Ben Linder facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ben Linder
|
|
|---|---|
Linder with Nicaraguan children
|
|
| Born | July 7, 1959 |
| Died | April 28, 1987 (aged 27) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Known for | Electrification work in rural Nicaragua, murdered while working on a hydroelectric facility near El Cuá |
Benjamin Ernest Linder (July 7, 1959 – April 28, 1987), was an American engineer. While working on a small hydroelectric dam in rural northern Nicaragua, Linder was killed by the Contras, a loose confederation of rebel groups funded by the U.S. government.
The autopsy report stated that Linder had gunshot wounds to the back of the legs (indicating he had his back to the killers), while on the ground he suffered multiple wounds to his face (the coroner noted as from an ice pick) and died from a close range gunshot to the head. The other two men were also executed in the same way. It is unknown if they were similarly tortured first. There was no mention in Linder’s autopsy report of grenade fragments.
Coming at a time when U.S. support for the Contras was already highly controversial, Linder's death made front-page headlines around the world and further polarized opinion in the United States.
Biography
The California-born Linder was raised in a secular Jewish family in San Francisco and later Portland, Oregon. He graduated from Adams High School in Portland, Oregon in 1977. While in college at the University of Washington, Linder enjoyed juggling and was often seen around Seattle riding a 5-to-6-foot-tall (1.5 to 1.8 m) unicycle. He graduated in 1983, with a degree in mechanical engineering. He left his Oregon home that summer and moved to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.
Linder felt inspired by the 1979 Sandinista revolution, and wanted to support its efforts to improve the lives of the country's poorest people. The Reagan administration, however, was determined to cripple the revolution. Beginning in 1981, the Central Intelligence Agency secretly trained, armed and supplied thousands of Contra rebels. A major element of the Contras' strategy was to launch attacks on government cooperatives, health clinics and power stations—the things that most exemplified the improvements that had been brought about by the revolution.
In 1986, Linder moved from Managua to El Cuá, a village in the Nicaraguan war zone, where he helped form a team to build a hydroelectric plant to bring electricity to the town. While living in El Cuá, he participated in vaccination campaigns, using his talents as a clown, juggler, and unicyclist to entertain the local children, for whom he expressed great affection and concern.
On April 28, 1987, Linder and two Nicaraguans were killed in a Contra ambush while traveling through the forest to scout out a construction site for a new dam for the nearby village of San José de Bocay. The autopsy showed that Linder had been wounded by a grenade, then shot at point-blank range in the head. The two Nicaraguans—Sergio Hernández and Pablo Rosales—were also killed at close range. Linder was posthumously awarded the Courage of Conscience award on September 26, 1992.
See also
- Witness for Peace
- Bill Stewart, an ABC reporter killed along with his interpreter in Managua in 1979.
- Brian Willson, an American injured by a naval munitions train while protesting US arms shipments to Central America.
