Introduction:
- One of the more astounding revelations of the recent investigations was the secret 1981 agreement between the Dept. of Justice and the CIA that specifically released the CIA from the requirement that the Agency report any drug-related activities by its agents and operatives to DOJ.
- A group of U.S. Congressmen submitted this documentary history of CIA collusion with drug traffickers into the Congressional Record.
- Volume 2 of the CIA Inspector General’s Report on Contra drug smuggling and CIA complicity was released late last fall (Fall ’98), and is additionally available here with additional commentary here. The CIA’s own Inspector General shows that from the very start of the US-backed war on Nicaragua the CIA knew the Contras were planning to traffic in cocaine into the US. It did nothing to stop the traffic and, when other government agencies began to probe, the CIA impeded their investigations. When Contra money raisers were arrested the Agency came to their aid and retrieved their drug money from the police. So, was the Agency complicit in drug trafficking into Los Angeles and other cities? It is impossible to read Hitz’s report and not conclude that this was the case.
- Gary Webb (author of the Dark Alliance series and book) provides an excellent synopsis of the IG Report’s contents, found here and here.
- The 1980′s CIA collusion with allied drug traffickers lead to the formation of a protected narcotics pipeline, resulting an increase in supply and drop in price. Former DEA agents have repeatedly pointed out that 50%-70% of the cocaine entering the U.S. went via drug cartels that enjoyed CIA protection.
"..Taken alone, one Contra drug ring, that of Rafael Caro Quintero and Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo (two Contra supporters based in Guadalajara, Mexico) were known by DEA to be smuggling four tons A MONTH into the U.S. during the early Contra war. Other operations including Manuel Noriega (a CIA asset, strongman leader of Panama), John Hull (ranch owner and CIA asset, Costa Rica), Felix Rodriguez (Contra supporter, El Salvador), Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros (Honduran Military, Contra supporter, Honduras) along with other elements of the Guatemalan and Honduran military. Cumulatively, the aforementioned CIA assets were concurrently trafficking close to two hundred tons a year or close to 70% of total U.S. consumption. All of these CIA assets have been ascertained as being connected to CIA via public documentation and testimony."
- The CIA Inspector General’s 300 page report holds many revelations; however, it is was originally a 600 page document. Robert Parry (
http://www.consortiumnews.com
) did a story in the Fall of 1998 regarding the omitted sections of the report, particulary concerning a second CIA drug ring (distinct from the one examined in Dark Alliance) in South Central Los Angeles that existed between 1988 and 1991. And according to Parry, there was yet another drug ring in L.A. that remains classified, because it was run by a CIA agent who had participated in the Contra war. It remains classified purportedly because an ongoing CIA investigation devles further into the matter (leaving one to speculate whether the CIA will utter another word about this case).
- Looking back at the past 15 years, illicit cocaine trafficking saw a marked 90% decline in cocaine trafficking and consumption, noticably contemporaneous with the disbandment of the Contras and the end of the CIA’s covert actions against Nicaragua.
- The analysis section of this web delves into the problem of CIA alliances with criminal enterprises, the problem of quid-pro-quo arrangements, and the resulting fallout from such relationships:
"..If U.S. policy entails expanding the realm of U.S. influence, and it has to be done covertly, then the CIA readily opts to forge alliances with regional criminal enterprises. That's the way of covert action and warfare.But for the CIA to gain any level of influence, a quid-pro-quo arrangement is required. In exchange for that criminal enterprise working for the CIA in some capacity, the CIA has to somehow protect or promote a criminal enterprises' interests.Since the market for illicit narcotics is international, and the interests of the CIA is international, then the relationship is inevitable..."
"..It doesn't take a genius to tell you that if specific drug pipelines are protected [by the CIA] from interdiction, the resulting increase in drug volume will see a commensurate increase in drug addiction in the U.S. …”
To read more of this astounding information use this link:
