Adolfo Calero Portocarrero (December 22, 1931 – June 2, 2012) was a Nicaraguan businessman and the leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force , the largest rebel group of the Contras , opposing the Sandinista government.
7-452: The United Nicaraguan Opposition ( Unidad Nicaragüense Opositora , UNO) was a Nicaraguan rebel umbrella group formed in 1985, led by the triumvirate of Adolfo Calero , Alfonso Robelo , and Arturo Cruz . However, the great majority of UNO's military forces came from Calero's Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), and throughout its two-year existence Robelo and Cruz complained that Calero treated them as figureheads rather than equals. Generally,
14-644: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Adolfo Calero Calero was responsible for managing the bank accounts into which money was deposited and then used to buy supplies and arms for the Contras. He was brought to testify at hearings of the U.S. Congress in May 1987. Calero was born on December 22, 1931, in Managua , to Adolfo Calero Orozco (1899–1980) and María Portocarrero (1911–1944), who had married in 1927. The oldest of four children, he attended
21-602: The CIA backed Calero in these struggles, while Elliott Abrams and the State Department backed Robelo and Cruz. In January 1987, Cruz informed Abrams of his intention to resign. In a bid to prevent this, Abrams pushed Calero into resigning in mid-February, but Cruz left on March 9. With Cruz's resignation, UNO collapsed. It was succeeded by the Nicaraguan Resistance . This Nicaragua -related article
28-688: The US Congress , he became a member of the United Nicaraguan Opposition (UNO) triumvirate with Alfonso Robelo and Arturo Cruz . Calero controlled the FDN through his deputy, Aristides Sánchez , and the Contras' military commander, Enrique Bermúdez , an alliance so tight that it was dubbed the "Iron Triangle." However, there were tensions below the surface. After the Sapoa ceasefire, Calero exploited discontent with Bermudez among
35-697: The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana , where he graduated in 1953, and Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York . In Managua, he managed the Coca-Cola bottling plant. Calero was associated with the Conservative Party of Nicaragua . From 1963, he was an informer for the CIA . Before the 1979 overthrow of the government of Anastasio Somoza , he was briefly imprisoned under
42-928: The FDN's field commanders in an effort to push him out. Heavy-handed intervention by the CIA helped to crush that effort. Later, however, other commanders, with the blessing of the US State Department , ousted both their political and military leadership. On July 26, 2011, he published his book, Cronicas de un Contra , which narrates his participation during the 1980s in Nicaragua. Calero married Maria Ernestina Lacayo on December 7, 1957. The couple had two children, Myriam (b. 1958) and Adolfo (1960–1994). Calero has three grandchildren. He had three younger siblings: Myriam (b. 1933-2018) Mario (1935–1993) and Martha (b. 1943). Calero died in Managua , on June 2, 2012, from complications from pneumonia and kidney failure . He
49-604: The Somoza government, which gave credibility to his claim to have opposed both Somoza and the Sandinistas. In early 1983, he joined the political directorate of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN). By October he became its president, but many observers wondered about his real power because of the political wing's weak control over the military wing. In a bid to unify contra factions and win aid from
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