The sanctuary that Cuba provides to drug traffick- ers complicates drug-enforcement efforts in the Caribbean: - Vessels carrying drugs from South America to the United States frequently use Cuban waters to avoid interdiction, with and without official Cuban sanction. [33], The Honduran drug lord Juan Matta-Ballesteros was the owner of SETCO, an airline which the Nicaraguan Contras used to covertly transport military supplies and personnel in the early 1980s. [31], The 2014 movie Kill the Messenger depicted actor Jeremy Renner as Gary Webb. Among its officers were a network of US generals, admirals and CIA men, including former CIA Director William Colby, who was also one of its lawyers. One described the series' evidence as "thin";[19] the second, citing interviews with current and former intelligence and law-enforcement officials, questioned the importance of the drug dealers discussed in the series, both in the crack cocaine trade and in supporting the Nicaraguan Contras' fight against the Sandinista government. [58] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." Webb's series led to three federal investigations, all of which concluded there was no evidence of a conspiracy by CIA officials or its employees to bring drugs into the United States. Senior U S policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras funding problems. (Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy, a Report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and Intemational Operations, 1989). Blandn and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. and supplied dealers like Ross. "[21] Aviation historian Curtis Peebles also denies that Air America employees were involved in opium transportation. [2] Investigation by the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, Central Intelligence Agency Office of Inspector General, and United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence rejected the main charges. Air America, a CIA front organization, was the only airline available in northern Laos. The series ran from October 2022, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. The members of the unit were known to torture Aristide supporters, and threatened to kill the local head of . There are instances where CIA did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity or take action to resolve the allegations. [7], In 1985, another Contra leader "told U.S. authorities that his group was being paid $50,000 by Colombian traffickers for help with a 100-kilo cocaine shipment and that the money would go 'for the cause' of fighting the Nicaraguan government." Three officials told journalists that they considered these reports "reliable." After a decade of American military intervention, Southeast Asia had become the source of 70 percent of the worlds illicit opium and the major supplier of raw materials for Americas booming heroin market. Every part of the process involved . ", "I know specifically that some of the CIA contract workers, meaning some of the pilots, in fact were bringing drugs into the U.S. and landing some of these drugs in government military air bases. U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Miami and New York City experienced a rise in crime and disease. [45] This was reported in 2008 by The New York Times. The show explores long-simmering accusations of the CIA's involvement in drug trafficking, including that the agency may have sponsored Rick Ross and scar Danilo Blandn, the Los Angeles wholesaler and his Nicaraguan supplier who helped spark the crack epidemic in the 1980s. These tribesmen continued to grow, as they had for generations, the opium poppy. It is portrayed in the movie Air America. [8][9][10] A judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida found that the plaintiffs "made no showing of existence of genuine issues of material fact" and ordered the Christic Institute to pay over $1 million in attorneys fees and court costs. search query for foia err: -a a + aa a + a. laotian official involvement in drug trafficking A number of writers have alleged that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in the Nicaraguan Contras' cocaine trafficking operations during the 1980s Nicaraguan civil war. In Costa Rica, which served as the Southern Front for the contras (Honduras being the Northern Front), there were several different CIA-contra networks involved in drug trafficking. CIA and Drug Trafficking Drug Trafficking in Recent Years Drug trafficking in the United States dates back to the 19th century. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported back in 2015 thatheroin use in the United States increased 63% from 2002 through 2013.Fast forward to 2016, heroin is sweeping across the United States at unprecedented levels. [40] Because Venezuela does not extradite its citizens, Guillen was not tried in the U.S., but his civilian aide was arrested while in the United States and sentenced to 20 years. [51], In the 623rd paragraph, the report described a cable from the CIA's Directorate of Operations dated October 22, 1982, describing a prospective meeting between Contra leaders in Costa Rica for "an exchange in [the United States] of narcotics for arms, which then are shipped to Nicaragua. BNDD agents immediately felt the impact of the CIA's involvement in drug law enforcement operations within the United States. [51], It found nothing to support the claim that "the drug trafficking activities of Blandn and Meneses were motivated by any commitment to support the Contra cause or Contra activities undertaken by CIA." [42] McCoy alleges that the CIA protects local warlords and incentivizes them to become drug lords. It goes back much further than Iran/Contra, it goes back at least to the war in Vietnam. Ironically drug trafficking through Panama increased after the US invasion. According to Tim Weiner, the Central Intelligence Agency "has been accused of forming alliances of convenience with drug traffickers around the world in the name of anti-Communism" since its creation in 1947.[1]. And in return, large shipments of narcotics flowed . The US repeatedly thwarted Costa Rican efforts to extradite Hull back to Costa Rica to stand trial. A 1985 National Intelligence Estimate revealed cocaine trafficking links to a top commander working under Contra leader Edn Pastora. CIA supplied trucks and mules, which had carried arms into Afghanistan, were used to transport opium to laboratories along the Afghan Pakistan border. In 1979 the Sandanistas overthrew Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Debayle. Each is closely examined in terms of their relationship with CIA, the drug trafficking activity that was alleged, the actions CIA took in response to the allegations, and the extent of information concerning the allegations that was Shared with U.S. law enforcement and Congress. And my brother is the last major obstacle to them in the south. According to unnamed sources in the mid 1980s, the CIA created a unit in Haiti, whose purported purpose was anti-drug activity, but was in reality "used as an instrument of political terror", and was heavily involved in drug trafficking. The series alleged that the three had relationships with the Contras and the CIA, and that law enforcement agencies failed to successfully prosecute them largely due to their Contra and CIA connections. Five American Contra supporters who worked with the rebels confirmed the charges, noting that "two Cuban-Americans used armed rebel troops to guard cocaine at clandestine airfields in northern Costa Rica. In 1976, CIA Director George Bush pays Noriega $110,000 for his services, even though as early as 1971 U.S. officials agents had evidence that he was deeply involved in drug trafficking. In his book "Politics of Heroin",[43] McCoy alleges CIA complicity in the global drug trade in Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America, and Colombia, arguing that the CIA follows a similar pattern in all their drug involvement. [41] The editors met with Webb several times in February to discuss the results of the paper's internal review and eventually decided to print neither Carey's draft article nor the articles Webb had filed. In a long review of the series' claims in The Baltimore Sun, Weinberg said: "I think the critics have been far too harsh. Scheme", Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities 1976, Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Inspector General, Investigations Staff, "Suit Alleging Plot by Contras, CIA Dismissed: Arms-Drug Smuggling, Conspiracy Charges Unproven, Judge Says", "Christic Institute Ordered to Pay $1 Million", "Court lets stand $1 million award against Christic Institute", "The CIA Drug Connection Is as Old as the Agency", The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, "Frontline: Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories & the C.I.A. Julio Zavala, also convicted on trafficking charges, said "that he supplied $500,000 to two Costa Rican-based Contra groups and that the majority of it came from cocaine trafficking in the San Francisco Bay area, Miami and New Orleans. The late Chalmers Johnson said its existence "shorten (s) the life of the American republic." Its function of covert operations is by definition illegal and therefore requires secret funding. When the failed plan came to light, the CIA officer in charge of the operation resigned, and his supervisor was transferred. These included CIA assets, pilots who ferried supplies to the Contras, as well as Contra officials and others. An example of drug trafficking is someone making methamphetamines in his basement. Participation of narcotics traffickers in Contra supply operations through business relationships with Contra organizations. The contras provided both protection and infrastructure (planes, pilots, airstrips, warehouses, front companies and banks) to these CIA-linked drug networks. Hull and other CIA-connected contra supporters and pilots teamed up with George Morales, a major Miami-based Colombian drug trafficker who later admitted to giving $3 million in cash and several planes to contra leaders. The second article described Blandns background and how he began smuggling cocaine to support the Contras. These claims have led to investigations by the United States government, including hearings and reports by the United States House of Representatives, Senate, Department of Justice, and the CIA's Office of the Inspector General. The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross testimony in the corruption case. Books and investigations on the subject that have received general notice include works by the historian Alfred McCoy, professor and diplomat Peter Dale Scott, journalists Gary Webb and Alexander Cockburn, and writer Larry Collins. [36] Overholser was harshly critical of the series, "reported by a seemingly hotheaded fellow willing to have people leap to conclusions his reporting couldn't back up." These labs were run by Corsican gang leader Paul Carbone. A two-year investigation produced a 1,166-page report in 1989 analyzing the involvement of Contra groups and supporters in drug trafficking, and the role of United States government officials in these activities. [42] Webb was allowed to keep working on the story and made one more trip to Nicaragua in March. Illegal money and weapons flowed in from North's backroom cowboys in the White House basement as well as from four fronts which were set up by the State Department. Bush lost patience with his brutal, drug . The Central Intelligence Agency has involved itself in drug trafficking since the spy agency was formed in 1947, journalist and political analyst Stephen Lendman claims. Now the question is why heroin use has dramatically increased since 2002? CIA drug trafficking. The main-stream media (MSM) establishment mouthpiece The Washington Post admitted in 2006 that heroin production in Afghanistan broke all records while under U.S. occupation: Opium production in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 percent of the worlds heroin, broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported yesterday. [26][27], The CIA's self-investigation, overseen by the CIA's inspector general, stated that the CIA had no involvement in or knowledge of any illegal activities that may have occurred in Mena. [19][15] McCoy stated that: In most cases, the CIA's role involved various forms of complicity, tolerance or studied ignorance about the trade, not any direct culpability in the actual trafficking [t]he CIA did not handle heroin, but it did provide its drug lord allies with transport, arms, and political protection. Theonline news sourceThe Huffington Postpublished an article titledRon Paul Had Accurate Conspiracy Theory: CIA Was Tied To Drug Traffickershighlights what the former Libertarian Presidential nominee Dr. Ron Paul said on the involvement of the CIA in the drug trade which was not aConspiracy Theorybut a fact when taking into consideration the Iran-Contra Scandal: Drug trafficking is a gold mine for people who want to raise money in the underground government in order to finance projects that they cant get legitimately. Brian Barger and Robert Parry, "Reports Link Nicaraguan Rebels to Cocaine Trafficking". In the interviews, some covering several days and being conducted in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado and California, several of the Contra backers told AP of firsthand knowledge of cocaine trafficking. These factors, rather than anything as spectacular as a systematic effort by the CIA or any other intelligence agency to protect the drug trafficking activities of Contra supporters, determined what occurred in the cases we examined. However, not only heroin from Afghanistan is the major source for U.S. citizens,BigPharma,or thecorporate drug dealerswho selllegal drugsalso have a hand in the epidemic because they produce and sellOpioidssuch asOxyContinandPercocetwhich is similar to heroin. [34], Ceppos' column drew editorial responses from both The New York Times and The Washington Post. But while calling the flaws in the series "unforgivably careless journalism," Overholser also criticized the Post's refusal to print Ceppos' letter defending the series and sharply criticized the Post's coverage of the story. While a few cases have been investigated and exposed by journalists, the issue continues to remain in the shadows. 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