Enrique Bermúdez, Nicaraguan colonel and engineer (d. 1991)
Enrique Bermúdez Varela (December 11, 1932 – February 16, 1991), known as Comandante 380, was a Nicaraguan soldier and rebel 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.
Bermúdez founded the largest Contra army in the war against Nicaragua's Sandinista coalition government of Marxists, students, businessmen, and church groups, which received minor support from the Soviet Union, much more from Cuba, and most democratic governments in Latin America such as Costa Rica and Venezuela. From 1979 until the end of the military conflict in 1990, Bermudez was the Contras' top military commander. In addition to being responsible for all of the Contras' military operations, Bermúdez ultimately helped manage the Contras' transition to an opposition political party in the early 1990s, after the second election in post-Somoza Nicaragua ended in defeat for the Sandinistas. The first election, held in 1984 with severe irregularities resulted in a victory for the FSLN and its candidate, Daniel Ortega; it was the rejection of this questionable outcome that led the Contras to continue their insurgency until Ortega and the FSLN had been ejected from office.
On February 16, 1991, Bermudez was assassinated in Managua.