Cons in Florida 30 years later

It was late January 1982 that the Contras, with the help of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), approved a plan for war against the Sandinistas Nicaraguan territory, beyond the Honduran border.

Two bridges in northern Nicaragua became targets of the first major operation against the Sandinistas who had taken control of the Central American country after a bloody revolution that triumphed supported by Cuba when President Anastasio Somoza fled Managua in July 1979.

The bombing of the bridges on March 14, 1982 by Argentine military trained Contras and the CIA funded led to a state of emergency in Nicaragua and years after the outbreak of the Iran-Contra scandal in the United States. Eventually negotiations between Contras and Sandinistas were in an era of peace and democracy in Nicaragua.

Today, 30 years after the start of the war, half a dozen veterans gathered in Hialeah cons to share their memories of the historic conflict in interviews with The Miami Herald and so mark the thirtieth anniversary of the CIA-funded war . Two other former contras who could not attend the meeting told their stories in separate telephone interviews.

"War of the Nicaraguan Resistance was one of the last of the Cold War," said Luis Moreno, known as Commander Mike Lima, one of the top leaders from today's accountant in Jacksonville. "The legacy of the war in Nicaragua, along with the wars in Afghanistan and El Salvador, was that it helped to defeat communism and ending the Soviet Union."

But another former Contra, Noel Castillo, alias Commander Cheats, expressed disappointment with the outcome of the war, the peace agreements, because the Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega is once again is in front of Nicaragua.

"Sometimes I think all we did to no avail," said Castillo.

When Ronald Reagan won the U.S. presidential advisers, especially the then head of the CIA, Bill Casey, began to forge a strategy to roll back communism.

The signing by President Reagan on December 1, 1981 of a secret CIA document was what opened the tap of U.S. funding for the Contras through Argentine advisors were interested in Nicaragua because the Sandinistas had granted asylum to rebels montoneros opposing the military regime in Buenos Aires.

"In Nicaragua, the Sandinistas had become a haven for terrorists in the world," recalled Rafael Arias, known as Commander Attila. "Then the Argentines at the time of then Argentine President Leopoldo Galtieri and the junta in Argentina, went looking for guerrilla leader Mario Firmenich montoneros at that time was in Nicaragua. The Argentines were the first who began to help us financially and with training. "

Arias was one of the founders of the Legion September 15, the first anti-Sandinista resistance group that was organized mostly by former National Guard members who had supported Somoza.

"From the Legion was born September 15 Nicaraguan Democratic Force," Arias said, referring to the group that eventually supported the CIA following the document signed by Reagan. During the war, Arias belonged to Jorge Salazar task force, named after a Nicaraguan businessman murdered by the Sandinistas in 1980. Currently working with a company in Miami that builds and installs hurricane protection curtains.

Another of the founders of the Legion September 15, who lives in Miami, is Jose Antonio Lombillo.

"The first to start the resistance were former members of the National Guard of Nicaragua," Lombillo, which broadcasts the program Farándula WRHC radio station Cadena Azul 1550 AM in Miami.

Another former combatant, Eshman Ruiz recalled having joined the Contras in 1983 and participated in an operation that led to the taking of a barracks in San Pedro de Lóvago in the Department of Chontales. When he speaks of the Sandinistas, Ruiz calls "piris", a derogatory nickname short for "piricuaco" meaning mad dog.

"That the 'piris' had all the trimmings and we captured several soldiers and at night, from a hill, we saw as we dragged the bodies," Ruiz recalled. "So we hope to resume the barracks, I do take it."

Ruiz currently works for a bank security company.

Perhaps one of the most prominent former combatants against Miami is Robert Amador, a former air force pilot in Nicaragua during the Somoza era. He also helped found the Legion September 15 after fleeing Managua in July 1979 aboard a DC-6.

After the contras began more systematic acts of war in Nicaragua, Amador became a pilot that the fighters replenished from the air. On October 3, 1983 his plane, with seven crew members aboard, was overthrown by the Sandinistas. Amador was tried and sentenced to 84 years in prison but was released at the cessation of hostilities. Today is a pilot for commercial flights in Miami.

opposition leader in Malaysia is acquitted of sodomy

The High Court of Malaysia on Monday acquitted former deputy prime minister and opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim , a crime of sodomy punishable by the laws of the country with up to 20 years in prison.

Zabidin Mohamad Diah The judge ruled in favor of Anwar after rejecting DNA evidence by the prosecution, prompting jubilation among the thousands of supporters of opposition leader waiting in court.

"Thank God, justice has been done," said the former deputy prime minister after the verdict, according to local newspaper The Sta "." In the upcoming election, you will hear the voice of the people and this corrupt government will fall from the podium power, "he said later in his Twitter account.

Anwar, 64, was accused of having sex during the 2008 campaign with Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan , an aide who was 22 when he filed the complaint in June of that year.

"After reviewing the evidence , the court can not be one hundred percent sure that the DNA samples have not been manipulated, "said the judge read the verdict, according to The Star . "The court is left with only the testimony of Saiful . And it is a sexual crime, the court is opposed to issuing a conviction basándonse in Saiful's testimony, without corroboration, "said Mohamad Zabidin.

On February 1, the alleged victim testified on the stand about his relationship with the defendant, who was personal assistant, June 26, 2008 in a hotel room.

According to witnesses in the room, the leader of the opposition expressed surprise by the acquittal and said his priority now is to work to win the next election.

This second trial began in 2009 and the prosecution presented 27 witnesses to prove that the accused had sex with Mohd Saiful Bukhari Malaysia's Azlan.

On the other hand, three explosions were heard in the parking lot of the Court, where protests were held, and two people were injured, without yet been established guilty.

"Political maneuver"

Anwar, who has pleaded not guilty, maintains that this is another political move to send him to prison, which began more than a decade. In 1998, Anwar served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance when he was dismissed, expelled from the party and arrested on charges of abuse of power and sodomy.

Ibrahim, exviceprimer Minister of Malaysia, has been tried and charged with this crime repeatedly , even to being imprisoned.

Political embarrassment in the hours

Mitt Romney continues to progress as a favorite in the Republican primaries after the last two TV debates. Within twelve hours, in a political embarrassment weekend (first was the ABC and then NBC), the opponents of Romney had the opportunity to try to stop the former governor of Massachusetts, a clear favorite in the primaries take place on Tuesday in New Hampshire .

Rick Santorum took the time and attention he was finally granted, thanks to the momentum at the start of Iowa (there are only eight votes behind Romney ) to seek alternative erected in front of the more moderate conservative favorite. Although the intervention was successful, as his attempt to not make radical statements against homosexual practice , recent polls indicate that the "momentum Santorum" is not expanding everything you need to achieve a decisive role in New Hampshire.

Slight increase in surveys of Huntsman

That vote also compete the old conservative "speaker" parliamentary Newt Gingrich and Texas Governor Rick Perry . They are more aware of what happens in the primaries in South Carolina , on 21, a key conservative state's career development. Meanwhile, Ron Paul was at your leisure before the cameras defending libertarian ideas, supported by a sector of the electorate in part as a protest vote.

After a first debate on Saturday night in which the candidates were rather thick, in the debate this Sunday morning all were more tough. The former Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman had the minutes of brilliance that needs to emerge in New Hampshire, liberal-leaning state with best home with the utmost restraint of Huntsman. The latest polls give him a steady start to rise . Huntman turned against Romney when he was criticized two years it has been ambassador to China to serve the Obama Administration . "I always put my country ahead," he said to applause, this time without resort to any sentence would send as it did in the other debate.

Issues like gay marriage and out of Iraq occupied part of the discussion in the debates. All candidates except Paul, who was not asked about it, spoke out against gay marriage, so far only legalized in some states. The strongest line was to Santorum, against whom the gay lobby is loading the last days of a brutal due to extreme manifestations of homosexuality. But by the moderator asked what if his son would confess that he is gay, Santorum said: "I would like the minutes before," which helped to soften his image.

Regarding foreign policy , again addressed without spending time in Europe (EU respublicanos only mention of the "European socialism" as they refer to the model of the welfare state across the Atlantic), candidates are primarily concerned Iraq. Except Paul, who is against the foreign military presence, and Huntsman, who warned that Iraq is on the brink of civil war and have to stay on the sidelines, the rest criticized Obama has not managed to leave troops in the country . Perry defended the military immediately return to Iraq, something the White House itself is currently negotiating without success, although the Texas governor's mouth seemed rather sound like a new invasion.

Born multi speed Europe

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is in charge of the Union above all other community leaders

All major speeches Christmas European leaders referred to 2012 as a period in which the major community project, the single currency, will remain at risk unless governments are able to take aggressive steps in the right direction.

For the first time since the inception of the euro, the EU is experiencing a crisis in its foundations . The permanent chair was made ​​in the Lisbon Treaty and exercises Herman Van Rompuy, yet has failed to impose itself as the essential arbiter of European politics, neither the rotating presidency from day 1 that holds the Danish prime minister, Helle Thorning -Schmidt.

The real helm of the EU will begin this year Chancellor Angela Merkel , who already had to take over the leadership at the beginning of the crisis until now accompanied by a Nicolas Sarkozy should be more concerned to maintain the rating of "AAA 'for France and his own survival in the March presidential election. For Merkel everything will be easy on the domestic front, especially because decide within the next few days if you can keep holding or not the President , his colleague Christian Wulff , whom the powerful newspaper "Bild" has declared war for influence peddling scandal .

The wording of the new fiscal unification treaty that prohibits the excessive deficit in Germany has put all its energy, is presented as the only formula that can calm the debt markets and that will convince operators that the future role of the European Central Bank will be more similar to a CA. But the treaty must be ratified by member countries, following a process that can re-test the structural soundness of the Community policies , as happened with the Constitutional Treaty.

The draft elaborated by the Council's legal services and finance ministries of countries in the euro-and foreign not-is proposed to enter into force when at least nine countries have completed ratification, on the one hand not prevent the start up and the other will be a pressure for the laggards.

However, 2012 will be the beginning of a variable-speed Europe, which is very likely to spread the practice of an asymmetric adjustment of all the mechanisms of cooperation. The British have been the first to stay out of the treaty of budgetary consolidation , and other countries will surely follow his example in other fields. The EU survive the crisis will be different anyway. The Schengen Agreement and the conditions of free movement and closure of internal borders will also be put back to the scrutiny of the national negotiators.

And yet, the EU continues to be a place of privilege in the world: Croatia will spend his last year outside the EU, which will enter in end 2012, Iceland remains a candidate outdone , although Turkey may launch this year, the sign that has grown tired of waiting, when it comes Cypriot president and diplomatic consequences for Ankara in the second half of the year.