid consultants who did not disclose their connection to the Administration." As seen at: Lee et al. 1987, p. 5</ref>

On top of that, Oliver North helped [[Carl Channell]]'s tax-exempt organization, the [[National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty]], to raise $10 million, by arranging numerous briefings for groups of potential contributors at the premises of the White House and by facilitating private visits and photo sessions with President Reagan for major contributors.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 6">Lee et al. 1987, p. 6</ref> Channell in turn, used part of that money to run a series of television advertisements directed at home districts of [[congressman|Congressmen]] considered swing votes on Contra aid.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 6"/> Out of the $10 million raised, more than $1 million was spent on pro-Contra publicity.<ref name="Lee et al. 1987, p. 6"/>

===International Court of Justice ruling===
{{Main|Nicaragua v. United States}}
{{History of Nicaragua}}
In 1984 the Sandinista government filed a suit in the [[International Court of Justice]] (ICJ) against the United States (''Nicaragua v. United States''), which resulted in a 1986 judgment against the United States. The ICJ held that the U.S. had violated [[international law]] as well as a 1956 treaty by supporting the contras in their rebellion against the Nicaraguan government and by [[Naval mine|mining]] Nicaragua's harbors. Regarding the alleged human rights violations by the contras, however, the ICJ took the view that the United States could be held accountable for them only if it would have been proven that the U.S. had effective control of the Contra operations resulting in these alleged violations.<ref>"Having reached the above conclusion, the Court takes the view that the contras remain responsible for their acts, in particular the alleged violations by them of humanitarian law. For the United States to be legally responsible, it would have to be proved that that State had effective control of the operations in the course of which the alleged violations were committed." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, VII (5)</ref> Nevertheless, the ICJ found that the U.S. encouraged acts contrary to general principles of humanitarian law by producing the manual ''[[Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare]] (Operaciones sicológicas en guerra de guerrillas'') and disseminating it to the contras.<ref>"Finds that the United States of America, by producing in 1983 a manual entitled 'Operaciones sicológicas en guerra de guerrillas', and disseminating it to contra forces, has encouraged the commission by them of acts contrary to general principles of humanitarian law." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, (9)</ref> The manual, amongst other things, advised on how to rationalize killings of civilians<ref name="ReferenceC">In the case of shooting "a citizen who was trying to leave the town or city in which the guerrillas are carrying out armed propaganda or political proselytism", the manual suggests that the contras "explain that if that citizen had managed to escape, he would have alerted the enemy." As seen at: Sklar 1988, p. 179</ref> and recommended to hire professional killers for specific selective tasks.<ref name="Sklar 1988, p. 181">Sklar 1988, p. 181</ref>

The United States, which did not participate in the merits phase of the proceedings, maintained that the ICJ's power did not supersede the [[Constitution of the United States]] and argued that the court did not seriously consider the Nicaraguan role in El Salvador, while it accused Nicaragua of actively supporting armed groups there, specifically in the form of supply of arms.<ref>International Court of Justice 1986, VIII (1)</ref> The ICJ had found that evidence of a responsibility of the Nicaraguan government in this matter was insufficient.<ref>"In any event the evidence is insufficient to satisfy the Court that the Government of Nicaragua was responsible for any flow of arms at either period." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, VIII (1)</ref> The U.S. argument was affirmed, however, by the dissenting opinion of ICJ member U.S. Judge Schwebel,<ref>"But the Court, remarkably enough, while finding the United States responsible for intervention in Nicaragua, failed to recognize Nicaragua's prior and continuing intervention in El Salvador." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Schwebel</ref> who concluded that in supporting the Contras, the United States acted lawfully in collective self-defence in El Salvador's support.<ref>"concluded that the United States essentially acted lawfully in exerting armed pressures against Nicaragua, both directly and through its support of the contras, because Nicaragua's prior and sustained support of armed insurgency in El Salvador was tantamount to an armed attack upon El Salvador against which the United States could react in collective self-defence in El Salvador's support." As seen at: International Court of Justice 1986, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Schwebel</ref> The U.S. blocked enforcement of the ICJ judgment by the [[United Nations Security Council]] and thereby prevented Nicaragua from obtaining any actual compensation.<ref name="law">{{cite journal|author=Morrison, Fred L. |title=Legal Issues in The Nicaragua Opinion |journal=American Journal of International Law |date=January 1987 |volume=81 |issue=1 |pages=160–166 |url=http://bailey83221.livejournal.com/55750.html |doi=10.2307/2202146 |jstor=2202146 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205163909/http://bailey83221.livejournal.com/55750.html |archive-date=5 February 2012|url-access=subscription }} "Appraisals of the ICJ's Decision. Nicaragua vs United States (Merits)"</ref> The Nicaraguan government finally withdrew the complaint from the court in September 1992 (under the later, post-FSLN, government of [[Violeta Chamorro]]), following a repeal of the law requiring the country to seek compensation.<ref name="HRW report">{{cite web|title=Human Rights Watch World Report 1993 – Nicaragua |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,HRW,,NIC,467fca491e,0.html |access-date=18 September 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009082531/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher%2CHRW%2C%2CNIC%2C467fca491e%2C0.html |archive-date=9 October 2012}}</ref>

==Human rights violations==
Americas Watch, which subsequently became part of [[Human Rights Watch]], accused the Contras of:<ref name=AW1986>{{cite news|title=Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986|url=https://archive.org/details/humanrightsinnic00amer|url-access=registration|author=The Americas Watch Committee|publisher=Americas Watch|date=February 1987}}</ref>
*targeting health care clinics and health care workers for assassination<ref name="ReferenceA">Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, p. 21</ref>
*kidnapping civilians<ref name="ReferenceB">Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, p. 19</ref>
*torturing civilians<ref>Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, p. 19, 21</ref>
*executing civilians, including children, who were captured in combat<ref>Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, p. 24</ref>
*raping women<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
*indiscriminately attacking civilians and civilian houses<ref name="ReferenceB"/>
*seizing civilian property<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
*burning civilian houses in captured towns.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Human Rights Watch released a report on the situation in 1989, which stated: "[The] contras were major and systematic violators of the most basic standards of the laws of armed conflict, including by launching [[indiscriminate attack]]s on civilians, selectively murdering non-combatants, and mistreating prisoners."<ref name="NICARAGUA">[https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1989/WR89/Nicaragu.htm "Nicaragua"] Human Rights Watch, 1989</ref>

In his affidavit to the World Court, former contra [[Edgar Chamorro]] testified that "The CIA did not discourage such tactics. To the contrary, the Agency severely criticized me when I admitted to the press that the FDN had regularly kidnapped and executed agrarian reform workers and civilians. We were told that the only way to defeat the Sandinistas was to&nbsp;...kill, kidnap, rob and torture".<ref>[http://www.williamgbecker.com/chamorroaffidavit.pdf "Case Concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua V. United States of America): Affidavit of Edgar Chamarro"] International Court of Justice, 5 September 1985</ref>

Contra leader [[Adolfo Calero]] denied that his forces deliberately targeted civilians:  "What they call a cooperative is also a troop concentration full of armed people. We are not killing civilians. We are fighting armed people and returning fire when fire is directed at us."<ref>''The New York Times'', 23 November 1984.</ref>

===Controversy===
Several articles were published by U.S. press, including by ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' and ''[[The New Republic]]'', accusing Americas Watch and other bodies of ideological bias and unreliable reporting. The articles alleged that Americas Watch gave too much credence to alleged Contra abuses and systematically tried to discredit Nicaraguan human rights groups such as the [[Permanent Commission on Human Rights]], which blamed the most human rights abuses on the Sandinistas.<ref>''[[The New Republic]]'', 20 January 1986; ''[[The New Republic]]'', 22 August 1988; ''[[The National Interest]]'', Spring 1990.</ref>

In 1985, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' reported:
{{blockquote|Three weeks ago, Americas Watch issued a report on human rights abuses in Nicaragua. One member of the Permanent Commission for Human Rights commented on the Americas Watch report and its chief investigator [[Juan E. Méndez|Juan Mendez]]: "The Sandinistas are laying the groundwork for a totalitarian society here and yet all Mendez wanted to hear about were abuses by the contras. How can we get people in the U.S. to see what's happening here when so many of the groups who come down are pro-Sandinista?"<ref>David Asman, "Despair and fear in Managua", ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', 25 March 1985.</ref>}}

[[Human Rights Watch]], the umbrella organization of Americas Watch, replied to these allegations: "Almost invariably, U.S. pronouncements on human rights exaggerated and distorted the real human rights violations of the Sandinista regime, and exculpated those of the U.S.-supported insurgents, known as the contras&nbsp;... The Bush administration is responsible for these abuses, not only because the contras are, for all practical purposes, a U.S. force, but also because the Bush administration has continued to minimize and deny these violations, and has refused to investigate them seriously."<ref name="NICARAGUA"/>

==Military successes and election of Violeta Chamorro==
By 1986 the contras were besieged by charges of corruption, human-rights abuses, and military ineptitude.<ref>{{cite magazine
|title = Nicaragua Is It Curtains?
|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]
|url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,963090-1,00.html
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111111011218/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,963090-1,00.html
|url-status = dead
|archive-date = 11 November 2011
|date = 22 December 1986
|first = Jill
|last = Smolowe}}</ref> A much-vaunted early 1986 offensive never materialized, and Contra forces were largely reduced to isolated acts of terrorism.<ref name="Todd"/> In October 1987, however, the contras staged a successful attack in southern Nicaragua.<ref>"The last major attack, in October along the Rama Road in southern Nicaragua, was considered a success for the guerrillas." As seen at: {{cite news
|title = Both Sides Report Heavy Fighting in Rebel Offensive in Nicaragua
|work=The New York Times
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/22/world/both-sides-report-heavy-fighting-in-rebel-offensive-in-nicaragua.html?pagewanted=all
|date = 22 December 1987
|first = James
|last = Lemoyne
|access-date =30 April 2010}}</ref> Then on 21 December 1987, the FDN launched attacks at [[Bonanza, Nicaragua|Bonanza]], [[Siuna, Nicaragua|Siuna]], and [[Rosita, Nicaragua|Rosita]] in [[Zelaya Department|Zelaya province]], resulting in heavy fighting.<ref name="Lemoyne">{{cite news
|title = Both Sides Report Heavy Fighting in Rebel Offensive in Nicaragua
|work=The New York Times
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/22/world/both-sides-report-heavy-fighting-in-rebel-offensive-in-nicaragua.html?pagewanted=all
|date = 22 December 1987
|first = James
|last = Lemoyne
|access-date =30 April 2010}}</ref> ARDE Frente Sur attacked at [[El Almendro]] and along the Rama road.<ref name="Lemoyne"/><ref>{{cite news
|title = Contras' Top Fighter Vows No Letup
|work=The New York Times
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/02/world/contras-top-fighter-vows-no-letup.html?pagewanted=all
|date = 2 February 1988
|first = James
|last = Lemoyne}}</ref><ref>Meara, William R. ''Contra Cross: Insurgency And Tyranny in Central America, 1979–1989''. U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2006.</ref> These large-scale raids mainly became possible as the contras were able to use U.S.-provided [[FIM-43 Redeye|Redeye missiles]] against Sandinista [[Mi-24]] helicopter gunships, which had been supplied by the Soviets.<ref name="Lemoyne"/><ref>{{cite news
|title = Sandinistas report capture of RedEye Missile
|work=The New York Times
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/23/world/sandinistas-report-capture-of-redeye-missile.html?n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes+Topics%2FSubjects%2FU%2FUnited+States+International+Relations
|date = 23 July 1987
|first = Stephen
|last = Kinzer
|access-date =30 April 2010}}</ref> Nevertheless, the Contras remained tenuously encamped within Honduras and were not able to hold Nicaraguan territory.<ref>{{cite news
|title = Enough Have Died for Nothing in Nicaragua
|newspaper = Wilmington Morning Star
|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QjtOAAAAIBAJ&pg=6933,5372009&dq=nicaragua&hl=en
|date = 14 August 1989
|first = Tom
|last = Wicker
|access-date =27 June 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|title = New Regional Accord Leaves Contras in Honduras Fearful but Defiant
|work=The New York Times
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/14/world/new-regional-accord-leaves-the-contras-in-honduras-fearful-but-defiant.html?src=pm
|date = 14 August 1989
|first = Mark
|last = Ulig
|access-date =27 June 2011}}</ref>

There were isolated protests among the population against the draft implemented by the Sandinista government, which even resulted in full-blown street clashes in Masaya in 1988.<ref>"Sometimes they used force as they rounded up young men for military service, and there were occasional confrontations. But only in the town of Masaya, 19 miles southeast of the capital of Managua, did the conscription spark a full-blown street clash&nbsp;... For several weeks before the latest outburst in Masaya, the opposition newspaper, La Prensa, had been reporting isolated protests against the draft." As seen at: {{cite news
|title = The World: Nicaragua; Pushed From Left or Right, Masaya Balks
|work=The New York Times
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/28/weekinreview/the-world-nicaragua-pushed-from-left-or-right-masaya-balks.html
|date = 28 February 1988
|first = Stephen
|last = Kinzer
|access-date =30 April 2010}}</ref> However, a June 1988 survey in Managua showed the Sandinista government still enjoyed strong support but that support had declined since 1984. Three times as many people identified with the Sandinistas (28%) than with all the opposition parties put together (9%); 59% did not identify with any political party. Of those polled, 85% opposed any further US aid to the Contras; 40% believed the Sandinista government to be democratic, while 48% believed it to be not democratic. People identified the war as the largest problem but were less likely to blame it for economic problems compared to a December 1986 poll; 19% blamed the war and US blockade as the main cause of economic problems while 10% blamed the government.<ref>{{cite web
|title = Sandinistas Surviving in a Percentage Game
|publisher = Envio
|url = http://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/3072
|date = December 1988
}}</ref> Political opposition groups were splintered and the Contras began to experience defections, although United States aid maintained them as a viable military force.<ref>{{cite web
|title = Nicaraguans Try Peace Moves While Waiting for U.S. Voters
|publisher = Envio
|url = http://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/3066
|date = November 1988
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|title = Contra Insurgency in Nicaragua
|publisher = OnWar.com
|url = http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/november/nicaragua1981.htm
|date = December 2000
|access-date = 21 May 2011
|archive-date = 29 June 2011
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110629062507/http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/november/nicaragua1981.htm
|url-status = dead
}}</ref>

After a cutoff in U.S. military support, and with both sides facing international pressure to bring an end to the conflict, the contras agreed to negotiations with the FSLN. With the help of five Central American presidents, including Ortega, the sides agreed that a voluntary demobilization of the contras should start in early December 1989. They chose this date to facilitate free and fair elections in Nicaragua in February 1990 (even though the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan administration]] had pushed for a delay of contra disbandment).<ref>[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73891981.html?dids=73891981:73891981&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+09%2C+1989&author=John+M.+Goshko%3B+Ann+Devroy&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=U.S.+Endorses+Contra+Plan+as+Prod+to+Democracy+in+Nicaragua&pqatl=google "U.S. Endorses Contra Plan as Prod to Democracy in Nicaragua"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130206094847/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73891981.html?dids=73891981:73891981&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+09%2C+1989&author=John+M.+Goshko%3B+Ann+Devroy&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=U.S.+Endorses+Contra+Plan+as+Prod+to+Democracy+in+Nicaragua&pqatl=google |date=6 February 2013 }} The Washington Post, 9 August 1989</ref>

In the resulting [[1990 Nicaraguan general election|February 1990 elections]], [[Violeta Chamorro]] and her party the [[National Opposition Union (Nicaragua, 1990)|UNO]] won an upset victory of 55% to 41% over [[Daniel Ortega]].<ref>{{cite news
|title = Turnover in Nicaragua; Nicaraguan Opposition Routs Sandinistas; U.S. Pledges Aid, Tied to Orderly Turnover
|work = The New York Times
|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/27/world/turnover-nicaragua-nicaraguan-opposition-routs-sandinistas-us-pledges-aid-tied.html
|date = 27 February 1990
|first = Mark A.
|last = Uhlig
|access-date =30 April 2010}}</ref> Opinion polls leading up to the elections divided along partisan lines, with 10 of 17 polls analyzed in a contemporary study predicting an UNO victory while seven predicted the Sandinistas would retain power.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bischoping |first1=Katherine |last2=Schuman |first2=Howard |title=Pens and Polls in Nicaragua: An Analysis of the 1990 Pre-election Surveys |journal=American Journal of Political Science |date=May 1992 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=331–350 |doi=10.2307/2111480 |jstor=2111480 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270277995 |access-date=3 July 2020}}</ref><ref name="Envio">{{cite web|title = After the Poll Wars-Explaining the Upset|publisher = Envio|url = http://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/2591|date = March 1990}}</ref>

Possible explanations include that the Nicaraguan people were disenchanted with the Ortega government as well as the fact that already in November 1989, the White House had announced that the economic embargo against Nicaragua would continue unless [[Violeta Chamorro]] won.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130117074255/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1222025.html "Bush Vows to End Embargo if Chamorro Wins"], ''The Washington Post'', 9 November 1989</ref> Also, there had been reports of intimidation from the side of the Contras,<ref>"The policy of keeping the contras alive&nbsp;... also has placed in jeopardy the holding of elections by encouraging Contra attacks on the electoral process. Thus, while the Bush administration proclaims its support for human rights and free and fair elections in Nicaragua, it persists in sabotaging both." As seen at: [https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1989/WR89/Nicaragu.htm "Nicaragua"] Human Rights Watch, 1990</ref> with a Canadian observer mission claiming that 42 people were killed by the Contras in "election violence" in October 1989.<ref>[https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/471113751.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+27%2C+1989&author=%28CP%29&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=U.S.+trying+to+disrupt+election+in+Nicaragua%2C+Canadians+report&pqatl=google "U.S. trying to disrupt election in Nicaragua, Canadians report"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130206094906/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/471113751.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+27%2C+1989&author=%28CP%29&pub=Toronto+Star&desc=U.S.+trying+to+disrupt+election+in+Nicaragua%2C+Canadians+report&pqatl=google |date=6 February 2013 }} The Toronto Star, 27 October 1989</ref> Sandinistas were also accused of intimidation and abuses during the election campaign. According to the Puebla Institute, by mid-December 1989, seven opposition leaders had been murdered, 12 had disappeared, 20 had been arrested, and 30 others assaulted. In late January 1990, the OAS observer team reported that "a convoy of troops attacked four truckloads of UNO sympathizers with bayonets and rifle butts, threatening to kill them."<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Sandinistas Might Lose|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/12/opinion/the-sandinistas-might-lose.html|date=1990-02-12|access-date=2021-09-27|website=The New York Times|language=en}}</ref> This led many commentators to conclude that Nicaraguans voted against the Sandinistas out of fear of a continuation of the Contra war and economic deprivation.<ref name="Envio"/>

{{Gallery
|title=Maps of militias in Nicaragua (1984 – 1988)
|width=160 | height=170 |noborder=yes
|align=center
|File:Insurgency area in Nicaragua (1984).png
 |1984
 |alt1=Insurgency area in Nicaragua (1984)
|File:Insurgency area in Nicaragua (1985).png
 |1985
 |alt2=Insurgency area in Nicaragua (1985)
|File:Insurgency area in Nicaragua (1986).png
 |1986
 |class3=bg-transparent
 |alt3=Insurgency area in Nicaragua (1986)
|File:Insurgency area in Nicaragua (1988).png
 |1988
 |class4=bg-transparent
 |alt4=Insurgency area in Nicaragua (1988)
}}

==In popular culture ==
{{in popular culture|section|date=June 2021}}
*In ''[[The Last Thing He Wanted (film)|The Last Thing He Wanted]]'', a journalist for the fictitious ''Atlanta Post'' stops her coverage of the [[1984 U.S. Presidential election]] to care for her dying father.  In the process, she inherits his position as an arms dealer for [[Central America]], and learns of the [[Iran–Contra affair]].
*In [[American Dad! season 4|Season 4]] of the TV series [[American Dad!]], the titular father, Stan Smith, sings a song to his son Steve about [[Oliver North]], the person allegedly responsible for covertly funding the Contras through the [[Iran–Contra affair]], after claiming the remaining gold from the affair was hidden under their house. 
*''[[Martial Eagle (The Americans)|The Americans]]'', the TV series features an episode on KGB agents infiltrating a Contra camp.
*''[[American Made (film)|American Made]]'', a film loosely based on [[Barry Seal]]'s life.
*In [[The Boys (season 3)|Season 3]] of the [[Amazon Prime]] TV series [[The Boys (TV series)|The Boys]], the American superhero team Payback is clandestinely deployed to Nicaragua in 1984 to assist Contra units supported by the CIA.
*''[[Carla's Song]]'', a fictional film by [[Ken Loach]] set in part against the backdrop of the conflict in Nicaragua.
*''[[Contra (video game series)|Contra]]'', a popular video game series by [[Konami]].<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Contra Legacy of War: The Classics Come to 32-Bits|magazine=[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]]|issue=87 |publisher=[[Ziff Davis]] |date=October 1996|page=142}}</ref> While it is unclear whether the game was deliberately named after the Nicaraguan Contra rebels, the ending theme of the original game was titled {{nihongo|"[[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinista]]"|サンディニスタ}}, after the adversaries of the real-life Contras.<ref>{{cite AV media notes|title=Ａ－ＪＡＸ～コナミ・ゲーム・ミュージック VOL.4 A-Jax: Konami Game Music Vol. 4|type=booklet|publisher=G.M.O. Records / Alfa Records|id=28XA-201|url=http://vgmdb.net/album/3863}}</ref>
*''[[Contra (album)|Contra]]'', the second studio album by the American indie rock band [[Vampire Weekend]], released in January 2010 on XL Recordings. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200. The album title is intended as a thematic allegory and a complex reference to the Nicaraguan counter-revolutionaries. The song "I Think Ur a Contra" is from this album.
*''[[Sandinista!]]'', an album by [[The Clash]], features songs about The Contras in Nicaragua. It was released in 1980. The song "Washington Bullets" is from this album.  
*''Student Visas'', a song by [[Corb Lund]] from the album "[[Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!]]", is about US Clandestine soldiers (such as SFOD-D and CIA Paramilitary) interacting with Contras in El Salvador and Nicaragua.
*''[[Fragile (Sting song)|Fragile]]'' The song is a tribute to [[Ben Linder]], an American [[civil engineer]] who was killed by the Contras in 1987 while working on a [[hydroelectric]] project in [[Nicaragua]].
*''[[Narcos: Mexico]]'' features an episode where Felix has to deliver guns to Nicaragua with Amado and a CIA operative for Salvador Nava and Mexico's Minister of Defense
*''[[The Mighty Quinn (film)|The Mighty Quinn]]'' involves a CIA operative and a Latino right-wing assassin trying to recover large sums of untraceable US dollars which were to fund anti-communist counter-revolution on the mainland (Nicaragua is not mentioned).
*''[[Snowfall (TV series)|Snowfall]]'' a TV series following several characters, including an undercover CIA officer facilitating cocaine smuggling into the US on the behalf of the Nicaraguan Contras and his connection to a 20-year-old drug dealer in Los Angeles in the mid-1980s, the early days of the crack cocaine epidemic.
*''[[The Last Narc]]'', a 2020 documentary about the kidnapping and murder of DEA agent [[Kiki Camarena]] by Mexican drug cartels, ends up covering parts of the Iran-Contra scandal.

==See also==
*[[Anti-communism]]
*[[Central American Crisis]]
*[[CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking]]
*[[Cold War]]
*[[Foreign interventions by the United States]]
*[[Latin America–United States relations]]
* [[Nicaraguan Revolution]]
*[[Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare]]
*[[Reagan Doctrine]]
*[[Role of women in the Nicaraguan Revolution]]
* [[United States and state-sponsored terrorism]]
*[[United States involvement in regime change in Latin America]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*Asleson, Vern. (2004) ''Nicaragua: Those Passed By''. Galde Press {{ISBN|1-931942-16-1}}
*Belli, Humberto. (1985). ''Breaking Faith: The Sandinista Revolution and Its Impact on Freedom and Christian Faith in Nicaragua''. Crossway Books/The Puebla Institute.
*[[Enrique Bermúdez|Bermudez, Enrique]], "The Contras' Valley Forge: How I View the Nicaraguan Crisis", ''[[Policy Review]]'', [[The Heritage Foundation]], Summer 1988.
*Brody, Reed. (1985). ''Contra Terror in Nicaragua: Report of a Fact-Finding Mission: September 1984 – January 1985''. Boston: [[South End Press]]. {{ISBN|0-89608-313-6}}.
*Brown, Timothy. (2001). ''The Real Contra War: Highlander Peasant Resistance in Nicaragua''. University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|0-8061-3252-3}}.
*[[Edgar Chamorro|Chamorro, Edgar]]. (1987). ''Packaging the Contras: A Case of CIA Disinformation''. New York: Institute for Media Analysis. {{ISBN|0-941781-08-9}}; {{ISBN|0-941781-07-0}}.
*Christian, Shirley. (1986) ''Nicaragua, Revolution in the Family''. New York: Vintage Books.
*Cox, Jack. (1987) ''Requiem in the Tropics: Inside Central America''. UCA Books.
*Cruz S., Arturo J. (1989). ''Memoirs of a Counterrevolutionary''. (1989). New York: Doubleday.
*Dickey, Christopher. (1985, 1987). ''With the Contras: A Reporter in the Wilds of Nicaragua''. New York: Simon & Schuster.
*Garvin, Glenn. (1992). ''Everybody Had His Own Gringo: The CIA and the Contras''. Washington: Brassey's.
*{{cite book| author= Gill, Terry D.| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HTPpRIirnqsC&q=Gill,+Terry+D.+(1989).+Litigation+strategy+at+the+International+Court+a+case+study+of+the+Nicaragua+v+United+States+dispute| title= Litigation strategy at the International Court: a case study of the Nicaragua v United States dispute| publisher= Dordrecht| year= 1989| isbn= 978-0-7923-0332-9}}
*Gugliota, Guy. (1989). ''Kings of Cocaine Inside the Medellin Cartel''. Simon and Schuster.
*Horton, Lynn. ''Peasants in Arms: War and Peace in the Mountains of Nicaragua, 1979–1994''. (1998). Athens: Ohio University Center for International Studies.
*[[International Court of Justice]] (1986) {{cite web| title=Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States Of America) – Summary of the Judgment of 27 June 1986| work=International Court of Justice| url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=367&code=nus&p1=3&p2=3&case=70&k=66&p3=5| access-date=20 May 2011| archive-date=22 January 2009| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122222607/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/index.php?sum=367&code=nus&p1=3&p2=3&case=70&k=66&p3=5| url-status=dead}}
*[[International Court of Justice]] (IV) (1986) {{cite web| title=Case concerning Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Vol. IV – pleadings, oral arguments, documents| work=International Court of Justice| url=http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/70/9619.pdf| access-date=2 June 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111202063640/http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/files/70/9619.pdf| archive-date=2 December 2011}}
*Hamilton, Lee H. et al. (1987) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ew_K3auTwEgC&q=Report+of+the+Congressional+Committees+Investigating+the+Iran/Contra+Affair "Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the Iran/Contra Affair"]
*Johns, Michael "The Lessons of Afghanistan: Bipartisan Support for Freedom Fighters Pays Off", ''Policy Review'', Spring 1987.
*[[Jeane Kirkpatrick|Kirkpatrick, Jeane J.]] (1982) ''Dictatorships and Double Standards''. Touchstone. {{ISBN|0-671-43836-0}}
*Miranda, Roger, and William Ratliff. (1993, 1994) ''The Civil War in Nicaragua: Inside the Sandinistas''. New Brunswick, NY: Transaction Publishers.
*Moore, John Norton (1987). ''The Secret War in Central America: Sandinista Assault on World Order''. University Publications of America.
*Pardo-Maurer, Rogelio. (1990) ''The Contras, 1980–1989: A Special Kind of Politics''. New York: Praeger.
*Sklar, H. (1988) [https://books.google.com/books?id=IbFXs7_LutMC&dq=congress+report+nicaragua&pg=PA342 "Washington's war on Nicaragua"] [[South End Press]]. {{ISBN|0-89608-295-4}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.tnr.com/article/confessions-contra Confessions of a Contra: How the CIA Masterminds the Nicaraguan Insurgency] by ''[[The New Republic]]'', 5 August 1985
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120728041441/http://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552661 The Contras and U.S. Funding] from the [https://web.archive.org/web/20160115205405/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494 Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160118210701/https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552675 U.S. Policy Towards the Contras] from the [https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/handle/10822/552494/browse?type=title Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090412154510/http://www.whitepinepictures.com/wsw/twswfmr.htm "The World Stopped Watching"], a documentary film directed by Peter Raymont. White Pine Pictures, 2003.
*[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm "The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations"] – National Security Archive.
*[https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/27/newsid_2520000/2520169.stm US administration disregarding the UN verdict] Video provided by BBC.
*[https://archive.org/details/whenak47sfallsil00timo <!-- quote=When the AK-47s Fall Silent. --> ''When the AK-47s Fall Silent'', by Timothy Brown]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}{{United States intervention in Latin America}}

[[Category:Contras| ]]
[[Category:Anti-communist guerrilla organizations]]
[[Category:Anti-communist terrorism]]
[[Category:Central Intelligence Agency operations]]
[[Category:CIA activities in the Americas]]
[[Category:Cold War conflicts]]
[[Category:Cold War rebellions]]
[[Category:Counter-revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Dirty wars]]
[[Category:1980s in Nicaragua]]
[[Category:History of the foreign relations of the United States]]
[[Category:Iran–Contra affair]]
[[Category:Nicaraguan anti-communists]]
[[Category:Nicaraguan Revolution]]
[[Category:Nicaragua–United States relations]]
[[Category:Reagan administration controversies]]
[[Category:Rebellions in North America]]
[[Category:Right-wing politics in Nicaragua]]
[[Category:Terrorism in Nicaragua]]
[[Category:Wars involving the United States]]
[[Category:Right-wing militant groups]]