---
born: 1950-09-30
category: Iran-Contra
location: Colombia
summary: Jorge Ochoa was a leader of the Medellín Cartel who controlled the Miami
  cocaine market and was approached by a DEA agent to implicate the Sandinistas in
  drug trafficking.
tags:
- person
- colombian
- contra-war
---

Jorge Ochoa was a leader of the [Medellín Cartel](/organizations/medellin-cartel/) who, along with [Pablo Escobar](/people/pablo-escobar/) and [Carlos Lehder](/people/carlos-lehder/), controlled the [Miami](/places/miami/) [cocaine](/concepts/cocaine/) market during the early 1980s. The Ochoa family in [Colombia](/places/colombia/) was one of the primary sources of cocaine for the [Blandón](/people/danilo-blandon/)-[Meneses](/people/norwin-meneses/) trafficking ring that funded the [Contra](/organizations/contras/) war.[^1]

### DEA Manipulation Attempt

DEA agent James Kible visited Ochoa in a Spanish jail in 1984 and attempted to persuade him to publicly implicate the [Sandinistas](/organizations/sandinistas/) in drug trafficking. The approach was part of a broader pattern of the U.S. government using the drug war for political purposes, attempting to manufacture propaganda against the Nicaraguan government while protecting Contra-connected traffickers. Escobar claimed to have a photograph of [George H.W. Bush](/people/george-hw-bush/) posing with Ochoa in front of suitcases full of money.[^2]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 5.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 19.