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Southern Opposition Front in Costa Rica During the Contra War: 1980-1988
Fritz, Bruce W.
Fritz, Bruce W.
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Abstract
When one considers the Contras—the forces that
opposed the Sandinista government of Nicaragua—the natural
propensity is to view these forces as a monolithic
institution. The purpose of this thesis is to draw a clear
distinction between the Contras that were based in Honduras
and the Southern Opposition Front (SOF) that was based in
Costa Rica; more than geography separated these two fronts
that opposed the FSLN government in the Contra War. In
order to draw this distinction, this thesis will first
offer a chronology of the Southern Front from its
beginnings in 1980 through the declared cessation of
hostilities in 1988. Following this, the reasons why the
SOF came into existence will be examined through the
application of the Collapsible Pyramid Model as presented
by Jan Knippers Black and by reviewing the motivation
behind US foreign policy toward Central America in the
1980s. Finally, five political science definitions will be
presented in order to position the SOF Contras along the
political continuum. The SOF's history was profoundly
different from the Contra experience in Honduras and the
impetus for its formation was likewise different. A variety
of factors contributed to the failure of the SOF as both a
political and a military organization.
Description
The University of Kansas has long historical connections with Central America and the many Central
Americans who have earned graduate degrees at KU. This work is part of the Central American Theses
and Dissertations collection in KU ScholarWorks and is being made freely available with permission of the
author through the efforts of Professor Emeritus Charles Stansifer of the History department and the staff of
the Scholarly Communications program at the University of Kansas Libraries’ Center for Digital Scholarship.
Date
1995-04-24
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University of Kansas
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Fritz_1995.pdf
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