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", and became a "key informant" in Noriega's drug-related prosecution in the United States.[2]
Blandón was a "senior intelligence officer" in Panama[3] 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.
Blandón was Panama's Consul-General in New York when he was dismissed by Noriega in January 1988. 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.[4]
Blandón's 1988 testimony to the US Senate's Kerry Committee included allegations about the Panamanian links to the Iran-Contra affair,[5] [6] [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]