#Nicaragua
43 entries tagged Nicaragua.
People (35)
- Adolfo Calero Longtime CIA agent and former Coca-Cola bottling plant manager in Managua who was selected by the CIA in 1983 to lead the political wing of the FDN and worked closely with Oliver North.
- Anastasio Somoza Anastasio Somoza Debayle was the dictator of Nicaragua whose family ruled the country for forty-six years until the Sandinista revolution in July 1979, after which his dispersed National Guard officers became the founding cadre of the Contras.
- Aparicio Moreno Colombian cocaine supplier and money launderer connected to both the Blandon and Meneses organizations, the FDN, and a Guatemalan CIA agent.
- Aristides Sanchez Wealthy Somoza-era landowner who became the head of supplies and logistics for the FDN, went on the CIA payroll, and allegedly served as the conduit for cocaine money from the Meneses drug ring in California.
- Carlos Cabezas Nicaraguan cocaine trafficker in San Francisco who testified that drug profits from the Meneses organization were going to the Contras, was convicted in the Frogman Case, and in 1996 admitted on the record to delivering millions in drug money to the Contras.
- Carlos Icaza Nicaraguan attorney and son-in-law of General Edmundo Meneses who served as Adolfo Calero's personal lawyer and was publicly accused by the Sandinistas of being a CIA agent involved in a foiled plot to poison Nicaragua's foreign minister.
- Chepita Blandon Danilo Blandón's wife, identified by the DEA as closely involved in his trafficking activities, who was arrested in 1992 and had all charges dropped when her husband agreed to become a DEA informant.
- Danilo Blandon Danilo Blandón Reyes was a Nicaraguan cocaine trafficker who operated a multimillion-dollar distribution ring in Los Angeles from 1981 to 1991, serving as the primary supplier to Freeway Ricky Ross while maintaining connections to the Contra movement and receiving U.S. political asylum despite known drug involvement.
- Donald Barrios Wealthy Nicaraguan exile, FDN supporter, and relative of former president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro who introduced Norwin Meneses to Danilo Blandon and co-founded La Parrilla restaurant in Miami as a Contra gathering place.
- Eden Pastora Former Sandinista war hero known as Commandante Zero who became commander of the ARDE Southern Front Contra army in Costa Rica, was put on the CIA payroll, and eventually broke with the agency over drug trafficking.
- Edmundo Meneses Former Nicaraguan ambassador to Guatemala, National Guard general, and Managua police chief who was Norwin Meneses's brother and primary protector, and a probable CIA asset assassinated in Guatemala in 1978.
- Enrique Bermudez Supreme military commander of the FDN and former Somoza military attache in Washington who was hired by the CIA in 1980 to reassemble the National Guard into a Contra fighting force, and was murdered in Managua in 1991.
- Enrique Miranda Former Sandinista intelligence officer who became a CIA double agent and DEA informant, serving as Norwin Meneses's right-hand man and providing detailed testimony about the Ilopango drug pipeline.
- Eugene Hasenfus Former Air America cargo handler who survived the shootdown of a CIA-contracted C-123K over Nicaragua, exposing the Ilopango Contra supply operation and CIA involvement.
- Federico Vaughn Alleged Sandinista aide shown by President Reagan loading drugs onto an aircraft, who evidence suggests was actually a U.S. double agent working for the CIA.
- Fernando Chamorro Commander of UDN-FARN, an early Contra faction based in Costa Rica, a former Sandinista whose army included Cuban-American drug traffickers, and who was approached by Norwin Meneses about hauling cocaine.
- Fernando Sanchez Former Nicaraguan ambassador to Guatemala and the FDN's representative in that country during the Contra war, identified by the FBI in 1982 as one of the cocaine suppliers to the Contra drug operation in San Francisco and brother of FDN officials Aristides and Troilo Sanchez.
- Francisco Aviles U.S.-educated Nicaraguan lawyer and CIA asset who worked closely with the CIA in Costa Rica funneling funds to Contra organizations and was directly involved in the San Francisco Frogman case.
- Georg Hodel Swiss freelance journalist based in Managua who located Norwin Meneses in a Nicaraguan prison and uncovered court files documenting his drug trafficking for the Contras, playing a critical role in the Dark Alliance investigation.
- Gustavo Medina Former National Guard major general under Anastasio Somoza who served as the regime's counterinsurgency expert and later co-founded La Parrilla restaurant in Miami, a gathering place for Contra leaders.
- Henry Corrales Nicaraguan cocaine trafficker who served as the intermediary between Danilo Blandón and Ricky Ross after Ivan Arguellas was paralyzed.
- Horacio Pereira Norwin Meneses's friend and business partner who became one of his top cocaine dealers in Costa Rica, identified by the FBI as the cocaine source for the Frogman drug ring in San Francisco.
- Ivan Torres Ivan Torres was a Nicaraguan drug trafficker and FDN West Coast branch chief who managed Danilo Blandon's Los Angeles cocaine operations while claiming CIA awareness of his drug activities.
- Jose Macario Exiled Nicaraguan judge and FDN operative who became Danilo Blandon's business partner and immigration lawyer in Miami, helping arrange travel papers for Contra soldiers while investing drug profits in legitimate businesses.
- Julio Bonilla FDN coordinator in San Francisco who connected Contra supporters with the organization's leadership.
- Julio Zavala Major cocaine trafficker in the San Francisco Bay Area and top-ranking U.S.-based member of UDN-FARN who recruited Carlos Cabezas into the Contra drug ring and was convicted in the Frogman Case.
- Marcos Aguado CIA-trained Nicaraguan pilot who managed drug trafficking logistics for Norwin Meneses and Eden Pastora, later became a colonel in the Salvadoran Air Force at Ilopango.
- Norwin Meneses Norwin Meneses Cantarero, known as "El Rey de la Droga," was Nicaragua's most prolific drug trafficker who simultaneously served as a DEA informant while running a cocaine distribution network spanning from Central America to California in support of the Contra movement.
- Octaviano Cesar Octaviano Cesar was a CIA asset and former social director of Norwin Meneses's VIP nightclub in Managua who arranged drug deals with Colombian trafficker George Morales to fund Eden Pastora's Contra army.
- Orlando Murillo Nicaraguan economist and former Central Bank official under Somoza who laundered cocaine proceeds for Danilo Blandón through banks in Panama and Miami.
- Rafael Cornejo Norwin Meneses's nephew and distributor in the San Francisco Bay Area since the mid-1970s whose territory stretched to Portland, Oregon, convicted of income tax evasion in 1985 and cocaine trafficking in 1996.
- Renato Pena FDN San Francisco representative and cocaine dealer for Norwin Meneses who was arrested in 1984 and implicated the CIA in Contra drug trafficking during DEA debriefings.
- Roger Sandino Roger Sandino Martinez was a veteran Nicaraguan drug trafficker and FDN operative who took over Danilo Blandon's South Central Los Angeles cocaine operation after Blandon relocated to Miami.
- Troilo Sanchez Brother of FDN officials Aristides and Fernando Sanchez, business partner of Norwin Meneses in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, identified by the FBI as a cocaine source for the Frogman ring in San Francisco.
- Vicente Rappaccioli CIA asset based in Costa Rica who was one of the leaders of UDN-FARN and directly involved in the 1983 Frogman cocaine case but was never charged.
Organizations (6)
- ARDE Alianza Revolucionaria Democratica (ARDE) was a Contra faction based in Costa Rica and commanded by former Sandinista war hero Eden Pastora, formed when UDN-FARN merged with Pastora's group in September 1982.
- Contras Nicaraguan rebel groups organized and funded by the CIA to overthrow the Sandinista government, composed largely of former Somoza National Guard officers and implicated extensively in cocaine trafficking throughout the 1980s war.
- FDN The FDN was the largest and best-armed Contra faction, created by the CIA and commanded by Enrique Bermudez, with documented connections to cocaine trafficking for fundraising.
- Nicaraguan National Guard Somoza's military force that served as army, police, and intelligence service, trained at U.S. military schools, and whose dispersed officers formed the founding cadre of the Contras.
- Sandinistas Frente Revolucionario de Sandino (FRS), the leftist revolutionary guerrilla group that overthrew Somoza's U.S.-supported dictatorship in Nicaragua in 1979, triggering the Contra war.
- UDN-FARN Early Contra faction based first in Honduras then Costa Rica, commanded by Fernando Chamorro, that shifted allegiances between the FDN, ARDE, and back during the Contra war.
Events (1)
- Iran-Contra Affair Political scandal involving the secret sale of arms to Iran to fund the Nicaraguan Contras in violation of the Boland Amendment, leading to indictments of multiple CIA and NSC officials.
Places (1)
- 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.