Contra

Member of a Central American right-wing guerrilla force attempting to overthrow the democratically elected Nicaraguan Sandinista government between 1979 and 1990. The Contras, many of them mercenaries or former members of the deposed dictator Somoza's guard (see Nicaraguan Revolution), operated mainly from bases outside Nicaragua, mostly in Honduras, with covert US funding, as revealed by the Irangate hearings of 1986–87.

In 1989 US president Bush announced an agreement with Congress to provide $41 million in ‘nonlethal’ aid to the Contras until February 1990. The Sandinista government was defeated by the National Opposition Union, a US-backed coalition, in the February 1990 elections. The Contras were disbanded in the same year but, fearing reprisals, a few hundred formed the Re-Contra (officially the 380 Legion) February 1991. A peace accord was reached with the government 1994.