23 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
23 lines
2 KiB
Markdown
---
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category: "City"
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tags:
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- geography
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- central-america
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- contra-war
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summary: Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, was the headquarters of the FDN Contra army and a key operational center for CIA-backed covert operations during the 1980s.
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---
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Tegucigalpa, the capital of [[Honduras]], was the headquarters of the [[FDN]] Contra army and a key operational center for [[Central Intelligence Agency]]-backed covert operations during the 1980s. The city served as the political and military base from which the [[Contras|Contra]] war against [[Nicaragua]] was directed.[^1]
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### FDN Headquarters
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[[Enrique Bermudez|Enrique Bermúdez]] was persuaded to move his Legion of September 15 from [[Guatemala]] to Tegucigalpa as part of a CIA-arranged merger in August 1981 that created the FDN. The Contra army maintained its headquarters in the city, coordinating military operations, weapons shipments, and political activities. [[Fernando Chamorro|"El Negro" Chamorro]] operated from the Cuban-owned Hacienda El Pescado outside Tegucigalpa. The city's proximity to the Nicaraguan border made it the natural staging ground for cross-border attacks.[^2]
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### Cocaine Trafficking
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[[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]] was once stopped at Tegucigalpa airport carrying $100,000 in drug proceeds to be used in a [[Bolivia|Bolivian]] drug deal while escorted by armed Contras. The incident illustrated how Honduras functioned as both a military base for the Contra army and a transit point for the drug trafficking that funded it. SETCO, owned by Honduran drug kingpin [[Juan Matta Ballesteros]], was based in the country and served as the principal air transport company for the FDN.[^3]
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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. Ch. 6.
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[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 6, Ch. 5.
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[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 3, Ch. 14.
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