Early on, he joined Enrique Bermúdez in efforts to start a rebel opposition to the new Sandinista government, a hand-picked choice of the CIA for this position.
Unlike many Contra political leaders, chosen for their ability to woo American Congressmen, he did not speak English.
But when the FDN replaced the triumvirate with a directorate in late 1982, the CIA's hostility forced Sánchez to recede into background roles.
The tight alliance between the three men became known as the "iron triangle," but privately Sánchez felt he came from a more prominent family than Calero and resented serving under him.
He filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, charging that he had been coerced by torture and the withholding of medicine into signing false statements.