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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. |
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 war against Nicaragua was directed.1
FDN Headquarters
Enrique Bermudez 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 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
Cocaine Trafficking
Danilo Blandon was once stopped at Tegucigalpa airport carrying $100,000 in drug proceeds to be used in a Bolivia 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
Footnotes
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Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 6. ↩︎
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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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Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 3, Ch. 14. ↩︎