Contras o contra (acortamiento de contrarrevolucionarios o contrarrevolución, también autodenominados Resistencia Nicaragüense) es el nombre dado a los diferentes grupos insurgentes opuestos al gobierno del Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN), en el poder en Nicaragua desde el derrocamiento, en julio de 1979, del gobierno dictatorial del presidente Anastasio Somoza y su familia. El movimiento de la Contra agrupaba diferentes organizaciones con objetivos diversos, la «Fuerza Democrática de Nicaragua», FDN, era su facción más importante. En 1987 prácticamente todas las ramas que formaban la Contra se unieron, al menos nominalmente, en la «Resistencia Nicaragüense». Su líder principal era el coronel Enrique Bermúdez y alcanzaron la cifra de hasta 22.000 combatientes. Otro dirigente destacado, además de fundador de la Contra, fue Adolfo Calero. Estados Unidos fue el impulsor del movimiento y contribuyó material y financieramente a su formación. Esta relación quedó probada por la Corte Internacional de Justicia en 1984 revelando que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos durante la presidencia de Ronald Reagan entrenaba, armaba, financiaba y abastecía a las Contras, principalmente a través de la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA). Precisamente, el escándalo Irán-Contra se desató debido a que EE.UU. vendía armas de forma ilegal a Irán para financiar las Contras.

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The contras (some references use the capitalized form, "Contras") is a label given to the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to the early 1990s in opposition to the left-wing, socialist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government in Nicaragua. Among the separate contra groups, the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN) emerged as the largest by far. In 1987, virtually all contra organizations were united, at least nominally, into the Nicaraguan Resistance. From an early stage, the rebels received financial and military support from the United States government, and their military significance decisively depended on it. After US support was banned by Congress, the Reagan administration covertly continued it. These covert activities culminated in the Iran–Contra affair. The term "contra" comes from the Spanish contra, which means against but in this case is short for la contrarrevolución, in English "the counter-revolution". Some rebels disliked being called contras, feeling that it defined their cause only in negative terms, or implied a desire to restore the old order. Rebel fighters usually referred to themselves as comandos ("commandos"); peasant sympathizers also called the rebels los primos ("the cousins"). From the mid-1980s, as the Reagan administration and the rebels sought to portray the movement as the "democratic resistance," members started describing themselves as la resistencia. During their war against the Nicaraguan government, the Contras committed a large number of human rights violations and used terrorist tactics and carried out more than 1300 terrorist attacks. These actions were frequently carried out systematically as a part of the strategy of the contras. Supporters of the Contras tried to minimize these violations, particularly the Reagan administration in the US, which engaged in a campaign of white propaganda to alter public opinion in favor of the contras.

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