Shot out of the sky: My photo exposed a US political scandal

Lou Dematteis lived his early years in the hope of following in the footsteps of his high-achieving father. He had been a superior court judge and a pillar of their Italian American community. But the relationship between father and son became seriously strained when their politics differed over the US involvement in the Vietnam War. Lou took a different path and trained as a photojournalist. He found himself in Nicaragua, then embroiled in a conflict between a left wing Sandinista government and a right wing militia. In 1986, whilst following a lead, Lou took a photo that would help to reveal damaging evidence of illegal US activity in that battle. The image opened the doors on a major political scandal that would lead all the way to the White House in the shape of the Iran Contra affair.

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Lou’s work and film can be found on his website www.loudematteis.com

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Tommy Dixon & Andrea Kennedy

Photo: Eugene Hasenfus captured by Sandinista soldiers Credit: Lou Dematteis / Reuters