José Isabel Blandón Castillo

José Isabel Blandón Castillo (born c. 1944[1]) was a close adviser to Panama's Dictator Manuel Noriega; he was described in 1988 by The Washington Post as "one of [Noriega's] oldest and closest advisers",[2] and became a "key informant" in Noriega's drug-related prosecution in the United States.[3]

Career

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Blandón was a "senior intelligence officer" in Panama[4] and said in 1988 that as "chief of political intelligence" until 1986 he had had access to classified military intelligence reports, including reports from the US.[5]

Blandón was Panama's Consul-General in New York when he was dismissed by Noriega in January 1988.[2] He had been the author of a so-called "Blandon Plan" which he said Noriega had asked him to devise in mid-1987, on how to transition to a more democratic government, with Noriega stepping down.[2]

Blandón's 1988 testimony to the US Senate's Kerry Committee included allegations about the Panamanian links to the Iran-Contra affair,[6][5][7] and claims that the CIA had aided in covering up the 1985 assassination by Noriega of government critic Hugo Spadafora.[8]

The father of Panamanian legislator José Isabel Blandón Figueroa, his son's disapproval of Blandón's position as a top aide to Manuel Noriega helped push Blandón to defecting.[9]

References

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