---
born: 1931-07-23
category: Iran-Contra
summary: Edgar Chamorro was a former FDN director who publicly confirmed that Norwin
  Meneses was a Contra leader involved in cocaine trafficking to fund the war.
tags:
- person
- nicaraguan
- contra-war
---

Edgar Chamorro was a former [FDN](/organizations/fdn/) director who publicly confirmed that [Norwin Meneses](/people/norwin-meneses/) was a Contra leader involved in [cocaine](/concepts/cocaine/) trafficking to fund the war. Chamorro told the San Francisco Examiner in 1986 that he and FDN director [Frank Arana](/people/frank-arana/) flew to [San Francisco](/places/san-francisco/) in October 1982 to select leaders for the [Contra](/organizations/contras/) support committee.[^1]

### Public Confirmation

Chamorro's public statements were among the earliest confirmations from a Contra insider that the drug trafficking and the Contra war were connected. His testimony corroborated what [Carlos Cabezas](/people/carlos-cabezas/) and other witnesses had described about Meneses's dual role as both a Contra political leader and a major drug trafficker. The fact that a former FDN director was willing to speak publicly about the connection added significant weight to the allegations that the mainstream media had spent years dismissing.[^2]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 2.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 2.