Medellín, [[Colombia]] was the headquarters of the [[Medellin Cartel|Medellín Cartel]], which supplied [[cocaine]] to the Contra-connected trafficking networks run by [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] and [[Norwin Meneses|Meneses]]. The city gave its name to the most powerful drug trafficking organization of the 1980s.[^1] ### The Medellín Cartel [[Pablo Escobar]] and his Colombian associates [[Jorge Ochoa]] and [[Carlos Lehder]] controlled the blossoming [[Miami]] cocaine market, having wrested it from Cuban-Americans after a long-running drug war. Escobar's associate Lehder set up operations in the [[Bahamas]], buying an island where drug planes from Colombia could land and refuel before flying into the [[United States]]. The Blandón-Meneses ring sourced cocaine from the Ochoa family in Medellín and the Suarez family in [[Bolivia]]. The [[DEA]] documented that the cartel's supply chain was directly connected to the Contra fundraising network.[^2] ### Footnotes [^1]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Ch. 5. [^2]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance*, Ch. 5, Ch. 6.