---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
  - Person
  - CIA
  - Contra
  - Nicaragua
  - Costa_Rica
  - 1980s
  - Dark_Alliance_Investigation
summary: 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.
---
Vicente Rappaccioli Marquis was a [[Central Intelligence Agency]] asset and [[UDN-FARN]] leader in [[Costa Rica]] who, along with [[Francisco Aviles]], attempted to recover drug money seized during the [[Frogman Case]].[^1]

### Background

Rappaccioli was one of the leaders of UDN-FARN and related Contra support groups based in Costa Rica. A former UDN-FARN commander stated he had been recruited by Rappaccioli. In the early 1980s, Rappaccioli was part of UDN-FARN and co-wrote a letter to Judge Robert Peckham along with Francisco Aviles on behalf of a group called the Conservative Party of Nicaraguans in Exile (PCNE).[^2]

### The Frogman Case

Rappaccioli co-signed the letter to Judge Peckham claiming that [[Julio Zavala]]'s seized $36,020 belonged to UDN-FARN, not to drug trafficking. He provided his own UDN-FARN credentials and supporting documentation.[^2]

The CIA's Costa Rican station identified Rappaccioli as a "former covert action asset" and member of the board of directors of a Contra organization. CIA lawyer Lee Strickland warned in an August 24, 1984 cable that "by virtue of Rappaccioli's relationship as a former covert action asset and a member of board of directors of a Contra organization, Aviles' role as director of the Contra support group office in San Jose, and their formal claim of drug-tainted money, case could be made that CIA funds are being diverted by CIA assets into the drug trade."[^2]

### Aftermath

A 1988 State Department biography identified Rappaccioli as the secretary of the Contras' political division. The 1998 CIA Inspector General's report claimed that references to Rappaccioli as a CIA asset were "mistakes." Rappaccioli reportedly died in the early 1990s.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 5: "God, Fatherland and Freedom"