Nicaragua and Colombia

Abstract

The determination of the United States to exercise political controls over the countries of Central and South America — its own ‘backyard’ — has led successive governments throughout the present century to intervene in a variety of ways: with military force; by means of sanctions; with anti-drugs programmes; or by more covert operations, employing the CIA, military advisers or mercenaries, and by supporting proxies such as the Contra rebels from Nicaragua during the 1980s. The two themes that have most engaged the attention of Washington have been the fight against the spread of Communism, especially during the 1970s and 1980s, and the ongoing battle to stamp out the production of drugs which has been centred upon Peru and Colombia.