---
category: "Military"
tags:
  - IranContra
  - person
  - colombian
  - contra-war
summary: Juan Rafael Bustillo was the Salvadoran Air Force commander who provided hangar space at Ilopango Air Base for Felix Rodriguez's Contra resupply operation.
born: 1935-01-31
location: "El Salvador"
---

Juan Rafael Bustillo was the Salvadoran Air Force commander who provided hangar space at Ilopango Air Base for [[Felix Rodriguez]]'s Contra resupply operation. Rodriguez "greased the skids" with Bustillo, using his influence to secure the facilities needed for the covert weapons and [[Cocaine]] trafficking operation at the base in [[San Salvador|El Salvador]].[^1]

### Ilopango Operations

Bustillo's cooperation was essential to the Contra resupply operation at Ilopango. By providing military hangar space, he enabled the CIA and [[Oliver North]] to use the Salvadoran military air base as the hub for their covert air force. The arrangement placed a foreign military commander at the center of an operation that moved weapons to the [[Contras]] and narcotics back to the [[United States]], with flights carrying cocaine from Hangar No. 4 to [[Miami]].[^2]

### 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.