How Did The Ronald Reagan Administration Fund The Contra War In Nicaragua

Gary Webb, the CIA, the Contra war, and the United States government involvement in the trafficking and smuggling of cocaine in and out of Central America until this day, still remains highly controversial. This was an event that had been going on for quite some time which no one had any idea at all that it was happening. However, until finally a news reporter from the San Jose Mercury News stumbles upon this controversial and problematic story, strictly by coincidence. The involvement of the CIA in trafficking drugs in Nicaragua was to simply fund the Contra war in Nicaragua during the Ronald Reagan administration. The Ronald Reagan administration was formulated under the theory of saying no to drugs and they were against it entirely. Although there was much denial about the involvement of illegally smuggling drugs into the United States, in 1986 the administration acknowledged that the profits made from smuggling drugs was used to support the Contra rebels of Nicaragua. The Reagan administration filled the hearts of the American people that they were going to fight “the war on drugs”, no matter what. So ultimately when this news gets released in the 1980’s, it released a shockwave throughout the whole United States.

Some of these questions include, why did the Reagan administration lie to millions of Americans, why was it so important to keep this topic a secret, how does the truth finally resurfaces and comes out, and what happened after and what changes have been made to avoid something like this from happening for the years to come? The goal of this qualitative research study is to not only answer the questions stated above but to understand in its entirety what occurred, what happened after, and how has it impacted the United States ever