Who is the Nicaraguan arms dealer pursued in Call of Duty: Black Ops II?

Raul Menendez is the Nicaraguan arms dealer pursued in Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Menendez is the central antagonist of the campaign, which moves between the 1980s and a near-future conflict in 2025. Alex Mason, Frank Woods and Jason Hudson first encounter him while investigating arms smuggling in Angola and later pursue him through operations connected to Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Panama.

His hatred of the United States is rooted in the death of his sister Josefina during a CIA-backed raid. Woods believes he has killed Menendez, but Menendez survives and builds a worldwide movement called Cordis Die. In the 2025 storyline, he uses cyberwarfare and mass political influence to ignite a new confrontation between global powers.

Jonathan Irons belongs to Advanced Warfare, while Imran Zakhaev and Vladimir Makarov are antagonists from other Modern Warfare stories. Menendez’s identity is also tied to Black Ops II’s branching choices: the player’s decisions can alter his fate and the campaign’s ending.