Ben Linder

Benjamin Ernest Linder (July 7, 1959 — April 28, 1987), born in California, was a young American engineer who was killed in an ambush by a group of CIA-funded Contras while working on a small hydroelectric dam that was to bring electricity and running water to a village in the middle of Nicaragua's war zone. Linder's death made front-page headlines around the world and polarized opinion in the United States.

Controversy

Linder's death was bitterly debated in the United States, both in the media and in Congress. Opponents of Washington's policy in Nicaragua called him a "national hero" and a martyr of the Left, while supporters of Washington's policy questioned whether he was providing aid to the Sandinista government against the Contras.

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U.S. embassy officials in Nicaragua admitted that they never investigated the incident and had no interest in doing so.

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White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater was quoted in The New York Times as saying that US citizens working in Nicaragua "put themselves in harm's way". Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, an ardent defender of the Contra War, said Linder simply should have known better than to be in a combat zone.

Related Topics:
White House - Marlin Fitzwater - The New York Times - Elliott Abrams

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During a congressional hearing in May 1987, some defenders of U.S. policy in Nicaragua on the House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee launched personal attacks on Linder's family and other witnesses who came to testify on behalf of Linder and his work. One congresswoman accused Linder's family of turning his death into a political issue. The Village Voice reported one exchange between Linder's mother Elizabeth, who had just given testimony to her son's work and motivations, and Congressman Connie Mack (R) of Florida. Said Mack:

Related Topics:
Village Voice - Connie Mack - R - Florida

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:I guess what really has me upset is that I just cannot understand how you can use grief that I know you feel, use it to politicize this situation. Or to allow yourself to be used to politicize this situation.... I guess the reason I find this so difficult is that I don't want to be tough on you, but I really feel you have asked for it.

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CBS News correspondent Dan Rather expressed an opposite view of Linder's death and the ongoing war:

Related Topics:
CBS News - Dan Rather

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:Benjamin Linder was no revolutionary firebrand, spewing rhetoric and itching to carry a rifle through the jungles of Central America. He was a slight, soft-spoken, thoughtful young man. When, at 23, he left the comfort and security of the United States for Nicaragua, he wasn't exactly sure what he would find... But he wanted to see Nicaragua first-hand, and so he headed off, armed with a new degree in engineering, and the energy and ideals of youth... This wasn't just another death in a war that has claimed thousands of Nicaraguans. This was an American who was killed with weapons paid for with American tax dollars. The bitter irony of Benjamin Linder's death is that he went to Nicaragua to build-up what his own country's dollars paid to destroy — and ended up a victim of the destruction... The loss of Benjamin Linder is more than fodder in an angry political debate. It is the loss of something that seems rare these days: a man with the courage to put his back behind his beliefs. It would have been very easy for this bright, young man to follow the path to a good job and a comfortable salary. Instead, he chose to follow the lead of his conscience.

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The murder of Linder and the growing distaste in the U.S. for the covert war in Nicaragua finally led to the U.S. Congress prohibiting military aid to the Contras. But the Contra attacks, conscription into the army, the complete U.S. economic embargo on the impoverished country, and the Sandinista response of eliminating civil liberties in the mid-1980s all combined to cause the defeat of the FSLN in February 1990 elections.

Related Topics:
Civil liberties - FSLN

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In July 1995, Joan Kruckewitt, an American journalist who lived in Nicaragua from 1983 to 1991 and covered the war between the Sandinistas and the Contras for ABC Radio, located and interviewed one of the men who killed Ben Linder. The story became the basis for an article in The New Yorker and was later expanded into a book, The Death of Ben Linder.

Related Topics:
Joan Kruckewitt - ABC Radio - The New Yorker

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