# Central American Task Force

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Central American Task Force," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/central-american-task-force/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*CIA unit that led the agency's early-to-mid-1980s effort to overthrow the Sandinista government and support the Contras in Nicaragua. John Kiriakou describes serving as assistant to the unit's head as one of his first, and most controversial, CIA jobs; he denies the accusation that the CIA trained Contra and Salvadoran insurgents to garrote nuns, saying the agency instead worked to stop such atrocities, while acknowledging it was associated with people who did terrible things.*

- **Era:** Early-to-mid 1980s
- **Mission:** Overthrow the Sandinistas; support the Contras in Nicaragua
- **Kiriakou's role:** Assistant to the head of the task force

The **Central American Task Force** was the [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) unit that led the U.S. intelligence community's effort, in the early-to-mid 1980s, to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua and support the Contra rebels — the same era covered by the [Iran-Contra](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-contra) affair.

## Kiriakou's assignment

[John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) says one of his first CIA jobs, and perhaps his most controversial, was serving as assistant to the head of the Central American Task Force.[1]

## The garroting accusation

Kiriakou says the CIA was accused of training insurgents in El Salvador and Contras in Nicaragua to garrote nuns. He denies this, saying the agency was instead trying to stop people from garroting anyone — though he acknowledges the CIA was associated with people doing terrible things during this period.[2]

## See also

- [Iran-Contra](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/iran-contra)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [CIA](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia)

## Sources

1. S1E23 Good Company, Bad Company (2026-04-13), at 08:21. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69d9586aaf4db69e0d056f20/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-13-dead-drop-s1e23-good-company-bad-company/
2. S1E23 Good Company, Bad Company (2026-04-13), at 08:52. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/69d9586aaf4db69e0d056f20/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-04-13-dead-drop-s1e23-good-company-bad-company/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/central-american-task-force/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt