Peter Rodino
Peter Rodino
Linder letter
In 1987, the death of Benjamin Linder, the first American killed by U.S.-backed Nicaraguan Contras -- ignited a firestorm of protest and debate.
In the summer of 1983, the 23-year-old supporter of the Marxist Sandinista government, arrived in Managua with a newly earned degree in engineering. In 1986, Linder moved from Managua to El Cuá, a village in the Nicaraguan war zone, where he helped form a team to build a hydroplant to bring electricity to the town. He was ambushed and killed by the Contras the following year while surveying a stream for a possible hydroplant.
Despite testimony from the ambushers that Linder was armed and wearing a Sandinista military uniform at the time of the ambush, many Sandinista sympathizers tried to portray Linder's death as the deliberate murder of an unarmed civilian.
US Reps Ed Markey, Les AuCoin, George Crockett, David Bonior, Peter Rodino, Peter DeFazio, Ron Wyden, wrote an April 29. 1987 letter to Secratary of Stae George Schultze, the day after Linder's death, repeating the story that Linder was reportedly, unarmed, and asking questions as to the circumstances of Linder's death, including if the killing was committed by US backed "Contra" rebels.[1]
Voted against support for "Contras"
The Congressional Record of February 3, 1988 shows that the following leading Democratic Party Congressmen voted against aid to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters - the "Contras"- then fighting against the Marxist-Leninist Sandinista government of Nicaragua:
- Les Aspin
- Les AuCoin
- Ed Boland
- David Bonior
- Don Bonker
- Barbara Boxer
- George Brown
- John Conyers
- George Crockett
- Ron Dellums
- Tom Downey
- Mervyn Dymally
- Don Edwards
- Mike Espy
- Barney Frank
- Sam Gejdenson
- Richard Gephardt
- William Gray
- Lee Hamilton
- Charles Hayes
- Robert Kastenmeier
- Joseph Kennedy
- Pete Kostmayer
- James Leach
- Ed Markey
- Nancy Pelosi
- J. J. Pickle
- Charles Rangel
- Peter Rodino
- Dan Rostenkowski
- Gus Savage
- Patricia Schroeder
- Steven Solarz
- Gerry Studds
- Morris Udall
- Ted Weiss
- Howard Wolpe
- Sidney Yates
References
- ↑ United States Volunteers in Nicaragua, and the Death of Benjamin Linder, Hearing, Committee on Western Hemisperic Affairs, May 13, 1987