Contra war

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Location of Nicaragua in Central America
Operational areas and bases of the Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense
Members of the ARDE Frente Sur taking a smoke break in southeastern Nicaragua, 1987

The Contra War was a 1981 to 1990 with significant support of the United States -run guerrilla -Krieg the Contra rebels against the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua . The Contra rebels mainly operated from bases in neighboring Honduras . They carried out attacks on Nicaragua's public and economic infrastructure . Tens of thousands of civilians were also killed.

From 1982 the US Congress passed the Boland Amendments , which legally forbade the US government any financial or other support for the Contras. The Ronald Reagan administration defied this using various secret and illegal funding methods. This illegal support for the Contras became public knowledge in 1986 as part of the Iran-Contra scandal and led to a government crisis in the USA.

The United States was sentenced in 1986 by the International Court of Justice in The Hague for its direct and indirect military participation in the Contra War to end the illegal use of force against Nicaragua and to pay reparations . However, they did not recognize the judgment.

backgrounds

Then Sandinista President Daniel Ortega (2007)

On July 19, 1979, the US-backed Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua was overthrown by the Sandinistas and the "Sandinista Liberation Front" under the leadership of Daniel Ortega took over government.

An opposition formed against this new government, which consisted primarily of members of the former National Guard and members of bourgeois-conservative groups who saw government measures, such as land reform , as a threat to their property. These " Contras " (from the Spanish contrarevolucionario - counterrevolutionary ) were largely unpopular among the population at the beginning of the Sandinista rule. However, they were supported by the USA , especially the CIA , who saw the new regime as a threat to their strategic security and also to their economic interests. This support ultimately made it possible for the political differences between government supporters and the opposition to widen into civil war.

In the context of domino theory and the Kirkpatrick doctrine , the US government did not want to accept the possibility that another state in Latin America based on the Cuban model would ally with the Eastern Bloc . Planning documents of the US governments of the 1950s, which were previously classified as secret but are now released, show that US strategists developed plans at an early stage to secure their supremacy in Latin America , with these states being assigned a role as raw material suppliers and service providers. In particular, the documents refer to trends in the formation of nationalist regimes in Latin America and emphasize the need to take action to safeguard US interests , whether through economic influence or military action. The US government under President Jimmy Carter had authorized covert CIA operations to strengthen opposition groups as early as 1978 in order to create a moderate alternative to the Sandinista. Critical observers of US foreign policy therefore rate the Contra War as another example of the interventions by US governments since 1945 into the state sovereignty of countries such as Iran ( Operation Ajax ), Chile , Guatemala , Vietnam , Haiti , Cuba and others States.

US support for guerrilla warfare

Early phase

Shortly after the Sandinista came to power on July 19, 1979, US President Jimmy Carter approved financial and other support for opponents of the Sandinista. At the same time, pressure was exerted on the Nicaraguan government to fill government posts. The US aid that was still flowing under Carter went almost exclusively to non-governmental organizations and private institutions such as the AIFLD (American Institute for Free Labor Development), which worked with the CIA . After US President Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981, aid to the Sandinista was almost completely stopped (see Reagan Doctrine ). Nicaragua has been banned from US government investment and trade support programs. US imports of sugar from Nicaragua then fell by 90%. Washington continued to put pressure on the IMF , IDB , World Bank, and the European market to withhold credit to Nicaragua. In order to disrupt the country's oil supply, several attacks against oil depots were launched as part of Contra / CIA operations, pipelines were blown, transshipment ports were mined and oil tankers calling at the port were threatened with demolition. In particular, Nicaragua's ports were attacked with speedboats and bombed from the air to block exports. In October 1983, the Exxon Group announced that its tankers would no longer transport oil from Mexico, the main Nicaraguan supplier, to Nicaragua. Another preferred destination was agricultural facilities. Contra troops destroyed grain silos and tobacco stores, irrigation systems, farms, roads, bridges, agricultural vehicles, and transport vehicles. Numerous state farms and cooperatives were paralyzed. Many still intact farms were then abandoned. The Standard Fruit Company (now Dole Food Company ) announced in October 1982, in violation of a contract with the Nicaraguan government that was valid until 1985, that it would cease all banana business with Nicaragua.

Reinforcement of the US engagement, covert warfare of the CIA

From 1982 the US infrastructure for the air force, reconnaissance and communication was massively expanded. Thousands of contras were trained simultaneously in Florida and California . The Contras, also known as "Freedom fighters", were mainly recruited from former members of the dreaded National Guard of the fallen dictator Somoza. From this point on, US pilots were also directly involved in operations against Nicaraguan troops and for supply flights for the Contras. Weapons and other military equipment were found on board an American cargo plane that was shot down over Nicaragua in 1986. Eugene Hasenfus , the only survivor of the crash, testified after his arrest by the Nicaraguan government that he worked for the CIA . American Congressmen have been informed by some Contras that they have been instructed to take responsibility for the bombing operations organized by the CIA and flown by mercenaries.

Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird"
USS New Jersey firing the main guns

Rather for reasons of psychological warfare than for reconnaissance, the Lockheed SR-71 "Blackbird" was deployed over Nicaragua in 1984 , popularly known in Spanish as El pájaro negro (The Black Bird). This also applies to the operation of the battleship USS New Jersey off the Nicaraguan west coast in July 1983.

In September 1983, the CIA began attacking Nicaraguan ports such as Corinto and Puerto Sandino with the help of speedboats that were dropped off from a mother ship , using Latin American military specialists (so-called Unilaterally Controlled Latin Assets = UCLAs) . This type of covert warfare continued until the spring of 1984, with Nicaragua's energy supply such as the fuel tanks in Corinto being attacked. The mining of Nicaraguan ports was also intended to deter trading partners of the Sandinista government and to stop their sea deliveries. The UCLAs were not cons, as they did not have the appropriate military special training. To this day (2017) it has not been clarified who the UCLAs are specifically about.

Systematic human rights violations by the Contras

The Contras were known for their brutality. People who picked them up during the numerous actions to destroy health centers, schools, agricultural cooperatives or community centers were often tortured and cruelly killed. The Nicaraguan government announced in 1984 that around 910 state employees and 8,000 civilians had been killed in attacks by the Contras since 1981. Congressional intelligence committees have been informed by former and former Contra leaders, as well as other witnesses, that the Contras actually tortured, dismembered, beheaded, or gouged out unarmed civilians, including women and children. In October 1984 it was revealed that the CIA had produced a handbook entitled Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare to guide the Contras, which encouraged the use of force against civilians. The manual contains advice on political attacks, extortion of civilians, kidnappings and the demolition of public buildings. It reappeared shortly afterwards in a slightly different form in Honduras , supposedly published by the private American organization Soldier of Fortune magazine . Also in 1984 the distribution of a CIA comic book entitled Freedom Fighters' Manual was disclosed to the Nicaraguan population, which called for sabotage. The sabotage techniques described include clogging toilets, destroying power cables, soiling petrol tanks, turning trees on streets, setting off false fire alarms, excessive waste of electricity and water, stealing mail, reporting sick leave at work, short-circuiting of systems and others.

Iran-Contra affair

In the White House, Oliver North organized the illegal support of the Contras under US law .

The Contras received financial and military aid from the United States during Ronald Reagan's tenure . They often operated from bases in neighboring countries such as Honduras and El Salvador . US support was partly channeled through El Salvador. The money for the US aid to the Nicaraguan rebels was generated through proceeds from secret and illegal arms sales to Iran ( Iran-Contra affair ). Furthermore, the Contras financed proven and in a big way by the smuggling of cocaine into the United States (see Contra and Dark Alliance ).

Condemnation of the USA

The United States was sentenced on June 27, 1986 by the International Court of Justice in The Hague for its direct and indirect military participation in the Contra War to end the "unlawful use of force" against Nicaragua and to pay reparations. However, the US refused to recognize the judgment. Nicaragua then turned to the UN Security Council , which passed a resolution calling on all states to comply with international law. The US vetoed the resolution.

Military countermeasures by the Sandinista government

Compañía BLI Sócrates Sandino

Immediately after the revolution, the Sandinista People's Army ( Ejército Popular Sandinista ) was founded on August 22, 1979 . Until its dissolution in 1994, it was subordinate to Humberto Ortega Saavedra (born 1947). The compulsory military service ( Servicio Militar Patriótico = Patriotic Military Service) of two years duration was introduced on September 13 1,983th For the anti-guerrilla struggle , special units were set up, the BLI ( Batallones para la lucha irregular = battalions for irregular combat), which were named after well-known Nicaraguan and Latin American politicians and military:

BLI en operación 04
  • BLI " Simón Bolívar "
  • BLI " Germán Pomares "
  • BLI "General Francisco Estrada"
  • BLI "Coronel Santos López"
  • BLI "General Miguel Ángel Ortez"
  • BLI "Coronel Rufo Marín"
  • BLI "General Juan Pablo Umanzor"
  • BLI " Farabundo Martí "
  • BLI "Coronel Sócrates Sandino"
  • BLI "Coronel Ramón Raudales"
  • BLI "General Juan Gregorio Colindres"
  • BLI "General Pedro Altamirano"

In addition, at the beginning of the 1980s, the Sandinista People's Militia (MPS = Milicia Popular Sandinista ) was set up, which primarily carried out guard and security services in war zones and was divided into battalions and territorial brigades . Its first commander was Edén Pastora Gómez .

Border security was the responsibility of a border guard group, the TGF ( Tropas Guardafrontas ), which was divided into seven battalions and comprised around 7,000 members in 1988/89.

Emblem of the Tropas Pablo Úbeda

Furthermore, the fight against the contraband was subject to the troops of the Interior Ministry under Tomás Borge and the domestic secret service DGSE ( Directorio General para la Seguridad del Estado = General Directorate for State Security). The DGSE fought the Contras with intelligence resources and commando operations, but also had a paramilitary special unit to fight guerrillas, the Tropas Pablo Úbeda . In a battle between this unit and ARDE-Contras on November 5, 1984 near Boaco , the then commander , Subcommandante Enrique Schmidt , was killed.

Both the EPS and the Ministry of the Interior / DGSE were trained by military and police units of the Warsaw Pact and Cuba . In the GDR , 232 Sandinista officer candidates were trained by the National People's Army until July 1990 at the officers' college for foreign military cadres "Otto Winzer" in Prora . In July 1990, there were 85 other candidates in training. The Ministry of State Security was responsible for logistical assistance and training for the DGSE . To this end, we worked closely with the Cuban secret service Dirección de Inteligencia , which reports to the Ministry of the Interior in Havana (MININT).

Involvement of other states

Arms Transfer Activity in progress, El Bluff, Nicaragua - CIA IMINT

In addition to the USA, Poland and the People's Republic of China were also involved in arms deliveries to the Contras. Nicaragua received military support from the Soviet Union , which mainly supplied weapons and ammunition, and from Cuba , which sent numerous military advisers and trainers. The then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev made the US in 1987 an offer to stop providing military aid to Nicaragua if the US would also stop its aid to the Contras. Reagan confirmed it had received the offer, but did not respond.

From Costa Rica between 1982 and 1986 another armed anti-Scandinavian group fought against the Sandinista with the ARDE , which was a merger of the FRS of the ex-Sandinista Edén Pastora Gómez , the UDN-FARN of the Chamorro brothers, the MDN Robelos and the MISURASATA Brooklyn Rivera's leadership was.

International solidarity with Nicaragua

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0330-024, Berlin, Solidarity meeting Nicaragua
Postage stamp of the GDR from 1983, MiNr 2834

With the emerging rumors of a possible US invasion of Nicaragua, there were major expressions of solidarity within left and Christian groups. International workers' brigades were set up to provide aid in Nicaragua and at the same time, through their presence, possibly prevented a covert US invasion of the country. At the same time, the movement also had in mind to create a media counterpoint to the anti-Sandinista propaganda spread by the USA.

From Switzerland alone, 800 people came to Nicaragua in solidarity brigades to help on site. In 1986, Maurice Demierre and Yvan Leyvraz, two Swiss citizens, were murdered by the Contras, whereupon Switzerland prohibited the use of Swiss nationals in subsidized development projects in certain areas of Nicaragua. The Swiss Foreign Ministry expressed its regret about the death of Leyvraz, but decided not to protest against the USA. A state secretary said that he had to admit to the Americans that the murdered Swiss were "left-leaning people". Despite all their efforts, the solidarity brigades could not prevent a group of right-wing parliamentarians who visited the country from later publicly referring to the Sandinista government as a “communist and totalitarian country”. West German victims of the conflict were development workers Berndt Koberstein (1956–1986) and Albrecht “Tonio” Pflaum (1947–1983), both of whom were murdered by Contras.

Economic development during the Contra War

See main article: Economic and Social Policy of the Sandinista

End of war

The second free elections were prepared in 1989 through the mediation of the Central American states . In addition, it was decided to disarm the Contra rebels and Sandinista militias by December 8, 1989. In the 1990 elections, the united Nicaraguan opposition (“UNO”) under the leadership of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro won with 54.7% of the vote, thus sealing the end of the Sandinista government.

When peace agreements and disarmament came about, land, tools and seeds were promised to the Contras and Sandinista who had given up their weapons. In too many cases these promises have not been kept, and that is why since then the Contras and Sandinista have repeatedly attacked the Chamorro and Alemán governments.

President Chamorro kept the brother of former Sandinista President Daniel Ortega , Humberto Ortega, in office as the Army Commander-in-Chief. This provoked resistance from the Contras in 1993. To force Ortega's resignation, they took 38 hostages. The Sandinista responded by kidnapping the Vice President and others. In the same year the hostages were released and Humberto Ortega left the army.

Effects

The war claimed around 60,000 lives - mostly civilians. The US-covert war, the failure of the Sandinista reforms and US intervention (including economic boycott) had ruined Nicaragua's economy.

literature

  • Luis A. Moreno: The Contras War: From Beginning to End: Nicaragua's Civil War And One of The Last Battle Of The Cold War (Spanish original edition Principio Y Fin De La Guerra De Los Contras: La Guerra Civil En Nicaragua Y La Última Batalla De La Guerra Fría ), CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2016. ISBN 978-1537642710
  • Philipp W. Travis: Reagan's war on terrorism in Nicaragua: the outlaw state , Lanham, MD (Lexington Books) 2016. ISBN 9781498537179
  • Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz : Blood on the border. A memoir of the Contra War , Cambridge, MASS (South End Press) 2005. ISBN 0-89608-741-7
  • Klaas Voss: Washington's mercenaries. Covert US interventions in the Cold War and their consequences , Hamburg (Hamburger Edition) 2014. ISBN 978-3-86854-274-5
  • William Blum : Killing Hope - US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II Black Rose Books, Montreal / New York / London 2003, ISBN 1-55164-097-X . (Chapter 49 partly online )
  • Bob Woodward : secret code VEIL. Reagan and the CIA's Secret Wars . Droemer Knaur, Munich 1987, ISBN 3426263408 .
  • NN: MANUALES de sabotaje y guerra psicológica de la CIA para derrocar al GOBIERNO SANDINISTA . Introducción de Philip Agee ( CIA handbook of sabotage and psychological warfare to overthrow the Sandinista government . With an introduction by Philip Agee), Editorial Fundamentos, Madrid / Espana 1985.
  • Leslie Cockburn: Out of control. The story of the Reagan administration's secret war in Nicaragua, the illegal arms pipeline, and the contra drug connection , London 1988, ISBN 0871131692 .
  • Timothy Charles Brown: The Real Contra War. Highlander peasant resistance in Nicaragua , Norman, OKLA 2001. ISBN 0-8061-3252-3
  • Sam Dillon: Comandos. The CIA and Nicaragua's contra rebels , New York 1991.
  • Stephen Kinzer : Blood of brothers. Life and was in Nicaragua , Cambridge, MASS. 2007.
  • Carlos Caballero Jurado / Nigel Thomas: Central American Wars 1959-89 , Oxford 1990, Reprint 1998, 2000.
  • Michael T. Klare / Peter Kornbluh (eds.): Low-intensity warfare. Counterinsurgency, proinsurgency, and antiterrorism in the eighties , New York, NY (Pantheon Books) 1988. ISBN 0-394-55579-1
  • Dirk Kruijt: Guerrillas. War and Peace in Central America , London / New York 2008.
  • Roger Miranda Bengoechea / William E. Ratliff: The civil war in Nicaragua. Inside the Sandinistas , New Brunswick, NJ / London (Transaction Publ.) 1993. ISBN 1-560-00064-3
  • Hal Brands: Latin America's Cold War , Cambridge, Mass. u. a. (Harvard University Press) 2010. ISBN 978-0-674-05528-5
  • Juan Sobalvarro: PERRA VIDA. Memorias de un Recluta del Servicio Militar , Managua (Lea Grupo Editoral) 2005. ISBN 99924-904-2-X
  • Odd Arne Westad: The Global Cold War. Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. 7th edition ( Cambridge University Press ) 2010. ISBN 978-0-521-70314-7
  • Roger C. Peace: A call to conscience. The anti Contra War campaign , Amherst, MA / Boston, MA (University of Massachusetts Press) 2012. ISBN 9781558499324
  • Greg Grandin: Empire's workshop. Latin America, the United States, and the rise of the new imperalism , New York, NY (Metropolitan Books) 2006. ISBN 978-0-8050-7738-4
  • William R. Meara: Contra cross. Insurgency and tyranny in Central America, 1979-1989 , Annapolis, MD (Naval Institute Press) 2006. ISBN 1-591-14518-X
  • Todd Greentree: Crossroads of intervention. Insurgency and counterinsurgency lessons from Central America , Annapolis, MD (Naval Institute Press) 2008. ISBN 978-1-591-14343-7
  • Robert Kagan : A twilight struggle. American power and Nicaragua, 1977-1990 , New York a. a. (Free Press) 1996. ISBN 0-02-874057-2
  • Jochen Staadt / Tobias Voigt / Gerhard Ehlert: The cooperation between the Ministry for State Security of the GDR (MfS) and the Ministry of the Interior of Cuba (MININT) , working papers of the research association SED-State No. 33, Berlin 2002.
  • Klaus Storkmann: Secret solidarity. Military relations and military aid of the GDR in the "Third World" , Berlin (Ch. Links Verlag) 2012. ISBN 978-3-86153-676-5
  • Francisco José Barbosa Miranda: Historia militar de Nicaragua. Antes del siglo XVI al XXI , 2nd edition Managua (Hispamer) 2010. ISBN 978-999-247-946-9
  • Gaby Gottwald : The Contra Connection. The international Contramacher and their West German helpers , Hamburg (Konkret-Literatur-Verlag) 1988. ISBN 3-922144-72-1
  • Steven Emerson : Secret Warriors. Inside the Covert Military Operations of the Reagan Era , New York (GP Putnam's Sons) 1988. ISBN 0-399-13360-7
  • Ariel C. Armony: Argentina, the United States, and the anti-communist crusade in Central America, 1977-1984 , Athens, Ohio (Ohio University Center for International Studies) 1997. ISBN 0-89680-196-9
  • Sam Dillon: Comandos. The CIA and Nicaragua's Contra Rebels , New York (Holt) 1991. ISBN 0-8050-1475-6
  • Timothy C. Brown (ed.): When the AK-47s fall silent. Revolutionaries, guerrillas, and the dangers of peace , Stanford, CAL (Hoover Institution Press, Stanford University) 2000. ISBN 0-8179-9842-X
  • Saul Landau : The guerrilla wars of Central America. Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala , London (Weidenfeld and Nicolson) 1993. ISBN 0-297-82114-8
  • July Marie Bunck / Michael Ross Fowler: Bribes, bullets, and intimidation. Drug trafficking and the law in Central America , University Park, PA (Pennsylvania State University Press) 2012. ISBN 978-0-271-04866-6
  • René de la Pedraja Tomán: Wars of Latin America, 1982-2013. The path to peace , Jefferson, NC (McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers) 2013. ISBN 978-0-7864-7016-7
  • Thomas W. Walker: Reagan versus the Sandinistas. The undeclared was on Nicaragua , Boulder u. a. (Westview Press) 1988. ISBN 0-8133-0371-0 .
  • Holly Sklar: Washington's was on Nicaragua , Boston, Mass. (South End Press) 1988. ISBN 0-89608-296-2
  • Peter Kornbluh : Nicaragua: US Proinsurgency warfare against the Sandinistas , in: Michael T. Klare / Peter Kornbluh (ed.): Low-Intensity Warfare. Counterinsurgency, proinsurgency, and antiterrorism in the eighties , New York (Pantheon books) 1988, pp. 136–157. ISBN 0-394-55579-1
  • William M. LeoGrande: Our own backyard. The United States in Central America, 1977-1992 , Chapel Hill, NC a. a. : (University of North Carolina Press) 1998. ISBN 0-8078-2395-3 . ISBN 0-8078-4857-3

Fiction

Documentation

  • Target Nicaragua: Reports of a secret war , using documentary material by Saul Landau and Peter Torbiörnsson , broadcast on April 22, 1983 on NDR III .
  • The bare feet of Nicaragua (FRG 1983, directors: Rolf Neddermann, Manfred Vosz , script: Günter Wallraff ).
  • Ballade from the Little Soldier (FRG 1984, director: Werner Herzog ).
  • Cover Up: Behind the Iran Contra Affair (USA 1988, directed by David Kasper, Barbara Trent)
  • Reyno, 11 years old, soldier: Childhood in Nicaragua (Sweden 1988, directed by Peter Torbiörnsson, Carl Ibe).
  • Nicaragua - The Stolen Revolution (TV BRD / F 2014, director: Clara Ott / Gilles Bataillon).

Movies

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Amendments For HR2968. Library of Congress, 1982, accessed September 10, 2015 .
  2. ^ Case of Nicaragua v. United States of America
  3. ↑ Margarete Häßel, Paul Kamphusmann: The Sandinista Revolution and the Reaction of the USA (1962-1979). New World Travel, accessed November 14, 2017 .
  4. ^ NSC [National Security Council Memorandum] 144/1, "United States Objectives and Courses of Action With Respect to Latin America," March 18, 1953
  5. ↑ Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Vol. IV ("The American Republics"), Washington: United States Government Printing Office , 1983
  6. ↑ Noam Chomsky: Understanding Power, Chapter 2, footnote 52 ; accessed November 11, 2016.
  7. ↑ Newsweek November 8, 1982, p. 44
  8. ^ William Blum: Killing Hope - US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II Black Rose Books, Montreal / New York / London, ISBN 1-55164-097-X
  9. ^ Bob Woodward: VEIL: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987. New York, 1987, p. 113
  10. ↑ George Black: Triumph of the People: The Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua. Zed Books Ltd, London 1981, p. 177
  11. ^ New York Times Jan. 15, 1981, p. 10
  12. ^ The Times (London): Economic measures. October 1, 1984
  13. ^ New York Times October 11, 1984
  14. ^ The Guardian (London) July 1, 1983/30. May 1984/8. March 1985, May 1, 1985
  15. ^ The Guardian (London) October 8, 1983/13. October 1984/9. March 1984/22. March 1984/9. April 1984
  16. ^ The Guardian (London) October 17, 1983
  17. ^ The Guardian (London) May 18, 1983/6. June 1983/30. May 1984
  18. ↑ Barricada International (English-language weekly magazine of the SNLF Managua) November 8, 1982, p. 12
  19. ^ The Guardian (London) May 12, 1984, Covert Action Information Bulletin (Washington DC) No. 22, Fall 1984
  20. ↑ Eddie Adams: How Latin Guerrillas Train on Our Soil. Parade Magazine (Washington Post), March 15, 1981, pp. 5ff
  21. ^ New York Times March 17, 1981
  22. ^ Northwest Citizen: Where are they now: Eugene Hasenfus
  23. ^ The Guardian (London) May 4, 1984
  24. ^ Peter Rosset, John Vandermeer: The Nicaragua Reader: Documents of a Revolution under Fire. New York 1983, pp. 228-236
  25. ^ The Guardian (London) November 15, 1984
  26. ^ New York Times December 27, 1984, p. 1
  27. ↑ CIA Manual: Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare ( Memento of February 5, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  28. ^ The Guardian (London) January 25, 1985
  29. ^ New York Times October 19, 1984, p. 8
  30. ^ Covert Action Information Bulletin (Washington, DC) No. 22, Fall 1984, p. 28
  31. ↑ CIA manual: Freedom Fighters Manual ( Memento of the original from August 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ballistichelmet.org
  32. ↑ International Court of Justice: Case concerning military and paramilitary activities in and against Nicaragua ( Memento of March 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) June 27, 1986
  33. ↑ List of UN Security Council resolutions vetoed by the USA, 1972 - 2002 ( Memento of the original dated May 12, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.phon.ucl.ac.uk
  34. ^ New York Times May 2, 1987
  35. ^ William R. Long: Sandinistas Get More Cuba Aid, Havana Says. In: Los Angeles Times, July 29, 1986, accessed January 19, 2015.
  36. ↑ Los Angeles Times 16./18. December 1987
  37. ↑ Lost Hope, Lingering Memory , Latin America News June 2006
  38. ↑ http://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/Home/Archiv/Als_der_Traum_von_Solidaritaet_ueber_Nicaragua_wehte.html?cid=5319594
  39. ↑ Ursula Niebling / Kriege-Archiv Universität Hamburg: Nicaragua (Contra, 1981 - 1990) ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www3.wiso.uni-hamburg.de archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; accessed November 11, 2016.
  40. ↑ Paperback 1992, ISBN 0805023577