the moderate faction to survive and to counterbalance the radical elements within the warring groups. Secretary Vance also reiterates that Somoza's departure should be carried out in due course, and the U.S. government would welcome him in the US. At the same time, on July 15, 1979, the U.S. ambassador in Costa Rica, Marvin Weissman, suggested Secretary Vance to invite moderate groups of Nicaraguans who live in the U.S. to come to the State Department's briefing on July 17 or 18. The purpose of inviting the groups was to bolster the moderates position in Nicaragua to counterbalance the radical factions of the Sandinista during the political transition. By July, Somoza had fled the country. FSLN Sandinista forces quickly assumed power in Managua, and the United States quickly moved to recognize the legitimacy of the new government and offer aid, however the FSLN chose instead to look to global communist interests including the Soviets and Cubans for support. By 1980, the Government of National Recognition (GRN) under Cuban influence had begun installing pro-Marxist, anti-U.S. doctrine into the Nicaraguan educational system. U.S. policy on Nicaragua began to favor support for anti-Sandinista "Contras", because most people involved in the U.S. intelligence operations, including Richard Nixon feared that "defeat for the rebels would probably lead to a violent Marxist guerrilla movement in Mexico and in other Central American countries." 1981 On December 1, 1981, United States President Ronald Reagan signed a presidential finding which authorized covert operations in Nicaragua. This plan initially called for the U.S. government to cooperate with the Argentinian government, which was already engaged in a similar operation, to train and fund an existing terrorist group in Nicaragua known as the Contras. The Contras also contributed to drug dealing in the U.S. and brought a lot of crack cocaine. Gary Stephen Webb, a reporter for the San Jose Mercury News proved the connection between the crack epidemic and the Contras. Initially the Contras were a group of republican guard members from the old Somoza regime ousted by the Sandinistas after the revolutionary conflict. Later, through the recruitment efforts of the CIA, the group became supplemented by mercenary guerrillas and was extensively trained by the CIA. Eventually, due to the U.S. alliance with Great Britain during the Falklands War, Argentina withdrew support for these programs and the CIA had to relocate their training sites to Honduras. The CIA carried out the Nicaraguan