The death of Benjamin Linder

“Brothers we wish you
a merry Christmas

We have information
in Nicaragua the contra assassinated
Benjamin a young North American

And his parents cross
many parts
of the States denoun-
cing the assassination
of their son…”

Benjamin Linder was a 28-year-old United States citizen living and working in solidarity with the leftist Nicaraguan government.

A mechanical engineer from Portland, Oregon, Linder had overseen the construction of a small hydroelectric power plant that brought electricity to the village of El Cuá in Nicaragua. Hoping to eventually power machine shops, a lumber mill, and rice-processing plant, Linder’s immediate concern was bringing electricity to the local health clinic and school. Nicaraguans in the region “know 1987 will be a very hard year. But they also know that they are winning the war,” Linder wrote in a letter to his parents 18 days before his death. “Next week, for the first time high school classes will be taught in El Cuá.” Linder, quoted in Testimony of David Linder, Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs, Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, May 13, 1987, DNSA, ID: NI02993.

Linder was killed in an ambush by Contra forces on April 28, 1987.