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Bolivia was a primary source country for the cocaine that flowed through the Contra-connected trafficking networks, with the politically connected Suarez family supplying the Blandón-Meneses drug ring.

Mentions 36 Tags geographysouth-americacontra-war

Bolivia was a primary source country for the cocaine that flowed through the Contra-connected trafficking networks, with the politically connected Suarez family supplying the Blandón-Meneses drug ring. A 1990 DEA report stated that the ring was "a criminal organization that operates internationally from Colombia and Bolivia, through the Bahamas, Costa Rica, or Nicaragua to the United States." The Bolivian cocaine was coming into Miami before being distributed to the West Coast.1

The Suarez Connection

The Blandón-Meneses ring sourced its cocaine from the Suarez family in Bolivia and the Ochoa family in Colombia, founders of the Medellín Cartel. Roger Sandino was busted in April 1986 as part of the biggest cocaine case on the Atlantic Coast, when DEA agents in Norfolk, Virginia, charged him and fourteen others, including the son-in-law of Bolivian cocaine kingpin Roberto Suarez-Gomez, with conspiracy to import 700 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $158 million. The DEA brought the cocaine into the United States from Bolivia to use as bait in a reverse sting.2

Blandón's Bolivian Deal

Blandón was once stopped at Tegucigalpa airport carrying $100,000 in drug proceeds to be used in a Bolivian drug deal while escorted by armed Contras. The incident illustrated the direct connection between Contra operations and the South American cocaine supply chain.3

Sources

  1. Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 6. ↩
  2. Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 21. ↩
  3. Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 3. ↩

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