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2026-05-17 | 2026-10-28 | Organized Crime |
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Nicaraguan drug trafficker and FDN West Coast branch chief who managed Danilo Blandon's Los Angeles cocaine operations while claiming CIA awareness of his drug activities. |
Ivan Torres was a Nicaragua drug trafficker and FDN official who headed the organization's West Coast branch while managing Danilo Blandon's Los Angeles cocaine operations. He was a brother of Torres Brothers.1
Role in the FDN and Drug Operations
Torres served as Blandón's chief assistant for the L.A. cocaine operations and was identified as head of the West Coast branch of the FDN, which was supplying the Contras with weapons. After the October 1986 raids on Blandón's organization, Torres continued operating without interruption. When the DEA sent Norwin Meneses and a Central Intelligence Agency operative known as "Roberto" to infiltrate Blandón's organization under "Operation Perico" in early 1987, Torres met with them and provided detailed intelligence about the operation.1
CIA Claims
According to DEA debriefing reports of the meetings, Torres claimed to be in contact with Federal Bureau of Investigation and CIA representatives as a result of his FDN involvement. He claimed to have been trained by the CIA in San Bernardino in an area made to resemble Nicaraguan terrain. Torres told Roberto that "CIA representatives are aware of his drug-related activities and that they don't mind. He said they have gone so far as to encourage cocaine traffic by members of the Contras because they know that it is a good source of income. Some of this income has gone into numbered accounts in Europe and Panama." Torres also bragged that the FBI was keeping him fully informed "of any police investigations against Blandón and himself."1
Continuation After Raids
Torres reported that the LASD Major Violators' raids had not interfered with cocaine sales to "Los Angeles black organizations" and had merely caused management changes. Blandón was keeping a low profile and may have turned over distribution to the black market through Jacinto Torres. Torres also warned that the informants who snitched them off "would be killed sometime in the future." Nine months later, FDN member Carlos Rocha was shot five times in the groin and legs in Guatemala but survived. Blandón denied involvement.1
Footnotes
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Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 20: "It is a sensitive matter" ↩︎