Reagan’s Proxy War on Nicaragua and Witness for Peace

Founded in 1983 to protest the Reagan Administration’s support for the Contra War in Nicaragua, Witness for Peace placed volunteers from the United States in the conflict zones within Nicaragua. These volunteers not only demonstrated solidarity with the people of Nicaragua, but they also became advocates for ending that war by speaking out in their local communities upon their return to the U.S. about what they observed during their time in Nicaragua. As a member of a 1984 Witness for Peace delegation from Michigan to Nicaragua, my reflections on that experience will help to ground the various analyses of the context and content of Witness for Peace in the 1980s