UDN-FARN

Union Democrática Nicaragüense - Fuerzas Armadas Resistencia Nicaragüenses (UDN-FARN) was an early Contra faction based first in Honduras and then in Costa Rica, commanded by the erratic former Sandinista "El Negro" Chamorro. UDN-FARN was one of the two groups merged by the Central Intelligence Agency in August 1981 to form the FDN.¹

Origins

UDN-FARN grew out of the National Democratic Union (UDN), a group of Nicaraguan exiles in Miami that had a small armed branch in Honduras called the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Nicaragua (FARN). The group tapped into Miami's Cuban community for financial support and volunteers, including men who had worked with the CIA on the Bay of Pigs operation.

The group made the first donation of military supplies to the Contra cause in fall 1980, scraping together enough money to buy rifles from Miami sporting goods stores and radio equipment, which was mailed to Honduras via the head of the Honduran national police, Gustavo Álvarez.

Leadership

"El Negro" Chamorro was a rabble-rouser who had fought for the Sandinistas against Somoza and achieved notoriety by helping shoot rockets at Somoza's bunker from the roof of the Intercontinental Hotel in 1974. He broke with the Sandinistas and joined his brother Edmundo Chamorro in Costa Rica. Edmundo Chamorro served as second in command. Both were only distantly related to the influential Chamorro clan that included martyred newspaper editor Pedro Joaquin Chamorro.

Merger into FDN

The CIA pressured UDN-FARN to merge with Bermúdez's Legion of September 15. The Chamorro brothers resisted, regarding many of the ex-National Guard men as war criminals who could never win popular support. "The Legion was entirely composed of ex-National Guards. Naturally one couldn't make a big splash with that in Nicaragua," said UDN-FARN commander William Baltodano Herrera.

The CIA eventually forced the merger by having their Honduran allies withdraw support from the Chamorros and back Bermúdez instead. In August 1981, an Argentine military officer watched as Bermúdez signed a one-paragraph document merging the two groups into the FDN. The Chamorro brothers boycotted the meeting.

After the FDN

UDN-FARN Contras were pushed into subordinate roles in the FDN. The Chamorro brothers later broke away and joined Pastora's ARDE faction in Costa Rica, then left Pastora and rejoined the FDN under the umbrella group UNO.³

Drug Trafficking

Multiple UDN-FARN members were implicated in cocaine trafficking. Carlos Cabezas supported UDN-FARN through cocaine sales in San Francisco and testified as a U.S. government witness that his drug profits were going to Contra organizations.² Julio Zavala, a top-ranking U.S.-based member, was a major cocaine trafficker in the San Francisco Bay Area. Vicente Rappaccioli and Francisco Aviles were directly involved in the 1983 Frogman cocaine case.²

Horacio Pereira told Carlos Cabezas he was representing UDN-FARN and the FDN in Costa Rica and that the CIA would control the delivery of drug money. Cabezas delivered drug cash directly to Aristides Sanchez at the Contras' Miami offices and to Pereira or FDN logistics officer Joaquín "Pelón" Vega in Honduras.⁴ A 1984 DEA report described UDN-FARN's deputy commander Edmundo Chamorro as "well known to 'The Company.'" The CIA described Fernando Chamorro as "playing a major role in the Contra movement. CIA contact with Chamorro began in 1982."⁴

When Fernando Chamorro and Edmundo Chamorro broke from the FDN in September 1982, UDN-FARN joined with Pastora's group to form ARDE.⁴