As a result of his 100th birthday, there has been much speculation, both positive and negative, about the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Much has been said about his economic policies and how he won the Cold War, but there has been one glaring omission of a major aspect of his presidency. Reagan had an obsession with overthrowing the government of Nicaragua.
In 1979, the Sandanistas came to power in Nicaragua after a revolution which ousted the dictator Samosa who had been in power for over 40 years. The Sandanista regime went about the tasks of land reform, health care and education and on account of that, they were branded Communists by the American media and especially the Reagan Administration. Furthermore, the administration claimed that Nicaragua was going to be used by Cuba nad the Soviet Union as a jump off point for an invasion of the US. Therefore, the Reagan administration set about the task of overthrowing the Sandanista government.
To do this, US Government used a group called the Contras, most of who were part of the guard used by the Samosa dictatorship. The Contras waged a guerilla campaign that included butchering doctors and nurses and shooting teachers and many innocent civilians in cold blood. When asking Congress to vote for funds to aid the Contras, Reagan referred to himself as a Contra. The Contras were nothing more than terrorists who killed and murdered and even with US aid, were unable to hold a single inch of territory.
What Reagan's blood money achieved in his zeal to overthrow the Sandanistas was the needless deaths of thousands of Nicaraguans who wanted nothing more than to be left alone. Unfortunately, Reagan couldn't tolerate a "Communist" country at America's back door, even though they held free democratic elections in 1984. The Nicaragua travesty seems to have become a forgotten point of the Reagan years, so I feel I must bring it back into the light.
