Jorge Ochoa was a leader of the [[Medellin Cartel|Medellín Cartel]] who, along with [[Pablo Escobar]] and [[Carlos Lehder]], controlled the [[Miami]] [[cocaine]] market during the early 1980s. The Ochoa family in [[Colombia]] was one of the primary sources of cocaine for the [[Danilo Blandon|Blandón]]-[[Norwin Meneses|Meneses]] trafficking ring that funded the [[Contras|Contra]] war.[^1] ### DEA Manipulation Attempt DEA agent James Kible visited Ochoa in a Spanish jail in 1984 and attempted to persuade him to publicly implicate the [[Sandinistas]] in drug trafficking. The approach was part of a broader pattern of the U.S. government using the drug war for political purposes, attempting to manufacture propaganda against the Nicaraguan government while protecting Contra-connected traffickers. Escobar claimed to have a photograph of [[George H.W. Bush]] posing with Ochoa in front of suitcases full of money.[^2] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Ch. 5. [^2]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Ch. 19.