#CentralAmerica

Places (6)

• Central America Geographic region connecting North and South America that was the primary theater of Contra operations, drug trafficking, and CIA covert activities during the 1980s.
• Costa Rica Central American nation bordering Nicaragua that served as the primary base for the Southern Front Contra operations, the site of Norwin Meneses's drug empire, and the location of CIA operative John Hull's ranch.
• El Salvador Central American nation where the CIA ran the Contra project from Ilopango Air Force Base, where DEA agent Celerino Castillo discovered Contra cocaine trafficking, and where the Salvadoran military facilitated drug-for-arms exchanges.
• Honduras Country in Central America that served as the primary base of operations for the FDN Contra army during the 1980s and a focal point for U.S. military, drug trafficking, and covert operations.
• Nicaragua Central American nation ruled by the Somoza family dictatorship for forty-six years until the Sandinista revolution in 1979, after which it became the battleground for the CIA-backed Contra war.
• Panama Central American nation that was a major conduit for cocaine trafficking and money laundering, ruled by military dictator Manuel Noriega who simultaneously worked for the CIA and Colombian drug cartels.