Australian
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Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Nicaraguan National Guard soldiers after they escaped to Honduras in 1979 following the overthrow of the Somoza regime. A narrator claims that the National Guard army are now determined to attack Nicaragua and crush the Sandinistas. A map shows Central America as a narrator claims this army, called 'Contras’, are armed, trained and supplied by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Tomas Borge, Minister for the Interior, demands that the USA produce evidence of their claim that Nicaragua is sending arms to El Salvador, before accusing the USA of behaving like an imperialist force. The Borge footage is in Spanish with English subtitles.

Educational value points

• 'Contra’ (counterrevolutionary) soldiers in Honduras are shown. From 1934 until 1979 the Somoza dynasty ruled Nicaragua with US support. When the regime was overthrown in 1979 the Nicaraguan National Guard left the country, and some of the Nicaraguans who fled to Honduras formed an armed opposition group known as the 'Contras’. Supported by US President Reagan through the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Contras’ aim was to crush the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and reassume power.

• Mention is made in the clip of the Sandinistas, followers of Augusto Cesar Sandino (1895–1934), legendary Nicaraguan politician and freedom fighter. Sandino was assassinated by Anastasio Somoza, head of the National Guard in 1934. The Sandinistas, however, remained a political force and achieved power in 1979.

• The mining of Nicaraguan ports by the CIA in 1984 is mentioned. Between 1981 and 1984 the Reagan administration approved the expenditure of US$24 million to support the CIA operations against Nicaragua. One of these activities involved placing 300 pound (136 kg) mines of C4 explosives in three Nicaraguan harbours. Several ships were hit, including British and French vessels, and the Nicaraguan fishing industry was devastated. In April 1984, the CIA’s role in the mining of Nicaragua’s harbours was publicly disclosed and the US Congress refused to authorise another US$21 million for the Contras.

• Tomas Borge, Nicaraguan Minister for the Interior, discusses the Reagan administration funding of the Contra War. When he came to power in January 1981, US President Ronald Reagan actively supported the development of the Contra alliance. Reagan accused the Sandinistas of importing Cuban-style socialism and providing arms to leftist guerrillas in El Salvador. In 1984, Nicaragua filed a suit against the USA in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which resulted in a 1986 judgement against the USA, calling on it to stop the 'unlawful use of force’ against Nicaragua. The USA did not participate in the proceedings, maintaining that the ICJ’s power did not supersede the Constitution of the USA.

• The clip is from a documentary film that examines the political history of Nicaragua under the brutal Somoza regime. In English, the title translates as Nicaragua: They Will Not Enter. The film tells the story of the revolutionary Sandinista movement coming to power after 43 years of organised resistance and the death of 50,000 Nicaraguans. Australian filmmaker David Bradbury spent 6 months in Nicaragua making the film and has concentrated on a central character, Tomas Borge, Interior Minister and only surviving founder of the original Sandinista movement.

• The documentary is the work of acclaimed Australian documentary filmmaker David Bradbury. Since his first film, Frontline, a portrait of Australian news cameraman Neil Davis, David Bradbury has earned an international reputation as a filmmaker of great conviction prepared to go to great lengths for a cause. Many of his films deal with issues of political oppression and environmental destruction. In 1982, his friend and mentor, writer Graham Greene, advised him to go to Nicaragua where the covert war of the CIA against the Sandinistas had just started. The film won a certificate of High Merit at the 1985 Academy Awards.

• Nicaragua: No Pasaran is an example of a documentary with a strong 'point of view’. In his treatment of a period in the history of Nicaragua, Bradbury demonstrates his belief that the Sandinistas are the legitimate and 'good’ governors of the country while he portrays the Somoza regime as brutal and the cause of misery in Nicaragua. The US support for the Somoza regime makes it by inference an enemy to the people of Nicaragua. Some argue that the film ignores other historical events that have played a part in the development of the country, such as Spanish colonialism, the British influence and other dictatorships.

Narration is over footage including soldiers marching in formation and practising manoeuvers as well as maps illustrating the country and its borders.
Narrator When Somoza was overthrown, many of his national guard escaped across the border into neighbouring Honduras. They now form the nucleus of a 10,000-strong army attacking Nicaragua, determined to crush the Sandinistas. These Contras, as they are called, are armed, trained and supplied by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. The Reagan administration justifies its actions by claiming that Nicaragua is supplying weapons to leftist guerrillas in neighbouring El Salvador. But the two countries share no common land border and the United States controls all sea and air routes which it keeps under constant surveillance. There are now 5,000 North American troops stationed in Honduras, the scene of a huge US military build-up. The United States Navy regularly stations warships off the Nicaraguan Coast, and in April 1984, the North Americans went even further. The CIA organised the mining of Nicaraguan ports, damaging foreign ships entering their harbours.

Press conference with Tomas Borge, Nicaraguan Minister for the Interior.
Tomas Borge (Translation) We are accused of sending arms to the Salvadorian revolutionaries. Yet with all the technical capacity of the North Americans they have given no proof that we are sending arms to the Salvadorians. Mr Reagan has taken it upon himself to send military forces to kill Nicaraguans. This is not the first time the imperialist government of the United States has done this to us. Now that our people want to build their own future, now that we have freed ourselves forever from foreign domination…Mr Reagan doesn’t like it.