1963 Jose Daniel Ortega Saavedra joins the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN)
1967 Robert Michael Gates becomes officer in the US Air Force
1967 Ortega becomes a leader in the FSLN and is arrested for bank robbery
1969 Gates joins the CIA as an intelligence analyst
1974 Ortega is released from prison and visits Cuba
1974 Gates leaves the CIA to serve on the staff of the National Security Council
1979 Ortega becomes one of Junta of National Reconstruction following the overthrow of Somoza and becomes the de facto ruler of Nicaragua
1979 Gates returns to the CIA
1981 Gates named the Director of the Central Intelligence Executive Staff
1981 Ronald Reagan becomes US President and authorises the CIA to finance Contras against the FSLN
1982 Gates becomes Deputy Director for Intelligence
1984 Ortega wins national elections
1985 America convinces Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to help sell anti-tank missles to Iran. Oliver North sells directly to Iran with proceeds going to the Contras in Nicaragua.
1986 Gates becomes Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
1987 Gates nominated by George H. W. Bush to become the Director of Central Intelligence but withdraws due to his role in the Iran-Contra affair.
1989 Kerry Committee report concluded that the State Deptartment which “provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking…and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers.”
1990 Ortega losses the presidency
1991 Gates receives second nomination to direct the CIA and is sworn in by the Senate despite his questionable role in the Iran-Contra affair and his alleged intelligence pass to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.
2006 Gates nominated by George W. Bush to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense and awaits approval by the now Democratic Senate.
2006 Ortega wins Presidential election