---
category: Region
summary: South America was the source of the cocaine that flowed through Contra-connected
  trafficking networks, with Colombia and Bolivia serving as the primary production
  countries.
tags:
- geography
- continent
- contra-war
---

South America was the source of the [cocaine](/concepts/cocaine/) that flowed through Contra-connected trafficking networks, with [Colombia](/places/colombia/) and [Bolivia](/places/bolivia/) serving as the primary production countries. The continent's drug cartels supplied the commodity that linked the Contra war to the devastation of American inner cities.[^1]

### The Cocaine Supply Chain

A 1990 [DEA](/organizations/dea/) report stated that the [Blandón](/people/danilo-blandon/)-[Meneses](/people/norwin-meneses/) ring was "a criminal organization that operates internationally from Colombia and Bolivia, through the [Bahamas](/places/bahamas/), [Costa Rica](/places/costa-rica/), or [Nicaragua](/places/nicaragua/) to the [United States](/places/united-states/)." The ring sourced its cocaine from the politically connected Suarez family in Bolivia and the Ochoa family in Colombia, founders of the [Medellín Cartel](/organizations/medellin-cartel/). Law enforcement investigators hoped to take down the biggest crack operation ever uncovered, "one whose tentacles reached all the way to South America," and cut off the L.A. ghettos' main source of supply. A pilot known as "Oklahoma Dick" regularly flew to South America to obtain cocaine for the Blandón-Meneses network.[^2]

[^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. 6, Ch. 17.