--- aliases: - Carlos Cabezas - Carlos Augusto Cabezas Ramirez category: Organized Crime created: 2026-05-17 summary: Nicaraguan cocaine trafficker in San Francisco who testified that drug profits from the Meneses organization were going to the Contras, was convicted in the Frogman Case, and in 1996 admitted on the record to delivering millions in drug money to the Contras. tags: - Person - DrugTrafficker - Contra - Nicaragua - SanFrancisco - 1980s - DarkAllianceInvestigation title: Carlos Cabezas updated: 2026-05-17 --- Carlos Augusto Cabezas Ramirez was a [Nicaraguan](/places/nicaragua/) exile, former [National Guard](/organizations/nicaraguan-national-guard/) fighter pilot, lawyer, accountant, and banker who became a cocaine dealer for [Julio Zavala](/people/julio-zavala/)'s drug organization in [San Francisco](/places/san-francisco/). As a U.S. government witness, Cabezas testified that his drug profits were going to [Contra](/organizations/contras/) organizations in [Costa Rica](/places/costa-rica/).[^1] ### Background in Nicaragua By age fourteen Cabezas was helping his mother support nine brothers and sisters. In 1970 he went to the [United States](/places/united-states/), spending four years studying to become a commercial pilot while working nights as a janitor. He returned to Nicaragua with his pilot's license, joined the National Guard, and flew for [Somoza](/people/anastasio-somoza/)'s army while managing a crop-dusting company on the side.[^2] Cabezas later enrolled in the National University of Nicaragua, earned an accounting degree, and was hired by the Bank of America, becoming head of the [Managua](/places/managua/) branch's foreign division. He obtained a law degree in 1978 and set up a practice in Managua. Near the end of the war, Cabezas participated in the terror bombings of the city of Masaya. On July 15, 1979, four days before the shooting stopped, he caught the last flight out of Managua.[^2] ### Life in San Francisco Cabezas came to San Francisco where his wife, three daughters, mother, and siblings were already living. He worked as a sales agent for Lincoln Insurance Company and as a night janitor at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel. In 1980 Lincoln Insurance named him Sales Agent of the Year. By 1981 he and his wife had scraped together $10,000 for a down payment on a row house in Daly City.[^2] To become a lawyer in [California](/places/california/), Cabezas needed to attend law school full-time and pass the bar exam. Unable to afford quitting his two jobs, he approached his former brother-in-law Julio Zavala for a loan.[^2] ### Recruitment into Drug Trafficking Zavala, who was facing mounting legal pressure from [DEA](/organizations/dea/) surveillance, offered Cabezas a job delivering cocaine and collecting money. Zavala told him he would pay $500 per kilo delivered, plus a percentage of drug debts collected, and that some of the cocaine profits would help finance the Contras. Cabezas accepted.[^2] Within weeks DEA agent Sandra Smith spotted Cabezas picking up two L.A. drug dealers at the airport and driving them to his Daly City home. The [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) soon joined the investigation, placing at least four confidential informants inside the operation and eventually monitoring more than 13,000 phone conversations.[^2] ### The Contra Cocaine Connection Cabezas's cocaine came from two sources: Álvaro Carvajal Minota, a Colombian in San Francisco connected to the nascent [Cali Drug Cartel](/organizations/cali-drug-cartel/); and a Costa Rican source that supplied higher-quality Peruvian cocaine. It was the Peruvian cocaine, Cabezas said, that belonged to the Contras.[^2] In December 1981, Zavala sent Cabezas to Costa Rica to meet two of [Norwin Meneses](/people/norwin-meneses/)'s associates: [Horacio Pereira](/people/horacio-pereira/), a drug dealer and gambler known as "La Burra," and [Troilo Sánchez](/people/troilo-sanchez/), a playboy brother of [FDN](/organizations/fdn/) leaders [Aristides](/people/aristides-sanchez/) and [Fernando Sánchez](/people/fernando-sanchez/). Cabezas told [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) investigators this meeting "was the genesis of an effort to raise money for the Contras by selling drugs."[^2] Horacio Pereira told Cabezas he was representing [UDN-FARN](/organizations/udn-farn/) and the FDN in Costa Rica and that the CIA would control the delivery of the money. When Pereira grew suspicious of Zavala's drinking and money management, he cut Zavala out and insisted Cabezas personally handle the Contra money. Cabezas agreed to a 50/50 profit split with Zavala in exchange for assuming financial responsibility.[^2] Cocaine from Costa Rica was smuggled inside woven Peruvian baskets. Each basket contained about a kilo of cocaine hidden inside wax-coated strings within the framework. Cabezas personally brought back twelve kilos during the first part of 1982, earning about $17,000. He told CIA inspectors that "Contra mules, typically airline flight attendants" were also bringing baskets into the United States.[^2] Cabezas delivered drug money directly to FDN leader Aristides Sanchez at the Contras' [Miami](/places/miami/) offices in a shopping center near the airport, and to Horacio Pereira or FDN logistics officer Joaquín "Pelón" Vega in [Honduras](/places/honduras/). On average, Cabezas carried $64,000 on each of his twenty trips to [Central America](/places/central-america/), and once helped deliver about $250,000 to Pereira and Sánchez.[^2] ### Meeting with CIA Agent "Iván Gómez" In April or May 1982, Pereira and Troilo Sánchez introduced Cabezas to a man calling himself [Iván Gómez](/people/ivan-gomez/), who identified himself as the CIA's "man in Costa Rica." Gómez told Cabezas he was there to "ensure that the profits from the cocaine went to the Contras and not into someone's pocket." Cabezas saw Gómez only once more, in late summer 1982.[^2] ### Arrest and Testimony On February 15, 1983, federal agents raided fourteen locations in the San Francisco area. Cabezas, his mother, and numerous others were arrested. Cabezas's attorney advised him to cooperate, and he became a government witness against Julio Zavala.[^2] At Zavala's trial in late 1984, Cabezas testified under oath that drug profits were going to the Contras. Pages from his ledger books showing cocaine transactions with Contra official Fernando Sánchez were introduced into evidence. Zavala was convicted. Cabezas's testimony went unchallenged—and unreported. Though San Francisco media had extensively covered the arrests, not a single reporter covered the trial.[^2] Cabezas pleaded guilty to drug charges in 1984 and served several years in prison. He later returned to Managua and was practicing law there as of 1998.[^1] ### Post-Series Interview In December 1996, journalist [Georg Hodel](/people/georg-hodel/) located Cabezas in Managua. Cabezas admitted on the record that he had delivered millions of dollars in drug money to the Contras and identified CIA agent Ivan Gómez as having direct knowledge of the operation. He provided names, dates, amounts, and pages from his drug ledgers. "We've got it," Hodel told [Gary Webb](/people/gary-webb/). "Cabezas is willing to talk on the record."[[^3] In 1987, Cabezas had written to [McManus](/people/doyle-mcmanus/) of the [L.A. Times](/organizations/los-angeles-times/) after McManus reported there was "no supporting evidence" for Contra drug allegations, telling the reporter: "I am going to tell you that there was indeed 'supporting evidence,' hidden by the government." Cabezas described his trip to Costa Rica with $250,000 and noted the FBI made no attempt to stop him despite his traveling with an FBI informant. He also told McManus the FBI had tape-recorded conversations between Fernando Sánchez, Troilo Sánchez, and himself about drug transactions. McManus replied asking Cabezas to substantiate his "allegations" and inquired about Sandinista drug trafficking. Cabezas sent documents about the Contras and never heard from McManus again.[^3] [^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters [^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom" [^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 27: "A very difficult decision"