--- category: "Organized Crime" tags: - IranContra - person - colombian - contra-war summary: Carlos Amador was a pilot who planned to fly into Ilopango Air Base to pick up cocaine from Hangar No. 4 and transport it to Miami, according to a DEA cable. --- Carlos Amador was a pilot who planned to fly into [[Ilopango Airbase]] to pick up [[Cocaine]] from Hangar No. 4 and transport it to [[Miami]], according to a March 1986 [[DEA]] cable. Amador's planned flight provided direct evidence of the drug trafficking operation at the base where [[Felix Rodriguez]] and [[Oliver North]] managed the [[Contras|Contra]] resupply effort.[^1] ### The Ilopango Connection DEA agent [[Celerino Castillo|Celerino Castillo III]], based in [[Guatemala City]], received reports that Amador "was intending to fly into Ilopango, pick up cocaine at Hangar No. 4, and take it to Miami." The DEA office in [[Costa Rica]] sent the cable of March 20, 1986 to the Guatemala office; the Justice Department Inspector General quotes it as reporting that a source said Amador "was intending to fly an aircraft from Costa Rica through El Salvador to Miami with cocaine." On April 25, 1986 the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] station in [[El Salvador]] replied to a Costa Rica station cable of April 23: "Based on that information, [El Salvador] Station would appreciate [Costa Rica] Station advising [DEA] not to make any inquiries to anyone re: hangar no. 4 at Ilopango since only legitimate [CIA] supported operations were conducted from this facility."[^2][^3] Amador's case illustrated how the CIA's Contra supply operation and the cocaine trade used the same facilities and infrastructure.[^2] ### DEA and CIA Records The CIA's file on Amador begins in November 1984, when a station cable describes him as a pilot for the [[ARDE]] group and reports that he gave the station information about another ARDE pilot fired for suspected contraband smuggling. A July or August 1985 Costa Rica station cable reported that the other pilot had suggested Amador was a possible trafficker. On August 27, 1985, a DEA Costa Rica report said a source had heard Amador planned to fly two aircraft from Miami to Colombia. The DEA agent who later reviewed it said it was filed in a general air intelligence file, which indicated there was not enough specific information to open an investigation.[^3] On June 10, 1986, the El Salvador station reported that the regional DEA official had told an embassy officer that Amador was suspected of heavy involvement in narcotics smuggling, and that if Amador was connected to the CIA the DEA would leave him alone. On June 17, 1986, CIA headquarters replied that its records showed no CIA "association" with Amador. The Inspector General states that the regional official was likely Country Attache [[Robert Stia]] or Castillo.[^3] On June 23, 1986, Castillo's debriefing report on informant STG6 described Amador as a "Contra Freedom Fighter" based in Miami who used a Salvadoran military credential to land at Ilopango without a customs search, and it asked for NADDIS checks on Amador and the aircraft listed. The DEA's NADDIS database shows no case initiated against Amador, and the Inspector General found no later DEA or FBI file on him.[^3] ### Footnotes [^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15. [^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15. [^3]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Chapter X, part 2, section C.2 (Carlos Amador: DEA cables of August 27, 1985 and March 20, 1986; CIA cables of July and August 1985, April 23, April 25, June 10 and June 17, 1986; Castillo's June 23, 1986 debriefing report; NADDIS check). https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/ch10p2.htm