Moises Nunez
Moises Nunez was a Cuban CIA agent who managed Frigorificos de Puntarenas while simultaneously dealing drugs and running covert maritime operations against the Sandinistas.
Moises Núñez was a Cuban Central Intelligence Agency agent and Bay of Pigs veteran who managed Frigorificos de Puntarenas in Costa Rica, the drug-front shrimp company hired by the U.S. State Department to distribute "humanitarian" aid to the Contras. CIA operative John Hull confirmed Núñez was working with the agency as an intelligence source, and a 1988 UPI story identified him as an Agency officer based on accounts from two senior Costa Rican government officials, a U.S. intelligence source, and American law enforcement authorities.1
Covert Maritime Operations
In addition to distributing State Department money, Núñez permitted Frigorificos to be used by Oliver North and CIA station chief Joseph Fernandez as cover for a secret maritime operation against the Sandinistas. In February 1986, CIA contract agent Felipe Vidal proposed creating a "small, professionally managed rebel naval force" using the shrimp company as a front. Núñez wrote to North about acquiring shrimp boats to serve as motherships for intelligence missions. "Moises Nunez, a Cuban who has a shrimping business in Puntarenas is fronting the operation," Owen reported to North.1
Drug Trafficking and Cover-Up
In March 1987, the CIA interrogated Núñez about allegations of drug dealing through Frigorificos. A DEA seizure had already confirmed that Núñez's partners shipped a 414-pound cocaine load to Miami in January 1986 amid crates of yucca. Núñez "revealed that since 1985, he had engaged in a clandestine relationship with the National Security Council" and refused to elaborate because of "the specific tasks he had performed at the direction of the NSC." CIA headquarters immediately halted the questioning. Alan Fiers confirmed the shutdown was "because of the NSC connection."1
For years afterward, the CIA shielded Núñez from criminal investigations, telling U.S. Customs and the DEA it had no information about his trafficking activities. The CIA's Directorate of Operations lied even to the Agency's own lawyers, denying knowledge of Núñez's shrimp company despite ample information in its files. A 1989 Costa Rican prosecutor's report noted that Núñez carried credentials from the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Safety's Department of Narcotics, provided funds and vehicles for antidrug operations, and went out on raids - though he blew a four-month investigation of a Colombian drug ring by making a "premature" arrest.1
Sources
- Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 12: "This guy talks to God" ↩
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