Helping mark 30 years of publishing the Iguana, the monthly ArtWalk at the CMC will feature a display of the 35-card deck which was produced in 1988 to commemorate the 1986 Iran-Contra hearings.
These hearings helped expose a “secret government” that had been created to fund the CIA led operations in Central America devoted to topple the elected government of Nicaragua.
The Sandinista government came to power in 1979 after overthrowing the U.S. backed dictator Anastasio Somoza, whose brother and father had ruled Nicaragua for decades, and enriched themselves immensely in the process. The Sandinistas created many popular reforms and in 1984 were officially elected to power, but their Socialist leanings were not tolerable to the U.S. Government under President Ronald Reagan.
When Congress blocked money going to the Contras (the force the CIA created that was terrorizing the countryside), the CIA turned to drug smuggling and selling weapons to Iran to generate the funds to carry out their illegal war.
These operations came to light, and Congress convened hearings that further exposed the illegal and deadly operations.
These cards are 35 history lessons of a corrupt administration’s bloody efforts The blowback from these interventionist policies in Central America still impact the region. It was out of that ferment that the Gainesville Iguana began.
The March Artwalk at the CMC (and all over downtown) is Friday March 25, and will run from 7-10 pm.
For more information, see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/10/gary-webb-dark-alliance_n_5961748.html. D