disinfozone/The_Info_Web
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull requests Projects Releases Packages Wiki Activity Actions

vault backup: 2026-10-08 12:20:40

Browse source
This commit is contained in:
disinfo.zone 2026-10-08 12:20:41 -04:00
parent fbf0935d58
commit b51e2a359a
No known key found for this signature in database
89 changed files with 2265 additions and 717 deletions
Download patch file Download diff file Expand all files Collapse all files

12
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John Hull.md
View file

@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ summary: John Hull was a CIA operative whose ranch in northern Costa Rica served
---
John Hull was an American [[Central Intelligence Agency]] operative who lived on a ranch in northern [[Costa Rica]] during the [[Contras|Contra]] war, posing as a midwestern farmer managing plantations for wealthy investors. In reality, Hull's ranch served as a training area and hiding place for Contra soldiers; it was where the [[Legion of September 15]] gathered before its bungled raid on the Argentine radio station in 1980.[^1]
Hull was the CIA's unofficial liaison to the Contras in northern Costa Rica and a close associate of [[Marcos Aguado]], a CIA-trained pilot and business associate of [[Norwin Meneses]]. Colombian trafficker [[George Morales]] and his pilots flew planeloads of weapons to Hull's ranch, where after dropping off arms, large green duffel bags full of cocaine belonging to the Contras were loaded aboard for return flights to the United States, usually to [[Opa Locka]], Florida.[^1]
Hull was the CIA's unofficial liaison to the Contras in northern Costa Rica and according to Gary Webb a close associate of [[Marcos Aguado]], whom Webb calls a CIA-trained pilot and business associate of [[Norwin Meneses]].[^2] Colombian trafficker [[George Morales]] and his pilots flew planeloads of weapons to Hull's ranch, where after dropping off arms, large green duffel bags full of cocaine belonging to the Contras were loaded aboard for return flights to the United States, usually to [[Opa Locka]], Florida.[^1]
### Drug Flight Evidence
@ -19,13 +19,17 @@ Former CIA official [[Alan Fiers|Alan Fiers Jr.]], who oversaw the Contra progra
Pilot [[Fabio Ernesto Carrasco|"Tito" Carrasco]], who flew drug missions for Morales in and out of Hull's ranch, testified that one of [[Eden Pastora|Pastora's]] commanders assured him the CIA was protecting the flights from Costa Rica all the way into Florida.[^1]
On July 31, 1987, Fiers briefed the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] on Hull's alleged relationship with Morales. According to the committee transcript as quoted by the CIA Inspector General, Fiers said that Morales "saw John Hull in his, Morales' office, with [Marcos] Aguado in 1983. However, Morales didn't meet him. He didn't want to." The Inspector General also reports that on March 7, 1989 a Costa Rican judge charged Hull with "hostile acts" and "drug trafficking," and that Costa Rican court documents claimed Hull and Contra pilot [[Gerardo Duran]] had met Morales in Miami to discuss the sale of drugs and weapons, and that planes piloted by Duran and Aguado had landed at Hull's airstrips carrying military supplies and, with Hull's knowledge, left loaded with drugs. The Inspector General quotes Hull's reply to the allegations of [[Gary Betzner|Gary Wayne Betzner]]: "not true, not true! He made it up. He was coached."[^3]
### The Kelso Visit
In August 1986, [[Joseph Kelso]], a CIA and [[U.S. Customs]] informant fleeing [[DEA]] agents in Costa Rica, arrived at Hull's ranch seeking refuge. Kelso told Hull and [[Robert Owen|Rob Owen]] that DEA agents had maps of cocaine lab locations but were protecting them, including "one large lab located in southern Nicoya. And another in Talamanca region." Hull wrote a detailed report and gave it to Owen to deliver to [[Oliver North]], noting: "If the DEA people are in the drug business it should be stopped." Hull eventually concluded Kelso was telling the truth: "He was giving me locations of cocaine labs in Costa Rica and who they belonged to and then a week later one of them was busted and it was right where he said it was."[^2]
In August 1986, [[Joseph Kelso]], a CIA and [[U.S. Customs]] informant fleeing [[DEA]] agents in Costa Rica, arrived at Hull's ranch seeking refuge. Kelso told Hull and [[Robert Owen|Rob Owen]] that DEA agents had maps of cocaine lab locations but were protecting them, including "one large lab located in southern Nicoya. And another in Talamanca region." Hull wrote a detailed report and gave it to Owen to deliver to [[Oliver North]], noting: "If the DEA people are in the drug business it should be stopped." Hull eventually concluded Kelso was telling the truth: "He was giving me locations of cocaine labs in Costa Rica and who they belonged to and then a week later one of them was busted and it was right where he said it was."[^4]
The next morning, Costa Rican Rural Guards awakened Kelso with automatic rifle fire and beat him with rifle butts. A colonel told Hull the embassy said Kelso "should be shot if he resisted arrest." Hull's Contras surrounded the guards with 12-gauge riot guns. Hull broke up the standoff but permitted the guards to take Kelso away.[^2]
The next morning, Costa Rican Rural Guards awakened Kelso with automatic rifle fire and beat him with rifle butts. A colonel told Hull the embassy said Kelso "should be shot if he resisted arrest." Hull's Contras surrounded the guards with 12-gauge riot guns. Hull broke up the standoff but permitted the guards to take Kelso away.[^4]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 11: "They were looking in the other direction"
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 17: "We're going to blow your fucking head off"
[^2]: Gary Webb, *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion* (Seven Stories Press, 1998), Chapter 13, "The wrong kind of friends," and Cast of Characters. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^3]: CIA Inspector General, *Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States*, Volume II (October 8, 1998), chapter on other individuals (John Hull; March 7, 1989 reporting; July 31, 1987 SSCI briefing transcript), https://irp.fas.org/cia/product/cocaine2/other.html
[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 17: "We're going to blow your fucking head off"