---
aliases:
- Julio Bonilla
category: Intelligence & Government
created: 2026-05-17
summary: FDN coordinator in San Francisco who connected Contra supporters with the
  organization's leadership.
tags:
- Person
- Contra
- Nicaragua
- SanFrancisco
- 1980s
- DarkAllianceInvestigation
title: Julio Bonilla
updated: 2026-05-17
---

Julio Bonilla was the local coordinator of the [FDN](/organizations/fdn/) in San Francisco.[^1] Bonilla connected [Dennis Ainsworth](/people/dennis-ainsworth/) with the Contra support network after meeting him at a seminar at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in February 1984. About three weeks later, Bonilla invited Ainsworth to an informal gathering at a house on Colon Avenue to meet [Nicaraguan](/places/nicaragua/) supporters who had helped organize the seminar. This gathering introduced Ainsworth to [Don Sinicco](/people/don-sinicco/) and the group that would become [USACA](/organizations/usaca/). According to one published source, [Norwin Meneses](/people/norwin-meneses/) helped finance the seminar at the Drake.

Bonilla was present at key FDN events in San Francisco, including a cocktail party for [Adolfo Calero](/people/adolfo-calero/) where he was photographed in the kitchen with Calero and Meneses by Sinicco.[^1]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 9: "He would have had me by the tail"