---
aliases:
- Nicaraguan National Guard
- National Guard
- Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua
category: Paramilitary
created: 2026-05-17
end: 1979-07-17
location: Managua, Nicaragua
start: 1925-01-01
summary: Somoza's military force that served as army, police, and intelligence service,
  trained at U.S. military schools, whose dispersed officers formed the founding cadre
  of the Contras.
tags:
- Organization
- Military
- Nicaragua
- 1930s
- 1970s
- ContraWar
- DarkAllianceInvestigation
title: Nicaraguan National Guard
updated: 2026-05-17
---

Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua (National Guard) was the military, police, and intelligence service of [Nicaragua](/places/nicaragua/) under the [Somoza](/people/anastasio-somoza/) dynasty.[^2] Created by the [U.S.](/places/united-states/) in the 1930s, the Guard served as the power base of the Somoza family's forty-six-year rule. Its officers formed the leadership core of the [Contras](/organizations/contras/) after the [Sandinista](/organizations/sandinistas/) revolution.[^1]

### Creation and U.S. Training

The U.S. created the National Guard in the 1930s and spent millions of dollars a year supplying weapons and training its officers in anticommunist counterinsurgency.[^1] Training took place at [Fort Gulick](/places/fort-gulick/), [Fort Benning](/places/fort-benning/), and [Leavenworth](/places/fort-leavenworth/). Anastasio Somoza told U.S. ambassador [Lawrence Pezzullo](/people/lawrence-pezzullo/) in 1979 that of approximately nine hundred Guard officers, "eight hundred or so belong to your schools."

The Guard also encompassed the [Oficina Seguridad Nacional (OSN)](/organizations/osn/), Somoza's secret police unit that monitored political dissidents. It managed the national police, state security and intelligence services, the postal service, and customs agency.

### Collapse

When Somoza fled Nicaragua on July 17, 1979, the vaunted National Guard collapsed within hours.[^1] Officers who could escape poured across the borders into [El Salvador](/places/el-salvador/), [Honduras](/places/honduras/), and [Costa Rica](/places/costa-rica/), or sought refuge in the Colombian embassy in [Managua](/places/managua/). Those who could not escape were imprisoned or faced firing squads.

### Reconstitution as the Contras

The [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) began reassembling the scattered National Guard brigades in 1980 under [Enrique Bermúdez](/people/enrique-bermudez/), a former military attaché in [Washington](/places/washington-dc/) who had been hired by the agency specifically for this purpose.[^1] The Legion of September 15, an early Contra group made up primarily of ex-National Guardsmen, was based in [Guatemala](/places/guatemala/) and commanded by [Ricardo Lau](/people/ricardo-lau/) and Bermúdez. This group later became the core of the [FDN](/organizations/fdn/), the largest and most powerful Contra faction.[^2]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 1: "A Pretty secret kind of thing"
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Glossary of Organizations and Locations