---
title: Julio Bonilla
aliases:
  - Julio Bonilla
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-05-17
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
  - Person
  - Contra
  - Nicaragua
  - SanFrancisco
  - 1980s
  - DarkAllianceInvestigation
summary: "FDN coordinator in San Francisco who connected Contra supporters with the organization's leadership."
---
Julio Bonilla was the local coordinator of the [[FDN]] in San Francisco.[^1] Bonilla connected [[Dennis Ainsworth]] with the Contra support network after meeting him at a seminar at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in February 1984. About three weeks later, Bonilla invited Ainsworth to an informal gathering at a house on Colon Avenue to meet [[Nicaragua|Nicaraguan]] supporters who had helped organize the seminar. This gathering introduced Ainsworth to [[Don Sinicco]] and the group that would become [[USACA]]. According to one published source, [[Norwin Meneses]] helped finance the seminar at the Drake.

Bonilla was present at key FDN events in San Francisco, including a cocktail party for [[Adolfo Calero]] where he was photographed in the kitchen with Calero and Meneses by Sinicco.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 9: "He would have had me by the tail"