USACA

United Support Against Communism in the Americas (USACA) was a small San Francisco Contra support organization founded by Don Sinicco at the request of FDN political leader 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 coverage. The group's founding members included middle-class Nicaraguan exiles, Cuban anti-Communists (the Mendoza brothers), and 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, and the 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, 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 and Calero for domestic propaganda work. Dowling was also heavily involved with CAUSA, part of the Rev. Sun-Myung Moon's Unification Church, which funneled money and supplies to the Contras during the Central Intelligence Agency funding cutoff.¹

Norwin Meneses's Infiltration

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