The_Info_Web/10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Moises Nunez.md

category	tags	summary	location	relations
Intelligence & Government	Person Person/Intelligence CIA Drug_Trafficker Costa_Rica 1980s Contra_War	Moises Nunez was a Cuban CIA agent who managed Frigorificos de Puntarenas while simultaneously dealing drugs and running covert maritime operations against the Sandinistas.	Cuba	type with role start fn participant_in Iran-Contra Affair Recorded by the CIA Inspector General as describing a clandestine relationship with the NSC from 1985 1985 2 type with role start end fn participant_in Iran-Contra Affair Named in the Senate subcommittee report as participating in Contra military assistance operations in 1984 and 1985 1984 1985 3

Moises Núñez was a Cuba Central Intelligence Agency agent and Bay of Pigs veteran who managed Frigorificos de Puntarenas in Costa Rica, the drug-front shrimp company hired by the U.S. State Department to distribute "humanitarian" aid to the Contras. CIA operative John Hull confirmed Núñez was working with the agency as an intelligence source, and a 1988 UPI story identified him as an Agency officer based on accounts from two senior Costa Rican government officials, a U.S. intelligence source, and American law enforcement authorities.¹

Covert Maritime Operations

In addition to distributing State Department money, Núñez permitted Frigorificos to be used by Oliver North and CIA station chief Joseph Fernandez as cover for a secret maritime operation against the Sandinistas. In February 1986, CIA contract agent Felipe Vidal proposed creating a "small, professionally managed rebel naval force" using the shrimp company as a front. Núñez wrote to North about acquiring shrimp boats to serve as motherships for intelligence missions. "Moises Nunez, a Cuban who has a shrimping business in Puntarenas is fronting the operation," Owen reported to North.¹

Drug Trafficking and Cover-Up

In March 1987, the CIA interrogated Núñez about allegations of drug dealing through Frigorificos. A DEA seizure had already confirmed that Núñez's partners shipped a 414-pound cocaine load to Miami in January 1986 amid crates of yucca. Webb's text adds that Núñez refused to elaborate because of "the specific tasks he had performed at the direction of the NSC."¹

The CIA Inspector General's report, in its section headed "Moises Nunez," records that on March 25, 1987 the CIA questioned him about narcotics trafficking allegations and that he "revealed that since 1985, he had engaged in a clandestine relationship with the National Security Council (NSC)." He refused to identify the NSC officials involved. A headquarters cable of April 1987 first said a decision had been made to debrief him; the next day a cable stated "Headquarters has decided against . . . debriefing Nunez."² The CIA officer Louis Dupart told the Inspector General the Agency position was to turn the matter over to others because "it had nothing to do with the Agency, but with the National Security Council." Alan Fiers wrote to the Inspector General that "because of the NSC connection" a decision was made not to pursue the matter but "to turn it over to Judge Walsh."² CIA officials briefed Senators Rudman and Cohen on April 10, 1987, and the senators asked that Senate committee staff interview Nunez. The report states that an interview in San Jose in September 1987 indicated that Nunez denied any relationship with the NSC or with anyone doing work for it.²

The Senate subcommittee report, chaired by John Kerry, names a Moises Nunez who with Frank Chanes participated in Contra military assistance operations in 1984 and 1985, and says he was employed by Frigorificos de Puntarenas, which the report describes as a drug money laundering front, and by Glenn Robinette on behalf of the Second-North Enterprise. It reports that former CIA Costa Rica chief of station Thomas Castillo told the Iran-Contra committees that Nunez was involved in "a very sensitive operation" for the Enterprise.³

Webb's text also names a Bay of Pigs veteran, Dagoberto Nunez, who appears in Rob Owen's memoranda to North on shrimping ventures in Costa Rica. Whether Dagoberto Nunez and Moises Nunez are one person is not stated in the Inspector General's report, the Senate report or Webb's text.

For years afterward, the CIA shielded Núñez from criminal investigations, telling U.S. Customs and the DEA it had no information about his trafficking activities. The CIA's Directorate of Operations lied even to the Agency's own lawyers, denying knowledge of Núñez's shrimp company despite ample information in its files. A 1989 Costa Rica prosecutor's report noted that Núñez carried credentials from the Costa Rican Ministry of Public Safety's Department of Narcotics, provided funds and vehicles for antidrug operations, and went out on raids - though he blew a four-month investigation of a Colombian drug ring by making a "premature" arrest.¹

Footnotes

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1. Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 12: "This guy talks to God" ↩︎

2. CIA Office of Inspector General, Report of Investigation (unclassified January 29, 1998), paras. 490 to 495. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-06974497 ↩︎

3. U.S. Senate, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Operations, Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy, S. Prt. 100-165 (December 1988), text at notes 140 and 141. https://archive.org/details/Kerry-Report-Drugs-Contras ↩︎