United Nicaraguan Opposition
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The United Nicaraguan Opposition (''Unidad Nicaragüense Opositora'', UNO) was a Nicaraguan rebel umbrella group formed in 1985, led by the triumvirate of
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 ...
,
Alfonso Robelo Luis Alfonso Robelo Callejas (born October 11, 1939),is a Nicaraguan businessman, was the founder of the Nicaraguan Democratic Movement (MDN). Early life and education Luis Alfonso Robelo Callejas was born in Leon, Nicaragua on October 11, ...
, and
Arturo Cruz Arturo José Cruz Porras (December 18, 1923 – July 9, 2013), sometimes called Arturo Cruz Sr. to distinguish him from his son, was a Nicaraguan banker and technocrat. He became prominent in politics during the Sandinista (FSLN) era. After repeate ...
. However, the great majority of UNO's military forces came from Calero's
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), and throughout its two-year existence Robelo and Cruz complained that Calero treated them as figureheads rather than equals. Generally, the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
backed Calero in these struggles, while
Elliott Abrams Elliott Abrams (born January 24, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer, who has served in foreign policy positions for presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump. Abrams is considered to be a neoconservative. He is curren ...
and the
State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...
backed Robelo and Cruz. In January 1987, Cruz informed Abrams of his intention to resign. In a bid to prevent this, Abrams pushed Calero into resigning in mid-February, but Cruz left on March 9. With Cruz's resignation, UNO collapsed. It was succeeded by the
Nicaraguan Resistance The Nicaraguan Resistance (', RN) was the last and arguably most successful effort to unify Nicaragua's rebel Contras into a single umbrella organization. It was established in May 1987, after the United Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO) floundered. The ...
. Nicaraguan rebels Nicaraguan anti-communists Anti-communist organizations Organizations of the Nicaraguan Revolution {{Nicaragua-stub