contras

=<div>=omg<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/how-elliott-abrams-found-himself-at-the-center-of-a-dark-reagan-era-conspiracy-to-spring-a-cia-linked-trafficker/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/02/how-elliott-abrams-found-himself-at-the-center-of-a-dark-reagan-era-conspiracy-to-spring-a-cia-linked-trafficker/</a>When U.S. policymakers needed to spring a convicted CIA-connected drug trafficker doing hard time in federal prison, who did they call?<div class="p1_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Trump’s infamous appointed special envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, according to a <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4463974/Document-07-White-House-PROFS-e-mail-message.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">September 1986 National Security Council email,</a> written by NSC staffer Oliver North.<div class="p2_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In a U.S. House Committee hearing on Thursday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/2/15/18225109/elliott-abrams-ilhan-omar-venezuela" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">scorched Abrams</a> for his covering up of the infamous El Mozote massacre and lying to Congress during the Iran-Contra conspiracy in the 1980s.<div class="p3_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Her interrogation drew rebuke from Max Boot, the apostate conservative, and a chorus of right-wing media commentators. Boot described Omar’s comments as a <a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1095789220466253824" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">“disgraceful ad hominem attack.”</a><div class="p4_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Actually, the impertinent congresswoman from Minneapolis could have gone much further about Abrams’ untrustworthy behavior. One of the most revealing stories comes from an impeccably right-wing source, Oliver North, former Republican senatorial candidate and Fox News talking head.<div class="p5_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">BagmanThe year was 1986. Abrams served as assistant secretary of state for Latin America under President Reagan. He was a 39-year-old lawyer and foreign policy polemicist who qualified as neoconservative royalty. (His wife was the daughter of Norman Podhoretz, the perfervid editor of Commentary magazine.) Even then his perennial scowl managed to make him look furtive and self-righteous at the same time.<div class="p7_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Iran-Contra conspiracy was in full swing. The conspiracy, permissively labeled “a scandal,” was a Reagan White House plot to subvert the U.S. Congress’ powers of the purse. North was the coordinator of what can fairly be described as an unconstitutional covert operation, while Abrams played the role of bagman.<div class="p8_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">To bypass the so-called Boland Amendment, Abrams took payments from the Sultan of Brunei, a petroleum potentate from South Asia, and passed them to the leaders of Reagan’s counter-revolutionary army in Nicaragua. When questioned under oath, Abrams lied. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of deceiving Congress.<div class="p9_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">As part of the conspiracy, Abrams also put in a good word for a convicted drug trafficker, General Jose Bueso Rosa. He was a Honduran general who had helped the U.S. government with “sensitive operations” in Central America. As Murray Waas and I wrote in the Washington Post, North did <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1994/05/29/a-favor-for-a-felon/10a9af57-a7d4-4329-92c2-9b3a021c6bfe/?utm_term=.1c6846d358b6" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">“a favor for a felon.”</a><div class="p10_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">So did Abrams.<div class="p11_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">‘Sensitive Operations’<div class="p12_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">As an episode of CIA-sanctioned drug trafficking, the Bueso story was typical. Bueso, it turns out, had helped put together a CIA-trained military intelligence unit known as Battalion 316, which served as death squad for U.S. policymakers. A <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/1994/07/01/facts-speak-themselves/preliminary-report-disappearances-national-commissioner" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Honduran government investigation</a> found that Battalion 316 had captured, tortured and executed some 200 suspected leftists.<div class="p13_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bueso had also trafficked multi-kiloton shipments of cocaine. As CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz documented in Volume 2 of his report on contra drug trafficking, the agency did business with more than <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/cocaine/contra-story" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">50 suspected drug traffickers</a> in the 1980s.<div class="p14_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(Lazy reporters sometimes say that the CIA was cleared of the allegation. They didn’t bother to read the <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/cocaine/contra-story/pilots.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Sections 800-1148</a> of Hitz’s report, which detailed how the agency took no action against four dozen suspected traffickers who aided Reagan’s—and Abrams’—anticommunist crusade.)<div class="p15_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Investigating the story for the Post, I spoke on background with law enforcement officials familiar with Bueso’s case. A wiretap had picked up Bueso repeatedly talking about shipments of “flour” into central Florida, they said. Given Bueso’s connections, no one in the Reagan Justice Department cared to make a big deal of his cocaine shipments, no matter how hefty. They just wanted a conviction that would put him out of business. Bueso got a generous plea bargain. He would only have to serve five years.<div class="p16_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bueso, however, was led to believe his American friends would save him from serving any time all.<div class="p17_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In his September 1986 email, later uncovered by Iran-Contra investigators, North worried Bueso might “break his longstanding silence.” He might disclose unpleasant truths about death squads and CIA drug trafficking.<div class="p18_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">So North “<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/4463974/Document-07-White-House-PROFS-e-mail-message.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">cabal[led] quietly</a>” with Abrams, as well as top Pentagon, CIA and Justice Department officials. A presidential pardon was out of the question, but transfer to a comfortable “Club Fed” facility was arranged.<div class="p19_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">As time when U.S. prosecutors meted out 10-year sentences to young black men for the possession of a few ounces of cocaine, Abrams was part of a gang that thought a multi-kiloton trafficker should be treated leniently. Such was his advocacy of “human rights.”<div class="p20_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bueso got out of prison early—for “good behavior.” Abrams went on to a long career in U.S. foreign policy. Hundreds of thousands of black men remained in jails for years, if not decades.<div class="p21_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Question<div class="p22_28" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rep. Omar could have asked an even tougher question of Abrams, namely, “Does Trump’s policy toward Latin America today involve protection of drug traffickers as Reagan’s policy did in the 1980s?”...<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="">The contras (some references use the capitalized form, "Contras") is a label given to the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing militant groups that were active from 1979 to the early 1990s in opposition to the left-wing, socialist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandinista_National_Liberation_Front" title="Sandinista National Liberation Front" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sandinista</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junta_of_National_Reconstruction" title="Junta of National Reconstruction" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Junta of National Reconstruction</a> government in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua" title="Nicaragua" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nicaragua</a>. Among the separate contra groups, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Democratic_Force" title="Nicaraguan Democratic Force" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nicaraguan Democratic Force</a> (FDN) emerged as the largest by far. In 1987, virtually all contra organizations were united, at least nominally, into the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Resistance" title="Nicaraguan Resistance" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nicaraguan Resistance</a>.From an early stage, the rebels received financial and military <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_state-sponsored_terrorism#The_Contras" title="United States and state-sponsored terrorism" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">support from the United States government</a>, and their military significance decisively depended on it. After US support was banned by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" title="United States Congress" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Congress</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration" class="mw-redirect" title="Reagan administration" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Reagan administration</a> covertly continued it. These covert activities culminated in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair" title="Iran–Contra affair" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Iran–Contra affair</a>.The term "contra" comes from the Spanish contra, which means against but in this case is short for la contrarrevolución, in English "the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-revolution" class="mw-redirect" title="Counter-revolution" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">counter-revolution</a>". Some rebels disliked being called contras, feeling that it defined their cause only in negative terms, or implied a desire to restore the old order. Rebel fighters usually referred to themselves as comandos ("commandos"); peasant sympathizers also called the rebels los primos ("the cousins"). From the mid-1980s, as the Reagan administration and the rebels sought to portray the movement as the "democratic resistance," members started describing themselves as la resistencia.During their war against the Nicaraguan government, the Contras committed a large number of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_violations" class="mw-redirect" title="Human rights violations" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">human rights violations</a> and used <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorist" class="mw-redirect" title="Terrorist" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">terrorist</a> tactics,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Non-governmental_Terrorism-1" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Grandin.26_Joseph-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[2]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Todd-3" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[3]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[4]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[5]</a> carrying out more than 1300 terrorist attacks.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[6]</a>These actions were frequently carried out systematically as a part of the strategy of the Contras. Supporters of the Contras tried to minimize these violations, particularly the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Ronald_Reagan" title="Presidency of Ronald Reagan" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Reagan administration</a> in the US, which engaged in a campaign of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_propaganda" title="White propaganda" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">white propaganda</a> to alter public opinion in favor of the contras.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Fried_1997-7" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">[7]</a><div id="toc" class="toc" style="background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1;"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;">
</div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#History" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1History</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Origins" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.1Origins</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Main_groups" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.2Main groups</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Unity_efforts" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.3Unity efforts</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#U.S.military_and_financial_assistance" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2U.S. military and financial assistance</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Political_background" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2.1Political background</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Illegal_covert_operations" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2.2Illegal covert operations</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Propaganda" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2.3Propaganda</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#International_Court_of_Justice_ruling" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2.4International Court of Justice ruling</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Human_rights_violations" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3Human rights violations</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Controversy" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.1Controversy</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Military_successes_and_election_of_Violeta_Chamorro" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">4Military successes and election of Violeta Chamorro</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#In_popular_culture" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">5In popular culture</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#See_also" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">6See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#Notes" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">7Notes</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">8References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">9External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170);" linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height">History[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: History" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">Origins[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Origins" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>The Contras were not a monolithic group, but a combination of three distinct elements of Nicaraguan society:<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.29-8" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[8]</a><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url("");" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Ex-guardsmen of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_National_Guard" class="mw-redirect" title="Nicaraguan National Guard" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nicaraguan National Guard</a> and other right-wing figures who had fought for Nicaragua's ex-dictator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somoza" class="mw-redirect" title="Somoza" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Somoza</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.29-8" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[8]</a>—these later were especially found in the military wing of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Democratic_Force" title="Nicaraguan Democratic Force" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nicaraguan Democratic Force</a> (FDN).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[9]</a> Remnants of the Guard later formed groups such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifteenth_of_September_Legion" title="Fifteenth of September Legion" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Fifteenth of September Legion</a>, the Anti-Sandinista Guerrilla Special Forces, and the National Army of Liberation.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>] Initially however, these groups were small and conducted little active raiding into Nicaragua.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[10]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Anti-Somozistas who had supported the revolution but felt betrayed by the Sandinista government<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.29-8" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[8]</a> – e.g. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Chamorro" title="Edgar Chamorro" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Edgar Chamorro</a>, prominent member of the political directorate of the FDN,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-11" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[11]</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Francisco_Cardenal" class="mw-redirect" title="Jose Francisco Cardenal" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Jose Francisco Cardenal</a>, who had briefly served in the Council of State before leaving Nicaragua out of disagreement with the Sandinista government's policies and founding the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Democratic_Union" title="Nicaraguan Democratic Union" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nicaraguan Democratic Union (UDN)</a>, an opposition group of Nicaraguan exiles in Miami.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-12" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[12]</a> Another example are the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MILPAS" title="MILPAS" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">MILPAS</a> (Milicias Populares Anti-Sandinistas), peasant <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia" title="Militia" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">militias</a> led by disillusioned Sandinista veterans from the northern mountains. Founded by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pedro_Joaqu%C3%ADn_Gonz%C3%A1lez&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Pedro Joaquín González (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Pedro Joaquín González</a> (known as "Dimas"), the Milpistas were also known as chilotes (green corn). Even after his death, other MILPAS bands sprouted during 1980–1981. The Milpistas were composed largely of campesino (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasant" title="Peasant" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">peasant</a>) highlanders and rural workers.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-13" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[13]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-14" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[14]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-15" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[15]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-16" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[16]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Nicaraguans who had avoided direct involvement in the revolution but opposed the Sandinistas.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.29-8" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[8]</a></li></ul><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">Main groups[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Main groups" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div class="thumb tright" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto;"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 222px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: none; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frente_Sur_Contras_1987.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("");" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" standalone="standalone" no="no" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" viewbox="viewBox" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="id" magnify-clip="magnify-clip" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" bigbox="bigbox" m1.509="M1.509" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" smallbox="smallbox" m-1.499="M-1.499" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" fg="Fg" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data" /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frente_Sur_Contras_1987.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("");" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" standalone="standalone" no="no" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" viewbox="viewBox" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="id" magnify-clip="magnify-clip" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" bigbox="bigbox" m1.509="M1.509" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" smallbox="smallbox" m-1.499="M-1.499" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" fg="Fg" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Contra Commandos from </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Democratic_Force" title="Nicaraguan Democratic Force" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">FDN</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ARDE_Frente_Sur&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="ARDE Frente Sur (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">ARDE Frente Sur</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nueva_Guinea" title="Nueva Guinea" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nueva Guinea</a> area in 1987</div></div></div><div class="thumb tright" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); clear: right; float: right; margin: 0.5em 0px 1.3em 1.4em; width: auto;"><div class="thumbinner" style="min-width: 100px; border: 1px solid rgb(200, 204, 209); padding: 3px; background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); text-align: center; overflow: hidden; width: 222px;">
<div class="thumbcaption" style="border: none; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 3px; text-align: left;"><div class="magnify" style="float: right; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Smoke_break_el_serrano_1987.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("");" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" standalone="standalone" no="no" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" viewbox="viewBox" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="id" magnify-clip="magnify-clip" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" bigbox="bigbox" m1.509="M1.509" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" smallbox="smallbox" m-1.499="M-1.499" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" fg="Fg" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data" /></div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Smoke_break_el_serrano_1987.jpg" class="internal" title="Enlarge" style="text-decoration: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url("");" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" standalone="standalone" no="no" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" viewbox="viewBox" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" id="id" magnify-clip="magnify-clip" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" bigbox="bigbox" m1.509="M1.509" h10.99v7.919h-10.99z="h10.99v7.919h-10.99z" smallbox="smallbox" m-1.499="M-1.499" h5.943v4.904h-5.943z="h5.943v4.904h-5.943z" fg="Fg" display="display" block="block" text-indent="text-indent" px="px" white-space="white-space" nowrap="nowrap" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden" user-select="user-select" none="none" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Members of ARDE Frente Sur taking a smoke break after routing the </a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FSLN" class="mw-redirect" title="FSLN" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">FSLN</a> garrison at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=El_Serrano&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="El Serrano (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">El Serrano</a> in southeast Nicaragua in 1987.</div></div></div>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA" class="mw-redirect" title="CIA" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">CIA</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_intelligence" class="mw-redirect" title="Argentine intelligence" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Argentine intelligence</a>, 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 in September 1981 as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Democratic_Force" title="Nicaraguan Democratic Force" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nicaraguan Democratic Force</a> (Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense, FDN).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-17" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[17]</a> Although the FDN had its roots in two groups made up of former National Guardsmen (of the Somoza regime), its joint political directorate was led by businessman and former anti-Somoza activist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_Calero" title="Adolfo Calero" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Adolfo Calero Portocarrero</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-18" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[18]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Chamorro" title="Edgar Chamorro" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Edgar Chamorro</a> later stated that there was strong opposition within the UDN against working with the Guardsmen and that the merging only took place because of insistence by the CIA.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-19" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[19]</a>Based in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honduras" title="Honduras" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Honduras</a>, Nicaragua's northern neighbor, under the command of former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardia_Nacional(Nicaragua)" class="mw-redirect" title="Guardia Nacional (Nicaragua)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">National Guard</a> Colonel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrique_Berm%C3%BAdez" title="Enrique Bermúdez" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Enrique Bermúdez</a>, the new FDN commenced to draw in other smaller insurgent forces in the north.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>] Largely financed, trained, equipped, armed and organized by the U.S.,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-20" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[20]</a> it emerged as the largest and most active contra group.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-21" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[21]</a>In April 1982, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed%C3%A9n_Pastora" title="Edén Pastora" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Edén Pastora</a> (Comandante Cero), one of the heroes in the fight against Somoza, organized the Sandinista Revolutionary Front (FRS) – embedded in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Revolutionary_Alliance" title="Democratic Revolutionary Alliance" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Democratic Revolutionary Alliance</a> (ARDE)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Williams-22" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[22]</a> – and declared war on the Sandinista government.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.32-23" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[23]</a> Himself a former Sandinista who had held several high posts in the government, he had resigned abruptly in 1981 and defected,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.32-23" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[23]</a> believing that the newly found power had corrupted the Sandinista's original ideas.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Williams-22" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[22]</a> A popular and charismatic leader, Pastora initially saw his group develop quickly.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.32-23" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[23]</a> He confined himself to operate in the southern part of Nicaragua;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-24" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[24]</a> after a press conference he was holding on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Penca_bombing" title="La Penca bombing" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">30 May 1984 was bombed</a>, he "voluntarily withdrew" from the contra struggle.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Williams-22" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[22]</a>A third force, Misurasata, appeared among the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miskito_people" title="Miskito people" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Miskito</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumo(people)" class="mw-redirect" title="Sumo (people)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sumo</a> and Rama <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amerindian" class="mw-redirect" title="Amerindian" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Amerindian</a> peoples of Nicaragua's Atlantic coast, who in December 1981 found themselves in conflict with the authorities following the government's efforts to nationalize <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_people_of_the_Americas" class="mw-redirect" title="Indigenous people of the Americas" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Indian</a> 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-25" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[25]</a> The Misurasata movement split in 1983, with the breakaway Misura group of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stedman_Fagoth_Muller&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Stedman Fagoth Muller (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Stedman Fagoth Muller</a> allying itself 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-26" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[26]</a> A subsequent autonomy statute in September 1987 largely defused Miskito resistance.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-27" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[27]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">Unity efforts[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Unity efforts" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>U.S. officials were active in attempting to unite the Contra groups. In June 1985 most of the groups reorganized as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nicaraguan_Opposition" title="United Nicaraguan Opposition" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United Nicaraguan Opposition</a>(UNO), under the leadership of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_Calero" title="Adolfo Calero" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Adolfo Calero</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Cruz" title="Arturo Cruz" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Arturo Cruz</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_Robelo" title="Alfonso Robelo" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Alfonso Robelo</a>, all originally supporters of the anti-Somoza revolution. After UNO's dissolution early in 1987, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Resistance" title="Nicaraguan Resistance" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nicaraguan Resistance</a> (RN) was organized along similar lines in May.<h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170);" linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height">U.S. military and financial assistance[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: U.S. military and financial assistance" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><div role="note" class="hatnote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">See also: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_activities_in_Nicaragua" title="CIA activities in Nicaragua" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">CIA activities in Nicaragua</a></div>In front of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice" title="International Court of Justice" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">International Court of Justice</a>, Nicaragua claimed that the contras were altogether a creation of the U.S.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Gill_1989.2C_p.328-28" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[28]</a> This claim was rejected.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Gill_1989.2C_p.328-28" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[28]</a>However, the evidence of a very close relationship between the contras and the United States was considered overwhelming and incontrovertible.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-29" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[29]</a> The U.S. played a very large role in financing, training, arming, and advising the contras over a long period, and the contras only became capable of carrying out significant military operations as a result of this support.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[30]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">Political background[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Political background" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div role="note" class="hatnote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">See also: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_Doctrine" title="Reagan Doctrine" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Reagan Doctrine</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nicaragua(1979%E2%80%9390)" title="History of Nicaragua (1979–90)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">History of Nicaragua (1979–90)</a></div>The US government viewed the leftist Sandinistas as a threat to economic interests of American corporations in Nicaragua and to national security. US President Ronald Reagan stated in 1983 that “The defense of [the USA's] southern frontier” was at stake.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-31" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[31]</a> "In spite of the Sandinista victory being declared fair, the United States continued to oppose the left-wing Nicaraguan government."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-32" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[32]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-33" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[33]</a> and opposed its ties to Cuba and the Soviet Union.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[34]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[35]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ronald Reagan</a>, who had assumed the American presidency in January 1981, accused the Sandinistas of importing Cuban-style socialism and aiding <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FMLN" class="mw-redirect" title="FMLN" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">leftist guerrillas</a> in El Salvador.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Fas.org-36" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[36]</a> The Reagan administration continued to view the Sandinistas as undemocratic despite the 1984 Nicaraguan elections being generally declared fair by foreign observers.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-37" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[37]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-38" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[38]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-39" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[39]</a> Throughout the 1980s the Sandinista government was regarded as "Partly Free" by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_House" title="Freedom House" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Freedom House</a>, an organization financed by the U.S. government.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-FH1972-40" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[40]</a>On 4 January 1982, Reagan signed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classified_information" title="Classified information" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">top secret</a> National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17),<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Fas.org-36" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[36]</a> giving the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency" title="Central Intelligence Agency" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">CIA</a> 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_Doctrine" title="Reagan Doctrine" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Reagan Doctrine</a>, which called for providing military support to movements opposing <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Soviet-supported</a>, communist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_state" title="Communist state" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">governments</a>.By December 1981, however, the United States had already begun to support armed opponents of the Sandinista government. From the beginning, the CIA was in charge.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-41" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[41]</a> The arming, clothing, feeding and supervision of the contras<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.3-42" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[42]</a> became the most ambitious paramilitary and political action operation mounted by the agency in nearly a decade.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-43" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[43]</a>In the fiscal year 1984, the U.S. Congress approved $24 million in contra aid.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.3-42" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[42]</a> However, since the contras failed to win widespread popular support or military victories within Nicaragua,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.3-42" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[42]</a> opinion polls indicated that a majority of the U.S. public was not supportive of the contras,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-44" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[44]</a> the Reagan administration lost much of its support regarding its contra policy within Congress after disclosure of CIA mining of Nicaraguan ports,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-45" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[45]</a> and a report of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Intelligence_and_Research" title="Bureau of Intelligence and Research" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Bureau of Intelligence and Research</a> commissioned by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State" title="United States Department of State" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">State Department</a> found Reagan's allegations about Soviet influence in Nicaragua "exaggerated",<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-46" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[46]</a> Congress cut off all funds for the contras in 1985 by the third <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boland_Amendment" title="Boland Amendment" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Boland Amendment</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.3-42" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[42]</a> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boland_Amendment" title="Boland Amendment" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Boland Amendment</a> 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-clr-47" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[47]</a> 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritage_Foundation" class="mw-redirect" title="Heritage Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Heritage Foundation</a>, which argued that support for the contras would counter Soviet influence in Nicaragua.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-48" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[48]</a>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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_embargo_against_Nicaragua" title="United States embargo against Nicaragua" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">trade embargo</a> against Nicaragua to "deal with that threat".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-49" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[49]</a> On May 16, 1985, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega redeclared "a position of nonalignment" during his failed mission to try and collect military aid from France, Spain, and Italy. Ortega managed to gain warm words of political and economic support but military aid was ruled out. In 1982, France sold Nicaragua about $17 million worth of arms before U.S. anger made them terminate the deal. A French Foreign Ministry official explained that this reticence resulted, "because we have limited power to maneuver in Central America, and after all, the region is in America's backyard."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-50" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[50]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">Illegal covert operations[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Illegal covert operations" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div role="note" class="hatnote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">See also: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair" title="Iran–Contra affair" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Iran–Contra affair</a></div>With Congress blocking further contra aid, the Reagan administration sought to arrange funding and military supplies by means of third countries and private sources.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.4-51" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[51]</a> Between 1984 and 1986, $34 million from third countries and $2.7 million from private sources were raised this way.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.4-51" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[51]</a> The secret contra assistance was run by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Security_Council" title="United States National Security Council" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">National Security Council</a>, with officer Lt. Col. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North" title="Oliver North" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Oliver North</a> in charge.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-52" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[52]</a> 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.4-51" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[51]</a> It also received assistance from personnel from other government agencies, especially from CIA personnel in Central America.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.4-51" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[51]</a>This operation functioned, however, without any of the accountability required of U.S. government activities.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.4-51" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[51]</a> The Enterprise's efforts culminated in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Contra_affair" class="mw-redirect" title="Iran Contra affair" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Iran–Contra Affair of 1986–1987</a>, which facilitated contra funding through the proceeds of arms sales to Iran.According to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Archive" title="National Security Archive" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">National Security Archive</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North" title="Oliver North" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a> had been in contact with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega" title="Manuel Noriega" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Manuel Noriega</a>, the military leader of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama" title="Panama" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Panama</a> 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-archive-53" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[53]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Senator</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kerry" title="John Kerry" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">John Kerry</a>'s 1988 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_Foreign_Relations" title="United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Committee on Foreign Relations</a> 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".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-54" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[54]</a>The Reagan administration's support for the Contras continued to stir controversy well into the 1990s. In August 1996, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_Mercury_News" title="San Jose Mercury News" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">San Jose Mercury News</a> reporter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Webb" title="Gary Webb" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Gary Webb</a> published a series titled Dark Alliance, alleging that the contras contributed to the rise of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crack_cocaine" title="Crack cocaine" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">crack cocaine</a> in California.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-55" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[55]</a> In his subsequent 1999 book, also titled <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Alliance" title="Dark Alliance" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Dark Alliance</a>, Webb asserted that the Reagan administration helped harbor known drug traffickers, offering political asylum to some, to help raise funds for the rebel effort.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-56" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[56]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">Propaganda</h3>During the time the US 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.5-57" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[57]</a> For this purpose, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Security_Council" title="United States National Security Council" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">NSC</a> established an interagency working group which in turn coordinated the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Public_Diplomacy" title="Office of Public Diplomacy" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Office of Public Diplomacy</a> for Latin America and the Caribbean (managed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Reich" title="Otto Reich" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Otto Reich</a>), which conducted the campaign.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.5-57" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[57]</a> The S/LPD produced and widely disseminated a variety of pro-contra publications, arranged speeches and press conferences.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.5-57" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[57]</a> It also disseminated "white propaganda"—pro-contra newspaper articles by paid consultants who did not disclose their connection to the Reagan administration.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-58" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[58]</a>On top of that, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North" title="Oliver North" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Oliver North</a> 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.6-59" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[59]</a> Channell in turn, used part of that money to run a series of television advertisements directed at home districts of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressman" class="mw-redirect" title="Congressman" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Congressmen</a> considered to be swing votes on contra aid.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.6-59" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[59]</a> Out of the $10 million raised, more than $1 million was spent on pro-contra publicity.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lee_et_al.1987.2C_p.6-59" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[59]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">International Court of Justice ruling[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: International Court of Justice ruling" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div role="note" class="hatnote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;">Main article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_v.United_States" title="Nicaragua v. United States" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nicaragua v. United States</a></div>In 1984 the Sandinista government filed a suit in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice" title="International Court of Justice" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">International Court of Justice</a> (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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_law" title="International law" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">international law</a> by supporting the contras in their rebellion against the Nicaraguan government and by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_mine" title="Naval mine" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">mining</a> Nicaragua's harbors. Regarding the alleged human rights violations by the contras, however, the ICJ took the view that the United States could only be held accountable for them if it would have been proven that the U.S. had effective control of the contra operations resulting in these alleged violations.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-60" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[60]</a> Nevertheless, the ICJ found that the U.S. encouraged acts contrary to general principles of humanitarian law by producing the manual <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_Operations_in_Guerrilla_Warfare" title="Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare</a> (Operaciones sicológicas en guerra de guerrillas) and disseminating it to the contras.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-61" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[61]</a> The manual, amongst other things, advised on how to rationalize killings of civilians<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-ReferenceC-62" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[62]</a> and recommended to hire professional killers for specific selective tasks.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Sklar_1988.2C_p.181-63" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[63]</a>The United States, which did not participate in the merits phase of the proceedings, maintained that the ICJ's power did not supersede the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_the_United_States" class="mw-redirect" title="Constitution of the United States" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Constitution of the United States</a> 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-64" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[64]</a> The ICJ had found that evidence of a responsibility of the Nicaraguan government in this matter was insufficient.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-65" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[65]</a> The U.S. argument was affirmed, however, by the dissenting opinion of ICJ member U.S. Judge Schwebel,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-66" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[66]</a> who concluded that in supporting the contras, the United States acted lawfully in collective self-defence in El Salvador's support.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-67" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[67]</a> The U.S. blocked enforcement of the ICJ judgment by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council" title="United Nations Security Council" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United Nations Security Council</a> and thereby prevented Nicaragua from obtaining any actual compensation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-law-68" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[68]</a> The Nicaraguan government finally withdrew the complaint from the court in September 1992 (under the later, post-FSLN, government of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Chamorro" title="Violeta Chamorro" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Violeta Chamorro</a>), following a repeal of the law requiring the country to seek compensation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-HRW_report-69" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[69]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170);" linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height">Human rights violations[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Human rights violations" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Americas Watch – which subsequently became part of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch" title="Human Rights Watch" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Human Rights Watch</a> – accused the Contras of:<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-AW1986-70" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[70]</a><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url("");" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">targeting health care clinics and health care workers for assassination<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-ReferenceA-71" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[71]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">kidnapping civilians<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-ReferenceB-72" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[72]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">torturing civilians<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-73" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[73]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">executing civilians, including children, who were captured in combat<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-74" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[74]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">raping women<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-ReferenceA-71" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[71]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">indiscriminately attacking civilians and civilian houses<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-ReferenceB-72" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[72]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">seizing civilian property<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-ReferenceA-71" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[71]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">burning civilian houses in captured towns.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-ReferenceA-71" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[71]</a></li></ul>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 attacks on civilians, selectively murdering non-combatants, and mistreating prisoners."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-NICARAGUA-75" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[75]</a>In his affidavit to the World Court, former contra <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Chamorro" title="Edgar Chamorro" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Edgar Chamorro</a> 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...kill, kidnap, rob and torture..."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-76" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[76]</a>Contra leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_Calero" title="Adolfo Calero" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Adolfo Calero</a> 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."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-77" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[77]</a><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; line-height: 1.6;">Controversy[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Controversy" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>U.S. news media published several articles accusing Americas Watch and other bodies of ideological bias and unreliable reporting. It alleged that Americas Watch gave too much credence to alleged Contra abuses and systematically tried to discredit Nicaraguan human rights groups such as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Permanent_Commission_on_Human_Rights&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Permanent Commission on Human Rights (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Permanent Commission on Human Rights</a>, which blamed the major human rights abuses on the Contras.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-78" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[78]</a>In 1985, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Journal" class="mw-redirect" title="Wall Street Journal" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wall Street Journal</a> reported::<blockquote class="templatequote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); overflow: hidden; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 40px;">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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_E._M%C3%A9ndez" title="Juan E. Méndez" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Juan Mendez</a>: "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?"<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-79" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[79]</a></blockquote><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Rights_Watch" title="Human Rights Watch" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Human Rights Watch</a>, 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...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."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-NICARAGUA-75" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[75]</a>U.S. conservative political scientist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolph_Rummel" title="Rudolph Rummel" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Rudolph Rummel</a> estimated that by 1987, the contras had murdered about 500 people while the Sandinistas had murdered 4,000 to 7,000 people in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democide" title="Democide" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">democide</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-80" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[80]</a> In contrast, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witness_for_Peace" title="Witness for Peace" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Witness for Peace</a> and the Sandinista government claimed at least 736 civilians were murdered by the contras between March 1987 and October 1988 alone.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-81" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[81]</a><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170);" linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height">Military successes and election of Violeta Chamorro[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contras&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: Military successes and election of Violeta Chamorro" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>By 1986 the contras were besieged by charges of corruption, human-rights abuses, and military ineptitude.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-82" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[82]</a> A much-vaunted early 1986 offensive never materialized, and Contra forces were largely reduced to isolated acts of terrorism.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Todd-3" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[3]</a> In October 1987, however, the contras staged a successful attack in southern Nicaragua.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-83" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[83]</a> Then on 21 December 1987, the FDN launched attacks at La Bonanza, La Siuna, and La Rosita in Zelaya province, resulting in heavy fighting.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lemoyne-84" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[84]</a> ARDE Frente Sur attacked at El Almendro and along the Rama road.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lemoyne-84" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[84]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-85" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[85]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-86" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[86]</a> These large-scale raids mainly became possible as the contras were able to use U.S.-provided <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIM-43_Redeye" title="FIM-43 Redeye" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Redeye missiles</a> against Sandinista <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi-24" class="mw-redirect" title="Mi-24" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Mi-24</a> helicopter gunships, which had been supplied by the Soviets.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Lemoyne-84" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[84]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-87" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[87]</a>Nevertheless, the Contras remained tenuously encamped within Honduras and weren't able to hold Nicaraguan territory.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-88" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[88]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-89" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[89]</a>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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-90" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[90]</a> However, polls showed the Sandinista government still enjoyed strong support from Nicaraguans.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-91" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[91]</a> Political opposition groups were splintered and the Contras began to experience defections, although United States aid maintained them as a viable military force.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-92" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[92]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-93" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[93]</a>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, it was agreed that a voluntary demobilization of the contras should start in early December 1989, in order to facilitate free and fair elections in Nicaragua in February 1990 (even though the Reagan administration had pushed for a delay of contra disbandment).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-94" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[94]</a>In the resulting February 1990 elections, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Chamorro" title="Violeta Chamorro" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Violeta Chamorro</a> and her party the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Opposition_Union" title="National Opposition Union" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">UNO</a> won an upset victory of 55% to 41% over <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ortega" title="Daniel Ortega" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Daniel Ortega</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-95" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[95]</a> even though polls leading up to the election had clearly indicated an FSLN victory.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Envio-96" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[96]</a>Possible explanations include that the Nicaraguan people were disenchanted with the Ortega regime as well as the fact that already in November 1989, the White House had announced that the economic embargo against Nicaragua would continue unless <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Chamorro" title="Violeta Chamorro" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Violeta Chamorro</a> won.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-97" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[97]</a> Also, there had been reports of intimidation from the side of the contras,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-98" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[98]</a> with a Canadian observer mission confirming 42 people killed by the contras in "election violence" in October 1989.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-99" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[99]</a> This led many commentators to assume that Nicaraguans voted against the Sandinistas out of fear of a continuation of the contra war and economic deprivation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contras#cite_note-Envio-96" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[96]</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>