evidence: Though public attention has focused on his remarks about Cuba, Nicaragua was the country Sanders most extensively engaged with as mayor of Burlington. In 1979, two years before Sanders took office, Nicaragua’s dictatorial, U.S.-backed President Anastasio Somoza was overthrown by a leftist revolutionary group called the Sandinista National Liberation Front. [...] Sanders was also involved in an effort to provide a shipment of goods to Nicaragua, according to documents in the archive. The papers indicate that a "sister city ship" stocked with supplies for Puerto Cabezas set sail in February 1986. Officials from Puerto Cabezas wrote letters thanking Sanders for the cargo, which they received in September 1988. A Nicaraguan report said the shipment included medical supplies, gardening tools, bicycles and clothing. [...] Sanders also engaged with Nicaragua’s critics. He monitored reports of the Sandinistas’ mistreatment of indigenous groups. And in October 1985, a man named Edward Pike wrote a letter to Sanders asking him to revoke Puerto Cabezas’ sister city designation. Pike accused Sanders of "supporting a regime with no concern for civil rights."