He famously led the FSLN during the Nicaraguan Revolution that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, which sparked a decade-long war with U.S.-backed Contra rebels. He lost power in elections ...

1982 - US-sponsored attacks by Contra rebels based in Honduras begin; state of emergency declared. 1984 - Daniel Ortega elected president; US mines Nicaraguan harbours. 1987-88 - Nicaraguan ...

Ronald Reagan's efforts to eradicate Communism spanned the globe, but the insurgent Contras' cause in Nicaragua was particularly dear to him. Battling the Cuban-backed Sandinistas, the Contras ...

The protests that have convulsed Nicaragua for the past two months ... in Washington tried to destroy it using the CIA-backed Contra rebels in a war that killed 30,000 people.