ABSTRACT
By the mid-1980s US military policy in the region, supplemented by secret wars and covert actions, formed the backbone of the Ronald Reagan Doctrine—an all-out counterrevolutionary campaign. The buildup in Central America was part of the Reagan administration's pledge to enlarge the US military presence worldwide. Two main instruments of US military policy—military exercises and security assistance programs—had been reduced to minor points of debate in Congress, of only occasional interest to the media. As in Honduras, exercises, security assistance programs, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had all been instruments for increasing the US military presence in Costa Rica. As in Honduras, the CIA was entrenched in Costa Rica through programs of support for the contras. The Costa Rican media carried on continuous agitation against the Sandinistas. Beginning in 1981 the United States tried to facilitate formation of agreements among Central American military forces excluding Nicaragua.
