Contras in the context of "Nicaragua v. United States"

In international relations, violent non-state actors (VNSAs), also known as non-state armed actors or non-state armed groups (NSAGs), are individuals or groups that are wholly or partly independent of governments and which threaten or use violence to achieve their goals.

VNSAs vary widely in their goals, size, and methods. They may include narcotics cartels, popular liberation movements, religious and ideological organizations, corporations (e.g. private military contractors), self-defence militia, and paramilitary groups established by state governments to further their interests.

José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (/ɔːrˈteɪɡə/ or-TAY-gə, Spanish: [daˈnjel oɾˈteɣa]; born 11 November 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician who has been the co-president of Nicaragua since 18 February 2025, alongside his wife Rosario Murillo. He was the president of Nicaragua from 1985 to 1990 and from 2007 to 2025. He previously led Nicaragua as the first coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction from 1979 to 1985. Ortega leads an authoritarian government, and has been regularly described as a dictator by the international community.

Ortega came to prominence with the overthrow and exile of US-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979 during the Nicaraguan Revolution. As a leader in the Sandinista National Liberation Front (Spanish: Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) Ortega became leader of the ruling Junta of National Reconstruction. A Marxist–Leninist, Ortega pursued a program of nationalization, land reform, wealth redistribution, and literacy programs during his first period in office. Ortega's government was responsible for the forced displacement of 10,000 indigenous people. In 1984, Ortega won Nicaragua's presidential election with over 60% of the vote as the FSLN's candidate. During his first term, he implemented policies to achieve leftist reforms across Nicaragua. Throughout the 1980s, Ortega's government faced a rebellion by US-backed rebels, known as the Contras. After a presidency marred by conflict and economic collapse, Ortega was defeated in the 1990 Nicaraguan general election by Violeta Chamorro.

The Nicaraguan Revolution (Spanish: Revolución nicaragüense), or Sandinista Revolution (Spanish: Revolución popular sandinista) was an armed conflict that took place in the Central American country of Nicaragua from 1978 to 1990.

It began with rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the overthrow of the dictatorship in 1978–1979, and fighting between the government and the Contras from 1981 to 1990. The revolution revealed the country as one of the major proxy war battlegrounds of the Cold War.