The Contras (Spanish: La contrarrevolución, lit. 'the counter-revolution') were the anti-communist right-wing rebels who waged a guerilla war against the Marxist Sandinista National Liberation Front and the Junta of National Reconstruction, which came to power after the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979. The Contras war against the Sandinista government lasted from 1979 until 1990 and was one of the highest profile conflicts of the Cold War.
Following the Nicaraguan Revolution in 1979, which led to the fall of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, Nicaragua's president by the Sandinistas, various groups were formed in opposition to the Sandinistas, including by Samoza allies and former members of the National Guard, and also by Anti-Somozistas' groups whom had previously been aligned with and fought alongside the Sandinistas. The United States and several other countries provided military assistance and financial aid to the Contras. In 1981, the CIA and Argentina's Secretariat of Intelligence persuaded several Contra groups to unite into the larger Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN).