29 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
29 lines
2.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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aliases:
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- New Orleans, Louisiana
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category: "City"
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tags:
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- geography
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- contra-war
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summary: New Orleans served as a cocaine entry point for Contra-connected flights and was where Barry Seal was murdered by Colombian hit men in 1986.
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---
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New Orleans served as a [[Cocaine]] entry point for Contra-connected flights and was where [[Central Intelligence Agency]]-[[DEA]] contract agent [[Barry Seal]] was murdered by Colombian hit men in 1986. The city's port and airfield infrastructure made it a key node in the Southern drug trafficking corridor that connected the [[Medellin Cartel|Medellín Cartel]] to the [[Contras|Contra]] supply chain.[^1]
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### Contra Cocaine Flights
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The Torres brothers described airfields in [[New Orleans]] and Brownsville, [[Texas]], where Contra cocaine was allegedly being flown in under armed guard. Robert Owen reported to [[Oliver North]] that a DC-6 owned by [[Mario Calero]], brother of [[FDN]] leader [[Adolfo Calero]], "which is being used for runs out of New Orleans is probably being used for drug runs into U.S." The planes moving weapons to the Contras in [[Central America]] were the same aircraft returning with narcotics.[^2]
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### Meneses as a Source
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The New Orleans DEA determined that [[Norwin Meneses|Meneses]] was responsible for smuggling cocaine into the city. The DEA's "Operation Alligator" resulted in the indictment of numerous persons for smuggling cocaine, and it was determined that Meneses was a source of supply for the group. The operation confirmed that Meneses's trafficking network extended well beyond the West Coast.[^3]
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### Barry Seal's Murder
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Seal, who had been one of the biggest cocaine importers in the southern [[United States]] while working as a CIA and DEA contract agent, was murdered in New Orleans in 1986 by Colombian hit men shortly after his testimony in a drug trial. His assassination eliminated a key witness who could have connected the CIA's Contra operations to domestic drug trafficking.[^4]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters.
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[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 7.
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[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 3.
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[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Cast of Characters.
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