Sandinistas

Frente Revolucionario de Sandino (FRS) were the leftist revolutionary guerrilla group that overthrew Somoza's U.S.-supported dictatorship in Nicaragua in July 1979.² Their victory triggered the Contra war and set in motion the events documented in the Dark Alliance investigation.¹

Revolution

Sandinista columns swarmed into Managua after Somoza fled to Florida on July 17, 1979, proclaiming an end to both the National Guard (which had hunted the rebels for more than a decade) and the Somoza dynasty.¹ The Sandinistas had waged a guerrilla campaign against Somoza's regime for years.

Post-Revolution

After taking power, the Sandinistas imprisoned or executed captured National Guard officers.¹ Former Guard officers who escaped across Nicaragua's borders into El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica became the founding cadre of the Contras, reassembled by the Central Intelligence Agency starting in 1980.

The Sandinista government was opposed by the Reagan administration, which authorized the CIA to create and fund the Contra army to overthrow it.¹ Former Sandinista intelligence officer Enrique Miranda later became a CIA asset, DEA informant, and right-hand man to Norwin Meneses from 1989 to 1991.²

Unsubstantiated Drug Trafficking Allegations

Despite the Reagan administration's efforts to link the Sandinistas to drug trafficking, the evidence never materialized. "Although uncorroborated reports indicating Nicaraguan involvement in the shipping of cocaine to the United States had been received, CIA was unable to confirm reports implicating high-level Sandinistas in drug trafficking," the CIA informed the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in April 1984. Two years later, Justice Department officials reached the same conclusion.³

President Reagan displayed a photograph of Federico Vaughn, identified as "a top aide to one of the nine commandantes," loading an aircraft with drugs. A subsequent House Judiciary Committee investigation revealed Vaughn was likely a U.S. double agent whose house had been "continuously rented" by the U.S. Embassy since 1981, and who was associated with both Norwin Meneses and Oliver North.³