John McCain Donated to a Paramilitary Group Blamed for Torture, Kidnapping, Rape and Murder

With President Ronald Reagan, in 1988 Senator John McCain supported aid to the Contras, a paramilitary organization organized and sponsored by the US Central Intelligence Agency in an effort to overthrow the elected Sandinista government of Nicaragua. New York Times, January 19, 1988.

After the US Congress voted to discontinue funds to the Contras, in large part because of their human rights abuses, Senator John McCain personally sent $400.00 to a fund for the Contras, to replace the money the elected representatives of the United States voters refused to give to that right-wing Central American paramilitary group.

Human Rights Watch says,

the Contras were major and systematic violators of the most basic standards of the laws of armed conflict, including by launching indiscriminate attacks on civilians, selectively murdering non-combatants, and mistreating prisoners. Human Rights Watch

The New York Times reported on March 27, 1989,

A contra military tribunal has concluded that six Nicaraguan [Contra] guerrillas committed torture or other human rights abuses and has ordered their expulsion from the rebel movement.

( . . . )

One of the offenders, known by the pseudonym Israelita, has been deported from Honduras to Nicaragua. He was tried in absentia and was found guilty of murder, rape and torture, Mr. Matamoros said. New York Times, March 27, 1989.

Lately, John McCain has said that he doesn't believe in torture. But he didn't seem to have any problem with it when he donated $400.00 to the Contras and lent his stature as a US Congressman to the unconscionable tactics and fundraising efforts of that mercenary group.