This 1983 CIA Comic Book Instructed Nicaraguan Contras in Sabotage
Perhaps the first thing you’ll notice in the Freedom Fighter’s Manual is that the illustrations could’ve come right from the Sunday funny pages —a Dennis the Menace strip gone wrong, a malevolent twist on Calvin and Hobbes. But rather than childhood hijinks, this pithy CIA-produced pamphlet offers itself as a “Practical guide to liberating Nicaragua from oppression and misery by paralyzing the military-industrial complex of the traitorous Marxist state without having to use special tools and with minimal risk for the combatant.”
NICARAGUAN PATRIOT: TO SABOTAGE THE MARXIST TYRANNY IS TO VINDICATE SANDINO’S MEMORY. LONG LIVE FREE NICARAGUA!
Want to destroy a government truck, but not sure how? This handy pamphlet — delivered from the sky by CIA air-drop to a rebel training camp near you — makes it easy by offering a multitude of practical solutions: put water in the gas tank, slice up a candle into the oil reservoir, steal the distributor coil, or simply jab the tires with an ice pick. What could be easier? The truck practically sabotages itself!
While it’s easy to joke about the bizarre juxtaposition of the cartoon’s light presentation of such dark content, readers should not in fact view this document with levity whatsoever. Its very existence is a stark reminder of the malevolent historical role that US agents played in undermining a democratically-elected government in the impoverished Central American nation.
The most notorious incident in the long and troubled history of US intervention in Nicaragua was of course the Iran-Contra scandal. For those who need a brief reminder, here’s a primer: despite federal legislation that specifically prohibited US funding of the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, President Ronald Reagan’s administration took several illegal and intentional initiatives to support the rebels, most notoriously by arranging clandestine arms deals with Iran. The US would give Iran guided anti-tank missiles, and the money they received in return would be passed on to the Contras to fund their revolutionary aims. While this was most egregious moment, it was far from the only incident. Arms, money, and propaganda flowed into Nicaragua all through the 80s and into the 90s.
In 1984, Nicaragua filed a lawsuit against the US in the International Court of Justice, alleging that the US government broke international laws by training and funding the Contra rebels. The court found in favor of Nicaragua and ordered the US to pay reparations. In response to this, the US simply declared themselves above the rule of the International Court and ignored the court order. The US has since made no official acknowledgement of wrongdoing, and no reparations have ever been paid.
