Congress passed the Boland Amendment, which prohibited American assistance in training, equipping, or advising the anti-Communist rebel Contras in Nicaragua. A second and third Boland Amendment passed in 1983 and 1984 closed loopholes in Boland, which allowed for humanitarian aid and further limited US government support for the Contras.
The contras were a counterrevolutionary force aligned against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government, which had overthrown the previous dictatorial government in 1979. The contras received training and funds from the American CIA under Reagan’s administration in the early 1980s, even though Congress had banned such aid with the 1984 Boland Amendment. The National Security Council diverted money and support to the contras through secret weapons’ sales to Iran. The Iran-Contra Affair was uncovered in 1986 and a public outcry ensued. Several high-...