The United States had total control of their [Nicaraguan] airspace; they were overflying it, and using that to pass instructions to the terrorist army to enable them to attack soft targets … But the idea that Nicaragua should be permitted to defend its airspace against a superpower attack that is directing terrorist forces to attack undefended civilian targets – that was considered in the United States outrageous and uniformly so. Noam Chomsky, lecture MIT October 2001, ‘The War on Terror’, Youtube 1.17.13
We attack a lot of schools, health centres, and those sort of things. We have tried to make it so that the Nicaraguan government cannot provide social services for the peasants, cannot develop its project ... that’s the idea. Horacio Arce, chief of Contra intelligence, cited ibid.
The CIA created, armed and financed the Contras. My father [Ronald Reagan] backed them with everything he had. It was my father’s war, and almost everyone in Nicaragua has lost somebody as a result of it. I couldn’t go down there, being his daughter, and expect not to feel those people’s wrath. Patti Davis
Somoza’s troops were dive-bombing slums, murdering unarmed people in the streets, and looting the cities ... killing thousands of women and children. Walter LaFeber
The brutality of the Contras took its toll … The Contras had raped, tortured and killed unarmed civilians including children … burnt, dismembered, blinded and beheaded. The Power Principle, 2011
Probably the biggest hero [Alexis Aguello] I will have … All of a sudden you’re hearing of him going back to Nicaragua, he’s out in the jungle fighting the Sandinistas. The Guerrilla Fighter, ESPN short 2016
Every one of the fundamentals he did exceedingly well. ibid.
November 12 1982 v Pryor: This was a fight that exceeded the hype. They went toe to toe. ibid.
‘I went down there to help Alexis run for mayor.’ ibid. Pryor
Alexis Arguello was found dead at 1.30 in the morning in his home July 1st 2009 from a gunshot wound to the chest. ibid.
Nicaragua: this central-American country has had more than its fair share of violence … In July 1979 Ortega had been the hero: a dashing Marxist revolutionary whose Sandinista guerrillas had overthrown the fascistic Somoza regime and entered Managua in triumph. Secret Wars Uncovered s1e7: Cold War in Central America, History 2020
American president Ronald Reagan funnels money to right-wing Contra rebels fighting an insurgency against the Sandinista government, leading to one of the greatest scandals ever to hit the White House. ibid.
US commercial interests have taken control of Nicaragua’s national rail company, and US marines remain in the country. They first landed in her beaches in 1909. ibid.
The Somoza dynasty had ruled Nicaragua for 44 years. From the outset they consolidated their power. ibid.