Juan C. Vars was one of five Drug Enforcement Administration special agents killed August 27, 1994, in a plane crash during a reconnaissance mission near Santa Lucia, Peru. The mission was part of Operation Snowcap, a cocaine interdiction program in South America. He was 32 years of age at the time of his death.

Special Agent Vars joined DEA's Dallas, Texas Field Division in 1987 and served in the Chicago, Illinois Field Division before returning to Dallas in 1988. After becoming a DEA pilot in 1990, he was reassigned to the San Antonio, Texas District Office in 1991. Special Agent Vars graduated from the New Mexico Military Institute and the University of Texas where he received degrees in political science and Spanish. He was survived by his parents, Ana and William, and his fiancée, Maggie Gillespie. Special Agent Vars was posthumously awarded the DEA Administrator's Award of Honor on May 17, 1995.