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'''Nicaragua''' is the largest nation in [[Central America]], but it the least densely populated; thus being similar in population to its neighbours.  The country is bordered to the north by the Honduras and to the south by [[Costa Rica]].  Its western coast is on the Pacific Ocean, while the east of the country borders on the Caribbean Sea.  Nicaragua is one of three countries in the world where abortion is illegal with no exceptions, along with [[El Salvador]] and [[Chile]].

'''Nicaragua''' is the largest nation in [[Central America]], but it the least densely populated; thus being similar in population to its neighbours.  The country is bordered to the north by the Honduras and to the south by [[Costa Rica]].  Its western coast is on the Pacific Ocean, while the east of the country borders on the Caribbean Sea.  Nicaragua is one of three countries in the world where abortion is illegal with no exceptions, along with [[El Salvador]] and [[Chile]].

Beginning in the late 1970s Nicaragua was ravaged by a civil war between the socialist [[Sandinista]] government and the anti-revolutionary Contras resisting communist oppression. Despite generous funding by the [[Carter administration]] to the Sandinistas, the regime resolutely turned away from the US and with Cuban and East European help, built up an army of 75,000, larger than that of Mexico. <ref>Mona Charen, ''Useful Idiots'', Regnery Publishing, 2003. ISBN: 0895261391</ref> As well as killing hundreds of thousands of people, the war left 20% of the country's population homeless <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profiles/1225218.stm</ref>.

Beginning in the late 1970s Nicaragua was ravaged by a civil war between the socialist [[Sandinista]] government and the anti-revolutionary Contras resisting communist oppression. Despite generous funding by the [[Carter administration]] to the Sandinistas, the regime resolutely turned away from the US and with Cuban and East European help <ref>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1989/HJM.htm U.S. Policy in Central America], Major J.M Hughesm USMC.  Retrieved from globalsecurity.org 15 July 2007.</ref> built up an army of 75,000, larger than that of Mexico. <ref>Mona Charen, ''Useful Idiots'', Regnery Publishing, 2003. ISBN: 0895261391</ref> As well as killing hundreds of thousands of people, the war left 20% of the country's population homeless <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/country_profiles/1225218.stm</ref>.

The Reagan Administration facilitated funding to the [[Contras]] through arms sales by Israel to Iran in what became known as the [[Iran-Contra affair]]. <ref>"President Ronald Reagan told a packed White House news conference that funds derived from covert arms deals with the Islamic Republic of Iran had been diverted to buy weapons for the U.S.-backed Contra rebels in Nicaragua." http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB210/index.htm</ref>  The post Vietnam-era [[Boland amendment]] denied direct appropriations to continue the policy of [[Containment]] as it pertained to Nicaragua during this period of the [[Cold War]].  

The Reagan Administration facilitated funding to the [[Contras]] through arms sales by Israel to Iran in what became known as the [[Iran-Contra affair]]. <ref>"President Ronald Reagan told a packed White House news conference that funds derived from covert arms deals with the Islamic Republic of Iran had been diverted to buy weapons for the U.S.-backed Contra rebels in Nicaragua." http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB210/index.htm</ref>  The post Vietnam-era [[Boland amendment]] denied direct appropriations to continue the policy of [[Containment]] as it pertained to Nicaragua during this period of the [[Cold War]].