Editing Nicaragua v. United States (section)

==Background and history of US intervention in Nicaragua==
The first armed intervention by the United States in Nicaragua occurred under President [[William Howard Taft|Taft]]. In 1909, he ordered the overthrow of Nicaraguan President [[José Santos Zelaya]]. During August and September 1912, a contingent of 2,300 U.S. Marines landed at the port of [[Corinto, Nicaragua|Corinto]] and occupied [[León, Nicaragua|León]] and the railway line to [[Granada, Nicaragua|Granada]].  A pro-U.S. government was formed under the occupation.  The 1914 [[Bryan–Chamorro Treaty]] granted perpetual canal rights to the U.S. in Nicaragua and was signed ten days before the U.S.-operated Panama Canal opened for use, thus preventing anyone from building a competing canal in Nicaragua without U.S. permission.<ref>{{Cite book | last=Walter | first=Knut | title=The Regime of Anastasio Somoza, 1936–1956 | year=1993 | publisher=The University of North Carolina Press | isbn=0-8078-2106-3 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/regimeofanastasi00walt/page/10 10–12] | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/regimeofanastasi00walt/page/10 }}</ref>

In 1927, under [[Augusto César Sandino]], a major peasant uprising was launched against both the U.S. occupation and the Nicaraguan establishment.  In 1933, the Marines withdrew and left the [[National Guard (Nicaragua)|Nicaraguan National Guard]] in charge of internal security and elections.  In 1934, [[Anastasio Somoza García]], the head of the  National Guard, ordered his forces to capture and murder Sandino.  In 1937, Somoza assumed the presidency, while still in control of the National Guard, and established a dictatorship that his family controlled until 1979.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=Thomas W. |title=Nicaragua: Living in the Shadow of the Eagle, 4th Edition |year=2003 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=0-8133-4033-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/nicaragualivingi0000walk/page/25 25–27] |url=https://archive.org/details/nicaragualivingi0000walk/page/25 }}</ref>

The downfall of the regime is attributed to its embezzlement of millions of dollars in foreign aid that was given to the country in response to the devastating [[1972 Nicaragua earthquake|1972 earthquake]].  Many moderate supporters of the dictatorship began abandoning it in the face of growing revolutionary sentiment.  The [[Sandinista National Liberation Front|Sandinista]] (FSLN) movement organized relief, began to expand its influence and assumed the leadership of the revolution.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zimmerman |first=Matilde |title=Sandinista: Carlos Fonseca and the Nicaraguan Revolution |year=2000 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=0-8223-2595-0 |pages=173, 209–210 }}</ref> A popular uprising brought the FSLN to power in 1979.  The United States had long been opposed to the socialist FSLN, and after the revolution the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter administration]] moved quickly to support the [[Somoza family|Somocistas]] with financial and material aid.  When [[Ronald Reagan]] took office, he augmented the direct support to an anti-Sandinista group, called the [[Contras]], which included factions loyal to the former dictatorship.  When Congress prohibited further funding to the Contras, [[Oliver North]] continued the funding through [[Iran–Contra affair|arms sales that were also prohibited by Congress]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dent |first=David W. |title=Historical Dictionary of US-Latin American Relations |year=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=0-313-32196-5 |page=129}}</ref>