The Origins of the Contra War in Nicaragua: The Results of a Failed Development Model
Author(s)
Hager, Robert P., Jr.
Abstract
Considers the causes of the Contra war in Nicaragua during the 1980’s. This conflict has often been portrayed as an American “proxy war” fought by Somoza’s former national guard against a regime supported by most common Nicaraguans. This article proposes an alternate view. The Managua regime, with the advice and assistance of the Soviet bloc, pursued a model of political consolidation and economic development followed by other Third World Marxist-Leninist states. As in other states of socialist orientation in the 1970’s and 1980’s, this one encountered considerable popular resistance. The conflict in Nicaragua, thus, was a civil war caused by Sandinista policies.
