Contra (organization)
Contra is an abbreviation for counterrevolutionary used in the Spanish-speaking world . In particular, the designation Contras is used for a number of guerrilla groups that fought the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua in the so-called Contra War from 1981 onwards .
organization
The members were mainly recruited from former members of the National Guard of the dictator Somoza , who was long supported by the USA and ousted by the Sandinista in 1979 . They relied primarily on help from the CIA , as well as the support of parts of the indigenous population, e.g. B. the Miskito . The starting point for their operations was mainly the neighboring country of Honduras . The attacks were primarily aimed at public infrastructure such as hospitals and agricultural cooperatives in order to fail government development programs. This resulted in numerous direct attacks on the civilian population found there. “Direct assaults” mean that the Contras committed various mass murders of the civilian population on behalf of and with direct logistical support from the CIA (e.g. satellite images of mountain villages). They killed a total of around 60,000 people, the majority of whom were civilians.
One of the main people in charge of organizing the logistical and financial support for the Contras and creating a place of refuge for them in Honduras was the then US Ambassador to Honduras, John Negroponte , who was Director of National Intelligence from 2005 to 2007 (DNI; director of all 15 US -American Intelligence Services) and was then Deputy Secretary of State under Condoleezza Rice until the end of the George W. Bush administration .
After the US Congress had banned all US aid to the Contras through the so-called Boland Amendment - motivated, among other things, by reports of their grave human rights violations against civilians - the Contras financed their guerrilla war with money from secret, illegal arms sales by the USA to Iran and by smuggling cocaine into the US with the knowledge of the CIA. This was first made known to the general public in 1996 through the Dark Alliance series of articles by US journalist Gary Webb . A commission of inquiry under Senator John Kerry had come to the same conclusions as early as 1986. Two internal CIA investigations confirmed the allegations in 1998.
Contra organizations
- MILPAS ( Milicias Populares Anti-Sandinistas , previously Anti-Somozistas )
- Legión del 15 septiembre (Legion of September 15th; named after Nicaraguan Independence Day). As far as is known, it consisted only of former members of the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua .
- Fuerza Democrática Nicaragüense (FDN), largest contra group led by former members of the National Guard.
- MISURA ( Miskito , Rama , Sumos ), resistance movement of indigenous peoples who settled on the Miskito coast .
- Alianza Revolucionaria Democrática (ARDE), Sandinista secession led by Edén Pastora Gómez .
Contra leader ( Comandantes )
- Enrique Bermúdez alias Comandante 3-80 , ex- Colonel (Coronel) of the Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua .
- Ricardo Lau Castillo ( El Chino Lau ), ex-Colonel of the National Guard.
- Edén Pastora Gómez alias Comandante Cero , former revolutionary and commander of the Milicias Populares Sandinistas (MPS).
- Steadman Fagoth Muller (also Müller), MISURA leader.
- Pedro Pablo Ortiz Centeno alias El Suicida , ex- sergeant of the National Guard.
- Israel Galeano Cornejo alias Franklin (also Franklyn ), former participant in the Nicaraguan Revolution.
- Walter Saúl Calderón López - alias Toño , ex-lieutenant in the National Guard.
- Luis Alfonso Moreno Payan alias MIKE LIMA , ex- lieutenant of the National Guard.
- Encarnación Valdivia Chavarría alias Tigrillo , ex-Sandinista and former commander of the MILPAS ( Milicias Populares Anti-Sandinistas , originally Milicias Populares Anti-Somozistas ).
- Diógenes Hernández Membreño alias Fernando , former evangelical pastor .
- Luis Adán Fley González alias Jhonson , ex-Sandinista.
- Tirso Ramón Moreno Aguilar alias Rigoberto , former member of MILPAS.
Alleged human rights violations
The human rights organization Americas Watch, which later became part of Human Rights Watch , accused the Contras of systematically violating the most elementary rights. Essentially:
- Carrying out attacks on medical facilities and their staff
- Kidnapping civilians
- Murder of civilians
- Torture of civilians, including children
- Rape of women
- Indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian homes
- Theft of private property
- Burning down of civilian residential properties in conquered cities.
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. " (German:" The Contras have systematically violated the most basic rules of warfare, including carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilians, murdering selected civilians, and mistreating prisoners. ")
The organization Progressio , a Catholic human rights movement that was close to liberation theology , summarized the activities of the Contras in 1987 as follows: “The record of the contras in the field, as opposed to their official professions of democratic faith, is one of consistent and bloody abuse of human rights, of murder, torture, mutilation, rape, arson, destruction and kidnapping. " (German:" The approach of the Contras was - in contrast to their own self-declared democratic basic understanding - a continuous bloody disregard for human rights, including murder , torture , mutilation , Rape , arson , destruction and kidnapping . ")
German victims
On April 30, 1983, the 37-year-old doctor Albrecht "Tonio" Pflaum from Freiburg was murdered by Contras in Wiwilí, Nicaragua . In the same place three years later - on July 28, 1986 - Contras killed 29-year-old Berndt Koberstein , who also came from Freiburg. Both were on site as part of aid projects.
Swiss victims
There are two well-known aid workers who fell victim to the Contras. The first to be murdered was 29-year-old Maurice Demierre , who was murdered in an ambush near Somotillo on February 16, 1986 when he was about to drive several women and children home. The second murder victim was Yvan Leyvraz on July 28, 1986 , who was ambushed by a reactive anti- tank rifle in his pickup truck between Wiwilí and La Zompopera .
Quotes
"On the basis of the evidence, it is clear that individuals who provided support for the contras were involved in drug trafficking, the supply network of the contras was used by drug trafficking organizations, and elements of the contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers. In each case, one or another agency of the US government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter. "
“The cons are the moral equivalent of our founding fathers. "
"The cons are vandals ."
literature
- 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
- Timothy C. Brown: The Real Contra War. Highlander peasant resistance in Nicaragua. Norman, okla. (University of Oklahoma Press) 2001, ISBN 0-8061-3252-3 .
- Dirk Kruijt: Guerrillas. War and Peace in Central America. Zed books, London / New York 2008, ISBN 978-1-84277-738-1 .
- Dietmar Schönherr : Reagan's freedom fighter. Terrorists in US pay. Documents, pictures, reports , Wuppertal (Edition Nuevo Hombre) 1985, ISBN 3-88943-100-3 .
- 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
Web links
- Article on Senator John Kerry's exposure of the Contra's US-tolerated drug trafficking to the US
- Report of the investigative commission of John Kerry 1989 (chapter on drug smuggling of the Contras from p. 36; PDF; 9.47 MB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ University of Hamburg: Nicaragua - Contra War ( Memento of the original from November 5, 2013 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.
- ^ A b c d Robert Parry : How John Kerry exposed the Contra-cocaine scandal Salon.com, October 25, 2004
- ↑ Nicaragua . Human Rights Watch. 1989. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
- ^ The Americas Watch Committee: Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986 , Americas Watch. February 1987.
- ↑ a b c d Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, page 21
- ↑ Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, pp. 19, 21
- ↑ a b Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, page 19
- ↑ Human Rights in Nicaragua 1986, p. 24
- ^ The Catholic Institute for International Relations: Right to Survive: Human Rights in Nicaragua , The Catholic Institute for International Relations.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 28, 2014 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.
