Reaganandth e Sandinistas
Nicaraguais acountryin Centra lA me rica.Inthe
1970sit wasruledb y aright-wingdictato rname d
Somoza, who had close tics with th e Unite d
States.Left-wing rebels org an ized aguerillaar my
to fight Somoza .The rebels called themselves
Sandinistas, after a gue rilla leader namedCesar
Augusto Saudino. who had fought against the
Ame rican o ccupati on ofNicaragua during th e
1920sand19.30s.
The Sandinisras were su p po rted by peasants,
workers. priests and many business people. In
1979 theydrove Sornozafromthecountryand set
up a newgovernment .Theypromisedthepeople
of Nicaragua land reform. so cial justice and
democraticg o vern me n t.AI\'ic~,~J.:u~"e",,,,,,,tbt/willtRt dqt",juj/twpplirdbytiltU.S.As soon asth e w ar ende d fres h callsof" Yan kee, go
hom e" wereh eard .T o t ry to reduceanti-American
feeling, in 1945 th eUnited States rookrhc leadin
sett ingup th eOrg aniz ation of AmericanStares
(O AS). The id eaoftheOAS wasto encouragethe
countries of Larin Americatocooperatewitho ne
another. andwithth eUnitedStates,aspartners.O ne
ofirs alms wastoimprovelivingstanda rds.
3 1 A.'lERICA·SBACKYAlIll.1 pitSlnill.\f""".~wa.,'\·i{",,,.~u,,pr~l"ims'Jt..rHr"!!""is"'"his,,'ar
""',bu',litrn ,,,J,,, iCOllislint'(>It''r.At first the U n itedStatesgovern me ntwelcomed
the Sandinistas. PresidentCarte r offered them
economicaid. Hut when RonaldReagan becam e
Presid ent in 1981 this policychanged,
Reaganbelievedth atthe Sand in istaswer eu nde r
rhc influenceofth e Soviet Un io n and Cub a.Soon
he was describing th eir govern me nt as a rom-",
m un istdictatorsh ip .Its aim. he said, wasto sp read
revolution to othe rpartsofCen tralAmerica an d
hegave money andweapons to rebel swhow ere
tryi ng to overthrow it. Mo st peopl ecalledthe
rebels "co nrras" from the Spa nish wo rd for
"counter-revolution aries. " President Reagan.
h ow ever, calledth em"freedomfighters. "M any American s criticized Reagan's policies.
T hey warned that his en mi ty was forcing the
Sandioistas intoth earmsofth e Soviet Union.
O th er AmericanssupportedthePr esident. They
b elieved that th e safety ofthe United States
depend ed on stopping Sandinisra ideas from
spreadin g toother nearbycount ries.InFebruar y 1990 anelectionwas heldinNicara-
g ua.Whenth e Saudinisraslost ,they handedover
powerto anewgo ve rn m entw hose lead er swere
m o r e acceptable(0th eUnitedStatesandho pes for
peaceincreased.Buthardship andhunger continued( 0be
widespr ead in Latin Ame rica.In mosr c o untries
there , ext remeso f'povcrtvfo r th e1t.1an yand wealt h
forthe fewexistedside by side.Oppressive
governmen tscontrolledbytherich andbackedby
soldier sdi d litt le toimprovethelivesofthepeople.129