Brigadier General Ian Douglas, M.S.C., led the Canadian contingent and was Deputy Commander of United Nations peacekeeping force in Central America. General Douglas was born in Glasgow, Scotland and came to Montreal with his family in 1948. He joined the Canadian Guards in 1956 and had a distinguished military career with the Royal Canadian and Airborne Regiments. He commanded the Airborne Regiment from 1982-85 and served with the United National Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus. He has been with the Canadian Forces Military Attache in Washington since 1991. In Central America, General Douglas was instrumental in turning the political ideas for peace into the hard realities of military disengagement and disarmament of the contending forces in Nicaragua. In shuttle and face-to-face meetings he commanded the respect of Contra and Sandinista commanders and within a few short months after the February 1990 election of President Violetta Chamorro, the civil war in Nicaragua was successfully negotiated to an end.
