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

In 1986 a photograph taken in a Nicaraguan jungle was splashed across newspaper frontpages around the world, it led to the exposure of a major US political scandal - the Iran Contra affair. The photographer who took the image was Lou Dematteis. Lou 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 the 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.

The man in the photo was Eugene Hasenfus, he was a former US marine, he died last month aged 84.

This interview was first broadcast in 2023.

Get in touch: outlook@bbc.com or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

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

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar
Producer: Tommy Dixon

(Photo: A dishevelled Eugene Hasenfus, with his wrists tied together, is being led through the Nicaraguan jungle by a soldier carrying a weapon, another armed soldier follows behind them. Credit: Lou Dematteis / Reuters)