President Reagan became convinced that the Sandinistas' 1979 victory in Nicaragua could spark off revolution throughout the region and threaten the security of the United States.
Sandinidtas were the left-wing of revolutionaries.
The Sandinistas never defined themselves as communist.
They set up the clearly political Sandinista People's Army, to replace the National Guard. And they began to redistribute wealth, expropriating large estates.
This was enough to alarm Ronald Reagan, who had become US president in 1981. Reagan became implacably opposed to the Sandinista government.
At the same time, a disillusioned Sandinista commander, Eden Pastora, set up an opposition base in Honduras to the north. Both groups became known as the "contras", that is counter-revolutionary forces.
In 1986, the Reagan government, secretly and illegally, transferred to the contras the proceeds of clandestine sales of military equipment supplied to Iran.
Made unpopular by the need to fight a long and costly war against the US-backed contras, Sandinistas were unexpectedly voted out of office in elections in February 1990.
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