WEBVTT - Iran Contra: Episode 3 - Contra Dance 0:00:16.271 --> 0:00:22.831 Pushkin. Hey Leon here, before we get to this episode, 0:00:22.911 --> 0:00:24.511 I want to let you know that you can binge 0:00:24.551 --> 0:00:28.431 the entire season of Fiasco Iran Contra right now add 0:00:28.431 --> 0:00:32.071 free by becoming a Pushkin Plus subscriber. Sign up for 0:00:32.111 --> 0:00:35.550 Pushkin Plus on the Fiasco Apple podcast show page or 0:00:35.671 --> 0:00:39.871 visit Pushkin dot Fm Slash Plus Now onto the show. 0:00:47.830 --> 0:00:51.111 Two days before Christmas in nineteen seventy two, the capital 0:00:51.150 --> 0:00:53.791 city of Nicaragua was destroyed by an earthquake. 0:00:54.111 --> 0:00:57.471 When daylight finally came, you could still see smoke billowing 0:00:57.551 --> 0:01:00.471 over the city of Managua. The crews shook themselves and 0:01:00.511 --> 0:01:03.871 began another long day of digging out and trying to 0:01:03.871 --> 0:01:06.071 clear this city and stop the fires. 0:01:06.591 --> 0:01:08.951 Bulldozers combed the streets in search of bodies. 0:01:10.031 --> 0:01:13.071 The scent of the city has been utterly destroyed. Even 0:01:13.111 --> 0:01:16.031 the few tall buildings which do remain will soon be 0:01:16.111 --> 0:01:19.711 brought down by dynamite. Unofficial estimates of the dead are 0:01:19.791 --> 0:01:22.671 running as high as five thousand, many of these. 0:01:22.871 --> 0:01:27.351 As the city burned, Nicaragua's right wing dictator Anastasio Simosa, 0:01:27.631 --> 0:01:28.791 declared martial law. 0:01:29.311 --> 0:01:31.751 The army is now in full command of the city 0:01:31.791 --> 0:01:35.391 and the country. General Simosa is overflying the city in 0:01:35.431 --> 0:01:39.871 a US helicopter. He will personally direct the demolition operations 0:01:39.911 --> 0:01:40.871 to level the city. 0:01:41.471 --> 0:01:44.911 Simosa and his family had ruled over Nicaragua for decades, 0:01:45.191 --> 0:01:48.271 always with the full backing of the United States, but 0:01:48.311 --> 0:01:51.111 in the aftermath of the earthquake, the Samosa government was 0:01:51.151 --> 0:01:56.551 accused of stockpiling foreign aid, mismanagement, and fraud. Simosa responded 0:01:56.591 --> 0:01:59.551 to the criticism by tightening the screws on all forms 0:01:59.551 --> 0:01:59.951 of descent. 0:02:00.551 --> 0:02:04.791 The country felt increasingly militarized. As a child, you could 0:02:04.831 --> 0:02:05.271 feel it. 0:02:05.871 --> 0:02:09.231 Victoria Gonzales Rivera was growing up in Nicaragua during these 0:02:09.270 --> 0:02:12.871 turbulent years after the earthquake. Today, she's a history professor 0:02:12.911 --> 0:02:17.631 at San Diego State University. Gonzales Rivera remembers General Simosa 0:02:17.711 --> 0:02:21.671 seeming all powerful. His control over Nicaragua was embodied by 0:02:21.711 --> 0:02:25.351 the constant presence of his armed loyalists, the National Guard. 0:02:25.511 --> 0:02:28.471 They wore their uniforms, you know, these olive green uniforms. 0:02:28.511 --> 0:02:31.431 They were everywhere. I remember, for example, at one point 0:02:31.511 --> 0:02:36.031 a National Guards member shot someone, a civilian, you know, 0:02:36.151 --> 0:02:39.191 on my street, and I heard the shot, and of course, 0:02:39.351 --> 0:02:41.751 you know, adults just made me go inside the house, 0:02:41.791 --> 0:02:44.031 and later on I could still see the blood on 0:02:44.271 --> 0:02:48.311 the road, and the violence just became really, really widespread. 0:02:48.831 --> 0:02:53.231 The Samosa government's increasing authoritarianism and corruption gave rise to 0:02:53.271 --> 0:02:57.631 a popular opposition movement. A socialist revolutionary group started to 0:02:57.631 --> 0:02:58.791 gain momentum. 0:02:59.231 --> 0:03:03.551 The Sandinista National Liberation Front or FSLN, is named after 0:03:03.591 --> 0:03:07.031 the nineteen twenties nationalist leader Augusto Sandino. 0:03:09.391 --> 0:03:12.631 As the Samosa As regime grew more brutal, the FSLN, 0:03:12.871 --> 0:03:16.591 also known as the Sandinistas, evolved into a cohesive force 0:03:16.631 --> 0:03:18.151 with real military strength. 0:03:20.191 --> 0:03:23.751 The Sandonist gorillas have launched what they called their final offensive. 0:03:24.111 --> 0:03:27.151 With the recent development of fighting in Managua for anoun 0:03:27.231 --> 0:03:31.270 signs that Washington will start to priss Moore openly Forsmoza's resignation. 0:03:33.671 --> 0:03:36.991 In July of nineteen seventy nine, they deposed Simosa and 0:03:37.031 --> 0:03:39.111 declared a new government in Nicaragua. 0:03:40.151 --> 0:03:43.911 By midmorning here in Managua, Sandinista gorillas were coming. 0:03:43.631 --> 0:03:44.871 In from every direction. 0:03:44.951 --> 0:03:47.151 On Many of the tough young gorillas were raised in 0:03:47.191 --> 0:03:49.431 the four sections of this country were support for the 0:03:49.471 --> 0:03:52.271 Sandinista movement has been the strongest, and it. 0:03:52.271 --> 0:03:53.671 Was the poor people in the capitol. 0:03:53.671 --> 0:03:56.191 Who filled the breach today the Greek, the winners of 0:03:56.191 --> 0:03:57.471 the eighteen month old war. 0:03:58.591 --> 0:04:00.151 It wasn't long before the Gorilla. 0:04:00.271 --> 0:04:03.791 The Sandinista government started implementing its policy agenda, including a 0:04:03.831 --> 0:04:07.191 slate of social programs in public health and education, and 0:04:07.231 --> 0:04:09.511 for the first time in years, it felt as though 0:04:09.551 --> 0:04:11.111 peace was coming to Nicaragua. 0:04:11.751 --> 0:04:16.071 Right after the revolution, there was some euphoria the literacy campaign, 0:04:17.190 --> 0:04:21.710 vaccination campaigns. That was really safe, you know, I remember 0:04:21.751 --> 0:04:24.391 that really clearly, Like you could be out in the 0:04:24.431 --> 0:04:28.351 street really late, and it felt so safe. There was 0:04:28.391 --> 0:04:32.551 a sense of there being sort of endless possibilities. 0:04:33.031 --> 0:04:37.591 But the euphoria didn't last long. The Sandinistas quickly encountered 0:04:37.631 --> 0:04:40.630 resistance from Nicaraguans who were unhappy with the new government. 0:04:41.311 --> 0:04:45.031 That included former Somosa supporters and rural laborers who were 0:04:45.031 --> 0:04:49.551 forced into collective farming. Several groups of counter revolutionaries started 0:04:49.551 --> 0:04:53.511 popping up all over the country. Collectively, they were called 0:04:53.671 --> 0:04:57.991 the Contras, and soon a new armed conflict was brewing 0:04:58.031 --> 0:05:00.831 in Nicaragua. 0:05:01.151 --> 0:05:03.871 The so called Contras claim an army of ten thousand, 0:05:04.111 --> 0:05:05.431 with more joining every day. 0:05:05.831 --> 0:05:10.831 The Contra War started fairly soon after seventy nine. So 0:05:10.871 --> 0:05:15.311 it became a vicious circle of sorts where the Sandinistas 0:05:15.991 --> 0:05:20.231 justified the authoritarianism because it was wartime. 0:05:20.431 --> 0:05:24.111 They have shut down the only opposition newspaper five times, 0:05:24.151 --> 0:05:29.311 They've postponed election, outlawed strikes, and jailed some of their opponents. 0:05:29.071 --> 0:05:33.511 And then more people then turned away because of the authoritarianism. 0:05:33.871 --> 0:05:36.831 It just felt like never ending war. 0:05:36.991 --> 0:05:39.791 The largest of the rebel groups has extended its control 0:05:39.911 --> 0:05:43.071 from a sliver around the Hunduran border to several advanced 0:05:43.071 --> 0:05:46.070 locations in the center of Nicaragua. They say the war 0:05:46.111 --> 0:05:48.871 will continue until the Sandinistas are gone. 0:05:49.351 --> 0:05:51.911 Just as the Sandinistas were coming to power in Nicaragua, 0:05:52.311 --> 0:05:54.911 a presidential election was getting under way in the United 0:05:54.911 --> 0:05:58.630 States for Ronald Reagan, the Republican nominee. The spread of 0:05:58.631 --> 0:06:01.911 communism to a Central American nation looked like a serious threat. 0:06:02.631 --> 0:06:05.551 Here is Doyle McManus, who covered the Contra War for 0:06:05.591 --> 0:06:08.911 the Los Angeles Times and co authored the book Landslide. 0:06:09.431 --> 0:06:13.390 It was owned only five years after the United States 0:06:13.511 --> 0:06:17.271 lost the Vietnam War, and in those five years, the 0:06:17.351 --> 0:06:22.351 perception on the American right was that the United States 0:06:22.471 --> 0:06:25.831 was in headlong retreat. All over the world, and that 0:06:25.871 --> 0:06:30.471 the Soviet Union was winning everywhere, and there was in 0:06:30.551 --> 0:06:34.631 effect a new Domino theory that first Nicaragua, then l Salvador, 0:06:34.711 --> 0:06:37.591 then perhaps Guatemala, Honduras, and you are on the border 0:06:37.631 --> 0:06:41.551 of Mexico, and suddenly we have a new problem of 0:06:41.631 --> 0:06:44.591 communist regimes right up to our border. 0:06:45.311 --> 0:06:48.911 At the nineteen eighty Republican Convention, the GOP added a 0:06:48.911 --> 0:06:51.871 plank to its platform affirming the party's support for a 0:06:51.911 --> 0:06:55.830 free and independent government in Nicaragua. Reagan drove the point 0:06:55.871 --> 0:06:57.831 home when he accepted his party's nomination. 0:06:58.311 --> 0:07:02.190 The United States has an obligation to its citizens and 0:07:02.231 --> 0:07:05.311 to the people of the world, never to let those 0:07:05.351 --> 0:07:09.711 who would destroy freedom dictate the future course of life 0:07:09.791 --> 0:07:10.791 on this planet. 0:07:14.111 --> 0:07:17.271 As President, Reagan made no secret of his disdain for 0:07:17.311 --> 0:07:20.351 the Sandinistas, but most Americans were opposed to the United 0:07:20.391 --> 0:07:24.391 States getting involved in yet another proxy war abroad. One 0:07:24.391 --> 0:07:27.471 poll in nineteen eighty three found that sixty six percent 0:07:27.551 --> 0:07:30.991 of Americans feared that a US intervention in Nicaragua would 0:07:31.031 --> 0:07:35.191 turn into a repeat of Vietnam. That anxiety underpinned a 0:07:35.231 --> 0:07:38.271 lot of American politics in the seventies and eighties. It 0:07:38.311 --> 0:07:40.071 was known as Vietnam syndrome. 0:07:40.511 --> 0:07:44.271 Congressional critics warn of another Vietnam and say it's time 0:07:44.311 --> 0:07:46.111 for the US to keep its hands off. 0:07:46.351 --> 0:07:46.991 Is there now a. 0:07:47.071 --> 0:07:51.351 Kind of Vietnam phobia, a predisposition against the use of 0:07:51.431 --> 0:07:54.191 military force, a presumption that that is wrong and has 0:07:54.231 --> 0:07:57.871 to be proved right the old Mark Twain anecdote, a 0:07:58.111 --> 0:08:00.631 cat that jumps on a hot stove not only will 0:08:00.671 --> 0:08:02.351 not jump on a hot stove, won't jump on any 0:08:02.431 --> 0:08:03.151 stove at all. 0:08:03.831 --> 0:08:06.311 Even some of his fellow Republicans broke from Reagan on 0:08:06.351 --> 0:08:10.471 the Sandinista question. They agreed that democracy in Nicaragua would 0:08:10.471 --> 0:08:12.711 be a good thing, but they didn't want the US 0:08:12.791 --> 0:08:15.471 getting its hands dirty by helping the Contras make it happen. 0:08:15.591 --> 0:08:18.191 I don't think President Reagan has convinced some of the 0:08:18.191 --> 0:08:19.991 most powerful members, even of his own. 0:08:19.831 --> 0:08:23.471 Party, that it is really a Marxist struggle down there, 0:08:23.511 --> 0:08:26.471 and it's the US versus the Kamis. It is a 0:08:26.591 --> 0:08:27.831 very comminateduation. 0:08:27.911 --> 0:08:30.511 But Reagan and his top advisors did not harbor any 0:08:30.591 --> 0:08:33.071 doubts about what was going on down in Central America. 0:08:33.831 --> 0:08:35.710 By the same logic that would lead to the invasion 0:08:35.711 --> 0:08:39.231 of Grenada. Nicaragua looked poised to turn into a Soviet 0:08:39.231 --> 0:08:41.991 outpost in the Western Hemisphere if something wasn't done. 0:08:42.151 --> 0:08:45.631 Think about the big issues the Middle East, the Soviet 0:08:45.710 --> 0:08:48.231 Union at the time, the Cold War. They went on 0:08:48.351 --> 0:08:50.670 endlessly and there was nothing there you could solve. But 0:08:50.790 --> 0:08:53.991 here was a theater where someone sitting in the White 0:08:53.991 --> 0:08:56.511 House or the Defense Department or the State Department could say, 0:08:56.550 --> 0:08:59.991 you know, we actually do have enough power to fix 0:09:00.030 --> 0:09:02.511 this problem, if we only dare to use it. 0:09:06.550 --> 0:09:10.831 Nicaragua was a problem Reagan thought he could solve. The 0:09:10.910 --> 0:09:14.830 overwhelming opposition of the American people was an obstacle, but 0:09:14.871 --> 0:09:18.630 it wasn't insurmountable. Maybe the United States could help the 0:09:18.670 --> 0:09:23.030 Nicaragua in contras without anyone finding out about it. Maybe 0:09:23.030 --> 0:09:26.231 Reagan could set the Soviets BACKUPEG in Central America and 0:09:26.310 --> 0:09:31.351 nobody would ever have to know. I'm Leon Nathalk from 0:09:31.391 --> 0:09:36.351 Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries. This is fiasco Iran Contra. 0:09:37.430 --> 0:09:40.151 The Reagan administration secret war in Nicaragua. 0:09:40.310 --> 0:09:43.951 Covert activities being engaged in uncovertly cannot be justified. 0:09:44.030 --> 0:09:47.190 The administration is going into high gear to salvage its 0:09:47.190 --> 0:09:48.751 policies on Central America. 0:09:48.871 --> 0:09:51.551 We cannot turn our backs on this crisis at our doorstick. 0:09:51.751 --> 0:09:54.391 No longer can we so easily bear witness to the 0:09:54.430 --> 0:09:55.991 standards of international law. 0:09:56.231 --> 0:10:00.191 The Sandinistas can hold out forever, but the US Congress cannot. 0:10:00.910 --> 0:10:06.431 Episode three Contra Dance. How the Reagan administration forged a 0:10:06.471 --> 0:10:10.431 secret military alliance with the Contra fighters in Nicaragua, and 0:10:10.511 --> 0:10:17.670 what happened when Congress tried to stop them. We'll be 0:10:17.751 --> 0:10:25.951 right back. Anthony Quainton started his mission as the US 0:10:25.950 --> 0:10:30.110 Ambassador to Nicaragua in March of nineteen eighty two. Given 0:10:30.151 --> 0:10:33.711 Reagan's intense interest in Nicaragua, Quainton knew the job would 0:10:33.751 --> 0:10:36.071 put him in the spotlight, but he didn't expect the 0:10:36.070 --> 0:10:38.591 headaches to start quite as immediately as they did. 0:10:39.111 --> 0:10:42.511 When I arrived, I climbed off the plane from Miami 0:10:43.151 --> 0:10:47.550 to be greeted by cameras, clea lights, microphones, and there 0:10:47.550 --> 0:10:50.351 were some hopes that maybe a new ambassador would bring 0:10:50.430 --> 0:10:51.711 a new approach. 0:10:52.391 --> 0:10:55.070 It turned out that while Quainton was in the air 0:10:55.310 --> 0:10:58.910 flying from Miami to Monagua, Contra forces had blown up 0:10:58.950 --> 0:11:01.631 two bridges as part of their war on the Sandinistas. 0:11:02.111 --> 0:11:04.231 The chief reason for the imposition of the state of 0:11:04.271 --> 0:11:08.030 emergency was the sabotage of two Nicaragua bridges by anti 0:11:08.070 --> 0:11:09.550 government guerrillas. 0:11:09.111 --> 0:11:12.711 And according to the government led by Daniel Ortega, the 0:11:12.830 --> 0:11:14.591 CIA had been in on the plot. 0:11:14.871 --> 0:11:17.391 Military leaders here are telling the people they must be 0:11:17.430 --> 0:11:19.430 prepared for a US backed invasion. 0:11:20.070 --> 0:11:24.191 I was confronted with questions, which began more or less 0:11:24.231 --> 0:11:28.271 as follows. Mister, Ambassador Daniel Ortega has declared a state 0:11:28.310 --> 0:11:31.151 of emergency because the CIA has blown up the bridges 0:11:31.190 --> 0:11:35.231 connecting Nicaragua and Honduras. What do you think about this 0:11:35.391 --> 0:11:36.991 start to your investorship? 0:11:37.790 --> 0:11:40.430 Quentin didn't quite know what to say. He didn't know 0:11:40.471 --> 0:11:44.910 anything about a CIA operation to blow up bridges in Nicaragua. Officially, 0:11:45.271 --> 0:11:48.391 the Reagan administration was exercising restraint in its opposition to 0:11:48.430 --> 0:11:52.471 the Sandinistas. Officially they were holding back from joining the 0:11:52.511 --> 0:11:53.111 contra war. 0:11:53.590 --> 0:11:56.711 And I had to think very quickly because I had 0:11:56.751 --> 0:12:00.070 not been briefed on the operation, nor did I expect 0:12:00.151 --> 0:12:06.030 any particular clandestine operation would be time to with my arrival. 0:12:06.830 --> 0:12:10.231 So I don't know whether I mumbled. I tried not 0:12:10.231 --> 0:12:13.590 to mumble, but to suggest that these were very difficult issues, 0:12:13.631 --> 0:12:17.070 and I look forward to discussing them with Commandante Ortega 0:12:17.151 --> 0:12:17.751 and others. 0:12:18.030 --> 0:12:21.670 The newly appointed US Ambassador, Anthony Quainton is now a Nicaragua. 0:12:21.830 --> 0:12:23.830 He says he wants to try to decrease the level 0:12:23.830 --> 0:12:24.350 of tension. 0:12:24.871 --> 0:12:27.511 That was only the first time Quainton would find himself 0:12:27.550 --> 0:12:29.830 caught between the Reagan administration he was supposed to be 0:12:29.910 --> 0:12:32.470 representing in the Nicaraguin leaders he was supposed to be 0:12:32.550 --> 0:12:36.350 working with. The awkwardness was never more palpable than when 0:12:36.351 --> 0:12:42.950 the Sandinistas sang their anthem in Quaintan's presence. The hymn 0:12:43.070 --> 0:12:46.111 of the Sandinistas was sung at nearly every official function 0:12:46.631 --> 0:12:49.071 and referred to the Yankee enemy of mankind. 0:12:49.471 --> 0:12:51.551 So every time they sang an Imigo del money, that 0:12:51.670 --> 0:12:58.670 enemy of humanity, it was a dilemma. I mean, at 0:12:58.670 --> 0:13:03.950 what point would I should I be? Was I expected 0:13:03.950 --> 0:13:10.030 to be visibly in opposition? It was a constant question 0:13:10.351 --> 0:13:10.631 for me. 0:13:14.351 --> 0:13:16.910 The tension over the Contra War escalated in the fall 0:13:16.991 --> 0:13:20.511 of nineteen eighty two when Newsweek ran a blockbuster cover 0:13:20.590 --> 0:13:24.471 story about CIA covert operations being coordinated out of Honduras 0:13:24.550 --> 0:13:25.950 along the Nicaragua border. 0:13:26.391 --> 0:13:29.710 Newsweek's cover story this week is an extraordinary exclusive report 0:13:29.751 --> 0:13:32.550 on the Reagan administration secret war in Nicaragua. 0:13:32.710 --> 0:13:34.951 There are a number of different types of operations in 0:13:35.070 --> 0:13:37.711 what is generally perceived to be a war of nerves. 0:13:38.550 --> 0:13:41.711 Newsweek reported that some fifty CIA operatives were working in 0:13:41.751 --> 0:13:45.750 Central America to undermine the Sandinistas. The Contras only had 0:13:45.790 --> 0:13:49.271 about twelve thousand guerrilla soldiers, but according to Newsweek, Reagan 0:13:49.310 --> 0:13:52.550 had approved a CIA plan to help them. It entailed 0:13:52.590 --> 0:13:57.631 relatively modest activities like repairing equipment and disrupting Sandinista supply chains, 0:13:58.111 --> 0:14:01.230 but it also involved training Contra forces and helping them 0:14:01.271 --> 0:14:04.990 plan attacks. According to many of the US officials quoted 0:14:05.030 --> 0:14:08.910 in the Newsweek story, these efforts were ineffective, risky, and 0:14:08.991 --> 0:14:13.271 deeply embarrassing. One official said, this is our bay of pigs. 0:14:14.950 --> 0:14:17.151 The contract didn't come across well in the article either. 0:14:17.830 --> 0:14:21.191 One Contra officer was quoted saying that come the counter revolution, 0:14:21.631 --> 0:14:24.271 there will be a massacre in Nicaragua. We have a 0:14:24.271 --> 0:14:26.551 lot of scores to settle, and there will be bodies 0:14:26.590 --> 0:14:30.031 from the border to Monagua. Here's one of the authors 0:14:30.031 --> 0:14:32.671 of the Newsweek story giving a radio interview about her piece. 0:14:33.191 --> 0:14:35.191 The policy may in fact have the opposite effect of 0:14:35.231 --> 0:14:37.951 that which is intended. In other words, it may consolidate 0:14:37.991 --> 0:14:41.511 what little support remains for the Sandinistas. As one person 0:14:41.551 --> 0:14:44.071 told me in Minaugua earlier this summer, just because we 0:14:44.111 --> 0:14:46.031 want these bastards out doesn't mean we want the old 0:14:46.071 --> 0:14:46.870 bastards back. 0:14:51.071 --> 0:14:53.471 The Newsweek's story put a lot of heat on Reagan 0:14:53.551 --> 0:14:54.431 and the CIA. 0:14:54.631 --> 0:14:58.151 The COVID operation in Central America has drawn sharp criticism 0:14:58.191 --> 0:14:59.191 on Capitol Hill. 0:14:59.191 --> 0:15:01.671 I've told the President I feel that he makes a 0:15:01.710 --> 0:15:05.511 foreign policy mistake if he wants to substitute COVID activity 0:15:06.271 --> 0:15:08.791 for a good foreign policy. 0:15:09.631 --> 0:15:12.991 Opposite position to Reagan's secret medaling in Nicaragua was led 0:15:12.991 --> 0:15:15.831 by Democratic Congressman Edward P. Boland. 0:15:16.151 --> 0:15:19.271 House Intelligence Committee Chairman Edward Boland has made it almost 0:15:19.311 --> 0:15:23.151 a personal crusade to cut off CIA financing for guerrillas 0:15:23.191 --> 0:15:23.871 in Nicaragua. 0:15:24.071 --> 0:15:27.031 Boland was appalled that the administration was trying to avoid 0:15:27.071 --> 0:15:31.231 congressional oversight in order to pursue a secret agenda. Boland 0:15:31.311 --> 0:15:33.391 wanted to rein in the rogue executive branch. 0:15:33.991 --> 0:15:36.911 He argues, the Reagan administration is trying to overthrow the 0:15:36.991 --> 0:15:40.470 Nicaraguan government with the gorillas and the US support for them, 0:15:40.511 --> 0:15:43.031 makes this country the meddler the bully in the region. 0:15:43.631 --> 0:15:47.311 Another congressman had proposed a blanket ban on all military 0:15:47.311 --> 0:15:50.071 aid to the Contras, but Boland wanted to find a 0:15:50.071 --> 0:15:53.911 compromise that Reagan would be willing to sign, so he 0:15:53.951 --> 0:15:56.871 suggested an amendment to the Defense budget that would specifically 0:15:56.911 --> 0:16:00.071 forbid the CIA from sending military aid to anyone seeking 0:16:00.111 --> 0:16:03.791 to overthrow the Sandinista government, which is to say, the 0:16:03.871 --> 0:16:06.871 CIA could help the Contras as long as they weren't 0:16:06.871 --> 0:16:10.471 doing it with the intention of bringing about regime change. 0:16:10.631 --> 0:16:12.671 The law came to be called the bowl In Amendment, 0:16:13.071 --> 0:16:16.511 and it passed the House unanimously with overwhelming support from 0:16:16.511 --> 0:16:20.831 both Democrats and Republicans. Here again is La Times reporter 0:16:21.031 --> 0:16:21.951 Doyle McManus. 0:16:22.671 --> 0:16:25.791 As long as they said the purpose of this operation, 0:16:26.471 --> 0:16:29.511 the purpose of this arms shipment is not to overthrow 0:16:29.551 --> 0:16:31.991 the government of Nicaragua, they figured they were in the clear. 0:16:33.271 --> 0:16:38.591 So the CIA saw that as the biggest loophole that 0:16:38.631 --> 0:16:42.711 they could drive arms trucks through that they had ever seen, 0:16:42.911 --> 0:16:44.231 and that's exactly what they did. 0:16:44.431 --> 0:16:47.511 So for now, the administration feels free to pursue what 0:16:47.671 --> 0:16:51.951 some here feel are rather uncovert covert activities in Nicaragua. 0:16:52.590 --> 0:16:55.551 The debate over the Bolan Amendment coincided with the major 0:16:55.631 --> 0:16:59.710 pr push by the Reagan administration. They wanted to galvanize 0:16:59.710 --> 0:17:02.831 support for the contrast among American lawmakers and to get 0:17:02.871 --> 0:17:06.551 regular Americans excited about the contract cause. To that end, 0:17:06.911 --> 0:17:09.991 the CIA set about finding a group of counter revolutionary 0:17:10.471 --> 0:17:14.270 who could represent Nicaragua's anti communist movement, and if they 0:17:14.271 --> 0:17:17.870 couldn't find one, they would settle for creating one. 0:17:18.071 --> 0:17:21.830 There was in the Reagan administration a kind of generalized 0:17:21.911 --> 0:17:24.951 search for good guys. We could back that if you 0:17:25.071 --> 0:17:30.350 wanted to organize and mobilize American public support for this 0:17:30.511 --> 0:17:35.190 great crusade against Soviet Communism, you needed some heroes, You 0:17:35.231 --> 0:17:37.951 needed some good guys, and so that was an important 0:17:37.991 --> 0:17:39.630 part of the narrative. 0:17:40.231 --> 0:17:43.470 Selecting members for this contra organization was kind of like 0:17:43.511 --> 0:17:46.710 putting together a boy band. The perfect number of people 0:17:46.711 --> 0:17:49.551 to serve in the group was seven. It would include 0:17:49.551 --> 0:17:53.590 a businessman, a politician, and a doctor. The CIA was 0:17:53.630 --> 0:17:57.991 looking for Nicaraguan anti communists with good reputations, people who 0:17:58.031 --> 0:18:01.150 weren't associated with the brutality of the Samosa National Guard. 0:18:02.150 --> 0:18:04.910 The new seven person directorate was going to be the 0:18:04.911 --> 0:18:08.470 public face of an entity called the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, 0:18:09.071 --> 0:18:09.950 the FDN. 0:18:12.630 --> 0:18:16.710 Well, my life called many, many ups and downs, or 0:18:16.870 --> 0:18:18.351 ins and out. 0:18:18.590 --> 0:18:21.711 Edgar Chamorro moved to Miami from Monagua in the midst 0:18:21.751 --> 0:18:25.430 of the Sandinista Revolution. Chamorro was born to one of 0:18:25.511 --> 0:18:29.471 Nicaragua's most powerful and well connected families. There were multiple 0:18:29.511 --> 0:18:33.031 former presidents of Nicaragua and the Chamorrow family tree, but 0:18:33.150 --> 0:18:36.271 Edgar never felt the poll of politics. After a short 0:18:36.311 --> 0:18:39.391 stint as a Jesuit priest, he founded an advertising agency 0:18:39.590 --> 0:18:43.230 and made ads from breweries, rum distilleries, and car dealerships. 0:18:43.830 --> 0:18:46.630 After he moved to Miami, Chamorrow became more interested in 0:18:46.630 --> 0:18:49.911 his home country's politics. He didn't doubt that the Sandinistas 0:18:49.951 --> 0:18:52.710 genuinely wanted to help people, but he thought their plans 0:18:52.711 --> 0:18:56.111 for transforming the country were too radical. He started attending 0:18:56.150 --> 0:18:58.750 meetings in the homes of other Nicaragua expats who were 0:18:58.751 --> 0:19:00.311 critical of the Sandinista government. 0:19:00.791 --> 0:19:04.751 When I started attending groups that were interesting what was 0:19:04.791 --> 0:19:07.710 going on, I followed very closely, and I went to 0:19:07.751 --> 0:19:10.671 many meetings and I heard things that people were sending 0:19:10.791 --> 0:19:15.791 weapons or even hunting rifles. I heard stories like that. 0:19:15.870 --> 0:19:18.551 The meetings were pretty informal. What could a bunch of 0:19:18.551 --> 0:19:20.511 people sitting in the living room in Miami we do 0:19:20.630 --> 0:19:24.270 about a government a thousand miles away. But then at 0:19:24.271 --> 0:19:27.750 the end of nineteen eighty two, Tomorrow got a mysterious 0:19:27.791 --> 0:19:28.271 phone call. 0:19:29.031 --> 0:19:35.871 He spoke with a very solemn or gravitas, like somebody 0:19:35.870 --> 0:19:38.750 who has power or something. He said us speaking on 0:19:39.031 --> 0:19:42.591 behalf of high authority of the government. 0:19:43.390 --> 0:19:46.710 The man said his name was Steve Davis, and he 0:19:46.751 --> 0:19:48.150 invited Tomorrow to lunch. 0:19:48.551 --> 0:19:50.950 He already had chosen a restaur and we went there. 0:19:51.431 --> 0:19:56.110 But he looked like a very sharp, well dressed like 0:19:56.711 --> 0:20:02.591 politician or Washington executive or business executive. He was well dressed. 0:20:03.991 --> 0:20:07.150 Tomorrow came to believe that Steve Davis was an agent 0:20:07.191 --> 0:20:11.231 of the CIA. He invited Chamorro to join the new 0:20:11.350 --> 0:20:16.551 FDN Directorate, and Chamorrow accepted the offer. About a month later, 0:20:17.071 --> 0:20:19.390 he and the other members of the Directorate gathered for 0:20:19.431 --> 0:20:23.311 a press conference at a hotel near Fort Lauderdale. There 0:20:23.590 --> 0:20:26.430 they would introduce the new Contra brand to the world. 0:20:31.191 --> 0:20:34.991 There was a long table with aposion. We all very 0:20:35.071 --> 0:20:37.590 just stop. I had to buy best suit or best usual. 0:20:38.471 --> 0:20:38.710 You know. 0:20:39.031 --> 0:20:42.670 Everybody looked very sharp, and so it was like a 0:20:42.751 --> 0:20:45.630 meeting for something in olive or something. 0:20:46.870 --> 0:20:50.551 The Americans overseeing the directorate briefed Tomorrow and the others 0:20:50.551 --> 0:20:53.710 on what they should say to the public and more importantly, 0:20:53.870 --> 0:20:57.710 what they absolutely should not say. The main thing was 0:20:57.751 --> 0:21:00.911 to never, under any circumstances let it slip they had 0:21:00.911 --> 0:21:03.471 received help or even been in contact with anyone from 0:21:03.471 --> 0:21:06.711 the American government. At one point during the press conference, 0:21:07.071 --> 0:21:09.711 a reporter asked whether the group had any supporters who 0:21:09.711 --> 0:21:14.430 were fits in Nicaragua. We do have people, chamorro' said many. 0:21:15.110 --> 0:21:18.350 I knew all that I was not telling them the truth. 0:21:18.390 --> 0:21:21.791 I mean, it was so fake in that sense, but 0:21:21.951 --> 0:21:24.151 dous the way the American want us to do it. 0:21:26.711 --> 0:21:29.751 Soon, Chamorro moved to Honduras to be closer to where 0:21:29.791 --> 0:21:32.751 most of the contras were based. At a salary of 0:21:32.791 --> 0:21:36.071 two thousand dollars per month plus expenses, he was put 0:21:36.071 --> 0:21:40.630 in charge of communications and pr Among his responsibilities was 0:21:40.671 --> 0:21:44.870 giving interviews to international newspapers and TV reporters. He also 0:21:44.911 --> 0:21:48.791 worked on propaganda. One of the most consequential projects Chamorro 0:21:48.870 --> 0:21:51.951 helped with was an eighty eight page guide called Psychological 0:21:51.991 --> 0:21:56.111 Operations in Guerrilla Warfare. It was intended for distribution among 0:21:56.231 --> 0:21:59.551 contra leadership on the ground, but when Chamorro looked over 0:21:59.630 --> 0:22:02.870 the final draft of the text, he was deeply disturbed. 0:22:03.830 --> 0:22:07.830 Under the heading selective use of violence for propagandistic effects, 0:22:08.311 --> 0:22:12.071 he read the following line, it is possible to neutralize 0:22:12.110 --> 0:22:16.551 carefully selected and planned targets such as court judges, police 0:22:16.671 --> 0:22:18.791 and state security officials. 0:22:19.150 --> 0:22:22.350 And I started reading the booklet and I got very upset. 0:22:23.590 --> 0:22:27.871 It says very clearly neutralize, a word that sounds neutral, 0:22:27.870 --> 0:22:31.110 but it's not neutral at all. It means eliminating people 0:22:31.191 --> 0:22:35.990 who are capable, or leaders of unions or whatever. So 0:22:36.110 --> 0:22:38.311 he wasn't recommending selective assassination. 0:22:39.630 --> 0:22:42.870 Tomorrow knew from that very first FDN press conference in 0:22:42.911 --> 0:22:45.791 Florida that American agents might ask him to bite his 0:22:45.911 --> 0:22:48.590 tongue or even lie in service of the contract. Cause 0:22:49.671 --> 0:22:52.151 now Tomorrow just felt like a puppet of the US government. 0:22:53.271 --> 0:22:55.311 That feeling was reinforced when in the middle of the 0:22:55.390 --> 0:22:58.991 night on January fifth, nineteen eighty four, he was awakened 0:22:59.031 --> 0:23:00.791 by a call from a CIA operative. 0:23:01.630 --> 0:23:05.710 It was a late at night. I was called and 0:23:05.870 --> 0:23:08.991 I was told it was something very important I have 0:23:09.071 --> 0:23:12.471 to do right now. Or who was an origin matter? 0:23:13.671 --> 0:23:16.630 The agent told Chamorrow that bombs had been placed in 0:23:16.711 --> 0:23:20.630 Nicaraguan harbors. The idea had been to scare off commercial 0:23:20.630 --> 0:23:23.391 ships from other countries that were doing business with the Sandinistas. 0:23:24.711 --> 0:23:27.150 Chamorrow had to get on the radio right away and 0:23:27.231 --> 0:23:30.590