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Bogota

Bogota was the capital of Colombia and a center of the cocaine trade that supplied the Contra-connected trafficking networks operating in the United States.

Bogota was the capital of Colombia and a center of the Cocaine trade that supplied the Contra-connected trafficking networks operating in the United States. Danilo Blandón studied at the University of Colombia in Bogota, where he was recruited into the drug trafficking world by Donald Barrios on behalf of Meneses.1

Blandón's Colombian Base

Blandón earned his M.B.A. from the University of Colombia in Bogota while simultaneously running an import-export company, a travel agency, and a used car dealership. His legitimate business activities provided cover for his introduction to the cocaine trade. Meneses, through Barrios, proposed that Blandón sell cocaine in Los Angeles to raise money for the Contras. Bogota served as the financial and educational base from which Blandón's trafficking career was launched, connecting the Colombian cocaine economy to the Contra fundraising network in Central America and the United States.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. 5. ↩

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