With mass support of the Nicaraguan people, the Sandinistas, named after the historical revolutionary figure Augusto Cesar Sandino, won a popular insurrection against the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship in 1979. The U.S. Congress continued to back the Contra counterrevolutionary forces throughout the 1980s. The Sandinista government distributed arms liberally in rural areas so the population could organize self-defense efforts.