The story attracted hundreds of thousands of readers to the newspapers site at a time when going viral was still a twinkle in the Internets eye. Many Gls in Vietnam became addicts. Calling the Post's overall focus "misplaced", Overholser expressed regret that the paper had not taken the opportunity to re-examine whether the CIA had overlooked Contra involvement in drug smuggling, "a subject The Post and the public had given short shrift. . At least four transport companies under investigation for drug trafficking received US govemment contracts to carry non-lethal supplies to the contras. The series ran from October 2022, 1996, and was researched by a team of 17 reporters. In 1986, the Reagan Administration acknowledged that funds from cocaine When Blandn testified in a 1996 trial against Ricky Ross, the Justice Department blocked any inquiry about Blandns connection to the CIA. [5] First recruited by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in 1959, Noriega becomes an invaluable asset for the CIA when he takes charge of Panama's intelligence service after the 1968 military coup, providing services for U.S. covert operations and facilitating the use of Panama as the center of U.S. intelligence gathering in Latin America. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), the CIA's parent and sister organizations, cultivate relations with the leaders of the Italian Mafia, recruiting heavily from the New York and Chicago underworlds, whose members, including Charles `Lucky' Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Joe Adonis, and Frank Costello, help the agencies keep in touch with Sicilian Mafia leaders exiled by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. According to the series, Ross was a major drug dealer in Los Angeles, and Blandn and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. and supplied dealers like Ross. Become Member of The contras provided both protection and infrastructure (planes, pilots, airstrips, warehouses, front companies, and banks) to these CIA-linked drug networks. Accusations that the CIA protected some of Mexico's leading drug traffickers in exchange for their financial support of the Contras are leveled by government witnesses at the trials of Camarena's accused killers. WebThis entry gives information on the five categories of illicit drugs - narcotics, stimulants, depressants (sedatives), hallucinogens, and cannabis. 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. Honduran businessman Eugenio Molina Osorio is arrested in Lubbock Texas for supplying $90,000 worth of cocaine to DEA agents. 6 ], Ceppos ' column drew editorial responses from both the New York Times and the cocaine.. 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Ruppert explained that he met with Sadler and another FBI agent and told them his allegations and his theory concerning the CIA involvement in drug
Domestically, the aim is to prevent sabotage on East Coast ports, while in Italy the goal is to gain intelligence on Sicily prior to the allied invasions and to suppress the burgeoning Italian Communist Party. Citing existing federal policy on narcotics enforcement, Smith wrote: "In light of these provisions and in view of the fine cooperation the Drug Enforcement Administration has received from CIA, no formal requirement regarding the reporting of narcotics violations has been included in these procedures. In a long review of the series' claims in The Baltimore Sun, Weinberg said: "I think the critics have been far too harsh.

Box 702, Monroe, Maine, 04951, Comment on Global Research Articles on our Facebook page, Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). CIA-supplied trucks and mules that had carried arms into Afghanistan were used to transport opium to laboratories along the Afghan-Pakistan border. Magazines, Digital Books and investigations on the subject that have received general notice include works by the historian Alfred McCoy, professor Dale Scott, journalists Gary Webb and Alexander Cockburn, and writer Larry Collins.

[56] In 1986, the agreement was modified to require the CIA to stop paying agents who it believed were involved in the drug trade. [34], Ceppos' column drew editorial responses from both The New York Times and The Washington Post. _uacct = "UA-3263347-1"; He concluded: "How did these shortcomings occur? The Mercury News Web page, with supporting documents and updates, received hundreds of thousands of hits a day. Like the CIA and Justice Department reports, it also found that neither Blandn, Meneses, nor Ross were associated with the CIA. The output provided up to one-half of the heroin used annually in the United States and three-quarters of that used in Western Europe. Representative Maxine Waters, a congresswoman for South Central Los Angeles the heart of the drug wars requested both federal and congressional inquiries into the role that the U.S. government played in bringing cocaine into her community. In 1986, the Agency added some more names to its payroll by creating a new Haitian organization, the National Intelligence Service (SIN).

US officials admitted in 1990 that they had failed to investigate or take action against the drug operabon because of a desire not to offend their Pakistani and Afghan allies. When Senate investigators later asked the Justice Department to explain this unusual turn of events, they ran into a wall of secrecy. [49], According to the report, the Inspector-General's office (OIG) examined all information the agency had "relating to CIA knowledge of drug trafficking allegations in regard to any person directly or indirectly involved in Contra activities." In 1980, amidst several mysterious deaths, the bank collapsed, $50 million in debt. The three articles in the series were written by four reporters: Jesse Katz, Doyle McManus, John Mitchell, and Sam Fulwood. Cocaine-laden planes flew to Florida, Texas, Louisiana and other locations, including several militarv bases Designated as Contra Craft, these shipments were not to be inspected. Ceppos said that the paper did not have proof that top CIA officials knew about the connection between the L.A. drug trade and the contras. At least four transport companies under investigation for drug trafficking received U.S. government contracts to carry nonlethal supplies to the contras. U.S. officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war efforts against Nicaragua. From August 1820, 1996, the San Jose Mercury News published the Dark Alliance series by Gary Webb,[15][16] which claimed: For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. (G)overnments themselves, and the links they develop with major traffickers, are the key both to the drug-trafficking problem and to its solution, he explained. In addition to those servicing the Meneses-Blandon operation (detailed by the Mercury News) and Noriegas operation, there was CIA operative John Hull, whose farms along Costa Ricas border with Nicaragua were the main staging area for the contras. Six weeks after the declassified and heavily censored first volume of the CIA report was made public, Inspector General Frederick Hitz testified before a House congressional committee. of his actions.

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(In 1982, the DEA learned that Felix Gallardo was moving $20 million a month through a single Bank of America account, but it could not get the CIA to cooperate with its investigation.) "[57], This agreement, which had not previously been revealed, came at a time when there were allegations that the CIA was using drug dealers in its controversial covert operation to bring down the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The series unleashed a storm of protest, spearheaded by black radio stations and the congressional Black Caucus, with demands for official inquiries. WebFrom its very inception, the CIA has been embroiled in the murky underworld of drug trafficking. [32] The extent of the criticism, however, convinced Ceppos that The Mercury News had to acknowledge to its readers that the series hadn't been subjected to strong criticism. The San Jose Mercury News series documents just one thread of the interwoven operations linking the CIA, the contras, and the cocaine cartels.

But the director of the Drug Enforcement Agency initially praised him for his vigorous anti-drug trafficking policy. It only concluded that the State Department gave money to companies with the intent of helping the Contras that were involved in drug trafficking. By developing a system for supply of the Contras, the US built a road for drug supply into the US. Agency operatives help the Mafia seize total power in Sicily and it sends money to heroin-smuggling Corsican mobsters in Marseille to assist in their battle with Communist unions for control of the city's docks. ", Many follow-ups to the original series published over the next three months are in the series archive at. The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, chaired at the time by Senator John Kerry, held a series of hearings from 1987 to 1988 on drug cartels and drug money laundering in South and Central America and the Caribbean. When he became de facto dictator of Panama in 1984, little changed. urchinTracker(). Because the CIA believed Miranda was in the United States It found that Blandn received permanent resident status "in a wholly improper manner" and that for some time the Department "was not certain whether to prosecute Meneses, or use him as a cooperating witness." WebOne of the biggest connections between the CIA and Crack Cocaine lies in a single individual, Freeway Ricky Ross, a drug trafficker from LA, who sold up to $3 million worth of cocaine a day during his height, and namesake of rapper Rick Ross. GlobalResearch Center for Research on Globalization. WebCIA has had a solid rule against being involved in drug trafficking. in Central America", United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, "Key Figures In CIA-Crack Cocaine Scandal Begin To Come Forward", The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Report of Investigation Concerning Allegations of Connections Between CIA and The Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States, Central Intelligence Agency Office of the Inspector General, Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras, And The Crack Cocaine Explosion, "PBS Frontline: Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories & the C.I.A. WebDrug trafficking is a global illicit trade involving the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Global Research He wrote that the huge influx of cocaine happened to come at just the time that street-level drug dealers were figuring out how to make cocaine affordable by changing it into crack. [30] Ceppos also asked reporter Pete Carey to write a critique of the series for publication in The Mercury News, and had the controversial website artwork changed. WebThe involvement of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in cocaine trafficking in Central America during the Reagan Administration as part of the Contra On talk radio and in the street, others have taken those charges further--alleging that the CIA was directly, and deliberately, involved in drug trafficking. U.S. officials, including then-CIA Director William Webster and several DEA officers, sent Noriega letters of praise for efforts to thwart drug trafficking (albeit only against competitors of his Medelln cartel patrons). A Russian man accused of trying to smuggle about 900 pounds of cocaine from Argentina to Russia said the CIA was behind the massive drug-trafficking operation and that he has been set up. In each case, one or another agency of the U.S. government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter. In each case, one or another agency of the U.S. govemment had intormation regarding the involvement either while it was occurring, or immediately thereafter. Still, Webbs reputation as an investigative journalist was tarnished. . A diplomatic row has frozen U.S.-Mexican efforts to target drug cartels. While working to keep key Haitian military and political leaders in power, the CIA turned a blind eye to their clients' drug trafficking. The full story of how Cold War politics and U.S. covert operations fueled a heroin boom in the Golden Triangle breaks when Yale University doctoral student Alfred McCoy publishes his ground-breaking study, The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia. The Justice Department, however, freed Blandn after only 28 months behind bars and then hired him as a full-time DEA informant, paying him more than $166,000. And I know so because I was told by some of these pilots that in fact they had done that."[54]. A design-driven short about the CIA's involvement in drug trafficking during Iran Contra. (see June 1985) Matta's air transport firm, SETCO, receives $186,000 from the U.S. State Department to fly `humanitarian supplies' to the Nicaraguan Contras from 1983 to 1985. [29] The Post ultimately refused to print his letter. [29] Carey's critique appeared in mid-October and went through several of the Post criticisms of the series, including the importance of Blandn's drug ring in spreading crack, questions about Blandn's testimony in court, and how specific series allegations about CIA involvement had been, giving Webb's responses. Webb conducted a year-long investigation during which he discovered that a San Francisco-based drug ring, which had ties to a CIA-sponsored Nicaraguan contra group called the FDN, sold cocaine to a dealer in South Central Los Angeles. [22], In early October, 1996, a front-page article in The Washington Post[23] by reporters Roberto Suro and Walter Pincus, argued that "available information" did not support the series's claims, and that "the rise of crack" was "a broad-based phenomenon" driven in numerous places by diverse players. 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 third article, by Mitchell and Fulwood, covered the effects of crack on African Americans and how it affected their reaction to some of the rumors that arose after the Dark Alliance series. John E. Newhagen, "Commander Zero blasts CIA, State Department", John Lichfield and Tim Cornwell, "'America has fought the wrong war': Did US policy in central America in the 1980s assist the growth of the Colombian cocaine cartels? This support "was not directed by anyone within the Contra movement who had an association with the CIA," and the Committee found "no evidence that the CIA or the Intelligence Community was aware of these individuals' support. Brian Barger and Robert Parry, "Reports Link Nicaraguan Rebels to Cocaine Trafficking". Their silence not only serves to maintain public support for the Mujahedeen, it also smooths relations with Pakistan, whose leaders, deeply implicated in the heroin trade, help channel CIA support to the Afghan rebels. Did CIA intervene or otherwise play a role in any investigative or judicial processes involving the drug trafficking activities of Ross, Blandon or Meneses?

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. [6], In 1984, U.S. officials began receiving reports of Contra cocaine trafficking. ), For more than a decade, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was a highly paid CIA asset and collaborator, despite knowledge by U.S. drug authorities as early as 1971 that the general was heavily involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. 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. "Report on Alleged Involvement: Findings" 43. 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. In 1986, the Agency added some more names to its payroll by creating a new Haitian organization, the National Intelligence Service (SIN). "[44], Ceppos noted that Webb did not agree with these conclusions. WebThe U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War led to a boost in heroin being smuggled into the United States between the years 1965-1970. The San Jose Mercury News series documents just one thread of the interwoven operations linking the CIA, the contras and the cocaine cartels. [35], The Post response came from the paper's ombudsman, Geneva Overholser. "https://ssl." The US repeatedly thwarted Costa Rican efforts to extradite Hull back to Costa Rica to stand trial. Senior U S policy makers were nit 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). [58] According to the report, it used Webb's reporting and writing as "key resources in focusing and refining the investigation." Former Panamanian deputy health minister Dr. Hugo Spadafora, who had fought with the Contra army, outlined charges of cocaine trafficking to a prominent Panamanian official. With benign names such as Project Artichoke and Project Chatter, these projects continue through the 1960s, with hundreds of unwitting test subjects given various drugs, including LSD. New chapters detail U.S. involvement in the narcotics trade in Afghanistan and Pakistan before and after the fall of the Taliban, and how U.S. drug policy in Central America and Colombia has increased the global supply of illicit drugs. (The most comprehensive allegations were reported by Gary Webb in a series of San Jose Mercury News reports and a book entitled "Dark Alliance.") "[1], The charges of CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking were revived in 1996, when a newspaper series by reporter Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News claimed that the trafficking had played an important role in the creation of the crack cocaine drug problem in the United States. The U.S. government only turned against Noriega, invading Panama in December 1989 and kidnapping the general, once they discovered he was providing intelligence and services to the Cubans and Sandinistas. The OSS and ONI also work closely with Chinese gangsters who control vast supplies of opium, morphine and heroin, helping to establish the third pillar of the post-world War II heroin trade in the Golden Triangle, the border region of Thailand, Burma, Laos and China's Yunnan Province. WebThe CIA Was Behind a Massive Drug Trafficking Operation in Argentina, Russian Drug Smuggler Claims. I believe that we fell short at every step of our process: in the writing, editing and production of our work. "[52], The report also stated that former DEA agent Celerino Castillo alleged that during the 1980s, Ilopango Airport in El Salvador was used by Contras for drug smuggling flights, and "his attempts to investigate Contra drug smuggling were stymied by DEA management, the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, and the CIA". By this time, U.S. Senate investigators had found that `the United States had received substantial information about criminal involvement of top Panamanian officials for nearly twenty years and done little to respond.

These included CIA assets, pilots who ferried supplies to the Contras, as well as Contra officials and others. The U.S. government only turned against Noriega, invading Panama in December 1989 and kidnapping the general once they discovered he was providing intelligence and services to the Cubans and Sandinistas. In 1980, amidst several mysterious deaths, the bank collapsed, $50 million in debt. WebThe CIA was totally not involved in drug trafficking, I swear! WebCentral Intelligence Agency Involvement with the Contras Chronology of Key Developments Related to the Contra War Cocaine Flows through Central America in the 1980s Results of Previous Investigations into Alleged Contra Drug Trafficking FINDINGS Was CIA involved in the California-based drug trafficking of Ricky Was the drug trafficking of Ross, Blandon or Meneses linked to CIA or Contra activities?

Attorneys' Offices. The Subcommittee's final report, issued in 1989, said that Contra drug links included: According to the report, the U.S. State Department paid over $806,000 to "four companies owned and operated by narcotics traffickers" to carry humanitarian assistance to the Contras.[1]. While working to keep key Haitian military and political leaders in power, the CIA turned a blind eye to their clients' drug trafficking. A laboratory built at CIA headquarters in northern Laos was used to refine heroin. Among its officers were a network of U.S. generals, admirals, and CIA menincluding former CIA Director William Colby, who was also one of its lawyers. The next year, he published a book titled Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion detailing his own reporting process and the controversy the series provoked. WebAt least four transport companies under investigation for drug trafficking received US government contracts to carry non-lethal supplies to the contras.

The CIA has a long history of being involved in global drug trade in all parts of the world under the control of the US or where it has considerable influence.

Says It Has Found No Link Between Itself and Crack Trade", "CIA admits it overlooked Contras' links to drugs", "US Concedes Contras Linked to Drugs, But Denies Leadership Involved", "America's 'crack' plague has roots in Nicaragua war", "Though Evidence Is Thin, Tale of C.I.A. In fact, a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee corroborated this claim that the CIA actively supported Contra groups. While working to keep key Haitian military and political leaders in power, the CIA turned a blind eye to their clients drug trafficking. By the end of September, three federal investigations had been announced: an investigation into the CIA allegations conducted by CIA Inspector-General Frederick Hitz, an investigation into the law enforcement allegations by Justice Department Inspector-General Michael Bromwich, and a second investigation into the CIA by the House Intelligence Committee. and Drugs Has a Life of Its Own", "Los Angeles Sherrif's Department Inquiry Findings", "Pivotal Figures of Newspaper Series May Be Only Bit Players", "Tracking the Genesis of the Crack Trade", "Examining Charges of CIA Role in Crack Sales", "History Fuels Outrage Over Crack Allegations", "Mercury News Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos' Letter to the Washington Post", "Washington Post response to Mercury News Executive Editor Jerry Ceppos", "Despite critics, a good story Crack and the contras", "To readers of our 'Dark Alliance' series", "THE CIA-CONTRA-CRACK COCAINE CONTROVERSY: A REVIEW OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT'S INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS", "CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy: Epilogue", "CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy: Conclusions", Central Intelligence Agency Office of Inspector General, "Central Intelligence Agency Inspector General Report of Investigation Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States (96-0143-IG) Volume I: The California Story", "Central Intelligence Agency Inspector General Report of Investigation Allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States (96-0143-IG) Volume II: The Contra Story", "Frontline: Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories & the C.I.A. However, during the Contra era, CIA worked with a variety of people to support the Contra program. WebAt least four transport companies under investigation for drug trafficking received U.S. government contracts to carry nonlethal supplies to the contras. DEA agent Enrique `Kiki' Camerena is kidnapped and murder in Mexico. According to the report, "Twelve American, Nicaraguan and Cuban-American rebel backers interviewed by The Associated Press said they had been questioned over the past several months [about contra cocaine trafficking] by the FBI. The first article, by Katz, developed a different picture of the origins of the crack trade than Dark Alliance had described, with more gangs and smugglers participating. Once you set up a covert operation to supply arms and money, it's very difficult to separate it from the kind of people who are involved in other forms of trade, and especially drugs. Shortly after, a letter from CIA headquarters is sent to the judge, and the case is dismissed. In 1974, Sicilia's top aide, Jose Egozi, a CIA-trained intelligence officer and Bay of Pigs veteran, reportedly lined up agency support for a right-wing plot to overthrow the Portuguese government. [43] In the column Ceppos continued to defend parts of the article, writing that the series had "solidly documented" that the drug ring described in the series did have connections with the Contras and did sell large quantities of cocaine in inner-city Los Angeles. www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Southern Air Transport, . There is a limited number of planes, pilots and landing strips.

", In contrast, the series received support from Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors.

But, Ceppos wrote, the series "did not meet our standards" in four areas. [20] Maxine Waters, the Representative for California's 35th district, which includes South-Central Los Angeles, was also outraged by the articles and became one of Webb's strongest supporters.

Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, drug money laundering in South and Central America, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Communications and International Economic Policy, Trade, Oceans, and Environment of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, "C.I.A. Several also said they supplied information about the smuggling to U.S. Manuel Antonio Noriega goes on the CIA payroll. After being repelled from China with heavy losses, the KMT settles down with local population and organizes and expands the opium trade from Burma and Northern Thailand. The general is rewarded handsomely for his services in support of Contras forces in Nicaragua during the 1980s, collecting $200,000 from the CIA in 1986 alone.

After the series' publication, the Northern California branch of the national Society of Professional Journalists had voted Webb "Journalist of the Year" for 1996. By 1972, the KMT controls 80 percent of the Golden Triangle's opium trade. In fact, the 25-year DEA veteran maintains the agency actively abetted cocaine trafficking in Bolivia, where government official who sought to combat traffickers faced `torture and death at the hands of CIA-sponsored paramilitary terrorists under the command of fugitive Nazi war criminal (also protected by the CIA) Klaus Barbie. Guatemala, whose military intelligence serviceclosely associated with the CIAharbored many drug traffickers, according to the DEA, was another way station along the cocaine highway. [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 kilograms (220lb) cocaine shipment and that the money would go 'for the cause' of fighting the Nicaraguan government." A 1996 Peter Dale Scott affidavit on CIA drugs trafficking explained his research into longstanding US government involvement. Carlos Cabezas, convicted of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, said that the profits from his crimes "belonged to the Contra revolution." Even sources who are routinely skeptical of the official line on the contras agree that the idea that the agency was behind drug smuggling by the contras is fantasy, journalist Eliane Shannon, who covered the war on drugs, told TIME shortly after the Mercury New ran the articles. [This drug ring] opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles [and, as a result,] the cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America.[17].

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