Nicaragua is a [[Central America|Central American]] nation that was ruled by the [[Anastasio Somoza|Somoza]] family dictatorship for forty-six years until the [[Sandinistas|Sandinista]] revolution in July 1979.[^1] The country became the focal point of the Contra war and the [[Dark Alliance]] drug trafficking network.[^2] ### Somoza Era For the forty-six years the Somoza family ruled Nicaragua, they served as reliable allies of the [[United States|U.S.]] government. Anastasio Somoza personally participated in the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s 1954 overthrow of the [[Guatemala|Guatemalan]] government, provided the staging base for the [[Bay of Pigs|Bay of Pigs]] invasion of [[Cuba]] in 1961, sent troops to the [[Dominican Republic]] in 1965, and contributed Nicaraguan forces to [[Vietnam]].[^1] The [[Nicaraguan National Guard]] served as Somoza's military, police, and intelligence service — a bulwark against anti-American interests that the U.S. had created in the 1930s and trained at [[Fort Gulick]], [[Fort Benning]], and [[Fort Leavenworth|Leavenworth]]. ### Revolution and Aftermath Sandinista forces overthrew Somoza on July 17, 1979. Somoza and his inner circle fled to [[Homestead Air Force Base]] in [[Florida]]. The National Guard collapsed within hours. National Guard officers who escaped across Nicaragua's borders into [[El Salvador]], [[Honduras]], and [[Costa Rica]] formed the nucleus of the [[Contras]], reassembled by the CIA starting in 1980 under [[Enrique Bermudez|Enrique Bermúdez]].[^1] ### Contra War Nicaragua became the battleground for a proxy war between the U.S.-backed Contras and the Sandinista government.[^2] The Contra factions — including the [[FDN]] based in Honduras and [[ARDE]] and [[UDN-FARN]] based in Costa Rica — were deeply infiltrated by drug traffickers, including [[Norwin Meneses]], [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]], [[Marcos Aguado]], [[Horacio Pereira]], and others. ### Drug Trafficking Hub Norwin Meneses was believed to be the [[Cali Drug Cartel|Cali cartel]]'s representative in Nicaragua. Danilo Blandón owned hotels and casinos in the country and partnered with Jairo Meneses in operations there. A 1991 seizure of 764 kilos of cocaine in Nicaragua was linked to Blandón. Meneses was arrested in [[Managua]] in 1991 and sentenced to twelve years. [[Georg Hodel]] and [[Gary Webb]] interviewed him at Tipitapa Prison outside Managua in 1996.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 1: "A Pretty secret kind of thing" [^2]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Prologue: "It was like they didn't want to know"