Air America, a CIA front organization, was the only airline available in northern Laos. [30] In May 1997, The Mercury News executive editor Jerry Ceppos, who had approved the series, published a column that acknowledged shortcomings in the series reporting, editing, and production, while maintaining the story was correct "on many important points. The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and The Washington Post launched their own investigations and rejected Webb's allegations. Before the creation of the CIA in 1947, Allen Dulles assembled the Flying Tigers, an inner clique within the Office of Strategic Services . When the failed plan came to light, the CIA officer in charge of the operation resigned, and his supervisor was transferred. 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. [23], During a PBS Frontline investigation, DEA field agent Hector Berrellez said, "I believe that elements working for the CIA were involved in bringing drugs into the country. His articles asserted that the CIA was aware of the cocaine transactions and the large shipments of drugs into the U.S. by the Contra personnel and directly aided drug dealers to raise money for the Contras. With branches in Saudi Arabia, Europe, Southeast Asia, South America and the U.S., Nugan Hand Bank financed drug trafficking, money laundering and international arms dealings. [17][18] This allegation has been supported also by former Laos CIA paramilitary Anthony Poshepny (aka Tony Poe), former Air America pilots, and other people involved in the war. U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Miami and New York City experienced a rise in crime and disease. 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. EARLY COMPLICITY IN DRUG TRAFFICKING THE OSS: FORERUNNER TO THE CIA. 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. [40] By January, Webb filed drafts of four more articles based on his trip, but his editors concluded that the new articles would not help shore up the original series' claims. [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. Clinton brought in C.I.A front companies by awarding them state-backed low interest loans to relocate to Arkansas. 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. Regarding issues raised in the series' shorter sidebar stories, it found that some in the government were "not eager" to have DEA agent Celerino Castillo "openly probe" activities at Ilopango Airport in El Salvador, where covert operations in support of the Contras were undertaken, and that the CIA had indeed intervened in a case involving smuggler Julio Zavala. [48], The film American Made is a fictionalized telling of the story of Barry Seal, a pilot and Medelln Cartel drug smuggler who based his operations in Mena, Arkansas.[49]. We highlight the testimony provided by people close to the Camarena case and the allegations of CIA involvement, and we search, to no avail, for any . California senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein also took note and wrote to CIA director John Deutch and Attorney General Janet Reno, asking for investigations into the articles. officers". In city after city, local dealers either bought from Ross or got left behind.. The joint Lansky-CIA operations in the international drug racket were a lucrative venture that thrived as a consequence of deep U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia as a cover for drug smuggling activities." Piper's simple one-paragraph explanation may be the most concise overview of the Vietnam War ever written. The paper also gave Webb permission to visit Central America again to get more evidence supporting the story. Blandn and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. and supplied dealers like Ross. "Report: Cocaine Ring Finances Contras", Associated Press (March 16, 1986). The Crack epidemic coincidently began around the same time when the Iran-Contra Scandal was being exposed. 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. Then, too, he said all the profits went to the Contras. Contents 1 Early reports 2 FBI probe 3 Reagan Administration admits Contra-cocaine connections 4 Kerry Committee 5 Gary Webb He concluded: "How did these shortcomings occur? (John Dinges, Our Man in Panama, Random House, 1991; National Security Archive Documentation Packet The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations.). ", "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. It is portrayed in the movie Air America. The CIA, DEA, State Department, and several other U.S. government agencies have been alleged to have relations with various groups which are involved in drug trafficking. Russ Winter of Winter Watch published an article earlier this month (December, 2021) about the FBI declassifying files on a CIA group called "The Finders" and the McMartin preschool Satanic child trafficking case in Los Angeles in the 1980s. Provision of assistance to the Contras by narcotics traffickers, including cash, weapons, planes, pilots, air supply services and other materials, on a voluntary basis by the traffickers. [21] Waters urged the CIA, the Department of Justice, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to investigate. The article suggested this was in retribution for Ross testimony in the corruption case. The subject remains controversial. Snowfall (2017- ) Several also said they supplied information about the smuggling to U.S. CIA Drug Trafficking - Independent News Articles ~ A Drug Kingpin, the CIA, and Prisoners- Freeway Rick Ross and America's Mass Incarceration Problem - Daily Beast . The Taliban banned the production of opium in 2000. The reason for War in Afghanistan was because Taliban outlawed opium growing which ended economic wars (opium wars) against Iran, Russia and China. The involvement of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in cocaine trafficking in Central America during the Reagan Administration as part of the Contra war in Nicaragua has been the subject of several official and journalistic investigations since the mid-1980s. [29] The Post ultimately refused to print his letter. [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." Payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies. Air America, the CIAs principal airline proprietary, flew the drugs all over Southeast Asia. [52], The House Intelligence Committee issued its report in February 2000. Asking why crack became so prevalent in the black community of Los Angeles, the article credited Blandn, referring to him as the Johnny Appleseed of crack in California.It also found disparities in the treatment of black and white traffickers in the justice system, contrasting the treatment of Blandn and Ross after their arrests for drug trafficking. 1) It presented only one interpretation of conflicting evidence and in one case "did not include information that contradicted a central assertion of the series." This is really what has always been behind the War on Drugs; the problem that is being addressed is not drug use, but the existence of drug cartels, narco-terrorism, and political groups that use drug money to fund private wars. This is all easily obtainable information. The systematic involvement of the CIA in international drug running is as old as the agency itself, created in 1947 at the beginning of the Cold War. Opioid medications are normally used as painkillers for broken bones, lacerations or post-surgery pain. 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. 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. On October 3, 1996, LA County Sheriff Sherman Block ordered a fourth investigation into Webb's claims that a 1986 raid on Blandn's drug organization by the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department had produced evidence of CIA ties to drug smuggling and that this was later suppressed. 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. Drug trafficking > When: WWII to Afghanistan > What: CIA involvement in global drug trafficking. To show this, the series focused on three men: Ricky Ross, Oscar Danilo Blandn, and Norwin Meneses. In 1989, the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations (the Kerry committee) concluded a three-year investigation by stating: There was substantial evidence of drug smuggling through the war zones on the part of individual Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots mercenaries who worked with the Contras, and Contra supporters throughout the region. Rep. John Conyers, Dean of the Congressional Black Caucus, convened a special seminar on Capitol Hill to focus on the issue. Ironically drug trafficking through Panama increased after the US invasion. The three articles in the series were written by four reporters: Jesse Katz, Doyle McManus, John Mitchell, and Sam Fulwood. In addition to a 26 percent production increase over past year for a total of 5,644 metric tons the amount of land under cultivation in opium poppies grew by 61 percent. "[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 charges linked the Contra trafficking to Sebastin Gonzlez Mendiola, who was charged with cocaine trafficking on November 26, 1984, in Costa Rica. 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. "[21] Aviation historian Curtis Peebles also denies that Air America employees were involved in opium transportation. Throughout its existence, it's been involved in drugs trafficking - documented by Alfred McCoy's book titled "The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade." . While working to keep key Haitian military and political leaders in power, the CIA turned a blind eye to their clients' drug trafficking. " (G)overnments themselves, and the links they develop with major traffickers, are the key both to the drug-trafficking problem and to its solution." The CIA is a sinister, secretive, unaccountable agency, operating extrajudicially. The CIA's history began in the 1980s. When some authority wasnt clued in and made an arrest, powerful strings were pulled on behalf of dropping the case, acquittal, reduced sentence, or deportation. In 1999 Congress released a report on the history of CIA involvement in drug trafficking. The Royal Laotian Air Force had almost no light planes that could land on the dirt runways near the mountaintop poppy fields. That's not to say that some of the people who CIA has used or been in touch with over the years may well have themselves been . Read more Print length 734 pages Language English Publisher Lawrence Hill Books Publication date May 1, 2003 Webbs Dark Alliance series, appeared in the Mercury News in 1996. At the end of March, however, Ceppos told Webb that he was going to present the internal review findings in a column. SIN was purportedly created to fight the cocaine trade, though SIN officers themselves engaged in the trafficking, a trade aided and abetted by some of the Haitian military and political leaders. Why was the CIA involved in drug trafficking? [7] The Christic Institute then filed a $24 million civil suit on behalf of Avirgan and Honey 30 charging defendants including CIA officials of illegally participating in assassinations, as well as arms and drug trafficking. [59], For the related broader allegations of drug trafficking by the CIA, see, Alleged CIA support for cocaine smuggling and other related crimes, CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking, Early reports of Contra cocaine trafficking. [36] The CIA, which was then directed by future president George H. W. Bush, provided Noriega with hundreds of thousands of dollars per year as payment for his work in Latin America. CIA drug trafficking. In the beginning, CIA arms, money, and disinformation enabled Corsican criminal syndicates in Marseille to wrestle control of labor unions from the Communist Party. The Report concluded that "it is clear that individuals who provided support for the Contras were involved in drug trafficking, the supply network of the Contras was used by drug trafficking organizations, and elements of the Contras themselves knowingly received financial and material assistance from drug traffickers. Three officials told journalists that . Afghanistan, Source of 90% of The Worlds Heroinstated the impact of Afghanistans opium production on neighboring countries: Afghanistan, source of 90% of Earths heroin, ended 90% of Earths heroin problems when Taliban outlawed opium in 2000. Bush, William Barr, and others. 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. the Church Committee)[6] also found the charges to be unsubstantiated. [45] This was reported in 2008 by The New York Times. [42] McCoy alleges that the CIA protects local warlords and incentivizes them to become drug lords. ", The Department of Justice Inspector-General's report[45] was released on July 23, 1998. [42] Webb was allowed to keep working on the story and made one more trip to Nicaragua in March. [32], In October 2013, two former federal agents and an ex-CIA contractor told an American television network that CIA operatives were involved in the kidnapping and murder of DEA covert agent Enrique Camarena, because he was a threat to the agency's drug operations in Mexico in the 1980s. If they remove Ahmed Wali, the Taliban will fill the void. For years, the Corsican underworld had been involved in the manufacturing and trafficking of heroin, primarily to the United States. Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, Jon Bernthal Votes: 430,211 | Gross: $46.89M 3. Maybe the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 after the September 11th attacks under the Bush regime had something to do with it? ", Many follow-ups to the original series published over the next three months are in the series archive at. When Attorney General Janet Reno determined that a delay was no longer necessary, the report was released unchanged. Mexicos heroin trade is small in comparison although it has been increasing its production capabilities. Hallucinogens are drugs that affect sensation, thinking, self-awareness, and emotion. in Central America", "Prepared Statement of Frederick P. Hitz inspector General, Central Intelligence Agency Before The House Committee On Intelligence subject Investigation Of allegations of Connections Between CIA and the Contras In Drug Trafficking to the United States", "Inspector: CIA Kept Ties With Alleged Traffickers", "Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories & the C.I.A. , Many follow-ups to the cia involvement in drug trafficking smuggled drugs into the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 after September. Iran-Contra Scandal was being exposed primarily to the Contras longer necessary, the CIAs airline. Dirt runways near the mountaintop poppy fields delay was no longer necessary, the report released. Began around the same time when the failed plan came to light, the Corsican underworld had been involved opium. Blandn and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001... [ 29 ] the Post ultimately refused to print his letter they remove Ahmed Wali, series. 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