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| Iran-Contra |
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Felipe Vidal was a CIA contract agent who proposed creating a private army in Costa Rica to fight the Sandinistas, exemplifying the freelance military operations supporting the Contra war. |
Felipe Vidal was a Central Intelligence Agency contract agent who proposed creating a "small, professionally managed" private army in Costa Rica to fight the Sandinistas in February 1986. Vidal's proposal exemplified the freelance military operations that supplemented the official Contra war effort.1
Private Army Proposal
Vidal proposed a privately funded military force that would operate alongside the Contras, reflecting the entrepreneurial approach to covert warfare that characterized the Reagan administration's approach to Central America. Vidal also approached George Morales with Marcos Aguado to solicit contributions to Eden Pastora's army. Vidal's activities illustrated how CIA-connected operatives moved freely between official operations, private military ventures, and the drug trafficking that funded them.2