1980's Government and Politics | The Middle East, Central America, and the Iran-Contra Scandal

The Sandinistas.

On 20 July 1979 the Sandinista guerrillas, a Marxist group led by Daniel Ortega, won a civil war they had been fighting against the Nicaraguan government of right-wing dictator Anastasio Somoza and proclaimed a new revolutionary government. Although the new government was made up of a coalition of anti-Somoza groups, the real power was held by the Marxist elements. Relations with the United States deteriorated. By the end of 1980 the Carter administration was planning to suspend economic aid to Nicaragua, and the CIA was covertly building an anti-Sandinista force. Even before Reagan took office, the Sandinistas began assisting leftist guerrillas in neighboring El Salvador.

El Salvador.

The Reagan administration enthusiastically began providing economic assistance and military advisers to assist the government of El Salvador in fighting the leftist insurgency within its own borders. In March 1981 Reagan...