Nicaraguan Contras leader Enrique Bermúdez is assassinated in Managua.
Enrique Bermdez 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.
Bermdez 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, Bermdez 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.
Nicaragua ( (listen); Spanish: [nikaˈɾaɣwa] (listen)), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (Spanish: República de Nicaragua ), is the largest country in the Central American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the northwest, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Managua is the country's capital and largest city and is also the third-largest city in Central America, behind Tegucigalpa and Guatemala City. The multi-ethnic population of six million includes people of indigenous, European, African, and Asian heritage. The main language is Spanish. Indigenous tribes on the Mosquito Coast speak their own languages and English.
Originally inhabited by various indigenous cultures since ancient times, the region was conquered by the Spanish Empire in the 16th century. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821. The Mosquito Coast followed a different historical path, being colonized by the English in the 17th century and later coming under British rule. It became an autonomous territory of Nicaragua in 1860 and its northernmost part was transferred to Honduras in 1960. Since its independence, Nicaragua has undergone periods of political unrest, dictatorship, occupation and fiscal crisis, including the Nicaraguan Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s and the Contra War of the 1980s.
The mixture of cultural traditions has generated substantial diversity in folklore, cuisine, music, and literature, particularly the latter, given the literary contributions of Nicaraguan poets and writers such as Rubén Darío. Known as the "land of lakes and volcanoes", Nicaragua is also home to the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve, the second-largest rainforest of the Americas. The biological diversity, warm tropical climate and active volcanoes make Nicaragua an increasingly popular tourist destination. Nicaragua is a founding member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Organization of American States, ALBA and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.