---
category: Private Organization
location: San Francisco, California
start: 1983
summary: San Francisco Contra support group founded by Don Sinicco at the request
  of Adolfo Calero, infiltrated by drug trafficker Norwin Meneses.
tags:
- Organization
- Organization/Political
- United_States
- San_Francisco
- 1980s
- Contra_War
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
---

United Support Against Communism in the Americas (USACA) was a small [San Francisco](/places/san-francisco/) [Contra](/organizations/contras/) support organization founded by [Don Sinicco](/people/don-sinicco/) at the request of [FDN](/organizations/fdn/) political leader [Adolfo Calero](/people/adolfo-calero/).[^1]

### Formation and Activities

Sinicco formed USACA in late 1983 after Calero contacted him because of his letter-writing campaign to San Francisco newspapers protesting pro-[Sandinista](/organizations/sandinistas/) coverage. The group's founding members included middle-class Nicaraguan exiles, Cuban anti-Communists (the Mendoza brothers), and [Dennis Ainsworth](/people/dennis-ainsworth/), a well-connected Republican who transformed the group's effectiveness. Ainsworth arranged events at exclusive venues like the Olympic Club, the [Commonwealth Club](/organizations/commonwealth-club/), and the [St. Francis Yacht Club](/organizations/st-francis-yacht-club/), where he organized a private reception for Calero with sixty influential business leaders on June 4, 1984.[^1]

Other founding members included Father [Thomas Dowling](/people/thomas-dowling/), who passed himself off as a Roman Catholic priest but was ordained in a splinter church, and who later received about $73,000 from [Oliver North](/people/oliver-north/) and Calero for domestic propaganda work. Dowling was also heavily involved with CAUSA, part of the Rev. [Sun-Myung Moon](/people/sun-myung-moon/)'s [Unification Church](/organizations/unification-church/), which funneled money and supplies to the Contras during the [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) funding cutoff.[^1]

### Norwin Meneses's Infiltration

[Norwin Meneses](/people/norwin-meneses/) entered the group by paying the dinner bill for a party at Caesar's Italian Restaurant following the yacht club reception. He began attending USACA meetings, contributing $160 in cash and paying for dinners. Sinicco's records listed "Mr. Meneces' [sic] contribution" as one of USACA's "seven successes." Meneses was later photographed with Calero at a USACA cocktail party, huddled in the kitchen with FDN officials.[^1]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 9: "He would have had me by the tail"