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 The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 foll ...

. In this capacity, he became a central global figure in one of the most prominent conflicts of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. Bermúdez founded the largest Contra army in the war against Nicaragua's Marxist Sandinista government, which was supported by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

. 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 Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas; it was the rejection of this questionable outcome that led the Contras to continue their insurgency until Ortega and the Sandinistas were ultimately ejected from office. On February 16, 1991, Bermudez was assassinated in

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Early life

Bermúdez was born on December 11, 1932 in León, Nicaragua, the son of a mechanical engineer and a domestic servant.

Nicaraguan National Guard

After graduating from the military academy in 1952, he took a commission in the engineer corps of the Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel under former Nicaraguan President

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle (; 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980) was the President of Nicaragua from 1 May 1967 to 1 May 1972 and from 1 December 1974 to 17 July 1979. As head of the National Guard, he was ''de facto'' ruler of t ...

, and was serving as military attaché to the United States at the time of the 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution by the

Sandinistas The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto ...

Contra war

Bermúdez moved almost immediately into armed opposition against the new government, ultimately becoming one of the most influential leaders in the armed opposition to the Sandinista government. Together with Ricardo Lau, he created the 15th of September Legion, the first armed opposition movement against the Sandinistas. In 1981, Bermúdez returned to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, from exile in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. He later became commander of the

Nicaraguan Democratic Force The Nicaraguan Democratic Force (', or FDN) was one of the earliest Contra groups, formed on August 11, 1981 in Guatemala City. It was formed to oppose Nicaragua's revolutionary Sandinista government following the 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somo ...

(FDN), the primary Contra movement. During the Contra war, Bermúdez held the nom de guerre Comandante 380. The Contras' guerrilla war against the Sandinista government became one of the most contentious and prominent

conflicts, with the United States supporting the Contras through overt and covert military assistance, and the Soviet Union, Cuba,

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

and other Eastern Bloc nations supporting the Sandinistas. Under the Reagan Doctrine, through which the U.S. believed it could drive the Soviet Union out of Central America and other regions around the world, the U.S. began supplying Bermúdez' Contras with arms and other support.

Criticisms

Assessments of Bermúdez's military and political leadership varied. His supporters believed that he provided stability among the fractious rebels, holding the FDN together while other Contra factions splintered. Critics, however, charged that he failed to provide strategic direction for the FDN's campaigns, and that he hampered the Contras' effectiveness by rewarding loyal cronies and ex-Guardsmen instead of the most able commanders. Discontent finally led to a council of field commanders ousting Bermúdez, as well as the purging of the Contras' predominantly Miami-based political leadership. Many of the members of the so-called Council were then suspects in his death, along with the Sandinista government. Critics of the Contras also alleged that Bermúdez was one of several figures who had been engaged in

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

and other drug-running as a Contra commander.

Relations with U.S.

Bermúdez, however, was the key military leader behind the Contras' war. He also was a key contact for the Reagan administration, who saw him, along with

Adolfo Calero Adolfo Calero Portocarrero (December 22, 1931 – June 2, 2012) was a Nicaraguan businessman and the leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the largest rebel group of the Contras, opposing the Sandinista government. Calero was responsi ...

, as their primary contacts within the Contra leadership. Votes on U.S. aid to the Contras were some of the most contentious and close votes in the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

during the 1980s, but the predominant sentiment in Congress was that continued aid to the Contras was critical both to establishing a non-communist government in Nicaragua and driving the Soviet Union from the American hemisphere during the height of the Cold War.

Autobiography: ''The Contras' Valley Forge''

In the Summer 1988 issue of '' Policy Review'' magazine, Bermúdez told the most comprehensive account of his life, a lengthy autobiographical essay titled "The Contras' Valley Forge: How I View the Nicaraguan Crisis", in which the Contra leader chronicled his life from his early career as a military attaché to Somoza through the height of the conflict between the Contras and Sandinista government. In the article, Bermúdez staunchly criticized the Sandinistas for their alliances with the

and

and for betraying promises they made to establish a representative democracy. However, Bermúdez also issued some criticism at U.S. policy, writing that some Democrats, such as Jim Wright, then the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, were appeasing the Sandinista regime in ways that were inhibiting the Contras' in their effort to overthrow the Sandinista government. The article was authored by conservative author and writer (and then ''Policy Review'' editor) Michael Johns, who interviewed Bermúdez over a series of days in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in May and June 1988.

Assassinated in Managua

Following the Sandinista defeat in the 1990 elections, Bermúdez returned to

Managua ) , settlement_type = Capital city , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Nicar ...

, only to be gunned down on February 16, 1991 after being lured to a meeting at Managua's

InterContinental Intercontinental is an adjective to describe something which relates to more than one continent. Intercontinental may also refer to: * Intercontinental ballistic missile, a long-range guided ballistic missile * InterContinental Hotels Group (I ...

Hotel. He was shot in the hotel's parking lot as he departed the hotel after those with whom he was meeting failed to show. In 1994, Bermúdez' daughter, Claudia Bermúdez, told '' The Miami Herald'': "There were a lot of people who would have benefited from having my dad put away--the

, the

Chamorro Chamorro may refer to: * Chamorro people, the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific * Chamorro language, an Austronesian language indigenous to The Marianas * Chamorro Time Zone, the time zone of Guam and the Northern Mari ...

government, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. My dad died with a lot of information."

Personal

In the last years of the Contra War, Bermúdez had taken up reading the works of noted libertarian author Ayn Rand. While serving as commander of the semi-secret Contra headquarters on the Nicaragua-Honduras border code named "Aguacate" - Spanish for Avocado - he was known for taking solitary walks in the nearby jungle, taking photographs of intricate spiderwebs. The Fort Scott Tribune - Oct 17, 198
Plane's Crash Revives Contra Support Debate
/ref> Bermúdez is survived by family members, most of whom live in

. He was buried in Miami, following a funeral mass that was attended by many of his U.S. and Nicaraguan supporters. In 2002 and 2004, his daughter, Claudia Bermúdez, now a resident of the

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

area, ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Democrat Barbara Lee for California's 9th congressional district seat. She remains heavily engaged in public policy-related initiatives in the district.

Notes

References

*Enrique Bermúdez (with Michael Johns), "The Contras' Valley Forge: How I View the Nicaraguan Crisis," '' Policy Review'', Heritage Foundation, Summer 198

*Shirley Christian, ''Nicaragua: Revolution in the Family'', Vintage, 1986, . *Glenn Garvin, ''Everybody Had His Own Gringo: The CIA and the Contras'', Brassey's (US), 1992, . *Roy Gutman, ''Banana Diplomacy: The Making of American Policy in Nicaragua, 1981-1987'', Simon & Schuster, 1988, .
"Shultz to Visit Central America on Faltering Talks"
''The New York Times'', June 19, 1988 (covering Bermúdez' Summer 1988 autobiography in '' Policy Review''). *United States Department of State, Special Report No. 174, ''Nicaraguan Biographies: A Resource Book'', Bureau of Public Affairs, 1988.

External links

"Bermudez Elected a Contra Director"
Associated Press, ''The New York Times'', July 19, 1988

''The New York Times'', July 22, 1988 * ttps://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3D6103AF93BA25751C0A967958260 "Quick Solution is Sought in Ex-Contra Chief's Death" Reuters, ''The New York Times'', February 18, 1991
"Leader's Slaying Incites Ex-Contras," ''The New York Times'', February 20, 1991

''The New York Times'', March 6, 1991

Reuters, ''The New York Times'', March 7, 1991].
"Assassins in Managua"
''The New York Times'', April 16, 1991 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bermudez, Enrique 1932 births 1990s murders in Nicaragua 1991 crimes in Nicaragua 1991 deaths 1991 murders in North America Assassinated military personnel Assassinated Nicaraguan politicians Contras Deaths by firearm in Nicaragua Male murder victims Military attachés Nicaraguan anti-communists Nicaraguan expatriates in the United States Nicaraguan military personnel Nicaraguan revolutionaries People from León, Nicaragua People from Managua People from Miami People murdered in Nicaragua People of the Cold War People of the Nicaraguan Revolution Unsolved murders in Nicaragua