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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