Roberto D'Aubuisson
Salvadoran army major and ARENA party leader who ran death squads during El Salvador's civil war, linked to weapons deals with Ronald Lister's operations.
Roberto D'Aubuisson was a former Salvadoran army major and leader of the ultraright ARENA party who ran death squads during El Salvador's civil war in the early 1980s.1 D'Aubuisson was reportedly running one of the death squads linked to the assassination of San Salvador's Archbishop Oscar Romero - allegedly by hit men from the FDN's predecessor, the Legion of September 15.
Death Squad Leadership
Oliver North wrote in his 1991 memoirs that it was clear most of the death squad activity was the responsibility of the ultraright ARENA party and its leader, D'Aubuisson. At the height of the death squad campaign, residents of the capital city of San Salvador would wake up to find forty new bodies every morning. The Salvadoran government officially denied any connection with the death squads, but the denials rang hollow even among Reagan stalwarts.1
D'Aubuisson was a key figure in El Salvador's political and military structure during the period when Ronald Lister and Pyramid International Security Consultants were operating in the country. Chris Moore, Lister's former office manager, described meeting D'Aubuisson during his 1982 trip to El Salvador: "There I was, a reserve police officer who'd only been in the country for a couple days, and I was sitting in this office in downtown San Salvador across the desk from the man who ran the death squads. He had a gun lying on the top of his desk and had these filing cabinets pushed up against the windows of the office so nobody could shoot through them."1
At another meeting, Moore and D'Aubuisson were joined by Ray Prendes, the newly elected head of the Salvadoran Assembly and a powerful figure in the ruling Christian Democratic party. Both appeared to have some role in the award of the security contract Lister was seeking.1
Intelligence Connections
Arms manufacturer Tim LaFrance told journalist Nick Schou that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was involved in Lister's weapons manufacturing plant in El Salvador, and that the meetings Lister and his associates had with D'Aubuisson "happened because the DIA wanted them to happen."1
D'Aubuisson's name appeared on a handwritten list of seven names that Lister prepared for his 1985 grand jury appearance, alongside William Nelson (the CIA's former deputy director of operations) and Ray Prendes (former head of the Salvadoran Christian Democratic party, which received substantial Central Intelligence Agency financial assistance during the 1980s). Lister told police the names "came up in his business" and described the people as "business people." The CIA later acknowledged D'Aubuisson was a drug and weapons trafficker.2
Guirola Connection
Francisco "Chico" Guirola Beeche, a top D'Aubuisson aide, was caught with $5.9 million in cash at a Texas airport in 1985 - the largest cash seizure in Texas history. The Los Angeles Times reported Guirola had accompanied D'Aubuisson to a "very sensitive" meeting with former CIA deputy director Vernon Walters in May 1984, where Walters attempted to dissuade D'Aubuisson from assassinating U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering. Guirola allowed D'Aubuisson to use his house as campaign headquarters during his 1984 presidential run. Guirola's passport, signed by D'Aubuisson, identified him as a "special adviser" to the Salvadoran Assembly. The Justice Department gave Guirola probation in exchange for forfeiting the cash.3
Sources
- Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty" ↩
- Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it" ↩
- Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends" ↩
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