In what way was Nicaragua of any importance to the US Government under Reagan?

Answer 1

Reagan was a devote anti communist, and Nicaragua became important when external communist influences with Cuba and the USSR became apparent. It was believe that should Nicaragua become allied with Cuba and the USSR the communist influence would effect other parts of South and Central America. Reagan believe that communism had to expand in-order to survive, that once communism could no longer expand and exploit the resources of new nations, then communism would self implode and collapse internally. To advance communism had to be in a content state of spreading the revolution. Reagan believed in destroying communism by countering it's advance. Nicaragua was not important to Reagan, a communist Nicaragua was important.

Answer 2

A long quote from the wikipedia about U.S. economic involvement in Nicaragua during the Somoza period:

"From 1945 to 1960, the U.S.-owned Nicaraguan Long Leaf Pine Company (NIPCO) directly paid the Somoza family millions of dollars in exchange for favorable benefits to the company, such as not having to re-forest clear cut areas. By 1961, NIPCO had cut all of the commercially viable coastal pines in northeast Nicaragua. Expansion of cotton plantations in the 1950s and cattle ranches in the 1960s forced peasant families from the areas they had farmed for decades. Some were forced by the National Guard to relocate into colonization projects in the rainforest. Some moved eastward into the hills, where they cleared forests in order to plant crops. Soil erosion forced them, however, to abandon their land and move deeper into the rainforest. Cattle ranchers then claimed the abandoned land. Peasants and ranchers continued this movement deep into the rain forest. By the early 1970s, Nicaragua had become the United States' top beef supplier. The beef supported fast-food chains and pet food production. Six Miami, Florida meat-packing plants and the largest slaughterhouse in Nicaragua were all owned by President Anastasio Somoza Debayle.

Also in the 1950s and 1960s, 40% of all U.S. pesticide exports went to Central America. Nicaragua and its neighbors widely used compounds banned in the U.S., such as DDT, endrin, dieldrin and lindane. In a later study (1977) it was revealed that mothers living in León had 45 times more DDT in their breast milk than the World Health Organization deemed safe.