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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Francisco Guirola Beeche.md
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@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ Francisco "Chico" Guirola Beeche was the scion of one of [[El Salvador]]'s most
On February 6, 1985, Guirola and three Cuban-American companions departed John Wayne Airport in Orange County aboard a white T-39 Sabreliner jet. The plane stopped to refuel at Kleberg County Airport in Kingsville, Texas, where U.S. Customs agents were waiting. The agents had been tracking the men since January, when they were spotted in the same plane diverting mid-flight to [[Panama]] with $1.2 million in cash.[^1]
All four men were listed in Customs databases as suspected drug traffickers, and their airplane was on a watch list as a suspected smuggling craft. In the Sabreliner's cargo hold were fourteen suitcases Guirola claimed as his own. He produced a Costa Rican diplomatic passport and warned agents not to search the bags or it would "cause trouble." They were bulging with $5.9 million in small bills. When agents announced arrests, Guirola claimed diplomatic immunity because his mother was the Costa Rican vice-consul in New Mexico.[^1]
All four men were listed in Customs databases as suspected drug traffickers, and their airplane was on a watch list as a suspected smuggling craft. In the Sabreliner's cargo hold were fourteen suitcases Guirola claimed as his own. He produced a Costa Rican diplomatic passport and warned agents not to search the bags or it would "cause trouble." They were bulging with $5.9 million in small bills. When agents announced arrests, Guirola claimed diplomatic immunity because his mother was the Costa Rican vice-consul in [[New Mexico]].[^1]
Federal agents charged the cash was drug money destined for El Salvador, citing [[DEA]] records that Guirola had been "reportedly involved in cocaine and arms smuggling in El Salvador and Guatemala" and was a top aide to death squad leader Roberto D'Aubuisson. The [[Los Angeles Times]] confirmed Guirola had accompanied D'Aubuisson to a "very sensitive" meeting with former CIA deputy director Vernon Walters in May 1984, where Walters tried to talk D'Aubuisson out of assassinating U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering. Guirola had allowed D'Aubuisson to use his house as campaign headquarters during his 1984 presidential run. Guirola's passport, signed by D'Aubuisson, identified him as a "special adviser" to the Salvadoran Assembly. He was also carrying credentials from the Salvadoran attorney general's office.[^1]