Octaviano Cesar
Octaviano Cesar was a CIA asset and former social director of Norwin Meneses's VIP nightclub in Managua who arranged drug deals with Colombian trafficker George Morales to fund Eden Pastora's Contra army.
Background
Octaviano Cesar was the former social director of Norwin Meneses's VIP nightclub in Managua. The Central Intelligence Agency acknowledged that Cesar was one of its intelligence operatives: "Agency officers met occasionally with Cesar—usually in the United States—to gather information and to promote unity among the Southern Front groups," the CIA Inspector General found.1
Drug Deals for the Contras
In March 1984, Cesar and two other Contra officials close to the CIA—ARDE logistics chief Adolfo "Popo" Chamorro and ARDE air force commander Marcos Aguado—met with Colombian drug trafficker George Morales at his offices in Fort Lauderdale and asked him to contribute to Eden Pastora's ARDE Contra army. "During our conversation they told me they were CIA agents. Two of them said they were, Octaviano Cesar and Marcos Aguado," Morales testified before Congress.1
Cesar assured Morales that if he assisted the Contras, his pending cocaine indictment would be resolved through CIA intervention. Cesar "told me he had plenty of friends, being him, the CIA, can advise the superiors about my financial support and airplane and training and therefore they will finally, eventually, will take care of my problem, which they did," Morales testified.1
CIA Approval
In a 1996 interview with the Washington Post, Cesar said the CIA was fully aware of his involvement with the Colombian drug trafficker and had approved of it beforehand. Cesar informed a CIA officer stationed at Ilopango air base in El Salvador. Pilot "Tito" Carrasco testified that Cesar and Chamorro assured Morales the flights were CIA-protected: "Octaviano and Popo tell George, 'Listen, these people supposed to work for the CIA, those people are supposed to have, you know, everything under control.'"1
When money from drug sales was collected, Carrasco delivered it to Cesar and Chamorro, "sometimes in the United States, sometimes in Costa Rica. . .I paid a lot of money, maybe millions." After the exposure of Pastora's involvement with drug dealers, Cesar quickly joined forces with the CIA's new Contra army replacing Pastora.1
Sources
- Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 11: "They were looking in the other direction" ↩
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