The Contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional)Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. Although the Contra movement included a number of separate groups, with different aims and little ideological unity, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) emerged as by far the largest.
The term "Contra" comes from the Spanish la contra, short for la contra-revolucion, in English "the counter-revolution", an expected byproduct of many revolutions.
Following the July 1979 fall of dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle and the rise to power by the Sandinistas, the Nicaraguan National Guard disbanded. Those in the higher ranks had the means to escape and found a route to exile. The others (thousands) surrendered to the victorious Sandinista revolutionary forces and were placed in concentration camps to await trial. Those who had reason to fear arrest for war crimes committed remained at large but were persecuted, and sometimes killed.
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