Nicaraguan Democratic Union

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The Nicaraguan Democratic Union (UDN, Unión Democrática Nicaragüense) was founded in late 1980 by José Francisco Cardenal, an early leader of the anti-Sandinista rebel movement that became known as the Nicaraguan Contras. The UDN was based in Miami, Florida, among its growing community of exiles from Nicaragua's middle class. It established an armed wing, the Nicaraguan Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARN, Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias Nicaragüenses).

José Francisco Cardenal was a Nicaraguan businessman who became known as one of the most pugnacious opponents of the Somoza and then the Sandinista regimes of Nicaragua, and played an important role in the early days of the Contra rebellion.

Contras U.S.-supported right-wing rebels of Nicaragua

The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to the early 1990s in opposition to the socialist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua. Among the separate contra groups, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) emerged as the largest by far. In 1987, virtually all contra organizations were united, at least nominally, into the Nicaraguan Resistance.

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The UDN attracted interest from the steadfastly anti-Sandinista Reagan Administration, and also received limited funding from Argentina's military junta. However, they conditioned further aid on the UDN unifying its efforts with those of former National Guardsmen who had served the Somoza regime.

Ronald Reagan 40th president of the United States

Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Prior to his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and union leader before serving as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975.

Argentina federal republic in South America

Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country located mostly in the southern half of South America. Sharing the bulk of the Southern Cone with Chile to the west, the country is also bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north, Brazil to the northeast, Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. With a mainland area of 2,780,400 km2 (1,073,500 sq mi), Argentina is the eighth-largest country in the world, the fourth largest in the Americas, and the largest Spanish-speaking nation. The sovereign state is subdivided into twenty-three provinces and one autonomous city, Buenos Aires, which is the federal capital of the nation as decided by Congress. The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions, but exist under a federal system. Argentina claims sovereignty over part of Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

The National Guard was a militia and a gendarmerie created during the occupation of that country by the United States from 1909 to 1933. It became notorious for human rights abuses and corruption under the regime of the Somoza family.

Cardenal accepted, creating a merged organization, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN). Dissenters broke away over the issue and continued to call themselves the UDN-FARN. The FDN would grow into the dominant Contra organization, but Cardenal himself soon fell out of power after alienating his allies in the Contra movement. The breakaway UDN-FARN, under Fernando "El Negro" Chamorro, remained a small force throughout the war.

The Nicaraguan Democratic Force was one of the earliest Contra groups, formed on August 11, 1981 in Guatemala City. It was formed to oppose Nicaragua's revolutionary Sandinista government following the 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. It merged the 15th of September Legion, which comprised mostly former members of Somoza's National Guard, with the Nicaraguan Democratic Union, an organization of émigrés from the business and professional classes. The new FDN also began assimilating the MILPAS movement, bands led by disenchanted former MAP-ML guerrillas. The FDN military was under the command of former National Guard colonel Enrique Bermúdez. The FDN was heavily backed by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Reagan administration.

Fernando Chamorro Rappaccioli, known as "El Negro" ("Blackie") for his dark complexion, was a longtime Nicaraguan rebel fighting both the Somoza and Sandinista regimes. Efforts to build a Contra Southern Front around him played a part in the Iran-Contra Affair.

UDN to FDN

An armed wing, the Nicaraguan Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARN), was created under Edmundo Chamorro. Orlando Bolaños was chief of staff, and by February 1981, Raúl Arana was in Tegucigalpa as coordinator of combat operations. Around May 1981, Edmundo Chamorro received $50,000 from the Argentine government.

Tegucigalpa City in Francisco Morazán, Honduras

Tegucigalpa, colloquially referred to as Téguz, is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its twin sister, Comayagüela.

On August 11, 1981, Raúl Arana and Orlando Bolaños from the UDN met with Legion leader Enrique Bermúdez in Guatemala City, and agreed to unite in a new organization, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force. The Chamorro brothers refused to accept the merger, and split off their faction, retaining the UDN-FARN name.

Enrique Bermúdez Nicaraguan Contra leader

Enrique Bermúdez Varela, aka. Comandante 380, was a Nicaraguan who founded and commanded the Nicaraguan Contras. In this capacity, he became a central global figure in one of the most prominent conflicts of the Cold War.

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A three-man political commission was set up for the FDN, with Cardenal as its coordinator, his ally Mariano Mendoza from the UDN, and Aristides Sánchez from the Legion. The FDN's executive committee in Miami also included many who had been involved in the UDN.

José Aristides Sánchez Herdocia served as a key political figure among the Nicaraguan Contras. Early on, he joined Enrique Bermúdez in efforts to start a rebel opposition to the new Sandinista government, a hand-picked choice of the CIA for this position. As the conduit between political leader Adolfo Calero in Miami and rebel base camps in Honduras, he spent more time in the camps than other Contra politicians and had the trust of the rebel field commanders. After working largely behind the scenes, in 1987 he joined the directorate of the Nicaraguan Resistance.

Chamorro's UDN-FARN

In April 1981, El Negro's old friend Edén Pastora publicly made his break with the Sandinistas. The UDN-FARN became a founding member of the rebel organization Pastora was forming in Costa Rica, the Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE), on September 23, 1981. However, Pastora and his advisers sought to begin talks with the Sandinistas rather than immediately initiating armed struggle. By March, El Negro's impatience led him to break with Pastora and ally with the FDN.

FARN's tiny force, estimated at thirty men, participated in the FDN's Operation Marathon in late September 1983. Despite instructions not to attack the border post at El Espino, to avoid offending Honduran authorities who liked to deny that Nicaraguan rebels were based on their soil, they did so. The fighting crossed over the border, leading the Honduran government to expel El Negro.

Back in Costa Rica, UDN-FARN joined the new rebel umbrella group, the United Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO) in June 1985. UNO/FARN began competing for the loyalties of Pastora's ARDE remnants. In early 1986, most of Pastora's commanders agreed to align with Chamorro, and in May, Pastora quit the struggle with a handful of remaining followers. However, FDN leaders were always ambivalent about supporting UNO/South. In January 1987, the Southern Front withdrew from UNO, citing broken promises. The Southern Front was brought back on board for the Nicaraguan Resistance in May.

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