The Contras | Ink, Blood, and Crack Cocaine

The Contras

"Nicaraguan Contra Members"

Thesis Crack Cocaine Crisis

The capitalist United States and communist Soviet Union's emergence as global superpowers post-WWII initiated the Cold War, a geopolitical rivalry between the two countries and their allies spanning forty-five years.

The 1947 Truman Doctrine pledged the U.S. to contain global Soviet influence by supporting anti-communist regimes worldwide.

"It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures"

- "Recommendation for Assistance to Greece and Turkey"
"Map of the Cold War in 1980", 2017

In 1979, Soviet-backed Sandinistas violently overthrew Nicaragua. A right-wing, anti-communist group, the Contras, rebelled against the Sandinistas in a guerrilla warfare campaign. The Contras committed many atrocities during this rebellion, including the murder, rape, and torture of civilians.

Tiomono, "Frente Sur Contras", 1978
"Ronald Reagan's Press Conference in the East Room", 13:37-14:08, 1985

The Reagan Administration, fearing communism in the Americas and believing that “Contras were the 'moral equivalent of the Founding Fathers'” (Reagan qtd. in Cannon), sent over $100,000,000 in military assistance and humanitarian aid to these rebels. Widespread public backlash resulted in the 1984 Boland Amendment, restricting Contra support. However, CIA officials illegally channeled funds to the Contras through Iranian arms sales in the Iran-Contra affair, damaging the CIA's reputation.

Maiman, "Noninterventionist Demonstration", 1988

"Let us show the world that we want no hostile Communist colonies here in the Americas"

- Reagan, "Address to the Nation"
President Reagan meets with Contra leaders
Thesis Crack Cocaine Crisis