41 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
41 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Nicaragua
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aliases:
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- Nicaragua
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created: 2026-05-17
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updated: 2026-05-17
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category: "Country"
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tags:
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- Geography
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- Country
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- CentralAmerica
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- ColdWar
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- ContraWar
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- DarkAllianceInvestigation
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summary: "Central American nation ruled by the Somoza family dictatorship for forty-six years until the Sandinista revolution in 1979, after which it became the battleground for the CIA-backed Contra war."
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location: "Central America"
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---
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Nicaragua is a [[Central America|Central American]] nation that was ruled by the [[Anastasio Somoza|Somoza]] family dictatorship for forty-six years until the [[Sandinistas|Sandinista]] revolution in July 1979.[^1] The country became the focal point of the Contra war and the [[Dark Alliance]] drug trafficking network.[^2]
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### Somoza Era
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For the forty-six years the Somoza family ruled Nicaragua, they served as reliable allies of the [[United States|U.S.]] government. Anastasio Somoza personally participated in the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s 1954 overthrow of the [[Guatemala|Guatemalan]] government, provided the staging base for the [[Bay of Pigs]] invasion of [[Cuba]] in 1961, sent troops to the [[Dominican Republic]] in 1965, and contributed Nicaraguan forces to [[Vietnam]].[^1]
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The [[Nicaraguan National Guard]] served as Somoza's military, police, and intelligence service - a bulwark against anti-American interests that the U.S. had created in the 1930s and trained at [[Fort Gulick]], [[Fort Benning]], and [[Fort Leavenworth|Leavenworth]].
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### Revolution and Aftermath
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Sandinista forces overthrew Somoza on July 17, 1979. Somoza and his inner circle fled to [[Homestead Air Force Base]] in [[Florida]]. The National Guard collapsed within hours. National Guard officers who escaped across Nicaragua's borders into [[El Salvador]], [[Honduras]], and [[Costa Rica]] formed the nucleus of the [[Contras]], reassembled by the CIA starting in 1980 under [[Enrique Bermudez|Enrique Bermúdez]].[^1]
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### Contra War
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Nicaragua became the battleground for a proxy war between the U.S.-backed Contras and the Sandinista government.[^2] The Contra factions - including the [[FDN]] based in Honduras and [[ARDE]] and [[UDN-FARN]] based in Costa Rica - were deeply infiltrated by drug traffickers, including [[Norwin Meneses]], [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]], [[Marcos Aguado]], [[Horacio Pereira]], and others.
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### Drug Trafficking Hub
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Norwin Meneses was believed to be the [[Cali Drug Cartel|Cali cartel]]'s representative in Nicaragua. Danilo Blandón owned hotels and casinos in the country and partnered with Jairo Meneses in operations there. A 1991 seizure of 764 kilos of cocaine in Nicaragua was linked to Blandón. Meneses was arrested in [[Managua]] in 1991 and sentenced to twelve years. [[Georg Hodel]] and [[Gary Webb]] interviewed him at Tipitapa Prison outside Managua in 1996.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 1: "A Pretty secret kind of thing"
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[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Prologue: "It was like they didn't want to know"
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