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Managua

Capital city of Nicaragua, the center of Norwin Meneses's drug empire, the site of his 1991 arrest, and where Gary Webb and Georg Hodel conducted their pivotal interviews with imprisoned Contra-connected drug traffickers.

Mentions 29 Tags GeographyCityNicaraguaContra_War1980s

Managua is the capital and largest city of Nicaragua. It was the center of Norwin Meneses's pre-revolution drug empire and the site of his 1991 arrest.1

Pre-Revolution

Under the Somoza regime, Meneses operated freely in Managua with protection from his brother Edmundo Meneses, who commanded the city's police. Meneses owned discotheques (the Frisco Disco and the VIP Club), drive-in brothels, and a thriving drug business. Danilo Blandón's father Julio owned land in Managua where one of the city's worst slums, OPEN #3, was built after the 1972 earthquake. The Blandóns and Somozas were social friends and two of the biggest landlords in the city.2

Post-Revolution

After the Sandinistas were voted out in 1990, Meneses moved back to his mansion on the outskirts of Managua and began reclaiming $12 million in confiscated holdings. In November 1991, Nicaraguan police raided his drug ring, seizing 725 kilos of cocaine. Meneses was convicted and sentenced to thirty years, serving his time at Tipitapa Prison outside Managua.3

Dark Alliance Interviews

Georg Hodel was based in Managua as a freelance journalist and found Meneses's court files in the Nicaraguan Supreme Court, a cache no journalist had previously examined. Hodel and Gary Webb interviewed Meneses at Tipitapa Prison in January 1996. Webb hired Hodel in Managua to locate and interview key witnesses.4

Sources

  1. Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 23: "He had the backing of a superpower" ↩
  2. Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 2: "We were the first" ↩
  3. Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 23: "He had the backing of a superpower" ↩
  4. Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 25: "Things are moving all around us" ↩

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