Adolfo Calero
Adolfo Calero Portocarrero is a Nicaraguan businessman and politician who became a leading figure in the US-backed Contra rebellion of the 1980s.[1]
According to the CIA's account, Calero was active in the opposition to dictator Anastasio Somoza, who was overthrown by the Sandinistas in 1979.[2]
According to US embassy officials, Calero initially sought to work with the new Sandinista National Liberation Front government. However, by late 1980, he had publicly criticised the Sandinistas.[3]
Calero left the country in December 1982 and joined the leadership of the opposition Nicaraguan Democratic Force. In January 1983, he travelled to Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia in search of support.[4]
Calero later became president and Commander in Chief of the FDN, the main Contra group of the 'Northern Front' operating out of Honduras.[5]
In an effort to unify the Contra forces, Calero joined Arturo Cruz and Alfonso Robelo in the leadership triumvirate of the United Nicaraguan Opposition, formed in mid-1985.[6]
Disputes with Robelo and Cruz led Calero to resign from the UNO leadership in early 1987. He went on to become a leading figure in the Nicaraguan Resistance (RN) formed in May that year.[7]
In February 1988, amid press reports of Contra drug-trafficking, a [[CIA] cable informed Headquarters a "Nicaraguan exile had alleged at a meeting in Miami, Florida, that Enrique Bermudez, Adolfo Calero, Aristides Sanchez, and another individual were all involved in drug smuggling."[8]
The CIA described its response as follows:
- According to a February 1988 Headquarters cable, CIA records were searched in February 1988 regarding the Nicaraguan exile in response to his allegations that Calero and other UNO/FDN leaders had engaged in drug smuggling. The cable indicated that a number of sources characterized him as unstable, a swindler and as having a reputation of being a drug dealer in Nicaragua before leaving that country in 1983.[9]
According to the CIA information about this allegation was forwarded to the FBI but not reported to Congress.[10]
External Resources
- CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- History Commons Adolfo Calero
- Sourcewatch Adolfo Calero Portocarrero
Affiliations
Notes
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
- ↑ CIA Northern Front Contras: The Contra Story, 26 April 2007.
