In the middle of the 1980s, the Reagan Administration had two significant foreign policy problems. In Nicaragua, the US funded and sent military supplies to a rebel group called the Contras who were fighting the communist Sandinista government. In response to their human rights violations, Congress passed the Boland Amendment that banned aid to the Contras. Meanwhile, in Lebanon, an Iranian-backed terrorist group took U.S. hostages. The Reagan administration could not negotiate with terrorists to free the hostages and could no longer support the Contras. Oliver North was put in charge of both