Edmundo Meneses

Brigadier General Edmundo Meneses Cantarero was a senior officer in the Nicaraguan National Guard under Anastasio Somoza, serving as chief of police in Managua and later as Nicaragua's ambassador to Guatemala. He was the older brother of drug kingpin Norwin Meneses and a key protector of the Meneses criminal empire.¹²

Military Career

Mundo, as he was known, was trained in irregular warfare and anticommunism at the U.S. Army School of the Americas in Panama. In the 1960s he conducted a series of bloody operations against Sandinista rebels near the town of Pancasan in northern Nicaragua, killing several key Sandinistas and crippling the guerrilla movement for years. Somoza was closest to Edmundo, who was one of his favorite generals.

After the Pancasan campaigns, Somoza gave Edmundo the Guardia's choicest position: control of the Managua police. From this perch, Edmundo could dip into every imaginable scam. "Police Chief, that's one of the best. That's a nice job," explained former Somoza secretary Juan C. Wong.¹ "That was the last job he had in his military career. Then he retired and went into the diplomatic corps."

Under Edmundo's watchful eye, Managua became an open city for brother Norwin, who by the late 1970s owned discotheques, drive-in brothels, and a thriving drug business. "Norwin ran all the rackets for the Guardia," said Roger Mayorga, former Nicaraguan National Police narcotics investigator. "And remember, his brother was the chief of police. No one could do anything."¹

Protection of Norwin Meneses

When customs inspector Oskar Reyes Zelaya investigated Norwin for running a massive car theft ring in 1977 and was subsequently murdered, Edmundo ordered the investigation into his brother. After a "rigorous and exhaustive" investigation, Norwin was cleared. The murder was never officially solved.

Edmundo soon left the police department, was promoted to brigadier general, and retired from the National Guard. Somoza then sent him to Guatemala as Nicaragua's ambassador.

Assassination

On September 16, 1978, Ambassador Meneses was machine-gunned in España Park in Guatemala City, catching three bullets in his back. The People's Guerrilla Army (EGP) claimed credit, describing Meneses as far more than a diplomat: "Exploiting his ambassadorial position in Guatemala as a smokescreen, he actually discharged the duties of coordinator between the Guatemalan army and the Nicaraguan National Guard, and also between Somoza and Guatemala's reactionary government. He coordinated political repression for all of Central America."

Edmundo lingered for fifteen days before dying. At his funeral, Somoza hailed him as a martyr in the worldwide struggle against communism.¹ Santiago Meneses told El Semanario in 1996: "The Sandinistas never forgave my brother Edmundo for the guerrillas of Pancasan."

CIA Connections

The nature of Edmundo's relationship with the U.S. government is unclear. The Central Intelligence Agency has refused to disclose any information about him on grounds of national security. The State Department claimed it could find no records that even mention his name - a notable omission given his stature as Somoza's chief law enforcement officer and ambassador.¹