The CIA armed contra rebels who deliberately terrorized Nicaraguan civilians in the 1980s.

Evidence

In what became known as the Iran-Contra affair, officials in the Reagan administration secretly and illegally sold arms to Iran with the long-term goal of freeing American hostages who had been captured by Iranian terrorists in Lebanon. They then diverted funds from the weapons sales to support a guerilla war against the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. The CIA trained and armed the right-wing rebels, known as contras, who conducted terrorist activities designed to undermine public support for the leftist Sandinista regime. The contras targeted schools, health clinics, agricultural cooperatives, and other public services. The contra leader Horacio Arce described the strategy: “We attack a lot of schools, health centers, and those sorts of things. … We have tried to make it so that the Nicaraguan government cannot provide social services for the peasants, cannot develop its project… . [T]hat’s the idea” (Erlich, 2010). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2109 (#expands, via linked claim)

The United States has also had a hand, mainly through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), in supporting terrorist activities by insurgents serving as proxy terrorists. This was especially the case in Latin America, where the CIA orchestrated covert operations designed to curb the spread of leftist regimes in the wake of Castro’s successful 1959 revolution in Cuba. In what became known as the Iran-Contra affair, officials in the Reagan administration secretly and illegally sold arms to Iran with the long-term goal of freeing American hostages who had been captured by Iranian terrorists in Lebanon. They then diverted funds from the weapons sales to support a guerilla war against the leftist Sandinista regime in Nicaragua. The CIA trained and armed the right-wing rebels, known as contras, who conducted terrorist activities designed to undermine public support for the leftist Sandinista regime. The contras targeted schools, health clinics, agricultural cooperatives, and other public services. The contra leader Horacio Arce described the strategy: “We attack a lot of schools, health centers, and those sorts of things. … We have tried to make it so that the Nicaraguan government cannot provide social services for the peasants, cannot develop its project… . [T]hat’s the idea” (Erlich, 2010). — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2109 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The CIA armed contras to terrorize civilians into withdrawing support for Nicaragua’s government — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2109; The CIA armed contra rebels who deliberately attacked civilian schools and clinics — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 2109

Broader Connections

• The CIA armed contras to terrorize civilians into withdrawing support for Nicaragua’s government #expands (0.97) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2109
• The CIA armed contra rebels who deliberately attacked civilian schools and clinics #expands (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2109