The Freedom Fighter's Manual
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Published by the CIA in the 1980's, the Freedom Fighter's Manual was a fifteen page booklet airdropped over Nicaragua. It enumerated several methods by which the average citizen could cause disorder.
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[edit] History
On July 19th, 1979, the Sandinista National Liberation Front overthrew the dictator Anastasio Somoza and established a pro-Marxist, communist government that had ties to the Soviet Union and Cuba. When they began to fund a similar revolutionary group in El Salvador, the United States felt that Nicaragua was a threat to national security, and began to fund the contras, in order to destabilize the government. However, they also felt that it was important to show the world that a communist government would not function, in the hope of discouraging other popular revolts from occurring. To this end, the CIA published the Freedom Fighter's Manual.
[edit] Contents
The publication describes myriad ways in which the average citizen could disrupt the everyday workings of the government. It begins with actions that require little to no risk at all, such as hiding or destroying important tools, calling in sick for work, and leaving lights and faucets on. It then progresses to instruct people to steal food from the government, release livestock from farming cooperatives, and bring down powerlines. Four pages are devoted to disabling vehicles. By the end of the pamphlet, there are detailed diagrams showing how to make and use molotov cocktails against police stations.
