---
category: "Iran-Contra"
tags:
  - person
  - cuban
  - contra-war
summary: Socrates Sofi-Perez was a Cuban Bay of Pigs veteran and DEA informant who described the Contra drug trafficking scheme at Ilopango Air Base to Celerino Castillo.
---
Socrates Sofi-Perez was a Cuban [[Bay of Pigs|Bay of Pigs]] veteran and [[DEA]] informant who described the [[Contras|Contra]] drug trafficking scheme at Ilopango Air Base to [[Celerino Castillo|Celerino Castillo III]]. Sofi-Perez proudly informed Castillo that he was a Bay of Pigs veteran and a Contra supporter while detailing how drug flights operated from the base in [[San Salvador|El Salvador]].[^1]

### Informant for Castillo

Castillo recruited Sofi-Perez as an informant while based in [[Guatemala City]]. Sofi-Perez provided detailed information about the Contra drug operation at Ilopango, where pilots flew weapons south to the Contras and returned with [[Cocaine]]. His testimony as a Bay of Pigs veteran and Contra insider gave credibility to Castillo's reports to DEA headquarters, which were subsequently ignored. Sofi-Perez's account was among the earliest detailed descriptions of the drug trafficking operation at Ilopango Air Base that the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and [[Oliver North]] were running.[^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.