Blood on the Border : A Memoir of the Contra War

Human rights activist and historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has been described as “a force of nature on the page and off.” That force is fully present in Blood on the Border, the third in her acclaimed series of memoirs. Seamlessly blending the personal and the political, Blood on the Border is Dunbar-Ortiz's firsthand account of the decade-long dirty war pursued by the Contras and the United States against the people of Nicaragua. With the 1981 bombing of a Nicaraguan plane in Mexico City—a plane Dunbar-Ortiz herself would have been on if not for a delay—the US-backed Contras (short for los contrarrevolucionarios) launched a major offensive against Nicaragua's Sandinista regime, which the Reagan administration labeled as communist. While her rich political analysis of the US-Nicaraguan relationship bears the mark of a trained historian, Dunbar-Ortiz also writes from her perspective as an intrepid activist who spent months at a time throughout the 1980s in the war-torn country, especially in the remote northeastern region, where the Indigenous Miskitu people were relentlessly assailed and nearly wiped out by CIA-trained Contra mercenaries. She makes painfully clear the connections between what many US Americans today remember only vaguely as the Iran-Contra “affair” and ongoing US aggression in the Americas, the Middle East, and around the world—connections made even more explicit in a new afterword written for this edition. A compelling, important, and sobering story on its own, Blood on the Border offers a deeply informed, closely observed, and heartfelt view of history in the making. Title Page......Page 8 Copyright Page......Page 9 Table of Contents......Page 12 Foreword, by Margaret Randall......Page 14 Acknowledgments......Page 18 Prologue......Page 22 Chapter 1. The Road to Nicaragua Runs through the Black Hills......Page 34 Chapter 2. Starting Over and Finding the Sandinista Revolution......Page 58 Chapter 3. Desaparecidos......Page 74 Chapter 4. A Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party......Page 86 Chapter 5. House Arrest......Page 102 Chapter 6. Culture Shock......Page 116 Chapter 7. Red Christmas......Page 128 Chapter 8. A Cruel Spring......Page 144 Chapter 9. Getting to Know Rigoberta......Page 154 Chapter 10. Drinking for Courage......Page 168 Chapter 11. International Law—and International Lawlessness......Page 184 Chapter 12. Guide......Page 196 Chapter 13. City of Refuge......Page 212 Chapter 14. Missionaries and Mercenaries......Page 226 Chapter 15. Refugees......Page 238 Chapter 16. Quemada......Page 256 Chapter 17. The Final Chapter: Rednecks and Indian Country, Again......Page 274 Epilogue......Page 288 Afterword......Page 300 Prologue -- The road to Nicaragua runs through the Black Hills -- Starting over and finding the Sandinista revolution -- Desaparecidos -- A revolution is not a dinner party -- House arrest -- Culture shock -- Red Christmas -- A cruel spring -- Getting to know Rigoberta -- Drinking for courage -- International law, and international lawlessness -- Guide -- City of refuge -- Missionaries and mercenaries -- Refugees -- Quemada -- The final chapter : rednecks and Indian Country, again -- Epilogue "This is a revised edition of Blood on the Border, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's memoir of her involvement in the Contra War of Nicaragua during the Reagan administration. This edition features an all-new afterword by the author. Blood on the Border completes Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's memoir series that started with Red Dirt and continued with Outlaw Woman"--Provided by publisher