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Iran Contra Affair
The Iran-Contra scandal had a big effect on the United States but it had a huge effect on Nicaragua. Through out 1985-86, the Reagan administration was selling weapons to Iran illegally in order to encourage Iran to free hostages in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the Reagan administration wanted to support the Contras in Nicaragua, a rebel group fighting to overthrow the Sandinista government. The administration decided to use the money made from selling arms to Iran, and had it sent to the Contras without passing through the United States. (Walsh, p2.) In this paper, I am going to provide the background of the situation. I will explain how the money from the missile sales was used to support the Contras. I will also tell how everything became public, the end of United States support for the Contras and about then investigations and public hearings in the United States. But finally this paper is about the significance, or impact, of the Iran-Contra affair. The Sandinista National Liberation Front was founded in 1963. Named after Augusto Céser Sandino, it was an extreme leftist organization “of Castroite and Maoist direction.” There were only about 150 members as of 1975, but sympathy was growing. (Times, 1/3/75) By August 1975, the SNLF had “begun to gain strength as discontent with the Somoza regime [had] spread through the middle classes.” (Times, 8/6/75) By August 1977 according to The New York Times, Amnesty International said that “there had been widespread abduction, torture and killing of peasants by the National Guard” during the previous year. (8/16/77) The strength of the SNLF continued to grow. In October 1977, the SNLF, for the first time, was “joined by non-Marxist opponents of the regime” including some conservatives. (Times, 10/20/77) By May 1978 opposition groups, including the SNLF, were proposing a coalition government that would exclude Somoza. (Times, 5/1/78) By November 1978, the Carter Administration was trying to push Somoza “into a


Cited: Britinaca.com. http://www.britinica.com/EBchecked/topic/413855/Nicaragua . “Iran-Contra and Arms-for-Hostages Scandals: Eugene Hasenfus” http://www.historycommons.org/jsp?irancontraaffair_key_figures . Kornbluh, Peter, and Malcom Byrne. The Iran-Contra Scandal: The Declassified History. New York: The New Press, 1993. The New York Times, January 3, 1975-September 17, 1979. Walsh, Lawrence E. Independent Counsel Report. “Executive Summary,” p. 2. http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/execsum.htm .
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