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One of the Cold War’s last dirty wars, it began with the overthrow of a dictator followed by years of fighting between a leftist regime backed by the Soviet Union and American-backed anti-revolutionaries.

The key figures in the Nicaraguan revolution and the bloody civil war that followed, costing tens of thousands of lives, became household names in North America a generation ago, seared into memory by daily news reports and Hollywood movies and pop songs.

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Anastasio Somoza, the strongman whose family had ruled for decades, was overthrown in 1979.

Daniel Ortega is the rebel leader whose leftist Sandinistas went on to rule, he as president until 1990.

Ronald Reagan, the contras and the secret funneling to them of U.S. money for arms.

Flash-forward nearly 30 years and Ortega, who came back to power in 2007, is presiding over a crackdown in the Central American country that critics say makes him as bad as Somoza ever was.