---
category: Country
summary: Spain was where DEA agent James Kible visited jailed Medellín cartel boss
  Jorge Ochoa in an attempt to recruit him to implicate the Sandinistas in drug trafficking.
tags:
- geography
- europe
- contra-war
---

Spain was where [DEA](/organizations/dea/) agent James Kible visited jailed [Medellín Cartel](/organizations/medellin-cartel/) boss [Jorge Ochoa](/people/jorge-ochoa/) in 1984 and attempted to persuade him to publicly implicate the [Sandinistas](/organizations/sandinistas/) in drug trafficking. The approach demonstrated the U.S. government's willingness to use the drug war for political purposes.[^1]

### Political Manipulation of Drug Enforcement

Kible's visit to Ochoa in a Spanish prison was part of a broader pattern of the U.S. government attempting to manufacture propaganda against the Nicaraguan government. While the DEA was ostensibly fighting drug trafficking, agents like Kible were being used to recruit drug lords for political operations. The irony was that the same government protecting [Contra](/organizations/contras/)-connected drug traffickers like [Danilo Blandón](/people/danilo-blandon/) and [Norwin Meneses](/people/norwin-meneses/) was simultaneously trying to use imprisoned cartel leaders to smear the Sandinistas. [Ivan Gomez](/people/ivan-gomez/), the alleged CIA agent present at Contra drug meetings, was reportedly living in Spain.[^2]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 19.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 19, Ch. 4.