I was curious about the U.S.'s role in the rest of Nicaraguan history, and here's how things played out after the revolution. The country was a complete wreck and President Carter authorized big bucks in emergency aid, which President Reagan promptly axed because of Nicaragua's communist leanings. Instead he decided to pump military aid into counterrevolutionary groups called Contras, first legally, then with money made from illegal arms sales to Iran after Congress vetoed additional legitimate funding (thus, the Iran-Contra Scandal). These groups were disgustingly cruel, real big on rape, torture, and mutilation. Here's a quote from a Sandinista describing the brutality.
Rosa had her breasts cut off. Then they cut into her chest and took out her heart. The men had their arms broken, their testicles cut off. They were killed by slitting their throats and pulling the tongue out through the slit.
As if he hadn't fucked Nicaragua up enough already, upon reelection Reagan enacted an embargo effectively destroying the remnants of the Nicaraguan economy. To this day it appears to me that Nicaragua is the poorest of the Central American countries. Why is this man the hero of the Republican party again?
3 comments:
Me gustó este post porque tiene un tono periodístico. La guerra de guerrillas en Nicaragua fue muy violenta; la de Colombia ha sido muy lenta porque tiene casi 40 años, pero la de Nicaragua dejó muchas muertes en un tiempo más o menos corto.
Are there any hard feelings?
Sí, oí mucho de las historias terribles de la guerra, y las cosas que pasó me di mucho asco.
There are hard feelings against the U.S. as a country, but not as a people. In Central America nobody blames the people for the horrible things their governments do because all the governments here have done comparably horrible things at one point or another.
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