Luis Posada Carriles was a veteran [[Central Intelligence Agency]] agent with a history of involvement with drug traffickers, mobsters, and terrorists who ran day-to-day Contra resupply operations at [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]] under the alias "Ramon Medina." He was recruited by [[Felix Rodriguez]] as his right-hand man after escaping from Venezuelan prison in 1985.[^1] ### CIA Recruitment and Early Criminal Activity Posada was recruited by the CIA in the 1960s after years of working with anti-Castro Cubans in [[Miami]]. CIA records show he was investigated by the Justice Department in 1967 for supplying explosives, silencers, and hand grenades to Miami mobsters "Lefty" Rosenthal and Norman "Roughhouse" Rothman, a close associate of South Florida's Mafia chieftain Santos Trafficante. A memo in Posada's CIA file noted "Posada may have been moonlighting for Rosenthal," and in late 1968 he was transferred by the agency for "unreported association with gangster elements, thefts from CIA, plus other items."[^1] ### Drug Trafficking in Venezuela Posada was sent to [[Venezuela]] and began working as an official of the Venezuelan intelligence service. In 1973 the [[DEA]] received a report that Posada "was in contact with two Cubans in Miami who were reportedly smuggling narcotics into the United States for Luis Posada." According to the informant, Posada was to be "the main contact" in a major cocaine smuggling operation involving members of the Venezuelan government. The DEA placed Posada under surveillance and he "was observed by agents in Miami to meet with numerous identified upper echelon traffickers in Miami during March 1973."[^1] CIA records show the agency was fully aware of its agent's involvement with drug traffickers. It received word in February 1973 that "Posada may be involved in smuggling cocaine from [[Colombia]] through Venezuela to Miami, also counterfeit U.S. money in Venezuela." But the agency decided "not to directly confront Posada with allegation so as not to compromise ongoing investigation."[^1] According to notes of a congressional investigator who reviewed Posada's voluminous CIA files in the late 1970s, cables indicated "concern that Posada [was a] serious potential liability. Anxious to terminate association promptly if allegations prove true. By April 1973, it seems sure that Posada involved in narcotics, drug trafficking—seen with known big time drug trafficker." After questioning Posada, the agency found him "guilty only of having the wrong kind of friends" and continued his employment.[^1] His associations continued: in January 1974 he asked the CIA to provide a Venezuelan passport for a Dominican military official, which the agency refused on the grounds that it "cannot permit controlled agents to become directly involved with illicit drug trafficking." A few months later the DEA received a report that Posada was trading weapons for cocaine with a man the DEA believed "is involved in political assassinations."[^1] ### Terrorism and Prison The CIA formally terminated Posada in February 1976. Eight months later he was arrested in Venezuela and accused of participating in the midair bombing of a Cuban DC-8 airliner, which killed seventy-eight people. Though never convicted, he spent nearly ten years in Venezuelan prisons before escaping in the summer of 1985.[^1] ### Ilopango and Contra Operations Posada resurfaced at Ilopango in early 1986 as Felix Rodriguez's right-hand man. Posada told investigators that "Rodriguez and other Cuban friends" helped him escape Venezuela and relocate to [[El Salvador]], where Rodriguez helped him get a house in [[San Salvador]]. In a once-secret 1992 FBI interview, Posada recounted that "the resupply project was always looking for people to carry cash from the United States into El Salvador for Posada to dispense." He was told "the money came from Washington," but never got a better explanation.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"