Reagan and the Sandinistas

Nicaragua is a country in Central America. In the 1970s it was ruled by a right-wing dictator named Somoza, who had close ties with the United States. Left-wing rebels organized a guerilla army to fight Somoza. The rebels called themselves Sandinistas, after a guerilla leader named César Augusto Sandino, who had fought against the American occupation of Nicaragua during the 1920s and 1930s.

The Sandinistas were supported by peasants, workers, priests and many business people. In 1979 they drove Somoza from the country and set up a new government. They promised the people of Nicaragua land reform, social justice and democratic government.

At first the United States government welcomed the Sandinistas. President Carter offered them economic aid. But when Ronald Reagan became President in 1981 this policy changed.

Reagan believed that the Sandinistas were under the influence of the Soviet Union and Cuba. Soon he was describing their government as a communist dictatorship. Its aim, he said, was to spread revolution to other parts of Central America and he gave money and weapons to rebels who were trying to overthrow it. Most people called the rebels "contras" from the Spanish word for "counter-revolutionaries." President Reagan, however, called them "freedom fighters."

Many Americans criticized Reagan's policies. They warned that his enmity was forcing the Sandinistas into the arms of the Soviet Union. Other Americans supported the President. They believed that the safety of the United States depended on stopping Sandinista ideas from spreading to other nearby countries.

In February 1990 an election was held in Nicaragua. When the Sandinistas lost, they handed over power to a new government whose leaders were more acceptable to the United States and hopes for peace increased.

Bryn O'Callaghan: An illustrated history of the USA; Longman, Harlow, 1990/1996, page 129