Terrorism and"harboring" of terrorists by the U.S.
U.S. intervention in Nicaragua provides an astounding,but by no means extraordinary, example. First, some background: by 1934, whenthe authoritarian Somoza regime was established, the U.S. had already occupiedthe country militarily on at least four different occasions, establishedtraining schools for right-wing militia, dismantled two liberal governments, andhelped to orchestrate fake elections. In 1981, the CIA began to organize the"Contras" many of whom had already received training from the U.S.military as members of the Somozas' National Guardsmen to overthrow theprogressive Sandanista government. In other words: the CIA "harbored,"recruited, armed and trained the Contras, in order to "coerce" andoverthrow a government, and terrorize a people, through violent means ("infurtherance of political [and] social objectives"). U.S. intervention wentwell beyond "harboring," however, in this case. In 1984, the CIA minedthree Nicaraguan harbors. When Nicaragua took this action to the World Court, an$18 billion judgment was brought against the U.S. The U.S. response was tosimply refuse to acknowledge the Court's jurisdiction.