Episode 10, Part 2 | Nicaragua, 1980s. Contra War

Monte Perdido's new album Ofrenda is now out. You can listen to the full album on Spotify

Other music from Blue Dot Sessions.

For declassified documents on the U.S. Contra war on Nicaragua and the Iran Contra affair, you can visit Peter Kornbluh's National Security Archives here and here.

Brian Wilson's memoir, Blood on the Tracks: The Life and Times of S. Brian Willson, is available here. His interview on Democracy Now! is here.

Eline van Ommen’s book, Nicaragua Must Survive: Sandinista Revolutionary Diplomacy in the Global Cold War (University of California Press, 2023), is available here.

William Robinson's book, A Faustian Bargain: U.S. Intervention In The Nicaraguan Elections And American Foreign Policy In The Post-cold War Era about the U.S. role in Nicaragua's 1990 election is available here.

For the 2007 documentary American Sandinista, you can visit the website of director Jason Blalock. jasonblalock.com

Here are links to the 1980 documentaries about Nicaragua's literacy campaign that I mentioned in part 1: La Salida and La Llegada.

For a deeper analysis of opposing views on role of the U.S. government today in Nicaragua I recommend the following resources:

This 2020 book was written by "a collective of historians, researchers and activists committed to finding and sharing the truth about US intervention in Nicaragua." The Revolution Won’t Be Stopped: Nicaragua Advances Despite US Unconventional Warfare

This pair of NACLA articles from professor William Robinson, offers an opposing view, underscoring that "Washington's principal concern in Nicaragua is not getting rid of Ortega but preserving the interests of transnational capital."

"Crisis in Nicaragua: Is the Ortega-Murillo Government Leftist? (Part I)"
"Crisis in Nicaragua: Is the US Trying to Overthrow the Ortega-Murillo Government? (Part II)"