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Feds charge Venezuelan President Maduro, other top officials with narco-terrorism  3/26/2020 Miami Herald: "An indictment, to be unveiled at a “virtual” news conference in Washington, D.C., accuses Maduro and other top officials in his socialist regime of conspiring with the U.S.-designated terrorist group known as the FARC so that Venezuela could be used for narcotics shipments to finance a long-running civil war against the Colombian government. Charged along with Maduro are Diosdado Cabello, a former speaker of the National Assembly who is considered the second most powerful political figure in Venezuela, and Vladimir Padrino Lopez, the country’s minister of defense. All three Venezuelan officials face allegations of narco-terrorism, drug trafficking and weapons violations in a scheme initiated in the mid-2000s that was meant to help the Colombian rebel group while enriching themselves with cocaine-tainted bribes, according to federal authorities."

U.S. Unseals Drug Trafficking Charges Against Venezuela's President Maduro  3/26/2020 NPR: "Barr said interdiction by America and its allies of contraband at sea has increased in recent months — in cases, for example, in which the U.S. Coast Guard stops speedboats or semi-submersible vessels that ferry drugs north in the Eastern Pacific Ocean or in the Caribbean Sea. That increases the importance of the "air bridge," Barr said, which compels action by American authorities to try to constrain it by exposing the Venezuelan regime's involvement. "As we increase our interdiction in both oceans, we are concerned this is being developed as a way of avoiding our maritime interdiction — which makes going after this particular route important for us right now," Barr said." [Planes carrying the bulk of the traffick go from Colombia to Honduras, both under US control.]

U.S. announces reward up to $15 million for Venezuela's Maduro  3/26/2020 Reuters: "“The Department is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information related to Nicolas Maduro Moros,” the State Department said in a statement. The move came as the U.S. Justice Department announced charges against Maduro and others on narco-terrorism."

As the global war on drugs fades away, only the drug traffickers benefit  3/10/2020 Alternet: ""Loewenstein opens that chapter with the murder of environmental activist Berta Caceres, which was not directly related to the drug war, but which illustrates the thuggish nature of the Honduran regime—a regime that emerged after a 2009 coup overthrew the leftist president, a coup justified by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and which has received millions in U.S. anti-drug assistance, mainly in the form of weapons and military equipment. Honduras doesn’t produce any drugs; it’s only an accident of geography and the American war on drugs that we even mention the country in the context of global drug prohibition. Back in the 1980s, the administration of Bush the Elder cracked down on cocaine smuggling in the Caribbean, and as traffickers sought to evade that threat, Honduras was perfectly placed to act as a trampoline for cocaine shipments taking an alternative route through Mexico, which incidentally fueled the rise of today’s deadly and uber-wealthy Mexican drug cartels." [The intellectual author of the Caceres hit is the nephew of Fito Irias, an architect of the narco state. Did Bush senior, who ran US drug trsfficking, want to move trafficking to Honduras where his people were in charge?]"

Killed by a cartel. Betrayed by his own? US reexamines murder of federal agent featured in ‘Narcos’  2/28/2020 USA Today: "Michael Malone, a longtime FBI agent and prolific expert witness, testified that hair samples taken from two suspects on trial in Camarena’s murder – Rene Verdugo and Juan Matta-Ballesteros – matched hair recovered from the guest house where Camarena was tortured; therefore, it was compelling evidence putting both men at the scene of the crime. FBI scientists made such claims for years in front of judges and juries."

US probing claims that CIA operative, DEA official betrayal led to murder of agent: report  2/28/2020 Fox News: "The U.S. Justice Department is investigating explosive new allegations that a Central Intelligence Agency operative and Drug Enforcement Administration official played a role in the 1985 abduction, torture and murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, a report claims. The renewed focus into the grisly killing of Camarena – who is featured in the Netflix series “Narcos: Mexico” – is based on recent statements witnesses provided to U.S. agents and prosecutors, according to USA Today. The Justice Department reportedly started re-examining the case in 2019, two years after a federal court tossed convictions against two suspects."

Inhabilitan la quinta área clandestina de aterrizaje en Honduras  2/26/2020 Proceso Digital: "La Fuerza de Seguridad Interinstitucional Nacional (Fusina) en el marco de la Operación Morazán II, inhabilitó este miércoles un área clandestina de aterrizaje (narcopista) en la comunidad de Vallecillo, Limón departamento de Colón, Caribe de Honduras."

Overview of Violence Against Social Leaders in Colombia  2/18/2020 Insight Crime 

Two Years of Narco-Dictatorship in Honduras  1/28/2020 Global Exchange: "The U.S. and Canada have continued business as usual with Honduras while Hernandez and his ruling National Party use the Honduran Congress and courts to perpetuate impunity for crimes committed by government officials and economic oligarchs who benefit from both the drug trade and transnational mega projects like dams."

GameChangers 2019: 10 Predictions for Organized Crime in 2020  1/24/2020 InSight Crime: [A fair assessment, except for the usual demonization of Venezuela, whose role can be likened to the artisanal one of the FARC in Colombia prior to the agreements there. The Colombian paramilitaries AUC, like their patron, the US, act on an industrial scale.]

Águilas Negras: el 'genérico' de las amenazas en Colombia  1/20/2020 El Tiempo, Colombia: "De ellos se supo por primera vez en Norte de Santander, en donde empezaron a circular panfletos con su firma. Desde entonces no han dejado de aparecer ese tipo de amenazas con la misma imagen, aunque no exista detrás de las mismas una organización criminal. Fuentes de la Policía señalan que esos panfletos se usan en muchas ocasiones por la delincuencia común como forma de presión a las personas que están siendo objeto de extorsión."

The people of Colombia are cracking up the walls of war and authoritarianism  1/18/2020 Alternet: "Paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso—who had the temerity to talk about the Chiquita banana corporation and who is apparently going to return to Colombia sometime soon—is just the best-known name. Many others have found that being a paramilitary leads to a considerably shortened lifespan. Uribe, mayor of Medellín and governor of Antioquia during the heyday of the cartels, is named in numerous official documents as being close to both the narcotraffickers and the paramilitaries. The evidence keeps coming, as courts, now trying Uribe’s brother, keep getting closer to the man himself."

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe linked to international drug trafficking through Sinaloa Cartel  1/16/2020 World Socialists: "According to the Air Cargo Lines security chief, between 2006-2008, while president, Uribe received large bribes from representatives of the Sinaloa Cartel in exchange for helping traffic 10,000 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico. As part of the deal, Uribe authorized the construction of a hangar on the grounds of a Bogotá airport to be used as a logistical hub for the operation, and instructed the country’s aviation authority to allow a privately owned Mexican DC8 aircraft to fly in and out of the country without first passing through customs. The cocaine exported was provided by the Colombian Paísa cartel, which was composed of ex-members of the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC, or United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia), accurately described by Latin American crime research organization Insight Crime as “a coalition of right-wing death squads that used the [civil war] to camouflage their illicit economic activities [including] drug trafficking, displacement, kidnapping, and extortion.” The AUC paramilitary group has been exposed by Richard Maok as playing a key role in bringing Uribe to power in 2000."

Honduras pedirá en extradición a Ramón Matta Waldurraga  12/31/2019 La Prensa: "Después de dar cumplimiento a una orden de captura en el aeropuerto internacional El Dorado, en Bogotá, autoridades de la Policía Nacional de Colombia mantienen detenido a Ramón Matta Waldurraga, quien será pedido en extradición por la justicia hondureña. Marlon Duarte, representante legal de Matta en Honduras, expresó a LA PRENSA que en ningún momento su defendido ha evadido la justicia hondureña, ya que él se presentó de forma voluntaria en 2017 a Nueva York procedente de Colombia, por lo cual después del proceso judicial regresó a ese país."

Requieren en Colombia a Ramón Matta Waldurraga  12/30/2019 La Prensa: "Después de recibir una condena de tiempo servido, cumpliendo 26 meses de reclusión, Matta recobró su libertad en EUA el pasado mes de octubre. “Le han dictado una sentencia de tiempo servido, es decir, Estados Unidos se siente satisfecho por los años que pasó en este proceso Ramón Matta, por eso prácticamente lo dejan libre”, dijo su abogado en Honduras, Marlon Duarte."

Work ties pose questions over U.S. intel on nabbed Mexican drug official  12/21/2019 Reuters: "A former U.S. official who once headed the FBI’s office in Mexico and a senior ex-CIA officer worked as recently as last year with the accused Genaro Garcia Luna, one of the principal architects of Mexico’s 13-year war on drug cartels. Raul Roldan, who was the FBI’s chief representative at the U.S. embassy in Mexico when the Mexican led national police, was among several U.S., Spanish and Colombian law enforcement veterans who appear in brochures as board members at Garcia Luna’s security company GLAC Consulting until last year. “(Garcia Luna) had a very close relationship for many years with U.S. intelligence,” said Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope. “If he did what they say he did, that is a harsh sentence on all the verification mechanisms of U.S. intelligence.” "

Matriarcado Garífuna: Ancestralidad, Espiritualidad y Lucha - Garífuna Matriarchate: Ancestrality, Spirituality and Struggle  12/19/2019 CAMJOL: "El pueblo garífuna es una cultura ancestral que tiene su origen en la unión de tres culturas; la africana, arawak y caribes. Este nuevo grupo étnico tiene su propia lengua, sistema de creencias, alimentos y practicas ancestrales de la agricultura, danzas y cantos que se unen a su espiritualidad. Actualmente habitan en 48 comunidades hondureñas, desde Masca, departamento de Cortés, hasta Plaplaya, departamento de Gracias a Dios. También se ubican en seis centros urbanos de Belice, en dos comunidades de Nicaragua y en una de Guatemala. Se estima que hay unos 250 mil garífunas en Honduras y más de 100 mil que emigraron hacia Estados Unidos. La cultura garífuna es ancestralmente matrifocal, las mujeres ancianas son herederas de los conocimientos ancestrales espirituales que les permiten comunicarse con las ancestras y ancestros a quienes presentan ofrendas y piden ayuda en sus luchas para conservar sus territorios que para ellos representan la vida, la cultura, la existencia misma del pueblo originario garífuna. Su lucha es tan antigua como su origen, a pesar que son grandes guerreros que han sabido dar batalla a todos los invasores, desde los francés e ingleses que les expulsaron de la Isla San Vicente, hasta el Estado de Honduras que a lo largo de la historia ha buscado la manera de expropiar los territorios que legítimamente les fueron otorgados desde hace más de doscientos años."

Landmark US Drug Trial Leaves Bloody Trail in Honduras  12/19/2019 Insight Crime: "Shortly after López’s jailhouse murder, Honduran authorities arrested Seth and Roberto Paisano Wood, two brothers from a powerful political family thought to be the most prominent drug traffickers on the country’s Atlantic Coast. The following month, authorities in neighboring Guatemala arrested Haroldo Lorenzana, a staple of the drug trafficking world along the Guatemala-Honduras border that US authorities have had in their sights since 2010. All three individuals were close associates of López and are thought to have intimate links to the Honduran government, suggesting that the “possible case against President Hernández keeps building,” according to Univision. The killings also come as the mandate of the Organization of American States-backed (OAS) Support Mission Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (Misión de Apoyo contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad en Honduras — MACCIH) is set to expire. The OAS judicial body is also investigating corruption cases that could implicate the president. An OAS team that recently evaluated its work recommended that it continue, and President Hernández will decide whether to renew the MACCIH’s mandate in the next month."

In Honduras, the U.S. War on Drugs Is Empowering Corrupt Elites  12/11/2019 Foreign Policy: "In nearby Tocoa, it was indigenous leaders and peasants who felt the wrath of the state. Vitalino Álvarez, 53 years old with seven children, was a high-profile member of the United Peasant Movement and a campesino leader. His name appeared on a military hit list, alongside that of Berta Cáceres and dozens of other environmental and social activists, used by United States-trained special forces to eliminate enemies. Having survived at least four assassination attempts since 2010, Álvarez was named by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2014 as needing urgent protection. He never received it. “When Berta was killed, I became top of the list,” Álvarez said. “Seventeen days after Berta’s murder, they tried to kill me. I had participated in protests and supported her. Men on motorcycles came to my landlord and wanted to know where I was, but I wasn’t home. They were angry. I left the area with my two kids immediately by taxi. I gave them money in case I was killed or injured.”"

Bolivia’s Coup Government Is a Far-Right Horror Show  12/3/2019 Jacobin: "As for the OAS, it has yet to deliver a final election report, much less produce concrete evidence demonstrating that Morales and his party committed electoral fraud in the October 20 election. And yet after negotiating with the MAS-controlled Congress, Añez passed a new electoral law that prohibits Morales and his former vice-president, Álvaro García Linera, from participating as candidates in the upcoming election (the date for which has not been set). Shortly after blocking Morales’s candidacy, Añez reopened diplomatic relations with the US, signaling the imminent return of the Drug Enforcement Agency — and with it, counter-insurgency and the consequent deaths of innocents in the coca fields of the Chapare and Yungas."

Venezuela Neutralized 174 Narco-Aircrafts Since Chavez Expelled the DEA  11/28/2019 Orinoco Tribune: "Chavez said at the time that “the issue of the DEA is a matter of sovereignty that we had been monitoring, and it turns out that the DEA was using the fight against drug trafficking as a mask, to even support drug trafficking, to use intelligence in Venezuela against the government. “"

Miriam Miranda pide protección para el pueblo Garífuna  11/27/2019 DW: "Usted dice que se trata de un plan selectivo de exterminio, ¿por parte de quien? Hay una gran presencia del crimen organizado. El Estado hondureño lo sabe. Y responsabilizamos al Estado porque no brinda seguridad a nuestras comunidades. El gobierno sabe quienes están alrededor de los territorios del pueblo Garífuna. Nuestras comunidades, por vivir en la costa, desde el 2010 y fuertemente en los últimos años, es el corredor del paso del narcotráfico. Si el Estado no genera protección y seguridad para esos territorios deja a las comunidades en una total indefensión, y por eso es que los líderes y mucha gente está saliendo. Algo que nunca había pasado. Justo antes de venir a Berlín tuvimos que sacar a dos compañeros que están en riesgo y eso jamás creímos que fuera a pasar en nuestras comunidades. Hay un plan de exterminio y el Estado es coresponsable de lo que está pasando."

El territorio libre de Vallecito  11/20/2019 ContraCorriente: "La comunidad de Vallecito, considerada el último santuario garífuna, es también pensada como el primer territorio libre de un pueblo que debe enfrentarse todos los días a las amenazas que implica coexistir en una zona fértil para el monocultivo de palma aceitera y el narcotráfico. Ubicada en el municipio de Limón, este territorio ancestral garífuna fue ocupado durante un tiempo por Reinaldo Villalobos, un terrateniente que había construido la finca «El Dorado» donde una pista de aterrizaje, que según pobladores de la zona, era usada para el narcotráfico. Hoy, esa pista es la plantación de cocos y yuca de la comunidad. Villalobos, —cuenta Miriam Miranda, coordinadora de la Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras (OFRANEH)— murió mientras iba a recoger un cargamento de droga a mar abierto, su embarcación naufragó y del susto murió de un paro cardíaco, y no fue hasta después de su muerte que llegaron los militares a dinamitar la pista del narco."

Western Media Whitewash Bolivia’s Far-Right Coup  11/15/2019 FAIR: "Áñez has another scandal brewing, which has yet to be reported in the English-speaking press: Her nephew was arrested for drug trafficking in 2017. According to EFE (10/20/17), Carlos Andrés Áñez Dorado was arrested in Brazil on October 15, 2017, in possession of 480 kilograms of cocaine—more than half a ton."

Drug trafficking through Venezuela has skyrocketed, says U.S. military chief  11/14/2019 Miami Herald: [The US governments own figures shows 90% of drugs entering the southern US border are coming through Honduras, a tightly controlled US colony.]

THE LATEST COUP IN BOLIVIA & “OPERATION CONDOR”  11/11/2019 Mad Cow: "“Do you think Bolivia’s government—or any government in South America—can be changed without your government and mine being aware of it?” When Levine asked why that affected the planned DEA investigation, the Argentine answered, “Because the same people being named as drug dealers are the people who we are helping to rid Bolivia of leftists.” Three weeks later, Levine met with a Bolivian drug trafficker who outlined plans for the new government in which his niece, Sonia Atala, a major cocaine supplier, would “be in a very strong position.” (Barry Seal worked with Sonia Atala.)"

Video confirma colusión de Policía Militar para que verdugos liquidaran a Magdaleno  10/26/2019 Libertad Digital: "En un nuevo video publicado esta tarde por Policías Penitenciarios con acceso a las cámaras de seguridad de la prisión de Máxima Seguridad “El Pozo” confirma los nexos del poder ejecutivo con el deceso de Magdaleno Meza."

Disidencias matan a indígenas en Cauca por oponerse al narcotráfico  10/16/2019 El Tiempo: "Con el homicidio de Canas Velasco este fin de semana en zona rural de Toribío, norte del Cauca, son 36 los indígenas asesinados en lo corrido de este año en ese departamento –de acuerdo con cifras de la Fiscalía General–. Naciones Unidas señala que durante 2018 fueron asesinados 26 indígenas. Estos crímenes, que afectan en su gran mayoría a líderes o integrantes de la Guardia Indígena, han sido perpetrados por integrantes de las disidencias de las Farc, de según los resultados arrojados en medio de las investigaciones."

Director de Cáritas afirma que muchos políticos están vinculado al narcotráfico  10/15/2019 Confidencia: "El director de la Pastoral Social Cáritas, German Cálix, señaló este martes que muchos políticos en Honduras se han vinculado con el narcotráfico para mantenerse en el poder, lo que le deja en deshonra al país."

History of Activism Helps Mexico’s Indigenous Resist Organized Crime: Report  10/15/2019 Insight Crime: "In eastern Guerrero, indigenous communities are governed through democratic assemblies, which select leaders based on their history of voluntary service. Positions of authority are unpaid and answer directly to the community through the assemblies. This creates an honor-based governance system which, the authors argue, makes leaders less susceptible to corruption. These communities have also participated in indigenous activist movements since the 1980s, fostering cooperation and enabling the creation of an autonomous judicial and policing system known as the CRAC-PC."

Will a Texas attorney’s alleged shakedown of drug lords reveal covert deals between the U.S. and Colombian narcos?  10/13/2019 Dallas Morning News: "When the secret recording made it into the hands of the feds, Balagia and Morgan were arrested for allegedly shaking down the Segura brothers and Ordonez. Morgan pleaded guilty and is in prison. And Balagia is going to trial Tuesday in North Texas. The prison video is a key bit of evidence against Balagia. The Austin attorney has been charged with money laundering for knowingly taking $1.5 million in drug money and obstruction of justice for interfering in cooperation negotiations between the Colombians and U.S. prosecutors. The Colombian drug traffickers are now fraud victims in the eyes of the U.S. government."

Jerry Falwell, Wally Hilliard, & Transnational Organized Crime  10/13/2019 Mad Cow: "Kurds are being slaughtered in Syria, there’s a tsunami in Japan, hundreds of ISIS fighters have escaped from jail, and Attorney General Bill Barr, who according to numerous witnesses while working for the CIA enabled cocaine trafficking through Mena, Arkansas during the 1980’s, was delivering a speech at Notre Dame blaming “the decline of religion” and the “destruction of moral order” in the U.S. for the drug abuse he helped create. So why should anyone care about the latest corrupt conservative Christian evangelical, Jerry Falwell Jr., President of Liberty University, his wife, and a pool boy in Miami?"

Juicio de Tony Hernández: Interrogatorio completo del líder de Los Cachiros  10/12/2019 El Heraldo 

Juicio de Tony Hernández: Interrogatorio completo del líder de Los Cachiros  10/12/2019 El Heraldo: "El narcotraficante sostuvo que el expresidente hondureño Porfirio Lobo Sosa le prometió protección a él y a su familia, contribuyó a proteger cargamentos de droga e inclusive ayudó a lavar activos provenientes del narcotráfico. Los actuales diputados nacionalistas Reynaldo Ekónomo y Óscar Nájera también fueron mencionados en su declaración. Por otra parte, también el actual ministro de Seguridad de Honduras, Julián Pacheco Tinoco. "Invertimos en otras propiedades, invertimos en vehículos, en casas, en sobornar al acusado, en sobornar a Juan Orlando, en sobornar a políticos, en sobornar a miembros del Ejército hondureño, incluso Julián Pacheco Tinoco fue sobornado, señor, y miembros de la Policía Nacional ", confesó el líder del cartel de Los Cachiros."

How Elites and Narcos Do Business, Politics in Honduras  10/9/2019 Insight Crime: "But then the relationship deepened much more than Jaime had explained in the interview. In 2009, the prosecutor says, Jaime transferred a parcel of land to CW-1 (Confidential Witness One.) CW-1 was presumably either the oldest brother, Javier, the middle brother, Devis, or their younger brother, Santos Isidro. The three made up the core of the Cachiros. By then, all three had turned themselves in to US authorities and had become cooperating witnesses in numerous cases, including the one against the Rosenthals. In return for the land, Jaime expected to get “below-market rate” prices for the cows the Rivera Maradiaga family were selling to them, the US prosecutor says in the exhibit. This was not a small deal — the Rosenthal family were one of the largest meat and dairy providers in Honduras during this time period."

Munición de las Fuerzas Armadas fue vendida a narcos, revelan en juicio de TH  10/4/2019 Noticias Honduras: "El sindicado también mencionó a oficiales de la Policía de Honduras involucrados en tráfico de drogas con Tony Hernández: Normando Rafael Lozano, Geovany Rodríguez, Mauro Flores Santos y Mauricio Hernández Pineda, primo de Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH). El Rojo también afirmó que aportó $100 mil a la campaña de Pepe Lobo para presidente y para lograr la elección de JOH como presidente del Congreso Nacional."

Dejan libre a Ramón Matta Waldurraga tras dos años detenido en EEUU  10/4/2019 La Prensa: "Al momento de declararse culpable, Matta Waldurraga declaró ante el juez: “Yo viví en colombia. Tengo doble nacionalidad con Honduras. Algunas personas de Honduras se pusieron en contacto conmigo en 2005. Estas personas recibirían drogas porque tenían la infraestructura para recibir botes de motor rápido y avionetas, para que yo los pusiera en contacto con personas que tenían drogas y para que tuvieran las infraestructuras para llevar las drogas de Colombia a Honduras”. En su declaración, Matta Waldurraga agregó: “Y lo hice varias veces, de hecho. Siempre fui el intermediario entre los dos puntos. Participé en conversaciones para que la droga fuera de Colombia a Honduras y finalmente, la gente hondureña continuaría la ruta de México a Estados Unidos”, especificó el hondureño."

El asesinato de Bertha Cáceres: El gerente de la empresa acusado de ser el autor intelectual  10/4/2019 Dick Emanuelsson: "El señor Castillo es egresado de Westpoint, la misma universidad donde los agentes de la CIA, Inteligencia Militar y los diplomáticos estadounidenses son preparados para sus misiones en el mundo. Ha creado o ha participado en la creación de diez empresas en Honduras, además dos en Panamá. Incluso tiene a través de ellas nexos con el narcotráfico, denuncia Fernández."

Juicio de Tony Hernández: exnarco relata más sobornos a políticos  10/4/2019 France 24: "El narco Víctor Hugo Díaz Morales, más conocido como "el Rojo", contó que tras el pago de esos 100.000 dólares volvió a ofrecer más sobornos para Juan Orlando Hernández, que quería presidir el Congreso. "El acusado Tony Hernández me dijo que si fuese necesario él me lo hacía saber, ya que le estaban colaborando en estos sobornos Alex Ardón, 'Chande', exalcalde de El Paraíso; Leonel Rivera y su hermano Javier Rivera y también el diputado Rodolfo Irias Navas", dijo el Rojo al jurado. Los hermanos Rivera Madariaga fueron líderes del violento cartel Los Cachiros y colaboran con la fiscalía estadounidense en este juicio, igual que el exalcalde Ardón, acusado de narcotráfico. Irias Navas es diputado del Partido Nacional de los hermanos Hernández y el expresidente Lobo desde 1986."

Diputado Rodolfo Irias Navas señalado por El Rojo en juicio contra Tony Hernández  10/4/2019 La Prensa: "El narco Víctor Hugo Díaz Morales, más conocido como "El Rojo", contó que tras el pago de esos 100.000 dólares volvió a ofrecer más sobornos para Juan Orlando Hernández, que quería presidir el Congreso. "El acusado Tony Hernández me dijo que si fuese necesario él me lo hacía saber, ya que le estaban colaborando en estos sobornos Alex Ardón, 'Chande', exalcalde de El Paraíso; Leonel Rivera y su hermano Javier Rivera y también el diputado Rodolfo Irias Navas", dijo el Rojo al jurado."

US vs Juan Antonio Hernandez Alvarado  10/4/2019 US District Court, Southern District: "Defendant Tony Hernandez told me that he would let me know if he needed me to do that, because at the time he already had helped with bribes by the Mayor of El Paraiso. :Alexander Ardon Chandler, and also through Javier and Leonel Rivera and also through Congressman Rodolfo Irias Navas on the Atlantic Coast of Honduras."

The US Drug Trial Evidence That Could Topple the President of Honduras  10/2/2019 Insight Crime: "Tony Hernández and Hernández Pineda, according to prosecutors, conspired to leverage drug trafficking for the purpose of “maintaining and enhancing … the power of the National Party in Honduras,” of which their family member, President Hernández, was a rising star before he became the face of the party as head of state."

Univision: Las montañas de Honduras desde donde los narcos presuntamente ayudaron al presidente Hernández  9/30/2019 Radio America: "Según documentos judiciales, Ardón, de 43 años, confesó haber ayudado a Tony Hernández a recaudar $2 millones en dinero ilícito procedente del narcotráfico para el candidato presidencial del Partido Nacional Porfirio Lobo en 2009 a cambio de protección. Lobo ha negado esa acusación, aunque reconoció que se conocían a través de la política. En 2010, Ardón presuntamente también accedió a ayudar a Juan Orlando Hernández a sobornar a sus legisladores con dinero procedente de drogas ílicitas para obtener los votos necesarios para llegar a la presidencia del Congreso Nacional. Luego, en 2013, también presuntamente donó $1.5 millones en ganancias procedentes del narcotráfico a la campaña presidencial de Hernández en el oeste de Honduras, donde Ardón era coordinador de campaña del Partido Nacional."

U.S. announces asylum deal with Honduras, could send migrants to one of world’s most violent nations  9/25/2019 WaPo: "Department of Homeland Security officials reached the accord with the government of President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is embroiled in allegations of government corruption and charges that he and others have been operating the nation as a criminal enterprise — Hernández has been named as a co-conspirator in a major U.S. drug trafficking case. The deal paves the way for the United States to take asylum seekers from the U.S. border and ship them to a nation with one of the highest murder rates in the world, a country with gang wars that have fueled waves of mass migration and multiple “caravans” to the United States that became a major irritant to President Trump."

Media Continue to Push Misinformation About Venezuela and Drug Trafficking  9/24/2019 FAIR: "The Wall Street Journal (9/15/19) takes this “deep state” fan fiction genre to new heights with its latest on Venezuela, titled “Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez Worked to Flood US with Cocaine, US Prosecutors Say.” As advertised, the Journal’s Juan Forero echoes allegations against the Venezuelan government by US officials, which are contained in undisclosed “documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal.”The Wall Street Journal (9/15/19) takes this “deep state” fan fiction genre to new heights with its latest on Venezuela, titled “Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez Worked to Flood US with Cocaine, US Prosecutors Say.” As advertised, the Journal’s Juan Forero echoes allegations against the Venezuelan government by US officials, which are contained in undisclosed “documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal.”"

Colombia’s narcos put Elliott Abrams in checkmate, again  9/23/2019 Colombia Reports: "The last day of Guaido’s self-proclaimed presidency was a disaster. A border guard pulled the car key from the first truck of the aid convoy and that was it."

The Downfall of Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández  9/18/2019 Insight Crime: "Amilcar Alexander Ardón went from cattle rustler to milk farmer to drug capo to mayor of El Paraíso, a small town along a key trafficking route on Honduras’ border with Guatemala. There, he formed a business relationship with Tony Hernández, whereby Ardón provided drug proceeds to the political campaigns of Juan Orlando Hernández in exchange for protection. This criminal partnership allegedly lasted for years, and it now may end Hernández’s political career."

Rastrojos  9/16/2019 Colombia Reports: "The “Rastrojos” is a drug trafficking organization that exports cocaine mainly from Colombia’s Pacific coast and to Venezuela. Unlike the majority of other major Colombian drug trafficking organizations, the Rastrojos is not formed from the demobilized paramilitary organization AUC, but has its origins in the now-extinct Norte del Valle cartel."

Venezuela's Guaidó pictured with members of Colombian gang  9/13/2019 Guardian: "The photos were published on Thursday by Wilfredo Cañizales, the director of a human rights group in Cúcuta, where February’s highly politicised concert was held. Speaking to the Guardian, Cañizales claimed the Rastrojos had imposed a curfew along the border before Guaidó’s crossing into Colombia “to make sure no locals would take photos of him crossing illegally through the hidden paths”." [This type of alliance between right wing politicians and drug traffickers is common in Colombia and Central America.]

Wild West of Honduras: Home to Narcos and Their Politicians  9/10/2019 Insight Crime: "Highways extend from both of these runways toward the mountains straddling Guatemala. Few formal customs points, which rarely subject cargo trucks to exhaustive revisions, are present along the border, InSight Crime found during field research. Massive blind spots also provide easy passage."

Pilots, Pedophiles, a Lingerie Model, & ‘The Pirate of Prague’  9/1/2019 Mad Cow: "Like Virginia, Amanda didn’t have the luxury of career counseling. If she had, someone might have been waved away from becoming an outcall lingerie model at Fantasies & Lingerie, and, briefly, the girlfriend of Mohamed Atta. But because she survived it, today we know that a close associate of Mohamed Atta’s in Southwest Florida was a German pilot named Wolfgang Bohringer. We know that Bohringer was the personal pilot of Russian Mob-connected oligarch Viktor Kozeny, who at one point after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, controlled fully one-third of the entire economy of the nation of Czechoslovakia."

Max Blumenthal on the US legacy in Honduras: migrant crisis, political murders, narco-President  9/1/2019 The Greyzone: "Back from Honduras, The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal discusses the impact of US meddling over the last decade: a narco-President, Juan Orlando Hernández, recently named as a co-conspirator in a drug trafficking case against his brother; a massive migrant crisis; political assassinations; and devastating privatizations overseen by Joe Biden.Guest: Max Blumenthal, Senior Editor of The Grayzone and author of several books including his latest, “The Management of Savagery.”"

JOH y Pepe Lobo dirigieron relación simbiótica entre narcos y el Partido Nacional  8/29/2019 Criterio: "Los fiscales de Nueva York se refieren a «una relación simbiótica entre narcotraficantes y el Partido Nacional», que fue dirigida por los expresidentes Porfirio Lobo y Juan Orlando Hernández durante la última década, informa Univisión este jueves."

Violence Against Indigenous Hondurans Shows Us What Fuels Migration  8/28/2019 Common Dreams: "As Grassroots International’s Solidarity Program Officer for Latin America, I have accompanied and supported the Garifuna and OFRANEH in their struggles for years. Vallecito is sacred for the Garifuna. Although a chronic target for attack, it is also a symbol for reclamation and resistance among the ancestral territory that has been stolen from them. This most recent assault has come after a resurgence of narco-traffickers in the area. For years, narcos had used the Garifuna’s tree cover and easy access to the coast to run drugs — including at one point through a clandestine airstrip. Members of OFRANEH believe drug-runners are now trying to steal back the land Garifuna have been able to reclaim. The Honduran government, in bed with narcos and corporate raiders, has a deep apathy and antipathy towards the Garifuna. “Repeatedly the police have told us that they know these people and they are ‘friends with them,’” Miriam Miranda, a leader in OFRANEH, said of the response to the recent assaults."

Violence Against Indigenous Hondurans Shows Us What Fuels Migration  8/28/2019 Common Dreams: "As Grassroots International’s Solidarity Program Officer for Latin America, I have accompanied and supported the Garifuna and OFRANEH in their struggles for years. Vallecito is sacred for the Garifuna. Although a chronic target for attack, it is also a symbol for reclamation and resistance among the ancestral territory that has been stolen from them. This most recent assault has come after a resurgence of narco-traffickers in the area. For years, narcos had used the Garifuna’s tree cover and easy access to the coast to run drugs — including at one point through a clandestine airstrip. Members of OFRANEH believe drug-runners are now trying to steal back the land Garifuna have been able to reclaim."

The witnesses who will begin testifying in Uribe trial on September 3  8/19/2019 Colombia Reports: "Colombia’s Supreme Court will begin hearing witnesses in a criminal case against former President Alvaro Uribe on September 3. Among the 48 witnesses are 17 former members of paramilitary group AUC, some of whom have changed their testimony in the time the court was investigating witness tampering."

Narcotraficante financió las campañas del Partido Nacional de Honduras: Fiscalía de NY  8/6/2019 Prensa Libre, Guatemala: "El documento planteado por la Fiscalía de Nueva York refiere que Alexander Ardón, narcotraficante y exalcalde de El Paraíso, Copán, gastó 1.5 millones de dólares en ingreso de drogas para apoyar la campaña de Juan Orlando Hernández."

Rubio, Scott Urge President Trump to Certify Colombia's Commitment to Combating Illegal Drug Trade  8/5/2019 Marco Rubio: "U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) today sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to certify to Congress that Colombia is fully committed to working with the United States government on efforts to combat the illegal drug trade. The Florida Senators believe Colombia, as one of the most proactive nations countering narco-trafficking in the Western Hemisphere, should be certified as a major partner in the fight against illicit drugs In the letter, the Senators note that “[s]uccessive U.S. administrations have worked closely with Colombia’s elected leaders and security forces to build the capacity of the Colombian security forces, stem the flow of illicit trafficking, and interdict narcotics bound for the U.S.” " [All such leaders have been closely tied to narcotics traffickers.]

President of Honduras implicated in $1.5 million drug money conspiracy by New York prosecutor  8/3/2019 Univision: "Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was identified Friday as a co-conspirator in a drug trafficking and money laundering case against his brother, according to document filed in U.S. district court. Prosecutors say $1.5 million in drug proceeds was used to help elect him in 2013. Hernández responds saying he is foe of traffickers who are out for revenge against him."

Mohamed Atta snorted coke; Seized Learjet came from same source as Barry Seal’s  7/27/2019 Daniel Hopsicker: "Though the Justice Department, through the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Orlando, declined to prosecute, the affidavits filed by DEA agents after the heroin trafficking arrests make clear their belief that the pilot of the plane, who worked directly for the Lear’s owner Wally Hilliard, was also involved and should have been charged along with the five Venezuelan and Colombian nationals who eventually pled guilty in the case, called “the largest-ever seizure of heroin in Central Florida” by the Orlando Sentinel."

Flight School Owner’s Plane Seized for Heroin Trafficking  7/27/2019 Daniel Hopsicker: "The flight plan of the Lear 35A originated in Venezuela and made a stop in Fort Lauderdale before landing in Orlando, with New York as its final destination. Eventually five people in Orlando were convicted in connection with the seizure, including two Venezuelans who were traveling aboard the jet when it landed at Orlando’s Executive Airport, according to the Orlando Sentinel. “It confirms the sad fact that a massive amount of heroin is coming through Central Florida,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Brent Eaton told the paper when the arrests were announced. “It’s very disturbing to the DEA that more and more high-quality heroin is coming from Colombia and at a cheaper price.”"

El Origen (Narco) De Marco Rubio: Breve Expediente  7/22/2019 Fiscalia General, Cuba: "Orlando Cicilia, afamado por ser uno de los operadores más conspicuos del narcotráfico en Miami, recibió mucha atención en su momento y fue condenado a más de 35 años de cárcel. Pero Cicilia cumplió apenas poco más de 12 años, salió en libertad plena justo cuando Marco Rubio ascendió como representante al Congreso de los Estados Unidos en el año 2000. Orlando Cicilia salió de la cárcel apenas cuatro días después de que Rubio tomara el cargo de diputado."

Destrucción de los viveros de coco en Vallecito  7/8/2019 OFRANEH: "A pesar de los esfuerzo realizados por el pueblo Garífuna para recuperar uno de los alimentos básicos de la gastronomía de nuestro pueblo, parece ser que existe un complot entre los vecinos de Vallecito – entre los que se encuentran los heredero de Miguel Facusse- para destruir las plántulas destinadas a repartirse entre las comunidades, las que así eventualmente tendrán viveros con los cuales se iniciaría la replantación a nivel de la costa Garífuna. El pasado viernes, en horas de la noche, parte del vivero de cocos fue destruido por el ganado de algún mal intencionado “vecino”. Cabe señalar que desde años, grupos aliados al crimen organizado han tratado de apoderarse de nuevo de Vallecito, paraje que hasta el 2014 fue utilizado como pista clandestina."

Así fue el rescate de los seis hondureños en Iriona, Colón  6/26/2019 La Prensa: "Por medio de la Operación Fénix seis hondureños, entre ellos cinco hombres y una mujer, fueron liberados luego de que una banda de narcotraficantes llamada "Los Yanes" los había privado de libertad a base de engaños."

From Barry Seal to Donald Trump  6/5/2019 Daniel Hopsicker: "While Trump’s gangster connections have been on full display, his links with the CIA—despite his purchase of the CIA-owned Resorts International in the late 1980’s—have not. But after a close reading of a recent report in Miami New Times headlined “Trump mixes with shady criminals in Palm Beach,” I uncovered evidence that a change of focus may be in order."

Colombia: Two Police Officers Linked to 'Aguilas Negras' Arrested As Group Issues New Threats  6/1/2019 teleSUR: "The two officers, Deputy Commissioner Gerardo William Molano Galvis, who has served on the force for 26 years, and patrolman Enrique De Leon Rodriguez, are believed to have ties to the right-wing narco-paramilitary group. They will be charged with crimes they allegedly committed in 2008 and 2009. They were detained in the town of Puerto Wilches and will be tried in the capital of the department of Santander, Bucaramanga, the area from which the group originated."

Narco-Politics Cast Shadow on Honduran Presidents: Court Documents  6/1/2019 Insight Crime: "Prosecutors also named President Hernández as a target in a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation that started in 2013, a separate recently unsealed filing shows. Hernández, his sister Hilda, and several members of Honduras’ powerful Rosenthal family were under investigation for “large scale drug-trafficking and money laundering activities related to the importation of cocaine into the United States,” according to the 2015 filing that was unsealed this week in a New York federal court. In Honduras, meanwhile, Hernández’s predecessor, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo Sosa, has been accused of directing government funds to fraudulent business deals with a Cachiros-owned construction firm."

Autoridades encuentran un narco laboratorio en Colón  5/17/2019 Once Noticias: "Las autoridades de seguridad en Honduras localizaron un narcolaboratorio así como un nuevo plantío de coca, en la zona de Icoteas Limón."

Narcolaboratorio y 40 mil plantas de hoja de coca hallan en Colón  5/17/2019 Proceso Digital: "“En las últimas horas se han identificado un narcolaboratorio y sembradillos de hojas de coca en el sector de Iriona”, dijo Meza a la emisora radial HRN."

EEUU condena a narco hondureño Arnulfo Fagot Máximo a 33 años de prisión  5/9/2019 El Heraldo: "Para movilizar cocaína a lo largo de la costa de La Mosquitia desde Colombia, el hondureño se valió de lanchas, aviones pequeños y barcos sumergibles. Sobre la cantidad de droga movilizada en sus operaciones, los agentes indicaron que van "desde unos pocos cientos a varios miles de kilogramos por entrega". La mayor parte de esta cocaína fue entregada a la organización del narcotráfico de los Montes Bobadilla en la comunidad de Francia en Limón, Colón, costa norte de Honduras, donde, a su vez, la transferían a otros traficantes."

Wilter Blanco ha llorado las 25 veces que ha hablado con su defensor  5/8/2019 La Prensa: "Rocha al final pidió que se le aplicara una pena de 180 meses, 15 años, porque durante ese tiempo el hondureño dijo que no podría ver crecer a sus seis hijos. Rocha también mencionó al juez que si alguna vez Blanco “llega a Honduras, tendrá suerte de llegar vivo a su casa”, apuntó."

Trump, Khashoggi, Deutsche Bank, & Chabad Lubavitch  5/1/2019 Mad Cow: "Prince Andrew, the younger brother of Prince Charles and the second or third heir to the throne, sold one of his chief residences to a man named Timur Kulibayev, one of the billionaire Kazakh oil tycoons who “controlled that country’s oil industry. Conveniently, he was also married to the daughter of Kazakhstan’s autocratic then-President, Nursultan Nazarbayev. The story, headlined “Prince’s home in ‘laundered cash’ inquiry,” reported that the President-for-Life’s son-in-law, amid allegations of money laundering, paid millions over the asking price to Prince Andrew for his home, paid through a network of offshore companies to hide his ownership. This money laundering tale bears a startling similarity to Donald Trump’s sale of a Palm Beach mansion to a Russian mobster at about the same time."

Extraditado a EEUU: Wilter Blanco confiesa que envió cocaína a Corea del Sur  5/1/2019 Tiempo Digital: "Un agente de la DEA dio a conocer que “Blanco admitió, en suma y sustancia, que dos barcos incautados por la Policía de Corea del Sur bajo sospecha de transportar narcóticos pertenecían a él”, expresó el agente. También aseguró que, a principios del 2016, el narcotraficante hondureño, se comunicó con la DEA vía Blackberry para «negociar una posible rendición», dijo. Sin embargo, la negociación no dio resultados y él huyó."

Indigenous Resistance to Criminal Governance: Why Regional Ethnic Autonomy Institutions Protect Communities from Narco Rule in Mexico  4/10/2019 Latin American Research Review: "This article explains why some indigenous communities in Mexico have been able to resist drug cartels’ attempts to take over their local governments, populations, and territories while others have not. While indigenous customary laws and traditions provide communal accountability mechanisms that make it harder for narcos to take control, they are insufficient. Using a paired comparison of two indigenous regions in the highlands of Guerrero and Chihuahua—both ideal zones for drug cultivation and traffic—we show that the communities most able to resist narco conquest are those that have a history of social mobilization, expanding village-level indigenous customary traditions into regional ethnic autonomy regimes. By scaling up local accountability practices regionally and developing translocal networks of cooperation, indigenous movements have been able to construct mechanisms of internal control and external protection that enable communities to deter the narcos from corrupting local authorities, recruiting young men, and establishing criminal governance regimes through force."

Indigenous Resistance to Criminal Governance: Why Regional Ethnic Autonomy Institutions Protect Communities from Narco Rule in Mexico  4/10/2019 LARR: "This article explains why some indigenous communities in Mexico have been able to resist drug cartels’ attempts to take over their local governments, populations, and territories while others have not. While indigenous customary laws and traditions provide communal accountability mechanisms that make it harder for narcos to take control, they are insufficient. Using a paired comparison of two indigenous regions in the highlands of Guerrero and Chihuahua—both ideal zones for drug cultivation and traffic—we show that the communities most able to resist narco conquest are those that have a history of social mobilization, expanding village-level indigenous customary traditions into regional ethnic autonomy regimes. By scaling up local accountability practices regionally and developing translocal networks of cooperation, indigenous movements have been able to construct mechanisms of internal control and external protection that enable communities to deter the narcos from corrupting local authorities, recruiting young men, and establishing criminal governance regimes through force."

Luis Alonso Valle colabora con la DEA y hunde a sus compinches  4/1/2019 El Heraldo: "EL HERALDO tuvo acceso exclusivo al testimonio que ofreció el narcotraficante ante el juez de Virginia, Liam O’Grady, un jurado, y los fiscales de Estados Unidos, Thomas W. Traxler, James L. Trump y Anthony T. Aminoff. El testimonio de Luis Alonso fue breve y apenas duró unos 40 minutos y es que, según certifican los documentos oficiales, él tuvo que abandonar la sala de juicios porque los niveles de glucosa en la sangre se le subieron a 368, por lo que tuvo que inyectársele insulina. Luis Alonso dio detalles de cómo traficaron con cargamentos de cocaína desde Gracias a Dios hasta Copán."

University of Ottawa Professor Melts Down at #HandsOffVenezuela Presentation  3/25/2019 Dimitri Lascaris: "Predictably, Nahon-Serfaty’s Postmedia op-eds agitate for foreign intervention in Venezuela and are replete with evidence-free attacks on Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro – for example, the wholly unsubstantiated claim that Nicolas Maduro presides over a “narco-dictatorship“."

Fiscal estadounidense presenta cargos contra Tareck El Aissami por "narcotráfico"  3/8/2019 Aporrea: "EEUU anunció este viernes que presentó cargos en contra del ministro del Poder Popular para Industrias y Producción Nacional de Venezuela y Vicepresidente para el Área Económica, Tareck El Aissami, por presunto narcotráfico." [La DEA podria hacer lo mismo con muchos narcos, pero no lo hace.]

Congresista estadounidense le recuerda a la DEA quien es Hernández  3/2/2019 NotiBomba: "La congresista estadounidense Norma Torres criticó a la administración de la DEA por recibir a Juan Orlando Hernández y por el mensaje que envió tras la reunión. Torres, congresista por el distrito de California, reaccionó indignada vía Twitter, tras la publicación de la cuenta oficial de la DEA, en la cual, anunciaron la productiva reunión que tuvieron con Hernández y que esperan seguir trabajando con el. Torres aprovechó para recordarle a la DEA quien es Hernández."

World sees signs of breakdown of U.S. petrodollar system, former diplomat says  3/1/2019 World News Monitor: "The drug trade has historically supplied the CIA with local assets who have muscle. In the case of Venezuela: in 2007, in a U.S.-backed attempt to overthrow Hugo Chavez, one figure involved was its asset General Ramon Guillén Davila, who earlier had been chief of a CIA-created anti-drug unit in Venezuela, [and] indicted in Miami for smuggling a ton of cocaine into the United States. According to the New York Times, “the CIA, over the objections of the Drug Enforcement Administration, approved the shipment of at least one ton of pure cocaine to Miami International Airport as a way of gathering information about the Colombian drug Cartels.” According to the Wall Street Journal, the total amount of drugs smuggled by General Guillén may have been more than 22 tons."

El origen (narco) de Marco Rubio: breve expediente  2/28/2019 Mision Verdad: "En una nota del Washington Post del año 2015, se da a conocer la historia de Orlando Cicilia, esposo de Bárbara, una hermana mayor del senador republicano. Cicilia era un testaferro y operador del circuito de narcóticos, concretamente de la cocaína, en tiempos de su máximo apogeo en EEUU, cuando Miami era considerada la capital de la cocaína en Gringolandia. Concretamente, Cicilia trabajaba para Mario Tabraue, otro narco de origen cubano, a quien se le allanó una casona llamada por los agentes federales "La mansión Playboy", donde se encontraron drogas, armas largas y dos leopardos propiedad del capo, quien jugaba a ser Pablo Escobar. Durante el operativo en el que fue detenido Cicilia, fue detenido también Tabraue."

Venezuela’s Ex-Spy Chief Rejects Maduro, Accusing Leader’s Inner Circle of Corruption  2/21/2019 NYT: "A former intelligence chief in Venezuela who is one of the government’s most prominent figures turned against President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday, calling him a dictator with a corrupt inner circle that has engaged in drug trafficking and courted the militant group Hezbollah."

Elliott Abrams ‘Cabaled Quietly’ to Spring a CIA-Connected Drug Trafficker  2/15/2019 Deep State: "As part of the conspiracy, Abrams also put in a good word for a convicted drug trafficker, General Jose Bueso Rosa. He was a Honduran general who had helped the U.S. government with “sensitive operations” in Central America. As Murray Waas and I wrote in the Washington Post, North did “a favor for a felon.” So did Abrams."

Carlos Slim, the NY Times, & the trial of El Chapo Guzman  2/11/2019 MadCow: "While Mr. Slim was expressing his touching commitment to a free press with a $250,000,000 investment in the New York Times during the global financial crisis in 2008, one person did speak up. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the United Nations’ watchdog Office on Drugs and Crime was impolitic enough to blurt out the truth about a sea change in global climate far more inconvenient than rising sea levels. “In the midst of the current world financial crisis, drug money is, in many instances, currently the only liquid investment capital,” Maria Costa told Reuters."

Narcos de la CIA, los finos tentáculos de la agencia de inteligencia estadounidense en los cárteles de la droga  2/6/2019 El Ciudadano: "Uno de los primeros casos en los que se vio involucrada la CIA como parte de sus labores ilícitas en la distribución de drogas, se presentó en la década de 1950 en la zona conocida como el Triangulo de Oro, una triple frontera que recibe ese nombre porque abarca las zonas de Tailandia, Laos y Birmania, que para entonces estaban dedicadas al tráfico de Opio (heroína, morfina y otros derivados) a nivel masivo. En ese momento, la CIA coordinó operaciones de contrabando de opio con el fin de proporcionar fondos encubiertos para el Kuomintang chino, unos paramilitares que pretendían asesinar al líder comunista Mao Zedong. La CIA se dedicó a ayudar a contrabandear el opio del Kuomintang en esa zona a través de aviones de la empresa Air America, uno de sus llamados «negocios espejo»."

2018 was the year crime became an ideology in the Americas  2/1/2019 openDemocracy: "Still, two years of Donald Trump’s strange, haphazard foreign policy has had a devastating impact on foreign relations in the region and has opened the door to transnational organized crime. To begin with, Trump has largely abandoned years of anti-corruption efforts in Central America, while his administration faces near constant accusations of corruption inside his own regime. Specifically, 2018 will be remembered as the year the US government stopped supporting the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), the UN-backed adjunct prosecutor’s office in that country."

Second Former Honduran Mayor Charged With Conspiring To Import Cocaine Into The United States And Related Firearms Offenses  1/23/2019 US DOJ: "Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “As alleged, Amilcar Alexander Ardon Soriano and Mario Jose Calix Hernandez each conspired to import massive quantities of cocaine into the U.S. and used heavy weaponry to protect drug shipments. Ardon Soriano allegedly used his position as a Honduran mayor to facilitate his own drug trafficking, and to exact a ‘tax’ on other traffickers, making millions of dollars in the process. Thanks to the DEA, both men now face criminal charges in the U.S.”"

Segundo exalcalde hondureño acusado de conspiración para importar cocaína a Estados Unidos y delitos con armas conexos  1/23/2019 US Embassy, Honduras: "ARDÓN SORIANO fue anteriormente alcalde de El Paraíso, Copán, en Honduras. En el período comprendido entre aproximadamente los años 2000 y 2015, incluidas ocasiones en las que se desempeñaba como alcalde de El Paraíso, ARDÓN SORIANO participó en actividades de narcotráfico a gran escala con traficantes que se encontraban en Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala y México, entre otros sitios. ARDÓN SORIANO es el segundo exalcalde hondureño acusado en el Distrito Sur de Nueva York por delitos de narcotráfico. En julio de 2018, Arnaldo Urbina Soto, exalcalde de Yoro, Honduras, fue imputado en una Acusación separada de conspirar para importar cocaína a Estados Unidos y delitos con armas conexos. Ver United States v. Urbina Soto, et al., 18 Cr. 497 (DLC)."

The Lie at the Heart of the Trial of El Chapo Guzman  1/5/2019 Daniel Hopsicker: "Why Hoffman kept information on the case secret has never been revealed. But knowledge of the inner workings of the drug trade is denied Americans as a matter of course. Citing‘national security,’ Andrea Hoffman and others like her obstruct, interrupt, and impede attempts to gain an understanding of who ends up with all that long green."

El narcoestado colombiano y su guerra económica contra Venezuela (crónica)  12/28/2018 Mision Verdad: "El narcoestado colombiano asesina, explota y controla a su propio pueblo con múltiples aparatos legales (como las empresas de la comunicación) e ilegales (como la droga cuyo consumo es visiblemente mayor cada día), reprime la protesta popular con cuerpos de seguridad tan sanguinarios como el ESMAD, y se refuerza con cuerpos de seguridad privados, ejércitos paramilitares y sicarios. Firma acuerdos de paz que no cumple, deja en la más absoluta impunidad los asesinatos de quienes se atreven a disentir, instituye la privatización de los servicios básicos y la flexibilización laboral. Pero logra convencer a buena parte de su pueblo de que no es ahí, sino al lado, donde hay una dictadura."

Bush, Posada and Dirty War Against Cuba  12/21/2018 Counterpunch: "Was it because, Mr. Vice President, of Posada’s ties with your ‘good friend’ Felix Rodriquez? Or was it because of Posada’s role in organizing the secret Contra supply operation run out of Ilopanga airbase [in El Salvador]? Or was it because of Posada’s past ties with the CIA, which you headed in the mid-1970s?”" [Rodriguez and Posada ran a large scale drugs for arms operation out of the hangars at Ilopango AFB]

The Obsession With and Lies About Nicaragua  12/21/2018 Counterpunch: "The elaborate, well-planned conspiracy behind the April-July 2018 US-orchestrated coup attempt against Nicaragua, included most of the church hierarchy, many wealthy ex-Somocistas, many NGOs including the European-funded CENIDH, the NED (National Endowment for Democracy) and USAID, and a couple thousand young Nicaraguans trained over 4 years in the use of social media to blitzkrieg an agenda-loaded propaganda campaign when the right opportunity arose. It had been in the works since at least 2011 when Nicaraguan Felix Maradiaga teamed up with Colombian narco-trafficker Julio Cesar Paz Varela to develop a drug distribution network in Nicaragua, many of the proceeds of which were to be devoted to overthrow the Sandinista government."

Ramón Matta Ballesteros habla desde una cárcel de EEUU tras 31 años cumpliendo cadena perpetua por narcotráfico  12/11/2018 La Prensa: "Matta Ballesteros es un excapo vinculado con el Cartel de Medellín por medio de Griselda Blanco y Pablo Escobar y el Cartel de Guadalajara por medio de Miguel Ángel Felix Gallardo. El 5 de abril de 1988, cuando finalizaba sus ejercicios matutinos, en allanamiento a su propia casa en la ciudad de Tegucigalpa fue detenido por Alguaciles de los Estados Unidos, y enviado a ese país para ser juzgado y condenado por el secuestro y asesinato del agente de la DEA Enrique Camarena Salazar, así como por otros cargos."

Policía Nacional asesta duro golpe a estructura criminal de Atlántida  12/7/2018 Policia Nacional, Honduras: "Los detenidos para investigación son: -Armando Antonio Figueroa García. -Franklin Adalberto Canales Cruz. -Elvin Alonso Santos. -Gumersindo Alonzo Ruiz Guifarro. -Guillermo Josué Delgado Cáliz. -Oscar Alberto Ruiz Ruiz (antecedente de homicidio 2008). -Luis Humberto Ponce Ríos."

Air Cocaine: Poppy Bush, the Contras and a Secret Airbase in the Backwoods of Arkansas  12/5/2018 Counterpunch: "As that Time magazine editor told his reporter Lawrence Zuckerman, this was precisely the kind of drug story that would end up on the front pages of American newspapers. But it turned out to be a setup, part of an elaborate sting operation concocted by Oliver North, the CIA, George Bush’s drug task force and a convicted drug runner named Barriman Alder Seal. It was Seal who had piloted the plane, equipped with CIA-installed cameras, to that Nicaraguan airstrip and brought the cocaine back to Homestead Air Force Base in Florida. In return for his services, Seal received more than $700,000 and a reduced sentence on pending drug convictions."

Ex-DEA chief who was best friend of agent 'Kiki' Camarena who appears in new Narcos TV show reveals how he avenged his pal's cartel murder... and how a bead of sweat could get you killed while undercover  11/13/2018 Daily Mail: "Mike continued: ‘They were doing inhuman things to him. Sticking things up him and other appalling torture. After more than 30 hours Rafael Caro Quintero came to the ranch house. Mike said: ‘According to one of the witnesses, he was high on cocaine. He walked up to Kiki and hit him on the head with a piece of pipe. That was the death blow. ‘Fonseca, older and wiser than Quintero, then showed up and saw Kiki was dying. He slapped Quintero on the face and told him, “this is your baby, you live with it”. ‘That’s because he knew killing a US federal agent was going to bring the full force of our government against them. He was smart enough to know that. Quintero was much more brazen and thought get away with anything.’ Ballesteros was conclusively tied to the horror when strands of his hair were found in a drained swimming pool at the kidnap ranch."

Crime, Drugs, and Power in Honduras: Searching for Better Measures of State Fragility  9/15/2018 GDPO: "This report argues that state ‘fragility’ metrics are inadequate. An increase in transparency and a call for new metrics are necessary to address entrenched elite corruption and organised crime in Honduras. In order to achieve these goals, donor countries must reconcile the political cost of promoting policies that address impunity and political protection against their own foreign policy agendas."

US Life Sentence for Honduras Partner of ‘El Chapo’ Sets Precedent  5/24/2018 Insight Crime: "El Compa’s extradition was requested after he came up in the testimony of Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, the leader of the Cachiros drug trafficking group, and during the trial of Fabio Lobo, the son of former Honduran President Porfirio Lobo. In 2017, Fabio Lobo was sentenced to 24 years in US prison for drug trafficking. Mejía is said to have been present at a meeting to plan the 2009 murder of then-drug czar Julián Aristídez González, who served as head of Honduras’ anti-drug trafficking agency (Dirección de Lucha contra el Narcotráfico – DLCN) until he was gunned down by a hit squad. Former Congressman Fredy Nájera, also extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges, is said to have attended the same meeting."

Anti-Castro militant Posada Carriles is dead at 90  5/23/2018 Miami Herald: "Government documents declassified in 2017 showed that the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs — the predecessor of the DEA — believed in 1973 that there was "little doubt that Posada is a [drug] trafficker" who should be kept under tight surveillance. The bureau also suspected him of dealing in stolen watches and counterfeit dollars. But after Posada Carriles passed a lie detector test, government suspicions waned."

Capo hondureño del narcotráfico es sentenciado a cadena perpetua en Estados Unidos  5/21/2018 US Embassy, Honduras: "Mejía Duarte utilizó lanchas rápidas, helicópteros, y aeronaves para operar su ruta de transporte y, como los testigos detallaron en el juicio, la mayor parte de la cocaína fue suministrada al Cartel de Sinaloa, encabezada por Joaquín Guzmán Loera, también conocido como “Chapo” y por Ismael Zambada, conocido también como “Mayo”. En base al testimonio de testigos durante el juicio y a documentos sometidos en el caso, Mejía Duarte es responsable del tráfico de un estimado de al menos 20,000 kilogramos de cocaína."

Drug Trafficking Within the Venezuelan Regime: The ‘Cartel of the Suns’ Drug Trafficking Within the Venezuelan Regime: The ‘Cartel of the Suns’  5/17/2018 InSight Crime: Typical demonization of Venezuela, whose role can be likened to the artisanal one of the FARC in Colombia prior to the agreements there. The Colombian paramilitaries AUC, like their patron, the US, act on an industrial scale. The US has controlled the world's drug trade since WWII.]

7 Reasons for Describing Venezuela as a ‘Mafia State’  5/16/2018 Insight Crime: [Replete with the usual demonization, has some interesting data. Insight Crime never discusses how the US government implemented large scale cocaine trafficking from Colombia through Central America and Mexico. Felix Rodriguez, Che's murderer, was a key figure in this process.+

Oliver North Worked With Cocaine Traffickers to Arm Terrorists. Now He’ll Be President of the NRA.  5/12/2018 The Intercept: "In 1984, José Bueso Rosa, a Honduran general, plotted with several others to assassinate the president of Honduras. They planned to fund the hit with the proceeds from selling 760 pounds of cocaine in the U.S. The FBI, however, had the participants under surveillance, intercepted the shipment when it arrived at a small airfield in Florida, and arrested everyone involved. But Bueso had played a key role in Honduran support for the Contras. So North went to work to get him off as lightly as possible. (Bueso had not himself been charged with drug trafficking, but wiretaps made it obvious he participated in that part of the project.)"

EL ORIGEN DEL ROJO  4/18/2018 El Pulso: "El Rojo comenzó en sus actividades delictivas trabajando en las escalas mas básicas para Héctor Emilio Fernández, alias «Don H», también preso en Estados Unidos. Estaba encargado del transporte de droga de la costa atlántica hasta su zona de residencia en occidente, entre Copan y frontera de Guatemala."

Narcotráficante hondureño Wilter Blanco amasó mil millones de lempiras en 10 años  3/21/2018 La Prensa: [US $40 million] - "Blanco supo estructurar una red de lavado de activos en la que involucró a su esposa, padres, hijos y hasta amantes. El propósito era esconder y blanquear grandes cantidades de dinero de origen ilícito. De acuerdo a las investigaciones, Blanco logró afianzarse económicamente en el año 2005, en ese momento ya era el amo y señor del famoso corredor del Atlántico."

International Narcotics Control Strategy Report  3/1/2018 State Dept 

ABLE DANGER INTEL EXPOSED HEROIN TRAFFICKING  2/26/2018 Daniel Hopsicker: "“It confirms the sad fact that a massive amount of heroin is coming through Central Florida,” U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Brent Eaton told the paper. “It’s very disturbing to the DEA that more and more high quality heroin is coming from Colombia and at a cheaper price.” The DEA was “very disturbed” enough to look more closely at Wally Hilliard’s jet charter operation. The result was their firm opposition to returning the Lear to Hilliard, even though no one from Hilliard’s company, Plane 1 Leasing, had been charged with any crime."

La Misión de la OEA en Honduras investigaba contratos hidroeléctricos antes de ser mutilada  2/5/2018 El pais: "La Misión contra la impunidad y la corrupción de Honduras (Maccih), creada por la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA), ultima una investigación sobre el expresidente Porfirio Lobo (2010-2014) y ha reunido pruebas contundentes sobre sus vínculos con el cártel de Los Cachiros en la concesión de proyectos hidroeléctricos."

Accusations Land Honduras Police Reform Commission in Hot Water  2/5/2018 Insight Crime: "The recently published AP report puts the entire legitimacy of the special police commission into question. “The way in which the police commission will be perceived moving forward is dependent on how this case is resolved. I am sure that strong decisions will be made if the AP report proves to be accurate,” said Eric Olson, Deputy Director of the Latin American Program at the Wilson Center. Commission officials seem to agree. For that reason, they have begun an exhaustive process to review the background of police agents in an effort to accurately determine whether or not they are suitable for their assigned positions."

“Hernández maneja el narcotráfico desde la presidencia de Honduras”  1/30/2018 Libertad Digital: "Misión de OEA en Honduras denuncia “pacto de impunidad” entre el Congreso y la justicia Nasralla sostuvo que la búsqueda por mantenerse en el poder tiene un componente manifiestamente criminal: “Él les quitó el control del paso de la droga y lo concentró todo a través de su hermano. Usted sabe que la gente que maneja droga es vengativa. Entonces salir del poder es prácticamente la muerte, a costa de seis millones de personas en Honduras que además de ser pobres, no lo quieren”."

AP revela detalles sobre nexos del Jefe de la Policía Nacional con el narcotráfico.  1/30/2018 Libertad Digital: "Por tal razón, The Associated Press, reveló extractos de los documentos de una investigación privada, en el que el nuevo jefe de la Policía en Honduras, habría colaborado con el narcotráfico. Los documentos fueron publicados por la periodista Martha Mendoza de la AP, periodista ganadora del premio Pulitzer."

Secret report: Honduras' new top cop helped cartel move coke  1/26/2018 ABC News: "But a confidential Honduran government security report obtained by the Associated Press says Aguilar himself helped a cartel leader pull off the delivery of nearly a ton of cocaine in 2013. The clandestine haul of more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine was packed inside a tanker truck that, the report says, was being escorted by corrupt police officers to the home of Wilter Blanco, a drug trafficker recently convicted in Florida and now serving a 20-year sentence." [Wilter Blanco is head of the Atlantic Cartel.]

Informe secreto: Jefe de la Policía hondureña ayudó a narco  1/26/2018 AP: "Sin embargo, un informe confidencial del gobierno obtenido por The Associated Press dice que el propio Aguilar ayudó en 2013 al líder de un cartel de las drogas a concretar la entrega de un importante cargamento de cocaína. El cargamento de 780 kilos (1700 libras) de cocaína estaba escondido en un camión cisterna que, según el informe, era escoltado por agentes corruptos hasta la casa de Wilter Blanco, un narcotraficante que recientemente fue condenado en Florida a 20 años de prisión." [Wilter encabeza el Cartel Atlantico.]

U.S. senators want probe of drug trafficking tied to Venezuela government  1/24/2018 Reuters: "In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions seen by Reuters, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and Democrat Robert Menendez said they were concerned about possible connections between Maduro’s government and drug trafficking organizations and wanted an investigation “in order to better understand the nexus between criminal actors and members of Maduro’s inner circle.” [We could start by investigating both senators for their ties to narco politicians.]

US Authorities Charge Honduran Congressman With Drug Trafficking  1/19/2018 Insight Crime: "On January 18, US authorities unveiled an indictment against Honduran congressman Fredy Renan Najera Montoya, charging him with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, in addition to weapons charges. According to the indictment, Najera Montoya “participated in and supported” the drug trafficking activities of “large-scale” Honduran drug traffickers and “high-ranking” members of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. The congressman allegedly provided security for drug flights carrying cocaine that landed in Honduras before the drugs were then sold to the Sinaloa Cartel and later imported into the United States."

Capturan a peligroso narcotraficante cubano, vinculado a los “cowboys de la cocaína”  1/14/2018 Café Fuerte: "Tras permanecer fugitivo por cuatro años, alguaciles federales capturaron en Miami a Mario González, uno de los conocidos “cocaine’s cowboys” (vaqueros de la cocaína) que hizo historia como lugarteniente de los narcotraficantes Willy Falcón y Sal Magluta en la década de los 80s."

How the heroin trade explains the US-UK failure in Afghanistan  1/9/2018 Guardian: by Alfred Mcoy - "In the American failure lies a paradox: Washington’s massive military juggernaut has been stopped in its steel tracks by a small pink flower – the opium poppy. Throughout its three decades in Afghanistan, Washington’s military operations have succeeded only when they fit reasonably comfortably into central Asia’s illicit traffic in opium – and suffered when they failed to complement it."

Asesino de un anciano Garifuna por guardia del Indura Hilton, finanzado por los Cachiros  12/14/2017 Mirian Herrera: "SE VE CLARAMENTE EN LAS FOTOS QUE NO HAY PRESENCIA POLICIAL EN EL LEVANTAMIENTO DEK CADAVER NO HAY CORDÓN POLICIAL SEÑAL DE QUE JAMAS HABRA UNA INVESTIGACION. JUAN ORLANDO , PEPE LOBO Y SU BANDA LO ASSESINARON Y A TODO EL MUNDO LE VALE VERGA SEÑORES."

Arnulfo Fagot Máximo se convierte en el extraditado 17 de Honduras hacia Estados Unidos  12/12/2017 El Heraldo: "La Secretaría de Seguridad vincula a “El Tío” con el clan de Montes Bobadilla y sus principales contactos serían de México, Sudamérica y de Centroamérica."

Trump considering spy network to combat 'deep state' enemies: Intercept  12/5/2017 The Hill: [Off the books orgs require off the books funding, typically from narcotics, of the type managed by Oliver North.] "The proposals for the network were reportedly developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince – who is also the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos – as well as retired CIA officer John Maguire and Oliver North, who was heavily involved in the Iran-Contra scandal and was reportedly brought on board to “sell the effort” to the administration."

The US Opium Wars: China, Burma and the CIA  12/1/2017 Counterpunch: "After the war, Chiang and Tai Li welcomed into their ranks dozens of warlords who had collaborated with the Japanese. These men now worked side by side with the OSS and the US Marines in the war against Mao. The US military didn’t leave China until 1947, after channeling $3 billion in weapons and military aid to Chiang. This aid now gave way to covert US support for Claire Chennault’s newly named Civil Air Transport, or CAT. Chennault’s partner in this enterprise was a man with long-standing ties to US spy agencies, William Willauer. (He later showed up in 1954 in Central America as US ambassador to Honduras, when the CIA, using CAT planes and pilots, was readying the coup against Jacobo Arbenz’s moderate left government in Guatemala.) The US government gave Chennault and Willauer cut-rate prices on a fleet of surplus C-46 and C-47 transport planes, and as pilots Chennault hired many of the veterans of the Flying Tigers operation."

Jada & ‘the boys’  11/29/2017 Mad Cow: "Seal and Oswald first met at a summer camp of the Louisiana Civil Air patrol in the summer of 1955. Kennedy assassination researchers all knew about the famous picture from that camp which shows Oswald and David Ferrie. Few, if any, of them know that Barry Seal was there too. And that’s how I first heard of Jack Ruby’s stripper Jada Conforto, and her connection to the Kennedy assassination. In the world of burlesque in the 60’s, I learned, there was Tempest, Candy Barr, Blaze Starr… and Jada. As a result, Jada spent a lifetime being connected with ‘the boys.’"

Top U.S.-Backed Honduran Security Minister Is Running Drugs, According to Court Testimony  11/26/2017 The Intercept: "Today, Pacheco remains the minister of security, in charge of the entire Honduran national police force. With hundreds of millions of dollars of U.S. assistance pouring into Honduras’s security forces, Pacheco is one of the most important players in the country’s security and counternarcotics cooperation with the United States."

EEUU revela supuestos nexos entre Alcalde de Yoro, los Valle-Valle, JOH y Tony  11/22/2017 Noti Bomba: "Las pruebas que vinculan a la familia presidencial con el narcotráfico comienzan en la página 7 de este texto con fecha de Julio de 2014, en donde Fabio Lobo le advierte a Rivera Maradiaga que necesitan dinero. Rivera Maradiaga en tono sarcástico le informa a Lobo que Juan Orlando le ha quitado todo y que el quiere controlar todo el poder económico del país como los negocios, las concesiones y peajes. Luego en la página 10, Fabio Lobo menciona a un supuesto “jefe” que estaría gestionando para ayudar a Rivera Maradiaga mediar con Juan Orlando Hernández. Fabio Lobo incluso menciona que exhibió a Rivera Maradiaga como una buena persona ante este “jefe”. Rivera Maradiaga se mostro interesado en negociar con el gobierno para que no les siguieran confiscando propiedades y que dejaran a los gringos solos en su afán de afectar al Cartel."

Bernardo Domínguez, las dudas de una fortuna  10/30/2017 Milenio: [Was a US asset in the US controlled drug trade, according to journalist Daniel Hopsicker.] - "En 1983, Domínguez Cereceres creó su primera empresa, Consultores Financieros. En 1985, tras el sismo, fue el encargado de reconstruir la Casa Blanca, en Tepito. Creó el Grupo Empresarial DSC Servicios Constructivos cuatro años después, y tuvo un papel clave en la privatización de la infraestructura ferrocarrilera mexicana en 1995. En 1992 hizo se asoció con la empresa CubanaCan para la compra del hotel Tuxpan, de Varadero, para la cual destinó 15 millones de dólares."

NYT: Dinero del narcotráfico financia a Juan Orlando Hernández  10/14/2017 Hispan TV: "The New York Times hace referencia a declaraciones hechas por miembros de una familia hondureña que conformaban una de las redes del narcotráfico más poderosas del país centroamericano. Los Rivera Maradiaga dicen haber entregado una contribución económica para la campaña política del actual mandatario, Juan Orlando Hernández."

Another Honduras Narco Negotiates Plea Deal With US  10/13/2017 Insight Crime: "After the operation, the police said that Matta Waldurraga had operated a drug trafficking operation from the San Esteban estate in the department of Olancho. Authorities allege this is where he received drugs from Colombian suppliers that he then sent to the United States. According to El Heraldo, Matta Waldurraga also had state contracts in the private security and hydroelectric generation sectors." [Hence his links with people from Group Laeisz.]

Time to Declare War on the US ‘War on Drugs’ in Latin America  10/12/2017 Uspside Down World: "When President Richard Nixon launched the War on Drugs in 1971, he denounced drug abuse as “America’s public enemy number one,” but various sectors of the American public have long faced a more formidable enemy in the government itself. Consider, for example, the diary entry from Nixon’s former chief of staff noting that the president had “emphasized that you have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the Blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes this while not appearing to.”"

La Fábula de Juan y el feroz New York Times  10/9/2017 Criterio: "Interesante sin ser del todo sorprendente que -por fin- el New York Times publique la noticia de que los Rivera Maradiaga han implicado no solo a Porfirio Lobo, sino también, a Juan Orlando Hernández como beneficiarios del patrocinio criminal. ¿Por qué lo estuvo tapando? Ya lo habían publicado antes periódicos en El Salvador y en Guatemala. Y la tardanza podría estar programada."

After 78 Killings, a Honduran Drug Lord Partners With the U.S.  10/6/2017 NYT: "In all, the drug lord, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga, said that, working in concert with drug traffickers and others, he had “caused” the deaths of 78 people — a number that posed a dilemma for United States officials when Mr. Rivera came to them offering to expose high-level corruption in this Central American nation of some nine million people."

After 78 Killings, a Honduran Drug Lord Partners With the U.S.  10/6/2017 NYT: "The illegal drug trade in Honduras not only infected much of its civil society, including the highest levels of government and its financial sector, but also brought frightening levels of violence on its people,” Joon H. Kim, the acting United States attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement."

Hijo de expresidente de Honduras fue condenado a casi 26 años de cárcel por tráfico de cocaína  10/4/2017 CAN: "El hijo del expresidente de Honduras, Porfirio Lobo Sosa fue condenado en un tribunal de Nueva York a 24 años de cárcel y a 5 de probatoria por haber conspirado para traficar cocaína hacia los Estados Unidos. Visiblemente impactado, Fabio Lobo Lobo pidió perdón a sus padres, esposa, hijas, a Honduras y a los EEUU por haber cometido el delito que le quitará la libertad por más de dos décadas."

“Pepe” Lobo en lista de extraditables, según Adolfo Facussé  9/27/2017 Tiempo: "De acuerdo a Adolfo Facussé, empresario hondureño, el expresidente de Honduras (2010-2014), Porfirio Lobo Sosa, está en una lista de extraditables. Pero aduce que el gobierno no lo entrega porque teme un escándalo político. En ese sentido, el exdirector de la Asociación Nacional de Industriales (ANDI), dijo que “Pepe Lobo” ha sido pedido en extradición por los Estados Unidos. Pero, el gobierno se está negando a entregarlo. Lo anterior y de forma reiterativa, porque teme un escándalo político que lo puede afectar en los resultados de las elecciones de noviembre”."

Former Anti-Drug Agents: Pardoned Arizona Ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio Harassed Black and Hispanic Law Enforcers at the DEA  9/10/2017 Narcosphere: "President Donald Trump’s recent pardon of controversial ex-Sheriff Joseph Arpaio has prompted a group of former DEA agents to come forward with allegations that Arpaio engaged in a pattern of racist and discriminatory behavior during his 25-year career at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration."

Hijo de expresidente de Honduras sentenciado a 24 años de cárcel en Estados Unidos  9/7/2017 Insight Crime: "Como él mismo lo admitió, Fabio Lobo conspiró para importar enormes cantidades de cocaína a Estados Unidos", declaró en un comunicado el fiscal en funciones de Manhattan Joon H. Kim. "Con el fin de ayudar a traficantes y enriquecerse, Lobo usó el cargo de su padre y sus propias conexiones para unir a narcotraficantes con policías y funcionarios públicos corruptos. Ahora, Fabio Lobo ha sido sentenciado al sustancial periodo en prisión que sus delitos ameritan".

El comandante general del ejército viajó en avión rastreado por la DEA  9/4/2017 El Nacional: [La DEA defiende y protega a narcos grandes en Colombia, Honduras, Mexico y muchos otros paises. No tienen ningun credibilidad.]

Atlantic Cartel  8/28/2017 Insight Crime: "Following an attack on a group of US anti-drug agents by suspected Atlantic Cartel operatives, and reported threats against US Ambassador to Honduras James Nealon in October 2016, the United States appears to be more determined than ever to dismantle the group. The successes of previous US-backed operations against Honduran criminal organizations like the Valle Valle family suggest that the Atlantic Cartel may not be able to withstand the increasing pressure that is being brought against it. Indeed, an operation involving US, Honduran and Costa Rican authorities led to the capture of cartel leader Wilter Blanco in November 2016 in Costa Rica. After pleading guilty to drug trafficking charges July 2, 2017, Blanco agreed to cooperate with US authorities. On August 17, 2017, Blanco was sentenced by a US federal court in Miami to 20 years imprisonment."

Nubes negras alrededor de las próximas elecciones en Honduras  8/25/2017 Publico: "Desde principios del siglo XX, el sistema político hondureño se distinguió por su carácter bipartidista: por más de 100 años gobernaron alternativamente el Partido Liberal o el Partido Nacional. Durante este período, este sistema político se convirtió en uno de los más corruptos del planeta, llegando Honduras a ser calificada despectivamente como república bananera, debido al poder corruptor que las compañías bananeras extranjeras ejercían sobre ambos partidos. La llegada del dinero del narcotráfico en los años setenta, vino a corromper todavía más el ambiente político, y conllevó la consolidación de fuertes vínculos entre sectores de las élites políticas, castrenses y empresariales con los grandes cárteles de la droga a nivel nacional e internacional."

There Are Now 4 Branches of the Federal Government, and None of Its Officials Are Elected  8/24/2017 Alternet: by Alfred McCoy, author of the classic work The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade -- "During the 1980s, as the crack-cocaine epidemic swept America’s cities, the agency, as its own Inspector General later reported, allied itself with the largest drug smuggler in the Caribbean, using his port facilities to ship arms to the Contra guerrillas fighting in Nicaragua and protecting him from any prosecution for five years. Simultaneously on the other side of the planet in Afghanistan, mujahedeen guerrillas imposed an opium tax on farmers to fund their fight against the Soviet occupation and, with the CIA’s tacit consent, operated heroin labs along the Pakistani border to supply international markets. By the mid-1980s, Afghanistan’s opium harvest had grown 10-fold and was providing 60% of the heroin for America’s addicts and as much as 90% in New York City."

Honduran Kingpin’s Plea Agreement May Have Damning Consequences  8/23/2017 Insight Crime: "While not much remains of the Atlantic Cartel, the information Blanco may provide to US authorities could be the final nail in the coffin for the group, while also potentially impacting broader criminal dynamics in the region." [It is common knowledge on the Atlantic coast that the cartel is still operating under Wilter's brother's leadership and has retained much of the properties it had prior to Wilter's address.]

New Shows Examine CIA’s Past Role in Latin America’s Drug Trade  8/22/2017 Insight Crmie: "The broad takeaway from both film projects is hard to dispute: The CIA cultivated unholy relationships with criminal gangs that flooded US cities with cocaine in the 1980s."

New Shows Examine CIA’s Past Role in Latin America’s Drug Trade  8/22/2017 Insight Crime: "FX’s dramatic series “Snowfall” and the four-part History Channel documentary “America’s War on Drugs” both premiered on American television screens this summer. Of the two, “America’s War on Drugs” casts a much wider net, aiming to run down — occasionally at great length and with copious detail — the entire catalog of ideologies and interests animating American drug policy dating back to the 1960s."

Randy Jorgensen and friends: how Canadian criminals steal Garifuna lands  8/12/2017 GarifunaWeb 

Southern District of Florida, SENTENCING MEMORANDUM by Wilter Blanco-Ruiz  8/7/2017 Docket Bird: "The Defendant, WILTER BLANCO-RUIZ, through counsel and pursuant to Rule 32 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure respectfully submits this Sentencing Memorandum, Request for Downward Departure and Request for Downward Variance. The Defendant respectfully moves this Court to impose a reasonable sentence that is sufficient but not greater than necessaryto meet the sentencing concerns enumerated in 18U.S. C. §3553 (a) of the United States Code. In support of this memorandum and motion for downward departure, Mr. BLANCO-RUIZ submits the following memorandum demonstrating to the Court that a below guideline sentencing is appropriate for this case.THE OFFENSE CONDUCTAccordingto paragraphs 7 through 10 of the PSR, between January and February 2015, Mr. Blanco-Ruiz and others conspiredto move 1800 kilos of Case 1."

Con ataque frontal de Honduras a corrupción en la policía, indicadores de seguridad mejoran  8/3/2017 Insight Crime: "El excomisionado de policía Jorge Alberto Barralaga fue arrestado el 30 de julio junto con otras tres personas durante la Operación Perseo, según anunciaron los fiscales hondureños en un boletín de prensa. Otros tres sospechosos están prófugos."

ÓRDENES DE CAPTURA, ASEGURAMIENTO DE BIENES Y CONGELAMIENTO DE CUENTAS POR EL DELITO DE LAVADO DE ACTIVOS  7/31/2017 Ministerio Publico, HN: "El Ministerio Público continúa este día con la Operación Perseo, misma que inició ayer con la captura de cuatro personas entre las que se encuentra el Comisionado de Policía Jorge Alberto Barralaga, las señoras Reyna Elizabeth Ayala, Edith Xiomara Roca y Motse Paola Fraga Duarte, esta última compañera de Wilter Blanco quien fuera extraditado a los Estados Unidos días atrás."

Honduran politician pleads guilty to U.S. money laundering charge  7/25/2017 Reuters: "Rosenthal was charged in October 2015 along with his father, Jaime Rosenthal, a former vice president of Honduras, his cousin, Yankel Rosenthal, a former minister of investment under current Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez; and Andres Acosta Garcia, a lawyer for Grupo Continental. Prosecutors have said that the four men engaged in a multi-year scheme to launder proceeds of narcotics trafficking and bribery offenses through accounts located in the United States."

Donald Trump and the Coming Fall of American Empire  7/22/2017 The Intercept: interview with Alfred McCoy, author of the 'Poltics of Heroin' - "The method I came up with was very simple. Start far back in the past, as far back as you can go, when the — let’s say the research on torture, although somewhat secret is not controversial because it hasn’t been applied. Go back to the U.S. colonial policy in the Philippines when we started surveillance circa 1898 to pacify the Philippines, and then track it forward step by step all the way to the present, keeping in mind the patterns, the structure of the operation. And then when you get to the present where it becomes secret, highly classified, and very controversial, you understand the structure, so you know where to look, what assumptions are likely to be sound, what hypotheses might work, how you can conduct your analysis and that can lead you to an insight."

La captura del mega empresario hondureño crea un terremoto  7/14/2017 Noti Bomba: "Los Rosenthal tenían tanto poder que jamás vieron venir su caída. Quizás no vieron las señales de los planes de Estados Unidos para el Norte de Centroamérica: Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador. Después de la crisis de niños migrantes que llegaban a sus fronteras –y la vergüenza mundial que representan videos en los que los detienen y no los dejan entrar–, Estados Unidos parece dispuesto a invertir pero después de limpiar los Estados, la política y la economía en estos tres países. En Guatemala encontró un aliado en la Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad (CICIG) y financia el 40% de su presupuesto. Es el instrumento, coinciden los donantes europeos, más efectivo para combatir las mafias de corrupción e impunidad enquistadas en el Estado. En Honduras, parecen dispuestos a romper lazos históricos con grandes empresarios. Esto porque el Plan Alianza para la Prosperidad fue lanzado en Honduras en un complejo turístico en el que los Rosenthal tienen acciones, el Indura Beach and Golf Resort. Junto a Scott Nathan, llegado desde Washington del Departamento de Estado."

Fiscalía de Honduras tras la organización criminal de Matta Waldurraga  6/23/2017 El Heraldo: "En fecha 31 de octubre de 2007, José Miguel Handal Larach vendió un inmueble ubicado en Punta Gorda, Omoa, Cortés, a Joaquín Martínez Meza por la cantidad de 50 mil lempiras. Posteriormente, Martínez Meza le donó la propiedad a Raquel Tatiana Núñez Pagoaga, quien el 25 de abril de 2013 se lo vendió por la cantidad de cuatro millones 150 mil 422 lempiras a Julia Esther Estrada Guzmán, quien actuó como representante legal de la sociedad denominada Scarius Marine. Este tipo de transacciones continuaron. Entre otros casos está que en octubre y noviembre de 2007 Handal Larach, por 300 mil y 100 mil lempiras, también vendió dos inmuebles a los señores Mario Enrique Zelaya Cabrera y Juan Carlos Escalón Carbajal, quienes en el 2013 le donaron los terrenos a Raquel Tatiana Núñez Pagoaga, quien el 25 abril de 2013 vendió tales inmueble a la sociedad Scarius Marine."

ENEE le aprobó un contrato a empresa de Matta Waldurraga  6/18/2017 El Heraldo: "El 31 de julio de 2013, la Empresa Nacional de Energía Eléctrica (ENEE) le otorgó un contrato de suministro de energía eléctrica con fuentes renovables a la empresa Generadora de Energía Hidroeléctrica Las Piedras, representada por Juan Ramón Matta Waldurraga. Mediante el decreto legislativo 336-2013 publicado el 16 de mayo de 2014 en La Gaceta número 33,428, se aprobó el contrato de suministro de Energía Eléctrica con fuente renovables suscrito por la ENEE el 31 de julio de 2013 con la Empresa Generadora de Energía Hidroeléctrica Las Piedras."

The History Channel Is Finally Telling the Stunning Secret Story of the War on Drugs  6/18/2017 Intercept: "Not only is it an important contribution to recent American history, it’s also the first time U.S. television has ever told the core truth about one of the most important issues of the past 50 years. That core truth is: The war on drugs has always been a pointless sham. For decades the federal government has engaged in a shifting series of alliances of convenience with some of the world’s largest drug cartels. So while the U.S. incarceration rate has quintupled since President Richard Nixon first declared the war on drugs in 1971, top narcotics dealers have simultaneously enjoyed protection at the highest levels of power in America."

El extraditable hondureño Noé Montes Bobadilla, alias “Tom” lideraba el clan de los Montes en Colón  6/15/2017 El Heraldo: "Los Montes Bobadilla eran primos de Pedro García Montes, un hondureño que fue jefe de pagos del Cartel de Cali en Colombia. Mientras Adán huía de la justicia su familia tomó las riendas del negocio. Informes de la Dirección de Lucha contra el Narcotráfico indican que el clan de los Montes realizó actividades de narcotráfico con la participación de varios miembros de su familia, manteniendo relaciones con otros grupos que han operado en la zona del departamento de Colón, como ser los hermanos Rivera Maradiaga, ya en poder de la justicia de Estados Unidos y la familia Zelaya García."

Corruption Is the 'Operating System' in Honduras: Report  6/12/2017 Insight Crime: "Chayes says that this dynamic may be intensifying under the administration of President Juan Orlando Hernández, who took office in 2014 and is currently leading the field among contenders in the presidential election scheduled for November. The report argues that Hernández has made a "strategic effort" to consolidate government power in the executive branch, thereby strenghtening a close-knit network of elites with ties to the public, private and criminal sectors that already wield disproportionate political and economic control."

Missing the Real Noriega Story  6/1/2017 Consortium News: "The resulting publicity created lasting myths about Noriega and drugs. Journalists who should know better have described Noriega as “one of the world’s biggest drug kingpins,” to quote Time magazine. In fact, Louis Kellner, the U.S. attorney who oversaw his Miami indictment and trial admitted, “Noriega was never a major player in the drug war.” Indeed, at worst, he was a small fry compared to the military rulers of Honduras, whose epic protection of the cocaine trade was tolerated by Washington in return for using that country as a staging base for Contra operations against the Sandinista-led government of Nicaragua in the 1980s."

Private-Sector Network Members  5/30/2017 Carnegie Endowment: "As a Patuca III critic put it, “The thing about big dams isn’t that they generate electricity. They generate money for government pockets. The developers are the biggest companies. And big companies, big money also offers big opportunities for money-laundering.”

Five Years Later, US Admits Lies About Deadly Honduran Shooting  5/26/2017 FAIR: "A Justice and State Department review reveals that top Drug Enforcement Administration officials lied repeatedly to Justice and to Congress about deadly shootings in Honduras in May 2012—including an incident off the Mosquito Coast in which a boat was fired on, killing four passengers, among them a 14-year-old boy. DEA officials long maintained, and media reported, that those killed were drug dealers who had fired first."

Trump Policies Undermine Fight Against MS13: US Police  5/25/2017 Insight Crime: "The police chiefs also provided details of some of the dynamics that govern the gangs in the different places and how events in these places can impact one another. El Salvador's 2012 gang truce between the MS13 and the rival Barrio 18, which fell apart in 2014, strengthened communications between prison leaders in El Salvador and gang members in cities like Washington, Boston, and New York, they said. As opposed to what happens in the West Coast, where the MS13 answers to other organizations such as the Mexican Mafia, there are no defined leaders on the East Coast, which makes the views of the Salvadoran leadership more important."

A spatio-temporal analysis of forest loss related to cocaine trafficking in Central America  5/16/2017 IOP Science: "We estimated that cocaine trafficking could account for between 15% and 30% of annual national forest loss in these three countries [Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua] over the past decade, and 30% to 60% of loss occurred within nationally and internationally designated protected areas. Cocaine trafficking is likely to have severe and lasting consequences in terms of maintaining moist tropical forest cover in Central America. Addressing forest loss in these and other tropical locations will require a stronger linkage between national and international drug interdiction and conservation policies."

Honduran government, narcos, and dams: eco-activist mayor Omar Suazo arrested after surviving an assassination attempt  5/14/2017 Garifunaweb: Summary of the Omar Suazo case - "An eco-activist and singer in the Garifuna tradition, Omar "Babakle" Suazo is mayor of Sambo Creek, a largely Garifuna town in Honduras. In the early hours of Monday May 8th, he was assaulted by a group of special agents and thrown to the ground face down while one stabbed him 4 times in the back. The attackers were shouting genocidal slogans, "Death to the Garifuna." An onlooker opened fire, killing the man stabbing Suazo and wounding at least one other. Regular police then arrived and arrested Omar Suazo for murder. He has been in jail ever since, in a private cell which may not shield him from additional attempts on his life."

El diputado eterno, un cartel narco y un valle inundado de palma africana  5/2/2017 Contracorriente: "Un mes antes que los líderes del cártel de narcotráfico más poderoso de Honduras lo mencionaran en una corte de Estados Unidos vinculándolo junto a otros altos funcionarios del Estado de Honduras en sus actividades ilícitas, Óscar Nájera, diputado nacionalista por 27 años, nos contaba que en esa mesa en la que atendió esta entrevista, se habían sentado todos: los narcos, los políticos, esos señalados por “Los Cachiros” y los mismos Cachiros, los poderosos."

El diputado eterno, un cartel narco y un valle inundado de palma africana  5/2/2017 Contra Corriente: "Antes de ser presidente, Rafael Leonardo Callejas era el ministro de Recursos Naturales, al llegar a la presidencia apadrinó políticamente a Nájera y a Rodolfo Irías Navas, los diputados del litoral atlántico que llevarían una de sus políticas más importantes, la que regresaba la tierra dada a campesinos a las manos de grandes terratenientes. Regresaba los valles al gran capital como había sido antes de la reforma agraria."

Honduras Suspends Ex-Police Directors Implicated in Drug Czar Murder  4/22/2017 Insight Crime: "Authorities in Honduras have suspended two former national police directors as well as 25 officers for their alleged involvement in the murder of the country's anti-drug czar in an investigation that threatens to expose the extent of state collusion with organized crime." [It appears nothing happened as a result.]

Neptalí Mejía trabajaba con Wilter Blanco y Los Cachiros  4/16/2017 La Prensa: "Por más de una década, Sergio Neptalí Mejía Duarte ha operado en el departamento de Colón, específicamente en el valle de Sico, junto con otros carteles como el de Los Cachiros y Wilter Blanco. Mejía Duarte fue mencionado por Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiga, exlíder del cartel de Los Cachiros, durante su testimonio en una corte de Estados Unidos contra Fabio Lobo, hijo del expresidente Porfirio Lobo Sosa, acusado por narcotráfico."

How the Cocaine Cowboys built a drug empire that helped inspire ‘Miami Vice’  4/13/2017 NY Daiy News: "When the Falcon brothers and partner Salvador (Sal) Magluta — all of Cuban heritage — were indicted 26 years ago, prosecutors alleged they smuggled about 75 tons of cocaine into the United States between 1978 and 1991. Their hauls were valued at more than $2 billion."

Un compinche del capo hondureño Wilter Blanco lo delató ante Estados Unidos  4/3/2017 El Heraldo: "El proceso judicial contra Blanco Ruiz, a quien se le considera socio de un miembro clave del Cartel de los Soles que opera en Venezuela, empezó la semana anterior. A Wilter Blanco se le considera el líder del Cartel del Atlántico, una organización de narcotraficantes hondureños que tenía relación con Roberto de Jesús Soto García, supuesto miembro del Cartel de los Soles y socio de Efraín Antonio Campo Flores y Francisco Flores de Freitas, sobrinos de la pareja presidencial de Venezuela, quienes fueron hallados culpables de delitos de narcotráfico en un tribunal de Nueva York."

Expareja de capo hondureño Wilter Blanco es condenada a siete años de cárcel por lavado  3/31/2017 El Heraldo: "García Ramírez aceptó, al someterse a un procedimiento abreviado, haber manejado un monto de 3 millones 521, 900 lempiras provenientes del capo hondureño. Con dicho monto compró una vivienda en la ciudad de La Ceiba, la cual le fue decomisada por las autoridades al no poder ser justificada por la mujer. La fémina fue arestada el pasado 21 de octubre de 2016 en la ciudad de Tocoa en el departamento de Colón. Vale aclarar que García fue amante y es madre de dos hijos del narcotraficante, pero no la esposa."

Russian Oligarch in Election Probe Linked to Drug Cartel  3/31/2017 Daniel Hopsicker's MadCowNews: "New evidence indicates that Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire who paid $10 million a year to Paul Manafort between 2004 and 2009, has been in business since 2004 in Guyana with a politically powerful crime family involved in international drug trafficking whose most famous member is a drug pilot who had also been the chief pilot of the owner of the flight school in Venice Florida that taught Mohamed Atta to fly."

Honduran Gang Used Tropical Storm Agatha to Launder Millions of Drug Money  3/30/2017 OCCRP: ""Los Cachiros," an organized crime group once run by the Maradiaga brothers, allegedly set up several shell companies that were hired by the state to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure. The Honduran daily said the gang then used the companies to launder an estimated US$ 6.4 million of previously made illicit profits."

Honduras Crime Group Used Natural Disaster to Launder Money  3/29/2017 Insight Crime: "The criminal organization reportedly set up several businesses that were hired by state companies to carry out 28 major infrastructure projects in the aftermath of the storm. Authorities believe the projects were supervised by companies that were either controlled by the Cachiros, or did not exist. Honduras' Anti-Corruption Council (Consejo Nacional Anticorrupción - CNA) said one of the state companies implicated in the illegal scheme was the electricity company (Empresa Hondureña de Energía Eléctrica - ENEE), which allegedly paid inflated prices to an enterprise linked with the Cachiros. ENEE representatives, however, have rejected the accusations, saying they were unaware of links between the criminal organization and the companies they hired to carry out projects."

Another Day, Another Damning Testimony of Elites by Honduras Trafficker  3/20/2017 Insight Crime: "As part of a sentencing hearing on March 16, Devis Leonel Rivera Maradiaga of the once-feared Cachiros criminal group said he met with Honduran Congressman Antonio "Tony" Hernández where they discussed how a company that Rivera Maradiaga and his family owned and operated could receive money from the government for services rendered. In return, Rivera Maradiaga claimed, he would pay a "bribe" to the president's brother."

Tony Hernández: "Estoy dispuesto a presentarme ante las autoridades de EEUU"  3/16/2017 El Heraldo: "El hermano del presidente Juan Orlando Hernández, Antonio "Tony" Hernández salió al paso de las acusaciones hechas este jueves por el excapo hondureño Devis Rivera Maradiaga en una corte de Nueva York, Estados Unidos."

Capo hondureño que se escondió en Costa Rica fue extraditado a Estados Unidos  3/15/2017 Nacion: "Ese cartel opera desde el 2004 en La Mosquitia, selva tropical de 800.000 hectáreas. Hace dos años dejó la zona cuando el Gobierno de Honduras inició una cacería en su contra, pues la Agencia Técnica de Investigación Criminal (ATIC) lo vincula con varios homicidios y el pago de sobornos a policías y políticos. De acuerdo con estimaciones realizadas por las autoridades, su fortuna está valorada $300 millones. El año pasado al capo le confiscaron 142 bienes, entre los que hay terrenos, casas, vehículos, lanchas y sociedades."

Contracts Awarded to Honduras Drug Clan Illustrate Cyclical Corruption  3/9/2017 Insight Crime: "In Honduras, government contracts are more than just a means to completing public works projects. They are often at the heart of how corruption and organized crime functions, as these contracts enable state monies to move from political elites to underworld figures in an ostensibly legal fashion. This process becomes a self-reinforcing cycle of corruption when the owners of the companies receiving the contracts send kickbacks or campaign contributions to the politicians responsible for doling them out. The Cachiros, for instance, regularly made significant donations to the campaigns of politicians from both of the country's major political parties, the National Party and Liberal Party."

Drug Trafficker In New York Court Claims He Bribed Honduran President  3/7/2017 CBS: "A man who led a violent Honduran drug trafficking organization has told a federal court in New York that he bribed a president of the Central American country. Devis Rivera Maradiaga, a onetime leader of a gang known as the Cachiros, made the allegation while testifying Monday in a pre-sentencing hearing for the son of now retired Honduran President Porfirio Lobo Sosa. The son has pleaded guilty to cocaine smuggling."

Top Honduras Drug Trafficker Captured in Guatemala  3/6/2017 Insight Crime: "Víctor Hugo Díaz Morales, alias “El Rojo,” was captured along the Próceres Boulevard and 16th Street in Guatemala City, according to a Guatemalan Interior Ministry press release. The ministry says Díaz Morales is facing drug trafficking charges in the Southern District of New York. Díaz Morales goes by at least two other names: Víctor Manuel Villegas Castillo and Víctor Manuel Villela. Díaz Morales and his criminal organization operates mostly along the Guatemala-Honduras border, according to Honduras and Guatemalan authorities who spoke to InSight Crime on condition of anonymity during the course of the investigation into the alleged trafficker’s activities."

How a Politician Accused of Drug Trafficking Became Venezuela’s Vice President  2/16/2017 NYT: [Perhaps NYT could investigate why Bill Clinton picked Colombian President Uribe as a partner in the drug war when the DIA listed him as a narcosenator and a close personal friend of Pablo Escobar. Or maybe why Hillary and Trump approve of the Honduran government which is riddled with narcos from the top on down…]

Honduras, From Banana Republic to Narco State  2/12/2017 Stratfor: "The most important factor for success, though, has been the National Inter-Institutional Security Task Force (FUSINA), created in 2014 to serve as an operational arm of the state's National Security Council. Currently, FUSINA is led by defense and security ministers." [When senior government officials are also traffickers, this will not work. Stratfor functions as a private CIA, and it will not critique CIA sponsored trafficking, abundantly in evidence in Honduras. If you reach your limit of free artices on Stratfor, just switch browsers.]

Honduras, From Banana Republic to Narco State  2/12/2017 Stratfor: "Gangs MS13 and Barrio 18 are involved in the drug trade but also carry out other violent crimes, such as extortion, in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba. The violence they impose has been a major driver of migration north to Mexico and to the United States. According to Honduras' Casa Alianza, Mexico deported more than 90,000 Honduran child migrants in 2016, and the United States apprehended an estimated 410,000 migrants mainly from Central America."

Donald J. Trump and the Deep State, Part 2  2/7/2017 Who. What. Why: "The following is Part 2 of a two-part series, excerpted from The American Deep State: Big Money, Big Oil, and the Struggle for U.S. Democracy, Updated Edition (copyright 2017) (paperback); by Peter Dale Scott."

Donald J. Trump and the Deep State, Part 1  2/6/2017 Who. What. Why: "Whatever the tensions, it was clear after the election that Trump in his transition team had “surrounded himself with people tied to the Kochs.” Soon the Trump nominee for Education Secretary was Betsy DeVos, another major billionaire contributor to the Koch donor list. (Betsy’s brother Erik Prince, famous as the founder and owner of the notorious private army Blackwater, was quietly advising the Trump transition team on matters related to intelligence and defense.)"

Navigating the Landscape of Guatemala's Organized Crime  12/4/2016 Stratfor: "Should leftist candidate Xiomara Castro win the Honduran presidency, her administration could prove less cooperative on counternarcotics operations with the United States." [As opposed to the current narco state where generals do the trafficking? Stratfor is a private CIA and is reluctant to criticize CIA sponsored trafficking. If you reach your limit of free artices on Stratfor, just switch browsers.]

Bust of Transnational Drug Ring Follows Honduras Kingpin’s Capture  11/25/2016 Insight Crime: "In Honduras, the Attorney General’s Office conducted 10 raids in four cities — including the capital, Tegucigalpa — that resulted in the arrest of at least two police officers and one former officer. According to La Prensa, the operation is “related” to the arrest in Costa Rica of Honduran drug kingpin Wilter Neptalí Blanco Ruíz, which occurred the day before the raids."

Atlantic Cartel  11/25/2016 Insight Crime: [covers the areas occupied by Garinagu] "The investigations of the murders of González and Landaverde languished for years, and the cases came to exemplify the extent of criminality and impunity within the Honduran police force. In 2014, recordings surfaced from a police station known as the Casamata, or "Slaughter House," which showed officers discussing plans to execute González. Shortly thereafter, a police officer who had retrieved the recordings, apparently planning to turn them over to investigators, was found dead."

Seguimiento tecnológico delató al presunto capo hondureño Wilter Blanco  11/24/2016 El Heraldo: "En el caso del tico Yandel Rodríguez, es considerado por las autoridades hondureñas como el enlace de Blanco en ese país y encargado de su seguridad personal. Dennis Rodríguez es trabajador del cartel del Atlántico en el manejo de lanchas que movilizan la droga procedente de Suramérica y fue la persona que lo trasladó desde el municipio de Limón, departamento de Colón, en Honduras, hasta el municipio de Heredia, departamento del mismo nombre, Costa Rica. Ese departamento es fronterizo con Nicaragua."

La lujosa vida que rodeaba al presunto capo Wilter Blanco  11/23/2016 El Heraldo: "Algunas de las propiedades incautadas están a nombre de su esposa Dunia Elizabeth Melgar Paguada."

Embajador James Nealon celebra captura de supuesto capo Wilter Blanco  11/22/2016 El Heraldo: "Estados Unidos tuvo conocimiento que Ruiz Blanco planeaba un atentado criminal en contra del embajador Nealon y del presidente de la república Juan Orlando Hernández. Esto provocó que ambas figuras tuvieran que reforzar su seguridad. El supuesto narco hondureño fue capturado este tarde cuando caminaba tranquilamente por una vía pública de Cariari en Belén de Heredia, Costa Rica."

Capturan al capo hondureño Wilter Blanco en Costa Rica  11/22/2016 El Heraldo: "El presunto narcotraficante hondure?o Wilter Blanco fue capturado la tarde de este martes por elementos de la Policía de Control de Drogas (PCD) del hermano país Costa Rica con apoyo de las autoridades hondureñas. ?En las imágenes en poder de EL HERALDO se puede ver a Blanco vistiendo una camisa naranja y muy diferente a las últimas fotos mostradas por las autoridades hondureñas para dar con su paradero. El operativo de captura se llevó a cabo con apoyo de la Dirección Nacional de Lucha contra el Narcotrófico (DLCN) y la Agencia Técnica de Investigación Criminal (ATIC)."

Wilter Blanco, el narco que mandaba en la Policía de Honduras  11/22/2016 La Prensa: "Para abril de 2015, los hondureños se vieron sorprendidos con la incautación masiva de bienes derivada de una operación de la Dirección de Lucha contra el Narcotráfico (DLCN) en contra de Wilter Neptaly Blanco Ruiz, un presunto narcotraficante de 39 años señalado como jefe del Cartel del Atlántico o del Cartel de Colón, prófugo de la justicia y ahora acusado como autor intelectual del asesinato del general Julián Arístides González. Blanco Ruiz, originario de Brus Laguna, La Mosquitia hondureña, era dueño de negocios dedicados a la exportación de mariscos y mantenía varias haciendas, unas que desbordaban en lujos como el famoso el Rancho Reguleto en Sonaguera, Colón, al noreste de Honduras, adonde llegaban bandas y artistas a entretener en las fiestas que ahí se organizaban."

Wilter Blanco, el mayor capo de la droga en Honduras  11/22/2016 La Prensa: "En octubre pasado, el Departamento de Justicia de Estados Unidos interpuso un requerimiento fiscal contra Blanco Ruiz por conspirar para ingresar al menos cinco kilogramos de cocaína a suelo estadounidense. Esta acción se originó, según lo conocido EL HERALDO, porque se colmó la paciencia de la diplomacia norteamericana por el libertinaje con el que ha operado Wilter Neptaly Blanco Ruiz y sus socios en las vastas zonas del atlántico de Honduras. Se conoce que tres hechos llevaron al límite de la tolerancia: el primero es la captura y liberación de Wilter Blanco y tres de sus compinches el 14 de septiembre de 2016 en Tocoa, Colón; el segundo es el atentado en San Pedro Sula contra un carro donde viajaban agentes antidrogas y el tercero la amenaza contra la vida del embajador James Nealon."

Air Cocaine: the Wild, True Story of Drug-Running, Arms Smuggling and Contras at a Backwoods Airstrip in the Clintons’ Arkansas  11/4/2016 Counterpunch: "The confession that Leach finally extracted from the CIA regarding its operations at Mena received scant notice from the press, with only the Wall Street Journal covering the report in any detail. The Post’s Walter Pincus wrote a short item on the report, faithfully echoing the CIA’s line that it had no involvement in “money laundering, narcotics trafficking, [or] arms smuggling.” Christopher Reed, a reporter with the Guardian, recalls asking a senior news executive at the Los Angeles Times if the paper had investigated the allegations of drugs and arms smuggling at Mena. “Yes,” the executive told Reed. “But nobody in authority would confirm it.”"

“El Rojo” y Wilter, eslabones perdidos del narcotráfico en Honduras  10/30/2016 El Heraldo: "Los agentes antidrogas consideran que el arresto de estos dos supuestos capos de la droga y sus declaraciones terminarán de destapar, en Estados Unidos, la caja de Pandora, en la cual seguramente no se encontrará un tesoro oculto. Estos dos acabarán de embarrar a muchos miembros de la élite política, empresarios, militares, policías, jueces, exmagistrados y fiscales, más de lo que ya hicieron los hondureños extraditados que guardan prisión en cárceles estadounidenses."

U.S. Drug War Kills More Hondurans  10/28/2016 RHC: edited by Pavel Jacomino - "Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernandez, a member of his brother’s right-wing National Party and member of Congress, has been flagged as a “person of interest” in a narco-trafficking case spearheaded by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in the Central American country. In recent weeks, the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa released a list of suspects in the investigation, including the kingpin of the Atlantic cartel, Wilter Blanco, and several other individuals — including military officials — linked to corruption and Blanco’s drug network, said to be the largest and most powerful in the country. Tony Hernandez’s name has not been publicly released on those official lists. But army Captain Santos Rodriguez Orellana, one of the suspects under scrutiny, told local media that DEA agents had pressed him for information at Hernandez’s alleged involvement. A U.S. Embassy official reportedly confirmed to InSight Crime that Hernandez is a “person of interest” in the case."

Marco Rubio's Ties to a Drug-Smuggling Brother-in-Law Were Closer Than Advertised  10/26/2016 Miami New Times: "Tabraue was a violent piece of work. In 1980, his crew murdered a federal agent, Larry Nash, and Tabraue tried to hack him to pieces with a machete before giving up and letting his cronies use a circular saw instead. He was also charged with ordering a brutal hit on his first wife, who was shot nine times. But he beat that case at trial. "Mario was absolutely ruthless," says Fisten, who investigated the hit on Tabraue's wife. "He had hired killers working for him all over South Florida.""

Lugarteniente de Wilter Blanco desafía a los militares  10/23/2016 El Heraldo: "Presagiando amenazas los militares aseguraron el tractor y montaron vigilancia. Por la noche un informante alertó al jefe del equipo que 50 hombres de la banda de Fredy Ávila Ramos venían en apoyo a Óscar Everest Vega Aragón, dispuestos a atacar a la unidad militar, la cual a pesar de estar conformada solo por ocho hombres decidió enfrentarlos. Al siguiente día, 6 mujeres llegaron a la hacienda alegando que se tenía detenidas a las dos mujeres de la casa y exigían su liberación. Cuando el jefe del equipo platicaba con ellas inició el ataque. Las mujeres corrieron y se perdieron en el bosque. El personal que custodiaba el tractor -4 hombres-, al verse casi rodeado, salió por la vía de escape y se unió a los demás. El tiroteo continuó seguido de una fuerte explosión. Los patrulleros contraatacaron y los narcodelincuentes se retiraron dejando el tractor dañado aunque recuperable. El ajetreo de la fusilería terminó en 20 minutos. El resto del día no se escuchó nada. Los militares se movilizaron a la casa de la hacienda abandonada."

Honduras Kingpin Accused by US Will Turn Himself In: Reports  10/18/2016 Insight Crime: "Within months of the Cachiros’ surrender, the United States brought drug trafficking and money laundering charges against members of one of Honduras’ wealthiest and most politically powerful families, the Rosenthals, who were linked to the Cachiros’ operations."

Policías “Tigres” dejaron en libertad al capo Wilter Blanco Ruiz  10/16/2016 El Heraldo: "Al llegar a un retén ubicado en las cercanías de Tocoa, Colón, un oficial les hizo señal de parada y el conductor bajó el vidrio de su ventana, por lo que el oficial le pidió que bajara el vidrio de atrás, pero el conductor no atendió la orden y pidió hacer una llamada para luego pasarle el teléfono celular al uniformado. Tras unos minutos de conversación, el oficial regresó el aparato celular al conductor y pidió a los ocupantes una disculpa por el tiempo perdido y les pidió seguir la marcha."

Honduras, EE UU Se perfila a destruir toda la estructura de Wilter Blanco  10/15/2016 Quien Opina: "El informe ULP-05-2013 del Ministerio Público establece que Wilter Blanco comenzó sus actividades ilícitas asociándose con los señores Darsy Faustino Hyde Valladares y Francisco Javier Orellana, ambos hondureños, investigados por la propiedad de varios bienes muebles e inmuebles, presuntamente adquiridos con dinero de actividades relacionadas con el narcotráfico. El expediente de la FESCCO establece que Hyde Valladares lideraba una organización internacional que se dedicaba principalmente al envío de cargamentos de cocaína en lanchas rápidas utilizando la ruta del Golfo de Urabá, en Colombia, de donde salían hacia Panamá, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica y Guatemala, con destino final en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. Las autoridades concluyeron, de acuerdo al informe de la FESCCO que Wilter Blanco entró en contacto con este grupo, haciéndose testaferro suyo, de forma que el 19 de noviembre de 2007 recibió los traspasos de 14 lotes de terreno (Rancho Reguleto), cuyo dueño era Francisco Javier Orellana."

Estados Unidos cierra el cerco contra Wilter Blanco y su cartel en Honduras  10/14/2016 El Heraldo: "“El cartel del Atlántico es el más grande y mejor constituido por ahora”, dijo una fuente conocedora de la lucha contra las drogas. Querer defender a Wilter Blanco “es querer defender lo indefendible”. Este cartel domina La Mosquitia, donde continuamente bajan narcoavionetas y descargan lanchas. Sus operaciones se extienden a otras zonas de Colón, Islas de la Bahía y Atlántida, incluso tocan el occidente del país, donde se conecta con el cartel de AA, así como con el narcotraficante guatemalteco-hondureño más conocido como “El Rojo”, quienes gracias a un político de la zona tienen a la disposición las pistas de Gracias y de Río Amarillo, en Copán, detalló."

Juan Orlando Hernández confirma plan de atentado en su contra, revelado por EL HERALDO  10/13/2016 El Heraldo: "Estados Unidos logró captar conversaciones telefénicas a mediados de agosto de este año del supuesto narcotraficante con sus compinches en las que hablan de dar de baja y actuar contra el embajador James Nealon y el presidente Juan Orlando Hernández. En esta investigación, EL HERALDO también tuvo acceso a documentos confidenciales en los que se muestra que las autoridades hondureñas no le dieron captura al supuesto capo el pasado 14 de septiembre, a pesar que esa era la misión encomendada. Blanco estaba en Colón y las autoridades tenían indicios de que allí se encontraba; por eso, supuestamente, montan operativos. Las autoridades hondureñas, no solo dejaron ir al supuesto narcotraficante, que tiene orden de captura para extradición, sino que también les dieron vía libre a tres de sus compinches."

Estados Unidos apunta a destruir toda la estructura de Wilter Blanco  10/12/2016 La Tribuna: [Borrado de La Tribuna, sigue en Archive.org] - "El informe ULP-05-2013 del Ministerio Público establece que Wilter Blanco comenzó sus actividades ilícitas asociándose con los señores Darsy Faustino Hyde Valladares y Francisco Javier Orellana, ambos hondureños, investigados por la propiedad de varios bienes muebles e inmuebles, presuntamente adquiridos con dinero de actividades relacionadas con el narcotráfico. El expediente de la FESCCO establece que Hyde Valladares lideraba una organización internacional que se dedicaba principalmente al envío de cargamentos de cocaína en lanchas rápidas utilizando la ruta del Golfo de Urabá, en Colombia, de donde salían hacia Panamá, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica y Guatemala, con destino final en los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. Las autoridades concluyeron, de acuerdo al informe de la FESCCO que Wilter Blanco entró en contacto con este grupo, haciéndose testaferro suyo, de forma que el 19 de noviembre de 2007 recibió los traspasos de 14 lotes de terreno (Rancho Reguleto), cuyo dueño era Francisco Javier Orellana."

US Investigating Criminal Ties of Dozens of Honduras Elites: Report  10/11/2016 Insight Crime: "Nearly three dozen mayors, congressmen, judges, military officials and police officers in Honduras are reportedly being investigated for their connections to a drug cartel, a potentially explosive probe that could help expose the deep links between elites and organized crime in the country."

Honduras Extraditions Hint at Ongoing Weakness in Judicial System  10/10/2016 Insight Crime: "The source also said that another one of the men, Hidelgrado Gastelum García, was a liaison between the Valles and Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. A Mexican-Guatemalan dual national, Gastelum García is the cousin of the infamous César Gastelum Serrano, who has been crdited with forging the relationship between the two trafficking organizations. Gastelum Serrano remained high on the list of most wanted drug traffickers in both Honduras and the United States before his arrest in Cancún, Mexico in 2015."

Enlace de los Valle con cartel de Sinaloa es extraditable  10/10/2016 El Heraldo: "Las autoridades informaron que Luis Alonso y Miguel Arnulfo Valle tenían nexos con el cartel de Sinaloa, de Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. La fuente indicó que esta relación de “negocios” inició por intervención de César Gastelum Serrano, capturado el 11 de abril de 2015 en Cancún, México. El narco figuraba en la lista de los más buscados por los gobiernos de Honduras y Estados Unidos, ya que era quien recibía la droga que enviaban los hermanos Valle y que tenía como destino final Estados Unidos."

Tres personas señaladas por EE UU están ligadas al narcotráfico  10/8/2016 El Heraldo: "Trascendió que el nombre de Winter Blanco Ruíz posee un gran peso en Gracias a Dios, ya que durante más de una década ha estado asociado a grupos de poder y narcotráfico, quien logró establecer un emporio en la zona, superando incluso al cartel de Los Cachiros, pero su vida la ha mantenido en bajo perfil."

A History of CIA Drug Trafficking: How Drug Cartels and Drug-Dealing Death Squads Have Been the CIA's Best Friends for Many Decades  8/27/2016 ISGP: "In this article about four dozen historical cases of CIA drug trafficking are summarized, complete with sources. These summaries and sources should make it much easier to understand the intricacies of CIA drug trafficking allegations, see how various cases fit together, leap over some of the less reliable ones, and form a relatively clear opinion as to whether or not this subject is credible."

Marijuana Sales in The US Rise to Over $6 Billion, Leaving the Caribbean Behind  8/14/2016 Atlanta Black Star: "At the end of July eleven individuals received jail sentences in Havana of between 15 to 30 years for attempting to traffic narcotics into Cuba from Jamaica. The convictions followed a number of co-ordinated operations to stop go-fast boats arriving with large quantities of marijuana. The intention had been to sell the ganja in the Cuban capital."

Aseguran mansión en La Ceiba a supuesto capo hondureño  8/4/2016 La Prensa: "Las propiedades pertenecen al hondureño Francisco Javier Zelaya Fúnez quien está en prisión en Estados Unidos."

Marco Rubio: Entre drogas, narcotráfico, Uribe y más…  7/31/2016 Radio Orinoco: "En Washington, hubo chistosos que llamaron “Narco” Rubio al senador por su amistad con el colombiano Álvaro Uribe. Pero la relación cada vez más fuerte del político de la Florida con el expresidente de Colombia se convirtió poco a poco en una alianza que le hizo fruncir el ceño a más de un observador. A principios de noviembre de 2014, Rubio realizó una visita en Colombia durante dos días. La noche de su primer día en el país, se reunió con Uribe y su gente, en un salón discreto de un bar exclusivo de la capital, hecho registrado por su propio departamento de prensa y por los medios neogranadinos. El diálogo fraternal seguirá en febrero de 2015 cuando Uribe realiza una gira por Estados Unidos en la que se entrevista con congresistas “para expresar sus objeciones al proceso de paz, entre otros asuntos”."

Tim Kaine’s Unlikely Biography  7/31/2016 Daniel Hopsicker: "When the drug business took off in earnest in the 1970’s, the Caribbean coast of Honduras, including San Pedro Sula and El Progreso, became a full-service oasis on the drug trafficking turnpike, serving hot food and aviation fuel 24 hours a day. Honduras became, and remains, a major off-ramp, located a comfortable distance for a twin-engined plane to fly from Colombia on a full tank of gas, refuel, and fly on to Florida. trampolinePilots call it the Trampoline. Planes touch down, gas up and bounce back into the air for the second half of their flight to the U.S. The Honduran Army made possible the blizzard of cocaine that transformed millions of American lives during the 1980’s. The grateful leaders of the Honduran military wouldn’t have it any other way. They took a cut on each flight. They still do."

Ex-Honduras president's son and police allegedly conspired to bring drugs to US  6/29/2016 Guardian: "Six Honduran national police officers have bene charged with conspiring with the son of a former Honduran president to import drugs into the United States. US attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan announced the charges, saying the officers were accused of participating “in a massive drug trafficking conspiracy” that flooded US cities with cocaine. None of the officers are in custody."

Son of ex-Honduras president pleads guilty to drug trafficking  5/16/2016 NY Post: "The son of Honduras’ ex-president Porfirio Lobo pleaded guilty Monday to being a common drug trafficker — and he now faces at least 10-year behind bars. Fabio Lobo, 44, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to scheming to import a “multi-ton load” of cocaine into the US last year in hopes of a big payday."

Gangs in Honduras  4/21/2016 Insight Crime: "This report was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by InSight Crime with assistance from the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa."

Aduana cubana desmiente presencia de droga en contenedor embarcado en Cuba  4/18/2016 CubaDebate: "Luego de las investigaciones correspondientes; la revisión de las imágenes radiológicas, así como de los procedimientos establecidos para la inspección de los contenedores, la Aduana General de la República de Cuba puede asegurar categóricamente que el contenedor CLHU 387265-2 no era portador de drogas en su estructura, ni en los tanques metálicos que transportan la miel, por lo que el despacho de la agencia EFE carece de todo fundamento."

Tres generales y un cartel: violencia policial e impunidad en Honduras  4/15/2016 NYT: "Al General Arístides González lo mandaron a matar dos directores generales de la policía de Honduras que dirigieron la institución entre 2010 y 2013, los generales José Luis Muñoz Licona y José Ricardo Ramírez del Cid, que según la investigación de la propia policía, trabajaban para el Cartel del Atlántico junto con más de dos docenas de oficiales de diversos rangos. Recibieron la orden, organizaron el asesinato, lo ejecutaron y lo encubrieron. E hicieron lo mismo con el político de la Democracia Cristiana Alfredo Landaverde, que también había sido titular de la Dirección de Lucha contra el Narcotráfico."

Files Suggest Honduran Police Leaders Ordered Killing of Antidrug Officials  4/15/2016 NYT: "Behind the scenes, according to the case files, the police investigators took just three weeks to solve the murder. The chief suspects were a cell of high-ranking police commanders working hand-in-hand with drug traffickers. The conspiracy reached all the way to the chief of police."

Un informe revela nombres y hechos relacionados con asesinatos cometidos por la policía en Honduras  4/15/2016 NYT: "La revelación de la responsabilidad de la cúpula policial hondureña en asesinatos de alto impacto sucede la misma semana que se ha instalado la Misión de Apoyo Contra la Corrupción e Impunidad en Honduras (MACCIH). Creada por la Organización de Estados Americanos con el permiso del gobierno, la misión busca responder a la presión ciudadana que durante meses el año pasado pidió en las calles que la comunidad internacional interviniera el sistema de justicia del país."

Honduras Elites and Organized Crime: Juan Ramón Matta Ballesteros  4/9/2016 Insight Crime: "In interviews for this report, current and former officials routinely referred to Matta Waldurraga as his father’s successor in the drug trade, as well as a person who manages government contracts and serves as a kind of informal bank for the underworld. But the recent seizures were not accompanied by a public order for his arrest, and Matta Waldurraga has never been charged with a crime in Honduras. In declarations to the press, Matta Waldurraga called the 2014 seizure operation a “payasada,” a joke, and said the property was inherited from his grandmother.103 The family also protested the government’s confiscation of its property, but there was little it could do. The properties, the Honduran government said, were purchased with illegal proceeds and were thus subject to confiscation under a new law the government had passed just two years earlier.104"

Pirates, Contraband, and Mega-Gangs in Venezuela  3/14/2016 Insight Crime: "From this peculiarity, the mega-gangs have formed alliances with similar groups that migrated from Colombia, and they have formed national cells of the Rastrojos and Urabeños. This also happened previously, with the so-called Aguilas Negras (Black Eagles). In Apure state, the Bolivarian Liberation Forces have evolved from a group of cattle rustlers and kidnappers — who burst onto the national scene during 1990s — to build a political base, which has allowed them to form alliances with municipal authorities throughout the state."

The Origins of Organized Crime in Venezuela  3/14/2016 Insight Crime: [The judicial police, formed under significant influences from French and US investigative agencies, relied almost totally on physical evidence. The police rarely delved into the investigative work that could uncover the existence of deeper and more profound criminal conspiracies. Until 2005, in Venezuela the legal concept of organized crime was limited to conspiracy, as it was defined and sanctioned in the penal code. Venezuela was a signatory to the 2000 United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, but it had not developed a single law to adopt the protocols outlined in the convention. Technically, before 2005, Venezuelan law ruled out the existence of organized crime. How could they talk about organized crime if there was no law that explicitly defined it as a crime?"

Drugs, Dams, and Power: The Murder of Honduran Activist Berta Cáceres  3/11/2016 The Intercept: "Cáceres told her she was being “seriously harassed” by three local politicians who she believed were acting at the behest of Desarrollos Energéticos, SA (DESA), the private energy company behind the Agua Zarca dam. DESA is partially controlled by the controversial Honduran Atala family, whose members are involved in a variety of business ventures and suspected by many of having backed the 2009 coup. Best known among them is billionaire Camilo Atala, president of Banco Ficohsa, a regional bank that in 2014 acquired most of Citibank’s assets in the region, making it the largest bank in Honduras."

Marco Rubio, esposo de colombiana, cuñado de narco y socio de Uribe  3/2/2016 Contrainjerencia: "Es que Rubio y Uribe, además de ensañarse contra Venezuela y sus aliados, llevan episodios en su historial que les vinculan, de una manera u otra, al narcotráfico… lo que abre bien grande la puerta a delicadas conjeturas."

Marco Rubio’s Ties to Sketchy Businesses, Drug Dealing and Ponzi Schemes  2/15/2016 Observer: "Mr. Rivera and Mr. Rubio were also involved in another dubious deal in the mid-2000s that is breathtakingly brazen even by Florida’s promiscuous standards and which was partially unraveled over many years by a joint FBI/DEA task force. One of the key figures in the scam was Alan Mendelsohn, a GOP lobbyist and fundraiser who raised about $2 million that he funneled to numerous Florida politicians or used for his personal benefit, according to his subsequent indictment. Of that amount about $1.5 million came from a crooked businessman named Joel Steinger. Steinger was the founder and CEO of a private company called Mutual Benefits Corp., through which he pulled off a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme that targeted elderly South Florida retirees and members of the state’s gay community. Mutual Benefits Corp. also helped a South American drug cartel launder money, evidence compiled by a the FBI/DEA task force showed."

Rechazamos la presencia de militares y narcos en el territorio Garífuna  1/13/2016 OFRANEH: "La criminalización del pueblo Garifuna emprendida por los militares y funcionarios estatales, no es más que una cortina de humo para ocultar la alianza existente entre alcaldes, jueces y narcos. Las Fuerzas de Seguridad poseen suficiente información sobre quiénes son y cómo actúa el crimen organizado en el país. Las comunidades Garífunas se han mantenido al margen del lucrativo y espeluznante negocio. Si bien hay algunos Garífunas involucrados, la gran mayoría de nuestro pueblo se mantiene fuera de la esfera de influencia del narcotráfico, y podemos señalar de forma contundente que ejército y policía conocen bien quienes son los involucrados, pero se abstienen de desmantelar las estructuras criminales."

Honduras - Events of 2015  1/1/2016 Human Rights Watch: "Rampant crime and impunity for human rights abuses remain the norm in Honduras. Despite a downward trend in recent years, the murder rate is among the highest in the world. Efforts to reform the institutions responsible for providing public security have made little progress. Marred by corruption and abuse, the judiciary and police remain largely ineffective."

Cómo Rubio ayudó a cuñado a obtener una licencia de bienes raíces  12/31/2015 Nuevo Hereald: "Cuando Marco Rubio era líder de la mayoría de la Cámara de Representantes de la Florida, utilizó su cargo oficial para pedirle a reguladores estatales que le otorgaran una licencia de agente de bienes raíces a su cuñado, quien años antes había sido encontrado culpable de narcotráfico. El cuñado, Orlando Cicilia, había sido liberado de la cárcel apenas 20 meses antes, según documentos que pudo obtener el diario The Washington Post."

The drug-smuggling case that brought anguish to Marco Rubio’s family  12/12/2015 WaPo: "While the case was widely covered at the time, many details of Cicilia’s top-level role in the smuggling operation have not been previously reported, in part because they were stored in court files that were antiquated and difficult to access, as well as in remote archives. Cicilia served as the “front man” in the drug ring headed by Mario Tabraue, a kingpin who ran an exotic-animals business and kept spotted leopards on the walled grounds of his mansion, according to interviews and court records. Cicilia looked and sounded the part, wearing paisley suits and rakishly calling cocaine “a pretty thing,” according to court records and interviews with lead investigators."

Empresario Yankel Rosenthal dice que recobrarán "centavo a centavo su patrimonio"  11/19/2015 El Heraldo: "Yankel salió el pasado lunes del sistema penitenciario de Estados Unidos y fue trasladado de una cárcel a un centro de detención. El empresario de 47 años fue acusado, junto a su primo Yani Rosenthal y el padre de éste, Jaime Rosenthal, por lavado de activos provenientes del tráfico de drogas, que tiene una pena de 20 años, y soborno a un funcionario. El 18 de marzo de 2016 está previsto que Yankel Rosenthal comparezca ante un juez federal de distrito."

Frank Sinatra, Pablo Escobar… and Meyer Lansky  11/8/2015 Daniel Hopsicker: "Years later, Nixon aide Chuck Colson told Senator Lowell Weicker two pieces of information about Ambrose, the first head of the DEA, that has characterized that Agency ever since: 1. “Ambrose set up the CIA in the Drug Enforcement Administration.” 2. Ambrose had cordial relations with certain Mafia figures.”"

La captura del megaempresario hondureño empieza un terremoto  11/7/2015 Nomada, Guatemala: "Para los políticos porque junto con quien fue el capo de los Cachiros –los narcos que lavaban dinero en el banco de los Rosenthal– también temblaba el presidente hondureño, conocido por el acrónimo JOH."

Frank Sinatra was ‘a better cocaine dealer than singer’: Pablo Escobar's son makes extraordinary claim that the crooner was his drug lord father's business partner  11/7/2015 Daily Mail: "Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar's son has sensationally claimed singer Frank Sinatra was his dad's business partner. Sebastian Marroquín described the legendary crooner as a 'better cocaine dealer than singer' in an interview with a Brazilian newspaper. He said the American artist was one of his father's partners in Miami."

Did Yani Rosenthal Surrender in Honduras Elite Case?  11/3/2015 Insight Crime: "Secondly, Yani’s decision may be so as to protect the Rosenthals' conglomerate, Grupo Continental, one of Honduras’s largest economic groups. The US indictment was released at the same time as the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added three Rosenthals and seven of their businesses to the “Kingpin List,” effectively embargoing all business dealings with the family. While there are no open investigations against the Rosenthals in Honduras, Honduran officials have seized at least 16 of the family’s assets. The government has also closed the Rosenthal’s Banco Continental. Liquidation of the bank has been a major financial hit for the both the family and ordinary Honduran citizens."

The US Shouldn’t Export Colombia’s Drug War ‘Success’  11/1/2015 Task Force on the Americas: "Since 2007—and more intensively since 2011—the US has paid for Colombian security forces to train military and police in Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru—and even West Africa—in counternarcotics tactics."

Ofac de EUA ordena bloquear intereses y propiedad de Seguros Continental  10/22/2015 La Prensa: "La Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros (Ofac) del Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos ordenó hoy jueves bloquear 'la propiedad e intereses' en propiedad de Seguros Continental. Ofac explica que la medida se toma debido a que Banco Continental, designado por el Departamento del Tesoro como empresa usada para lavar dinero vinculado al narcotráfico, posee 50% o más de intereses de Seguros Continental."

Aseguran otra agencia de Banco Continental en San Pedro Sula  10/16/2015 La Prensa: "La Fuerza Interinstitucional Nacional (Fusina) y miembros de la Agencia Técnica de Investigación Criminal (Atic) y de la Dirección de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico (DLCN) aseguraron este viernes la agencia del Banco Continental en el bulevar Morazán, las bodegas de Inversiones Chumbagua en la 33 calle del sector El Polvorín y una casa abandonada en la colonia Felipe Zelaya de San Pedro Sula."

La caída de los Rosenthal, el poderoso clan hondureño acusado de lavado de dinero y narcotráfico  10/14/2015 BBC Mundo: "Como una de las familias más ricas e influyentes de Honduras, los Rosenthal estaban acostumbrados a ocupar importantes puestos de gobierno y su apellido figuraba regularmente entre los aspirantes a la presidencia. Pero en lugar de pelear por la máxima magistratura sus energías ahora están puestas en tratar de evitar una cárcel en Estados Unidos, país que les acusa de haber estado lavando dinero proveniente del narcotráfico durante al menos diez años."

US Releases Indictment Against Honduras Business Behemoth  10/7/2015 Insight Crime: "The US Treasury Department simultaneously named the three Rosenthals as "Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers," and added the family bank, meat packing plant and investment arm, among other businesses, to its "Specially Designated Nationals" (SDN) list, which prohibits others from doing business with these companies or face sanctions."

Why is Honduras so violent?  10/1/2015 Brookings Institution: "It remains one of the most violent countries in the world due to a serious organized crime problem associated with drug trafficking and gangs. This has produced both internal displacement and a wave of undocumented immigrants to the United States (including unaccompanied minors). Drug trafficking has contributed to corruption, impunity, and insecurity in Honduras. President Juan Orlando Hernández, who took office in 2014, responded with a crackdown on crime and the militarization of law enforcement, but faces serious criticism over corruption in government and human rights abuses by the security forces. This week, the Honduran government accepted a proposed Organization of American States (OAS) mission to counter corruption and impunity, the MACCIH (Misión de Apoyo en Contra de la Corrupción e Impunidad en Honduras)."

Incautan 211 kilos de cocaína y capturan a un narco colombiano  9/24/2015 EL Heraldo: "Autoridades de Fusina informaron que el miércoles a las 10:00 de la noche se le dio persecución a una lancha tipo tiburonera de nombre Caribean Queen entre las comunidades de Cusuna y Punta Piedra, en el litoral del departamento de Colón. El resultado inicial fue el decomiso de cinco fardos de droga y la lancha, ya que en la persecución los narcotraficantes la dejaron varada en la playa para darse a la fuga internándose en los matorrales. Mientras escapaban, los delincuentes siguieron disparando con armas de grueso calibre contra la tripulación de la lancha de la Fuerza Naval, produciéndose un intercambio de disparos que duró aproximadamente 20 minutos obligándoles a dejar abandonados los cinco paquetes de cocaína."

Honduras’ Garifuna communities resist eviction and theft of land  8/3/2015 Waging Nonviolence: "In August 2012, members of communities across the Honduran Atlantic coast reclaimed the heart of their territory from encroachment by narco-traffickers, mega-tourism projects and the expansion of palm oil. They founded the community of Vallecito in the territory that the Garifuna consider to be their ancestral land, a mile inland from the sea."

HOW A DOGGED L.A. DEA AGENT UNRAVELED THE CIA'S ALLEGED ROLE IN THE MURDER OF KIKI CAMARENA  7/1/2015 LA Weekly 

Traficantes deportados desde Venezuela no mencionan a Diosdado sino a jefes militares de Uribe Velez  5/31/2015 Aporrea: "Por el contrario en uno de los casos, es un general colombiano, que durante el gobierno de Alvaro Uribe dirigió la unidad antinarcóticos de Colombia, quien estaba vinculado con el principal acusado por la justicia estadounidense, Luis Frank Tello Candelo, según los testimonios y pruebas ofrecidas por un ex oficial de policía que trabajaba para los carteles de Cali y el norte del Valle, según informó el diario El Espectador el 3 de julio de 2012."

Facts About the Media Garbage Against Diosdado Cabello  5/28/2015 Venezuela Analysis: "Yesterday (May 18) the Wall Street Journal published a news story at the same time that the State Department expressed its "concern" over freedom of speech in Venezuela. The report is based on supposed "investigations" conducted by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and Miami prosecutors trying to link Diosdado (Cabello) with drug trafficking. The information presented by the US media outlet is a mix of anonymous opinions, value judgements by US anti-drug officials, declarations lacking any kind of time sequence and unproven speculations about Diosdado Cabello."

Son of Honduras Ex-President Arrested for Drug Trafficking  5/22/2015 Insight Crime: "Lobo's arrest follows another mysterious incident in April, when a congressman and his father, a former Supreme Court judge, were murdered. The congressman was reportedly a political operator for the Valle family, a prolific drug trafficking clan whose two leaders, Miguel Arnulfo and Luis Alonso Valle Valle, were extradited to the United States in December. Other alleged political operators for the Cachiros have faced similar fates: just days after the Maradiaga brothers surrendered, a former governor with suspected close ties to the Cachiros was gunned down. With the alleged leaders of Honduras's two biggest drug trafficking groups imprisoned in the United States, some of the country's elites are arguably now beginning to see the fallout from their well-documented collaboration with drug traffickers."

Son of former Honduras president Porfirio Lobo arrested by DEA in Haitian drug bust  5/21/2015 NY Daily News: "The son of former Honduran President Porfirio Lobo was arrested in Haiti in an apparent anti-drug operation carried out by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Haitian authorities, the ex-president and the Honduran government confirmed Thursday."

Venezuelan Officials Suspected of Turning Country into Global Cocaine Hub  5/18/2015 Wall Street Journal: "U.S. prosecutors are investigating several high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including the president of the country’s congress, on suspicion that they have turned the country into a global hub for cocaine trafficking and money laundering, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the probes."

Mr Simon and the Queen Bee: Traffickers Above Suspicion at HSBC  2/21/2015 Bellingcat: "From 2002 until 2007 at least, HSBC Private Bank was the scene of an alliance between Atlanta-based ecstasy dealers and an Israeli arms trafficker, former Al-Qaeda supplier and money launderer for Mexican cartels."

HSBC Bank: Secret Origins To Laundering The World's Drug Money  2/16/2015 Zero Hedge 

HSBC Bank : Secret Origins to 26/11 Mumbai Attacks  2/9/2015 Great Game India 

The Indigenous Fight for Lands and Cultural Survival in Honduras  12/16/2014 Foreign Policy in Focus: "Narcos, long interested in the strategic characteristics of the land for clandestine drug running — including space for a runway, a hidden creek to the sea, and its remote location — had invaded the legally titled Garifuna lands. In 2012, the community reoccupied its land with drumming and ceremony, despite threats and automatic rifle fire. Since then, however, a portion of the land has been re-invaded. OFRANEH’s strategy to win back Vallecito is to apply strong enough pressure, together with allies around Honduras and the world, that the governmental Agrarian Institute of Honduras will be forced to evict the illegal usurpers. The future of Vallecito is complicated by the Honduran government’s plans for so-called “charter cities.” Know as ciudades modelos in Spanish, these are foreign enclaves shielded from Honduran sovereignty and financed by international investors, with their own security and laws. Vallecito is at the center of a large swath of Garifuna territory the government has in mind for this project. If it is consolidated, dozens of Garifuna communities could be displaced."

PART 1 OF 3: THE GREAT HEROIN COUP-DRUGS,INTELLIGENCE @INTERNATIONAL FASCISM  11/19/2014 Just Chillin on History: "The story of Christian David, an international narcotics trafficker used by the Intelligence services of at least three nations, is fascinating in itself. It is even more important for what it tells us of a larger, less documented history--the secret collaboration of government intelligence services and parallel police throughout the world, and their use of criminals, particularly from drug networks, for political counter-subversion. Above all it is an important book for Americans to read, since the shadow of the CIA can be seen behind Christian David's political intrigues in countries like France and Uruguay. America's role in Christian David's strange career has never before, to my knowledge, been revealed in this country. And Henrik Kruger is able to expand the story into larger perspectives on the CIA, Watergate, and current U.S. counterinsurgency tactics."

Blood on the Corn  11/17/2014 Medium 

The CIA and Drugs, Inc.: a Covert History  11/7/2014 CounterPunch: "Which brings me back to Gary Webb. The CIA wasn’t happy that Poe and Young were talking. Poe was told to shut up after his chat with me, and he did. But Young sold his story to a major Hollywood studio for $100,000. And that was unforgivable. On April Fool’s Day, 2011, Thai police found Bill Young’s corpse. It had been perfectly arranged with a pistol in his one hand and a crucifix in the other. Maybe he was depressed too? And it is seriously depressing, the fact our utterly corrupt government, aided by its criminal co-conspirators in the mainstream media, pretends as if the CIA doesn’t deal drugs."

Key Figures In CIA-Crack Cocaine Scandal Begin To Come Forward  10/10/2014 Huff Post: "During her interview with HuffPost, Baca recounted meeting Contra leader Adolfo Calero multiple times in the 1980s at Contra fundraisers in the San Francisco Bay Area. He would personally pick up duffel bags full of drug money, she said, which it was her job to count for Cornejo. There was no question, she said, that Calero knew precisely how the money had been earned. Meneses’ nickname, after all, was El Rey De Las Drogas — The King of Drugs."

Honduras Captures Leaders of Valles Drug Clan  10/6/2014 Insight Crime: "Honduras arrested two leaders of a prominent drug trafficking organization, further evidence of the growing effectiveness of the Honduran security forces, and how US assistance has aided the country’s battle against organized crime. In a joint operation with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Guatemalan authorities, Honduran police arrested Miguel Arnulfo and Luis Alonso Valle Valle on October 5 in the province of Copan."

NYT’s Belated Admission on Contra-Cocaine  10/4/2014 Consortium News: "The Times’ movie review by David Carr begins with a straightforward recognition of the long-denied truth to which now even the CIA has confessed: “If someone told you today that there was strong evidence that the Central Intelligence Agency once turned a blind eye to accusations of drug dealing by operatives it worked with, it might ring some distant, skeptical bell. Did that really happen? That really happened.”

Managing a Nightmare - How the CIA Watched Over the Destruction of Gary Webb  9/25/2014 The Intercept: "Webb obviously saw things differently. He reflected on his fall from grace in the 2002 book, Into the Buzzsaw. Prior to “Dark Alliance,” Webb said, “I was winning awards, getting raises, lecturing college classes, appearing on TV shows, and judging journalism contests.” “And then I wrote some stories that made me realize how sadly misplaced my bliss had been. The reason I’d enjoyed such smooth sailing for so long hadn’t been, as I’d assumed, because I was careful and diligent and good at my job,” Webb wrote. “The truth was that, in all those years, I hadn’t written anything important enough to suppress.”

HOW THE CIA WATCHED OVER THE DESTRUCTION OF GARY WEBB  9/25/2014 Intercept: "The 20,000-word series enraged black communities, prompted Congressional hearings, and became one of the first major national security stories in history to blow up online. It also sparked an aggressive backlash from the nation’s most powerful media outlets, which devoted considerable resources to discredit author Gary Webb’s reporting. Their efforts succeeded, costing Webb his career. On December 10, 2004, the journalist was found dead in his apartment, having ended his eight-year downfall with two .38-caliber bullets to the head. These days, Webb is being cast in a more sympathetic light. He’s portrayed heroically in a major motion picture set to premiere nationwide next month. And documents newly released by the CIA provide fresh context to the “Dark Alliance” saga — information that paints an ugly portrait of the mainstream media at the time."

Gary Webb: Vindicated  9/24/2014 NarcoNews: "Recently, Narco News sat down with members of Gary Webb’s family — Sue, Ian and Christine — in Sacramento to talk with them about the upcoming major motion picture based on Gary Webb’s life, “Kill the Messenger.” They also talked about Gary’s life, his journalism and his Dark Alliance series."

MOCKINGBIRD: The Subversion Of The Free Press By The CIA  9/1/2014 What Really Happened: "The Depraved Spies and Moguls of the CIA's Operation MOCKINGBIRD" by Alex Constantine and "How the Washington Post Censors the News" by Julian C Holmes

Property Seizures of CIA Linked Narco Latest Blow Against Honduras Impunity  8/4/2014 Insight Crime: "Matta Ballesteros was Honduras’ first known major international drug trafficker. He served as an intermediary between Colombia’s Medellin Cartel and Mexico’s Guadalajara Cartel. According to La Tribuna, he amassed a fortune of more than $2 billion and at one point offered to pay off Honduras’ external debt. Matta Ballesteros allegedly had ties to high-level officials in Honduras and it is rumored he even financed a military coup in 1978. He also had dealings with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which used his airline company to transport weapons, food and other supplies to the Nicaraguan rebels known as the Contras, who were fighting a proxywar against the Sandinista government."

An Arrest in Florida Could Mean Trouble in Honduras  8/4/2014 Insight Crime: "There have been persistent rumors about the Matta Ballesteros family’s continued involvement in drug trafficking, although this is the first known action the Honduran government has taken against the family or its properties. There are still no known charges against any member of any of these prominent underworld families in Honduras. But given the recent actions against the Valle family, there is every reason to believe members of the Matta Ballesteros and the Rivera Maradiaga families could face indictments in the US very soon."

U.S. Military: More Counter-Narcotics Funding Will Help Stem Exodus of Children from Central America  7/29/2014 NarcoNews: “… It has been the malignant effects of immense drug trafficking through these nonconsumer nations [in Central America] that is responsible for accelerating the breakdown in their national institutions of human rights, law enforcement, courts, and eventually their entire society as evidenced today by the flow of children north and out of the conflictive transit zone,” Kelly wrote. “… I believe that the mass migration of children we are all of a sudden struggling with is a leading indicator of the negative second- and third-order impacts on our national interests that are now reality due to the near unimpeded flow of drugs up the isthmus [Central America], as well as the unbelievable levels of drug profits (approximately $85 billion) available to transnational criminal organizations to literally buy police departments, court systems and even governments.”

The Honduras Drug War  6/27/2014 CounterPunch 

El Ejército de Haití vive de la droga: Aristide  6/22/2014 Diario de Queretaro: "Sí, fundamentalmente el Ejército vive de droga, los golpistas viven del estupefaciente; la agencia que se ocupa de la droga en Estados Unidos lo sabe y hace tres semanas se publicó un artículo en el New York Times donde se dice claramente que es la razón por la cual los golpistas no quieren negociar o rechazan la negociación, se esconden tras de eso; apunta el mismo artículo que los golpistas reciben 500 millones de dólares o más al año por la droga; en el Banco Nacional se pueden verificar estas cifras."

Donald Sterling’s New York “Slip & Fall”  6/12/2014 Mad Cow: "Beleaguered LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling numbers among his associates at least three figures who were involved in a troubled “rogue” drug operation run by Tampa ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) that consigned America’s reputation into the hands of people that other branches of the U.S. Government—even casino regulators in Nevada—wouldn’t trust not to cheat at penny-ante poker."

Plan Colombia’s Genocidal Legacy  5/27/2014 Cuba Si: "Extinction may well be the shared fate awaiting some 40 Colombian indigenous groups, UN official Todd Howland announced last month. Howland’s assessment underlined the risks mining operations pose to these communities, and echoes the National Indigenous Organization of Colombia’s finding, presented last year, that 66 of the country’s 102 indigenous communities could soon vanish—“victims of a genocide that is forcing cultural and physical extermination.”

Donald Sterling’s Secret History  5/22/2014 Mad Cow: "He’s the son of immigrant Jews from Russia, born in the same West-Side Chicago neighborhood that a generation earlier spawned Jacob Rubinstein, AKA Jack Ruby. He grew up in Southern California’s Boyle Heights in the 1940s, attending grade school, middle school, and high school in the same town lived in and controlled by notorious mobster Mickey Cohen."

The Vanishing: Christian Cult’s Airport Disappears  3/21/2014 Daniel Hopsicker: "“We don’t have any membership. Every group is autonomous,” he continued. “They’re only affiliated through like beliefs, and through their understanding of the Word. They are all independent ministries.” juliet-papa-and-john-gottiRight, I thought. And John Gotti and his buddies at the Ravenite Social Club in New York just got together to play cards. I didn’t say anything. But I felt slightly embarrassed, as if I had. So I asked a dumb and very obvious question. “So, um, in the early ‘80’s, how did your group end up with colonies in Colombia, Peru, and Guatemala?”"

Cocaine: the new face of deforestation in Central America  3/11/2014 Monga Bay: "Finally, profits from drug trafficking cannot be declared as income and thus must be laundered. Drug cartels often get around this by purchasing remote land and clearing it, allowing them to convert drug-money into legalized private property without leaving a trail. Large ranches or narco-estates formed by deforestation, often masquerade under the fronts of agriculture and oil palm plantations. Land titles are falsified, government officials bribed, and ultimately, such land becomes legalized when unsuspecting legitimate corporations purchase it from “locals” as an agricultural investment."

Narco-Deforestation: Linking Drug Policy and Forest Conservation  2/6/2014 Our World: "A new article published in the journal Science, co-authored by United Nations University researcher Dr. David Wrathall, provides compelling evidence that flows of drugs through the Americas are directly related to deforestation rates in North America’s most biodiverse and biosensitive region. The article, “Drug Policy as Conservation Policy: Narco-Deforestation” is the result of collaboration between researchers at the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and four US universities: The Ohio State University, Northern Arizona University, the University of Denver and the University of Idaho."

Drug Trafficking Spurring Deforestation Throughout Central America, Study Finds  2/5/2014 Huff Post: "Before the drug trade arrived, deforestation in Honduras was occurring at about 20 square kilometers per year, she told the BBC. “Under the narco-effect, we see over 60 square kilometers per year. In some parts of Guatemala, the rates are even higher. We’re talking up to 10 percent deforestation rates, which is just staggering.”

Prying Native People from Native Lands: Narco Business in Honduras  2/4/2014 NACLA: "But there is yet more reason to be deeply wary about inferring too much from this epic land ownership transfer: drug trafficking. Honduras is now infamous for its staggering rates of drug-related violence, but links between drug trafficking and Lobo’s resource-grabbing agenda are rarely made. In fact—especially in La Mosquitia—it is narco-traffickers who act as shock troops in the assault on native homelands, ruthlessly dispossessing residents and rapaciously converting forest commons to private pasture primed for sale. And traffickers simply do not care who owns what. If they want it, it’s theirs. Many observers consider most of the Mosquitia—including the newly titled areas—to be effectively controlled by drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs). But the narcos are not in the land-grabbing business for themselves alone; in the Mosquitia region, they represent the thin end of the corporate wedge prying native peoples from native lands. We have observed these dynamics first-hand. On our last visits to the region, the dynamics of narco-dispossession were impossible to ignore. Residents recounted story after story of being coerced—by money or violence—to give up their lands. In the Miskitu town of Brus Laguna (pop. 11,000), for example, few residents plant their fields any more, since most agricultural lands were bought up by a narco [Brus is the home town of Wilter Blanco, founder of the Atlantic Cartel]. If locals wish to fish in the town’s lagoon, they must get traffickers’ permission."

Drug Policy as Conservation Policy: Narco-Deforestation  1/31/2014 Science: [behind paywall]

Urabeños Potential Actor in Colombia Armed Conflict: ICC  1/23/2014 Insight Crime: "The International Criminal Court has called the Urabeños Colombia’s most dangerous and well-organized criminal organization, stating that the group is powerful enough that they could become a player in the country’s conflict. In a report accessed by El Tiempo, the International Criminal Court (ICC) states that of the narco-paramilitary groups categorized by the authorities as BACRIM (an abbreviation from the Spanish for “criminal bands,”) such as the Rastrojos and the Aguilas Negras, the Urabeños has the by far the highest levels of “organization and capacity to do harm” ."

A Mission Gone Wrong  1/6/2014 New Yorker: "“The story that was out there at the time was entirely different from what we saw.” Later, having become more familiar with the shooting, the Senate aide said, “I am not aware of anyone in the Honduran government or the State Department who, after reviewing the case, believes that the evidence establishes that the people in the boat fired at the agents.”

Contra-Cocaine Was a Real Conspiracy  12/2/2013 Consortium News: "But Webb’s disclosure prompted the CIA’s Inspector General Frederick Hitz to undertake the first real internal investigation of the ties between the Contra-cocaine smugglers and the CIA officers overseeing the Contra war in Nicaragua… Although Hitz’s report was an extraordinary admission of institutional guilt by the CIA, it went almost unnoticed by the big American newspapers. On Oct. 10, 1998, two days after Hitz’s final report was posted on the CIA’s Web site, the New York Times published a brief article that continued to deride Webb but acknowledged the Contra-drug problem may have been worse than earlier understood. Several weeks later, the Washington Post weighed in with a similarly superficial article. The Los Angeles Times never published a story on the contents of Hitz’s findings though Los Angeles had been “ground zero” of the Ross-Blandon connection."

Barry Seal, the Dallas get-away plane, and the JFK assassination  11/22/2013 Daniel Hopsicker: "“I worked for the CJ Simpson de Cuba Drilling Company, which had three rotary drilling rigs operating in Cuba. Whether you or any of your associates are aware of the number of “implements of war” shipped by that company out of the United States as components of drilling equipment, I have no idea. But I advise you to find out! These shipments of “implements of war” by the CIA had no known open approval of the United States Government. Yet I am sure that your attitude towards it would be that as long as it is done by a federal agency, it is correct. If this is your assumption, then you are dead wrong."

NSA links to St Petersburg FL Drug Ring  11/15/2013 Mad Cow Morning News: "Skyway Global LLC, the St. Petersburg, FL company that owned the DC-9 airline busted in Mexico carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine, made its headquarters in a 79,000 sq ft building owned by Verint Systems (NASDAQ: VRNT), a foreign tele-communications company with a contract to wiretap the U.S. for the NSA through the communication lines of Verizon, which handles almost half of all landline and cell phone calls in the U.S. Verint’s founder and CEO, Jacob “Kobi” Alexander, is a former Israeli intelligence officer who is today a fugitive from justice living in Namibia, where he has for several years been fighting extradition to the U.S."

Docs Reveal CIA-Guadalajara Link, Not Conspiracy  11/13/2013 Insight Crime: "At first glance, they seemed like wild assertions: in October, the Mexican magazine Proceso and Fox News, based on interviews with two former agents and a former contractor, said the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had executed Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985, after Camarena discovered the agency’s plan to finance the CIA’s proxy army in Central America, the Contras, using illicit drug funds. The details were sketchy — reports of a CIA asset recording the torture session came via Mexican informants, for instance — but the sources were strong. Ex-DEA agent Phil Jordan once headed the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC); Hector Berrellez was a DEA supervisor on the case; and Tosh Plumlee was a former CIA contract pilot who worked with SETCO, a Honduran-based airline owned by Honduran drug trafficker Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros."

El agente de la DEA asesinado, Kiki Camarena, cayó en una operación de la CIA que salió mal, según fuentes de seguridad  10/27/2013 Narco News: "Berrellez también hizo otra revelación que considera parte clave del rompecabezas en el asesinato de Camarena. Como parte de la investigación de la muerte del agente de la DEA, Berrellez dice que su equipo rastreó a todos los que aparecían en su lista de llamados. Uno de esos números, dice Berrellez, pertenecía al periodista mexicano Buendía, lo que significa que Camarena estuvo en contacto con el periodista antes del asesinato de Buendía en 1984. “Buendía podía identificar a los tipos de la CIA [en la operación encubierta de armas por drogas de la Contra] por nombre. ¿Qué información le proporcionó a Kiki [Camarena]? se pregunta Berrellez. “Creo que Kiki habló con Buendía antes de su asesinato, y creo que Kiki entrevistó a Plumlee luego de eso y habló sobre lo que supo de Buendía, y luego Plumlee lo informó [a sus superiores de la CIA] lo que finalmente llevó a que Kiki fuera levantado [para interrogarlo], y luego se excedieron, y ahora está muerto.” Berrellez sólo puede especular en ese frente, pero es una opinión que tanto Plumlee como Jordan comparten. De hecho, el ex miembro del personal del senador Hart, Holen, comparte una preocupación similar. Holden afirma que la naturaleza de la información que Plumlee reportó a sus superiores de la CIA luego de reunirse con Camarena, “plantea algunas preguntas de a quién culpar por el secuestro, tortura y muerte [de Camarena].”"

Assassinated DEA Agent Kiki Camarena Fell in a CIA Operation Gone Awry, Say Law Enforcement Sources  10/27/2013 Narco News: "Present at the house in Guadalajara where Camarena was held after his kidnapping, Berrellez says, were narco-traffickers like Caro Quintero, his partner Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and members of their organization. Also at the house, he adds, were DFS agents as well as several CIA operatives, among others — along with plenty of tape-recording equipment. Berrellez says he has sources who were at the house when Camarena was being tortured and later became government witnesses and have confirmed these facts. The goal of abducting Camarena, Berrellez believes, was not to kill him, but rather to conduct a police-style interrogation to find out where he was getting his information about CIA’s covert operations in Mexico. Berrellez — as well as Jordan and Plumlee — say they believe it is likely Camarena was abducted on orders from powerful individuals who were calling the shots in the CIA-supported Contra supply operation (individuals who ultimately reported to the White House)."

The CIA agent, Felix Rodriguez, police executed DEA in Mexico. Oct 18  10/18/2013 NYC Havana Blog: [Looks like a Google translation] - "The story describes the three exagentes begins with the claim thatEl Gato Rodriguez, besides being infiltrated the DFS took a Honduran Mexico named Juan Matta Ballesteros, a figure known by Colombian drug traffickers. In Mexico, according to interviewees, Matta’s mission was to get drugs in Colombia for the Guadalajara Cartel, led by Caro Quintero in the eighties. Mexican drug trafficker gave the U.S. government facilities for selling cocaine, marijuana and other drugs where I wanted. Washington is suited because of the profits involved."

Cuban Felix ‘El Gato’ Rodriguez murdered Kiki Camarena, say U.S. agents  10/16/2013 Progreso Weekly: "Three former U.S. federal agents decided to end a 28-year silence and simultaneously entrusted this journal and the U.S. Fox news services with an information “bomb”: Enrique Kiki Camarena was not murdered by Rafael Caro Quintero — the capo that served a sentence for that crime — but by an agent of the CIA. The reason: the DEA agent discovered that his own government was collaborating with the Mexican narco in his illegal business."

“The CIA helped kill DEA agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena,” say witnesses  10/15/2013 El Pais: "But new revelations suggest that Caro Quintero may have not been the only one responsible for the gruesome murder. Another figure has surfaced in the case, Félix Ismael “El Gato” Rodríguez, a Cuban exile who participated in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. El Gato has also been linked to the 1967 ambush of Ernesto “Che” Guevara in Bolivia. These CIA-connection claims are now being brought to light by Phil Jordan, the former director of DEA’s powerful El Paso Intelligence Center in Texas; former DEA agent Héctor Berrellez; and Tosh Plumlee, who maintained he was hired to fly covert missions on behalf of US intelligence. The three men spoke to Fox News in exclusive interviews broadcast last Thursday… In its own investigation this week, the Mexican news magazine Proceso delved even further by reporting that El Gato introduced a Honduran, Juan Matta, to the Guadalajara cartel. Matta served as a middle-man between Colombian traffickers and Caro Quintero, who was the “head of all the heads” in the Mexican cartel."

“Camarena fue asesinado por la CIA”  10/14/2013 El Pais: "Hasta ahora se pensaba que Camarena había sido asesinado por orden de los fundadores del cartel de Guadalajara, entre ellos El Príncipe Caro Quintero. El funcionario estadounidense había desmantelado con sus investigaciones una gigantesca plantación de marihuana de un rancho llamado El Búfalo y en represalia los capos habían ordenado su secuestro y asesinato. Se han escrito ríos de tinta sobre estos hechos, narrados exactamente de esta manera. Estas nuevas revelaciones apuntan, en cambio, a que trabajadores vinculados con el Gobierno de EE UU encargaron el asesinato de Camarena a un personaje novelesco, Félix Ismael Rodríguez, alias El Gato, un cubano que participó en la frustrada invasión de Bahía de Cochinos y en la muerte de Ernesto Che Guevara en Bolivia en 1967. El giro a la historia corre a cargo de Phil Jordan, exdirector del Centro de Inteligencia de El Paso (EPIC); Héctor Berrellez, exagente de la DEA; y Tosh Plumlee, expiloto que en ocasiones realizó trabajó para las agencias federales. Los tres detallaron a la cadena Fox News que policías mexicanos y particulares estadounidenses relacionados con la CIA participaron en las torturas a Camarena en 1985 y que incluso las grabaron en video. Un portavoz de la CIA lo negó rotundamente: “Es ridículo”."

The NSA, Drug Trafficking, & the Crash of Cocaine2  10/4/2013 Mad Cow Morning News 

The FBI took a powder: Things you never knew about 9/11  9/12/2013 Mad Cow Morning News 

Colombian Drug Lord Vanishes After Conviction… in the US!  8/30/2013 Daniel Hopsicker: "Court documents indicate Abadia was sentenced to 25 years in Federal prison. But a search of the prisoner locater at the Federal Bureau of Prisons website does not list his name as among those currently incarcerated. The Assistant US Attorney in charge of the Abadia case, Carolyn Pokorny, declined to comment on his whereabouts. And that’s where the trail ends, at least for the moment. Another anomaly: There is no record of his sentencing. Among the official court documents available through PACER is a transcript of a hearing held before the court accepted Abadia’s guilty plea, to ensure he understood his rights, and was pleading guilty voluntarily. There is a binding 9-page forfeiture agreement. Abadia agreed to forfeit $10 billion (that’s billion with a ‘b’) in currency and property to the US Government. There is also an order by District Judge Sandra Townes accepting his guilty plea. But—more than two years later—there is no record of his being sentenced. Whether the discrepancy concerns missing documents, years-long deferred sentencing, or some other cause is unknown at this time."

Uribe was ‘the head of Colombia’s paramilitaries’: former AUC ringleader  8/29/2013 Colombia Reports: "“He was our commander,” claimed Sierra. “He never fired a gun; but he led, he contributed, he was our man at the top.” “The massacres, the disappearances, the creation of an [AUC] group: he is responsible,” said Sierra."

Narco-jet in Costa Rica scandal tied to Iran Contra figure  8/12/2013 Mad Cow Morning News 

Release of DEA Agent Kiki Camarena’s "Murderer" Is Game Changer for CIA  8/10/2013 Narco News: "In other words, the US government is alleging that even while he was incarcerated, Caro Quintero continued to run his drug empire through third parties who were laundering millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains on his behalf. How is that possible, unless Caro Quintero continues to have extremely good connections within the Mexican government that have an interest in assuring his drug money is laundered? If that’s the case, why would those same government officials have any interest in extraditing him to the US to stand trial? Similarly, why would those with any real juice in the US government want to put Caro Quintero on trial, at least in an open court, if he has the knowledge to expose corrupt covert US operations that played a role in the murder of a US DEA agent?"

Filmmaker claims CIA kept innocent man jailed to cover up drug trafficking  4/22/2013 Wired: "Wired.co.uk has not seen an original copy of Cutolo's affidavit, but has a photocopied version of a Colonel William Wilson's affidavit verifying the facts. Wilson, a well-respected former Green Beret and investigator for the US Army Inspector General, spent five years investigating Cutolo's affidavit, interviewing 200 people including former members of the CIA. Though Wired.co.uk cannot attest to the authenticity of the document, it appears to have been notarised by an official contracted by the State of Florida."

15 Benefits of the War on Drugs  3/12/2013 CounterPunch: "14. It creates enormously lucrative opportunities for the large banks — one of the most important real constituencies of the American government — to launder money from drug trafficking. 15. Thanks to major drug production centers like the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia, the opium industry in Afghanistan, and the cocaine industry in South America, it enables the CIA — the world’s largest narcotrafficking gang — to obtain enormous revenues for funding black ops and death squads around the world. This network of clandestine intelligence agencies, narcotraffickers and death squads, by the way, is the other major real constituency of the American government."

Sen. Warren: Drug Offenders Go to Jail, Big Banks Working for Drug Cartels Go Free  3/8/2013 Common Dreams: "If you're caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good you're gonna go to jail. If it happens repeatedly, you may go to jail for the rest of your life. But evidently if you launder nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels and violate our international sanctions, your company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your bed at night -- every single individual associated with this. And I think that's fundamentally wrong."

Capturan en Honduras a uno de los capos más buscados en Colombia  1/19/2013 Proceso Digital: "Smith Pomare era buscado por la policía de Colombia por formar parte de una banda del crimen internacional junto a su hermano gemelo, de hecho, se les conoce a los dos como “Los Mellos”, por lo que las autoridades colombianas han ofrecido una recompensa de 200 millones de pesos a quien entregue información que contribuya a desmantelar ese grupo delincuencial."

“Evil in Our Backyard:” The Rudi Dekkers Dossier  12/21/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "When Rudi Dekkers, the man who ran the flight school where terrorists who crashed airliners into the Twin Towers learned to fly was arrested for drug trafficking in Houston last week, one of the first congratulatory calls I received, after covering his continuing criminal activity for the past ten years, was from his son."

The Contras, Crack and Senator Inouye  12/18/2012 CounterPunch: "This sordid tale became part of what was dubbed “The Iran Contra Scandal” and resulted in hearings held by the US Congress that were supposed to get to the bottom of all this rottenness. Chaired by Sen. Inouye, of Watergate fame, the hearings instead became a massive coverup, with Sen. Inouye repeatedly having to intervene and shut down any public discussion of the CIA’s role in cocaine trafficking."

The opium wars: When Britain made war on China  12/3/2012 BBC: "For the British the highlight of the deal was the acquisition of Hong Kong Island, which would be used as a hub to increase trade in opium with China. The Opium Wars have been consigned to history books in Britain, but that is not the case in China, according to Dr Zheng Yangwen, of the University of Manchester. She says students there are taught about the wars from an early age. "Text books from elementary school, to middle school to high school, to university highlight the wrong doings of the so-called imperialists. "We have become part of what they call the Patriotic Education Programme, to educate Chinese youths like me so that we remember what you have done to us"."

Murder of Miami’s ‘Cocaine Queen’ Offers Teaching Moment  10/6/2012 NarcoNews: "Griselda Blanco, 69, was cut down in front of a butcher shop in Medellin, Colombia, in early September by a middle-aged man who was delivered to the murder scene on the back of a motorcycle — and who calmly, methodically, jumped off the back of that bike, held a gun to Blanco’s head, and pumped two bullets into her brain."

Robert Allen Stanford  10/1/2012 NYT: Compendium of New York Times articles.

Systemic Destabilization as “A Strategy of Tension”: 9/11, the JFK Assassination, and the Oklahoma City Bombing  9/24/2012 Global Research: by Peter Dale Scott

Mitt Romney’s “Pinochet Moment”  9/20/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "Speaking about US policy towards Honduras, Romney accused President Obama of backing a "pro-Marxist" leader in Honduras, faulting him for not more quickly and enthusiastically supporting the military coup in 2009 that deposed the elected President of a fledgling democracy. That Romney chose to say anything at all about a small nation in Central America was somewhat surprising, especially since he hasn't been specific about much else. But, as he must know, Honduras is important to US foreign policy for only one reason: Controlling Hondurus is important to controlling the drug trade."

Romney Campaign Calls Obama Foreign Policy 'Confusing' and 'Amateur Hour'  9/14/2012 ABC: ""When Honduras and their supreme court removed the president of the country -- a pro-Marxist, anti-American president -- and he insisted, our president, President Barack Obama insisted he get put back. That sent a message to the world," Romney said, igniting applause from the 900 attendees."

Romney broadens criticism of Obama on Middle East violence  9/14/2012 Detroit News: "The Republican presidential candidate offered a series of criticisms, attacking Obama for refusing a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, backing a "pro-Marxist" leader in Honduras, failing to support protesters in Iran and mismanaging the alliance with Egypt."

New report by 2 US senators details strategies to prevent "security crisis" in the Caribbean  9/13/2012 AP: "A pair of American senators released a new report Thursday detailing their recommendations to prevent a future security crisis in the Caribbean, where numerous unpoliced islets and barely monitored coasts remain near-perfect conduits for drug shipments. California Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley argue that Washington must be prepared to counter an uptick in drug trafficking in the Caribbean when, not if, the pendulum swings back a bit from Central American countries and Mexico."

KPFK's 'BradCast': Interview with Former AL Gov. Don Siegelman and Daughter Dana on His Political Prosecution by Karl Rove & Friends  9/12/2012 Brad Blog 

The CIA’s Islamist Terrorist Network  9/12/2012 Strategic Culture Foundation: "Former French military intelligence officer Pierre-Henri Bunel, who tracked Islamist terrorist networks in the Balkans and discovered their CIA origins, said «Al Qaeda» was not merely a database, but an Intranet the CIA used to call up reserves of mujaheddin to engage in specified terrorist actions, much like those seen during the past few years in the remote-control bombing of civilians in Damascus, Beirut, Baghdad, various Libyan and Pakistani cities, Aden, and other locales., all carried out by «Al Qaeda» or its off shoots."

Honduran jet fighter shot down DEA drug plane  9/11/2012 MadCow Morning News: “The U.S. agreement with Honduras for sharing radar intelligence specifically prohibits shooting down civilian aircraft. We are merely seeking better controls for its militarized approach to combating drugs in Central America,” said the spokesman. “The decision came after two separate incidents in July, when civilian aircraft were shot down off the coast of northern Honduras. We don't have information about the occupants or their cargo."

9/11 Stunner: Bush Received, Ignored Multiple Warnings of 'Imminent', 'Dramatic' Attack  9/10/2012 Brad Blog: "As a side note, it says quite a bit about today's New York Times that they decided to run this as an "Op-Ed". In any event, please read it, and keep it in mind when you hear the lie yet again, on this latest anniversary of the horrific 9/11 tragedy and beyond, that "Bush kept us safe.""

A Jaw-Dropping Explanation of How Governments Are Complicit in the Illegal Drug Trade  9/10/2012 Alternet: "We know that the estimated value of the global drug trade - and this is also debated by analysts - is worth something between US$300 billion to $500 billion a year. Half of that, something between $250-$300 billion and over actually goes to the United States. So what does this say if you use that imperial political economy approach I've talked about? It means that the imperial center, the financial center, is getting the most, and so it is in no interest for any great power (or state) to stop this if great amounts of the profits are flowing to the imperial center."

The Deafness Before the Storm  9/10/2012 NYT: "But some in the administration considered the warning to be just bluster. An intelligence official and a member of the Bush administration both told me in interviews that the neoconservative leaders who had recently assumed power at the Pentagon were warning the White House that the C.I.A. had been fooled; according to this theory, Bin Laden was merely pretending to be planning an attack to distract the administration from Saddam Hussein, whom the neoconservatives saw as a greater threat. Intelligence officials, these sources said, protested that the idea of Bin Laden, an Islamic fundamentalist, conspiring with Mr. Hussein, an Iraqi secularist, was ridiculous, but the neoconservatives’ suspicions were nevertheless carrying the day."

US suspends anti-drug radar support in Honduras  9/7/2012 AP: "The United States has suspended sharing of radar intelligence with Honduras because the Central American nation's air force shot down two suspected drug planes in violation of agreements with Washington, the State Department and U.S. military confirmed Friday. The decision came after two separate incidents in July, when civilian aircraft were shot down off the coast of northern Honduras, said William Ostick, spokesman for the State Department's Western Hemispheric Affairs Office. The U.S. agreement with Honduras for information sharing specifically prohibits shooting down civilian aircraft."

“Pepe” Lobo confirma derribo de avioneta  9/7/2012 Nuevo Herald: "El presidente de Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, admitió que hubo un derribo de una avioneta por parte de una autoridad nacional sin respeto a un “protocolo”, y dejó entrever que el incidente le costó el puesto al exjefe de las Fuerzas Aérea Hondureña (FAH), Ruiz Pastor Landa. El gobernante tampoco precisó qué incidente fue y en qué fecha. EL HERALDO informó esta semana, en exclusiva, que la aeronave fue derribada en las proximidades de Guanaja."

Mexico’s new President owes election to “Narco-Televisa”  9/5/2012 MadCow Morning News: "The first to question what had quickly become the official story—that the busted Mexicans had merely been posing as journalists—was a local publication called The Digital Reporter. While offering no proof, the Digital Reporter insisted that the crew in custody—charged with money laundering and organized crime—were under the direction of Televisa, and that the convoy of vehicles belonged to Televisa as well. Ringleader Raquel Correa Alatorre, as well as three or four other detainees, were working for the Mexican television giant, the publication asserted. The publication, it was later learned, was getting leaks from Nicaraguan military sources, who indicated that there was a senior executive at Televisa—a corporate vice president—also involved in the case."

News Corp. nominates Chao, Uribe to board  9/4/2012 Marketwatch: Uribe was named in an early 80's DIA memo as a "narcosenator" and "close personal friend of Pablo Escobar"

American agents wounded in Mexico linked to CIA drug planes  8/31/2012 Mad Cow 

Nicaragua seizes $7m from fake reporters  8/25/2012 AAP: "Granera said the suspects told police about 25 bundles hidden in the vans contained the cash. She said the elaborate ruse was intended to smuggle the cash through Nicaragua to the neighbouring nation of Costa Rica to the south. Mexican drug cartels frequently buy Colombian cocaine to ship north to the US market, and often must smuggle cash proceeds from the drug sales back down south to pay the Colombian suppliers."

The moral economy of a floating crate of cash  8/23/2012 Quotha: "Within Ángela's community, at least, such finds are necessarily redistributed in a way that strengthens, reaffirms, and creates kinship ties. In her poor extended family—ranging from extremely poor to middle-of-the-road, getting-by-fairly-well and university-educated poor like Ángela—a Limited Good model of wealth distribution seems to guide the discourses of the poorest family members, who see the relative wealth of their less-poor kin as having been accumulated at their expense. Meanwhile, the less-poor family members tend to employ a Protestant ethic/developmentalist logic, blaming the extreme poverty of their family members on poor choices, bad morals, a disdain for formal education, and excessively high fertility."

Collateral Damage of a Drug War  8/15/2012 CEPR: "On May 11, 2012, four boat passengers were shot dead during a counternarcotics operation that involved Honduran and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents. Although Honduran authorities announced that drug traffickers had been killed after agents had fired in self-defense, survivors of the incident, as well as local authorities, insisted that innocent people had been killed, including two women, a fourteen year-old boy and twenty-one year old man. In late July of 2012, analysts from Rights Action and CEPR visited the region where the shooting took place. This report summarizes and analyzes the extensive testimony and other information obtained during the visit. It presents detailed narratives of the sequence of events on May 11 and provides detailed background profiles on the boat passengers who were fired upon as well as on key witnesses. It also describes the region and context in which the shooting incident occurred, in order to better understand its impact on the local community. Finally, it offers a series of key findings and formulates recommendations of measures that the U.S. government and international community should take to address the May 11 incident as well as the broader consequences of U.S.-sponsored drug policies in Honduras and the Central American region."

Honduras cooperating with US human rights probe  8/13/2012 AP: "Despite repeated U.S. criticisms that law enforcement agents have murdered and tortured people, an in-house State Department report sent to Congress Wednesday certifies that Honduras meets U.S. human rights requirements to receive all $56 million appropriated by Congress. But the report said no U.S. military or law enforcement aid - including $1.3 million in foreign military assistance, and another $1.7 million in peace and security funding - can go to anyone working under Bonilla until he is cleared."

Pics of new Mexican President with Sinaloa cartel lieutenant  8/10/2012 MadCow Morning News: '“Rafa" Celaya, the new Mexican President’s friend, wasn’t living rough in the mountains of Sinaloa. Instead, he is a long-time functionary in Mexico’s ruling PRI party who has worked in mid-level positions in state and municipal government in Hermosillo, including a half-dozen years in Sonora State’s Ministry of Finance. The arrested man is the nephew of Victor Hugo Celaya Celaya, an influential politico in Sonora, according to Mexico City newspaper Proceso. In addition to pictures with the president, Rafa is shown in photos with Emilio Gamboa, the newly elected leader of the PRI in the Senate, and influential Mexican Senator Manlio Fabio Beltrones."

Drugs An Instrument of Global Policy  8/5/2012 Strategic Culture: "Russian drug control agency chief V. Ivanov said in 2010 that Russia tipped off the US and the Afghan administration about 175 drug factories in Afghanistan, but neither ended up being bulldozed. Consequently, funds continue to pile up on the bank accounts of those running them. It is clear that calls for a broad anti-narcotics front sound naïve. Moscow will only waste time and see more Russians perish if it waits for the West to subscribe to such initiatives – the time is coming for it to take drastic measures against those who disseminate death packaged in dozes."

Mexican official: CIA 'manages' drug trade  7/24/2012 Al Jazeera: ""It's true, they want to control it," a mid-level official with the Secretariat Gobernacion in Juarez, Mexico's equivalent to the US Department of Homeland Security, told Al Jazeera of the CIA and DEA's policing of the drug trade. The officer, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said he knew the allegations to be correct, based on discussions he had with US officials working in Juarez."

Hunden en Nicaragua "narcolancha" que se dirigía a Honduras  7/23/2012 La Prensa, Honduras: "Una lancha rápida cargada con droga que viajaba de Panamá hacia Honduras fue hundida el fin de semana en aguas del Mar Caribe por la Fuerza Naval de Nicaragua tras un intercambio de disparos entre los supuestos narcotraficantes y militares."

Es “hipocresía” decir que Honduras es aeropuerto de la mafia: Pepe Lobo  7/23/2012 La Prensa, Honduras: “Yo lo que pediría a todos, al Departamento de Estado, es que revisen si están haciendo lo suficiente, y si es justo que aquí en Honduras, en lugar de hacer programas sociales, apoyar a los productores a que siembren más o resolver muchos problemas... si es justo que estemos invirtiendo recursos en esa lucha (contra el narcotráfico)”, expresó el mandatario. A su juicio, el asunto no es de estarse “tirando la bola”, porque al final la única realidad es: “qué pasaría si nosotros no estuviésemos en el corredor entre donde se demanda y donde se produce”.

U.S. Drug War Expands to Africa, a Newer Hub for Cartels  7/21/2012 NYT: "In a significant expansion of the war on drugs, the United States has begun training an elite unit of counternarcotics police in Ghana and planning similar units in Nigeria and Kenya as part of an effort to combat the Latin American cartels that are increasingly using Africa to smuggle cocaine into Europe."

Nicaragua denuncia que cárteles de Colombia equipan a narcos en Honduras  7/20/2012 La Prensa, Honduras: "Lo que está claro es que los medios venían procedente de Colombia con destino a la Mosquitia hondureña (zona indígena del Caribe), donde se han asentado unos cárteles de narcotraficantes muy peligrosos que tienen altas vinculaciones con elementos colombianos", aseguró el jefe de inteligencia militar, Adolfo Zepeda."

Policía colombiana se lleva de Honduras a capo  7/20/2012 La Prensa, Honduras 

How Can We Stop the Mexican Drug Insanity When Banks and Much of the Establishment Profit Big Time from Illegal Drugs?  6/26/2012 Alternet 

The Oliver North File: His Diaries, E-Mail, and Memos on the Kerry Report, Contras and Drugs  6/16/2012 National Security Archives: published 2004

The Massacre in the Moskitia - The DEA and the Return of the Death Squads  6/15/2012 CounterPunch: "I first heard of the tragedy while in the process of preparing for a human rights delegation to Honduras coordinated by the Alliance for Global Justice and led by Karen Spring from Rights Action. The New York Times, the Washington Post and the Associated Press have all published stories glorifying the role of the DEA in seizing a huge quantity of drugs in the incident. They not only down played the killing and injuring of innocent people (some reports even questioned if there even were casualties), but also some of the news reports stated that those shot were actually involved in drug trafficking. In typical mainstream media fashion there was over-the-top anonymous quoting of US and Honduran officials and not much fact checking."

American Narcos: The Real 'Masters of Paradise'  6/15/2012 Global Research: "Earlier this month, The Observer reported that "The vast profits made from drug production and trafficking are overwhelmingly reaped in rich 'consuming' countries--principally across Europe and in the US--rather than war-torn 'producing' nations such as Colombia and Mexico, new research has revealed." Journalist Ed Vulliamy informed us that the authors of that report provide compelling evidence that "financial regulators in the west are reluctant to go after western banks in pursuit of the massive amount of drug money being laundered through their systems." Indeed, at the height of the global financial crisis Antonio Maria Costa, then the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime told The Observer "he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were 'the only liquid investment capital' available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result."

Víctimas inocentes  6/13/2012 El Heraldo, Honduras 

CNN acts as SOUTHCOM's propaganda agent on Honduras  6/10/2012 Quotha: "This article about an imaginary Honduras where people don't give a shit about DEA massacres on national territory cites as its two "expert" sources the Monologue's Michael Shifter and FIU prof Eduardo Gamarra, both of whom have recently been paid quite a bit of money to write reports for SOUTHCOM (through Florida International University) and unspecified Intelligence agencies (at least in Shifter's case with his work for WHEMSAC)."

The School of the Americas, the CIA and the US-Condoned Cancer of Torture Continue to Spread in Latin America, Including Mexico  6/10/2012 Truth Out: "Harbury points out that US agents are often reported, by survivors, of being in the torture chambers, outed by their American accents in Spanish or by their speaking in English. This was the case of Sister Dianna Ortiz, who was abducted in Guatemala in 1989 for speaking out on behalf of the poor. She was gang raped, forced to kill another prisoner with a knife, used as a human ash tray and was the subject of further barbaric acts of torture. Ortiz also recalls an American serving as a consultant while she was being tortured."

Honduran Miskitos Caught in Anti-Narcotics Crossfire  6/9/2012 Repeating Islands 

Legal Questions Remain in DEA Miskitia Attack  6/8/2012 Honduras Weekly 

CIA ‘Revives Attacks on Rescuers’ in Pakistan  6/7/2012 Common Dreams 

Video of COFADEH press conference on DEA massacre in Ahuas  6/5/2012 Quotha: "Graphic image warning. Skip to 1:30 if you don't want to see the horrifying photographs of how the DEA destroyed the bodies of the indigenous Miskitu people whose brave relatives are present at the press conference that begins at that time mark. Video by Dick and Mirian Emanuelsson."

La masacre en Mosquitia, Honduras: “Sólo los agentes de la DEA pueden disparar desde un helicóptero que por otra parte, es suyo”  6/5/2012 Dick Emanuelsson: "Habla agente de la policía antinarcótica del Ministerio Público."

URGENT ACTION: Honduran State Discriminates Against Victims of the DEA  6/4/2012 Quotha: "The child WILMER LUCAS WALTER (14) and youth LUCIO ADAN NELSON QUEEN (22), who were traveling in the boat that was fired on by the DEA and Honduran agents, have been hospitalized since May 11 en regional hospital centers and to date have not received the surgical attention required to treat their serious injuries. Wilmer is at risk of losing his left hand due to negligence and lack of attention and Lucio is weakened by infection as he waits for orthopedic intervention in his right arm. In the midst of the so called “war against drugs” the principal victims are the indigenous, Misquito villagers including children and women; the principal actor responsible for these serious actions is the State."

Drug interdiction: The U.S. wades more deeply into Honduras  6/4/2012 Pittsburgh Post Gazette: "To Americans of a certain age, the picture of U.S. drug advisers, flying in State Department helicopters and operating in a small jungle country in support of the corrupt security forces of a questionable president, is all too familiar. It is also entirely inappropriate, particularly as innocent civilians die as a result of their work."

Dana Frank on This is Hell  6/3/2012 Quotha: "Click for Dana Frank’s 40-minute interview on the DEA attack in Honduras on the Northwestern University program “This is Hell”, a weekly, 4-hour political analysis program broadcast each Saturday morning."

Transnational Organized Crime in Central America and the Caribbean  6/1/2012 UN: "In 2007, UNODC concluded that the mara groups (MS-13 and M-18) play very little role in transnational cocaine trafficking. This continues to be the case."

The Drug Trade as an Instrument of Imperial Domination  5/31/2012 ALAI: "The recent declaration of the Central Command Secretariat of the FARC-EP (9), for the occasion of the forty-eighth anniversary of the beginning of the rebels’ armed struggle, denounces the link between drugs and capital: "the monies from drug-trafficking are converted into land, flood the banks, and the finance sector, productive and speculative investment, the hotel industry, construction and public contracts, becoming functional and even necessary in the game of raising and circulating big capital which characterizes neo-liberal capitalism today. This also happens in Central America and Mexico.”"

Annie Bird: USA/DEA Killings in Ahuas  5/30/2012 Quotha: "The Patuca River is like a highway for over 25 Miskitu, Tawaka and Pech communities that live on its shores; there are no roads in this part of the Gracias a Dios department. But the river is much more than a road, it is their source of life. Communities farm rice, beans, yucca, and plantains on its shores, and fish the waters. They leave their towns in planting and harvest seasons to spend weeks at a time in huts along the river shore close to their fields. Though most make their life from the river, the main source of outside employment is working on the commercial fishing boats that pick up Miskitu men at mouth of the river and take them to sea for weeks at a time. For over 20 years, Lilda Lesama has coordinated divers and fishermen for the commercial boats, transporting them by canoe from Ahuas to Barra Patuca."

Death in Miskitia Land and the Search for Justice  5/28/2012 COHA: "On May 11, death came to the Miskitia from U.S. State Department-owned helicopters manned by contract Guatemalan pilots, members of a special Honduran Police Unit, along with U.S. DEA agents. Reports concerning the botched anti-narcotics operation barely survived three news cycles before expiring in the face of an indifferent public. During week one, a number of initial news reports (with the notable exception of the coverage by the Huffington Post) offered a defaming criminal profile of the local Miskito population using anonymous “official” U.S. government sources. During week two, when the voice of the Miskito community was beginning to be heard more clearly, some news reports offered a more humanized version of the people of Ahuas and surrounding villages. By May 17, the question of U.S. accountability began to lose steam when State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland deferred the responsibility of carrying out an investigation to the notoriously corrupt Honduran authorities. Despite the current paucity of news about this incident, the struggle for justice in the Miskitia continues."

Informe Preliminar de Verificación - Caso Ahuas  5/24/2012 COFADEH: "Del 20 al 24 de mayo de 2012, una Comisión de verificación conformada por tres personas del Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras, COFADEH, con el acompañamiento internacional de representantes del Programa de Acompañamiento Honduras PROAH y de Acción Permanente por la Paz, visitó los municipios de Ahuas y Puerto Lempira en el Departamento de Gracias a Dios y también La Ceiba en el departamento de Atlántida, con el objetivo de documentar los hechos trágicos del 11 de mayo de 2012."

DEA Facing Fallout from Deadly Honduras Raid  5/22/2012 Stop the Drug War: "In the Honduran village where four residents were killed last week by gunfire from a helicopter on a US-backed anti-drug operation complete with DEA agents on board the chopper, feelings continue to run high. On Monday, they told the Associated Press that DEA agents also accompanied Honduran commandos who stormed into homes and mistreated residents after the raid, but the agency denies that."

US agents on deadly Honduran military operation  5/16/2012 AP: "The leaders of the Masta, Diunat, Rayaka, Batiasta and Bamiasta ethnic groups said in a press statement that "the people in that canoe were fishermen, not drug traffickers." "For centuries we have been a peaceful people who live in harmony with nature, but today we declared these Americans to be persona non grata in our territory," the statement continued."

Julia Lovell on the Opium War  5/16/2012 Five Books: "Although we think of ourselves as postcolonial, our experience as a vast empire still shapes many of our foreign policy decisions today. Why were we in Iraq? Why were we in Libya? Why are we in Aghanistan? Because of the assumption that Britain should have a global policeman’s role. I think we need to ask questions about what originally bankrolled our international influence (namely opium), whether we are entitled to play that global role, and how we have played that role in the past. We certainly didn’t play it very creditably during the Opium War."

TSA Drug-Running Scandal Betrays Drug War’s Pretense  5/13/2012 NarcoNews: "The Cost of Bribing US Border and Airport Security Personnel Is Chump Change in the Narco-Trafficking Business"

Lessons of Iraq Help U.S. Fight a Drug War in Honduras  5/5/2012 NYT: "Honduras is the latest focal point in America’s drug war. As Mexico puts the squeeze on narcotics barons using its territory as a transit hub, more than 90 percent of the cocaine from Colombia and Venezuela bound for the United States passes through Central America. More than a third of those narcotics make their way through Honduras, a country with vast ungoverned areas — and one of the highest per capita homicide rates in the world."

Clues Put FBI Informant at the Apex of Fast and Furious Scandal  4/29/2012 NarcoNews: "A Sept. 27, 2011, letter drafted by U.S. Rep. Issa and U.S. Sen. Grassley and directed to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., however, contends that “the financier for Acosta's firearms trafficking ring … began cooperating with the FBI and may have received additional payments as a confidential informant.” A Feb. 1, 2012, memo drafted by staff for Grassley and Issa, thickens the plot, indicating that there were, in fact, two FBI informants involved with purchasing weapons from Acosta, and ATF had no clue that these so-called “big fish,” the high-level targets of Fast and Furious, were, in fact, working for a sister agency."

The Secret Service and the girls from Cartagena  4/19/2012 Milfuegos: "One major question remains, however. Why did the Colombian police, who have a history of covering up such incidents in order to protect VIP visitors and their staffs, decide to make the incident public? The answer to that question lies in the frosty pre-Summit interchanges between Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. ambassador to Colombia Michael McKinley over Santos's pre-summit trip to Havana to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro to apologize for Washington's and Ottawa's insistence that Cuba be barred from attending the Cartagena summit. Santos was also furious with pre-summit statements by U.S. officials flatly rejecting his and other Latin American leaders' proposals to legalize drugs and supporting Argentina's claims over the Malvinas or Falkland Islands, which are controlled by Britain."

Narco-Banker: The Allen Stanford Story  4/13/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "Marston called in an expert from the U.S. Government’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. “The O.C.C. guy went down there, stood across from the Stanford office for maybe several hours, came back and said, ‘Yep, that’s a money-laundering operation,’” recalled an agent involved in the operation. “So Marston goes, ‘How can you tell from just standing across the street?’ And the guy goes, ‘I’m telling you, it is.’ “Then, a little later, we got fairly detailed intelligence that they were indeed laundering for major Colombian drug traffickers.”

Uribe formally accused of forming paramilitary group  4/12/2012 Colombia Reports: "The charges were based on testimonies of two ex-paramilitaries who claimed Uribe helped found the Bloque Metro of the AUC paramilitary organization, which he then allegedly ordered to carry out massacres and assassinations during his 2002-2010 tenure. During a debate on paramilitary activity in Uribe’s home department Antioquia, socialist Representative to the House Ivan Cepeda said the testimonies were supported by evidence. The congressman presented photographs allegedly showing prolonged paramilitary presence at the Uribe brothers’ ranch in northern Colombia, during Uribe’s 1995-1997 term as Governor of Antioquia."

Allen Stanford & ‘The Caribbean Two-Step’  3/23/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "When Stanford was arrested, the first thing he did was retain Oliver North’s lawyer."

Allen Stanford, American Drug Lord  3/21/2012 Mad Cow Morning News: "In the aftermath of Stanford’s arrest, the two former high-level Federal employees fared pretty well. One, deeply and criminally implicated by numerous sources, paid just a $50,000 fine, and never even faced criminal charges. And when the second one did face criminal charges, a miracle occurred."

Honduras: When Engagement Becomes Complicity  3/15/2012 Foreign Policy in Focus: "U.S. Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Honduras on March 6 with a double mission: to quell talk of drug legalization and reinforce the U.S.-sponsored drug war in Central America, and to bolster the presidency of Porfirio Lobo."

Wikileaks Cables Reveal Killing Hits Record Levels - Slaughter in Colombia  2/23/2012 CounterPunch: "Thus, in a November 19, 2009 U.S. Embassy Cable, entitled, “2009-2010 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report,” the U.S. Embassy in Bogota acknowledges, as a mere aside, the horrific truth: 257,089 registered victims of the right-wing paramilitaries. And, as Human Rights Watch just reported in its 2012 annual report on Colombia, these paramilitaries continue to work hand-in-glove with the U.S.-supported Colombian military."

En Honduras, un desastre hecho en los E.E.U.U. Friday, 27 January 2012 14:04 Administrador  1/27/2012 Defensores en Linea: "Cuando prominentes figuras han salido ha acusar a la policía son acribillados por escuadrones de la muerte y narcotraficantes, el más famoso acusador fue el antiguo comisionado de policía, Alfredo Landaverde. El fue asesinado el 7 de diciembre, hasta ahora el gobierno ha comenzado hacer significativos arrestos de oficiales de policía… Porque el Departamento de Estado se ha lanzado detrás de la administración Lobo a pesar de las evidencias de la corrupción del régimen? En parte porque ha sido enterrados por la circunscripción Cubana-Americana de la Representante Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, la Presidente del Comité de Relaciones Exteriores, y sus aliados. Ellos han sido feroces sobre Honduras como un primer dominó con el que pueden empujar contra la línea gobiernos de izquierda y centro-izquierda que han ganado elecciones en América Latina en los últimos 15 años. Con su base militar aérea Americana, Honduras es crucial para la estrategia militar de los Estados Unidos en América Latina."

In Honduras, a Mess Made in the U.S.  1/26/2012 NYT: "When prominent figures came forward to charge that the police are riddled with death squads and drug traffickers, the most famous accuser was a former police commissioner, Alfredo Landaverde. He was assassinated on Dec. 7. Only now has the government begun to make significant arrests of police officers… Why has the State Department thrown itself behind the Lobo administration despite brutal evidence of the regime’s corruption? In part because it has caved in to the Cuban-American constituency of Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and her allies. They have been ferocious about Honduras as a first domino with which to push back against the line of center-left and leftist governments that have won elections in Latin America in the past 15 years. With its American air base, Honduras is also crucial to the United States’ military strategy in Latin America."

Cocaine, Death Squads, and the War on Terror  1/15/2012 Monthly Review 

DRUG SMUGGLING AND THE CONTRAS  12/7/2011 CIA 

US Supported Honduras’ Ascent in the Cocaine Business Chain: Putting 2 & 2 & 2 Together  11/1/2011 Boiling Frogs: "Long an impoverished backwater in Central America, Honduras has become a main transit route for South American cocaine.”Honduras is the number one offload point for traffickers to take cocaine through Mexico to the U.S.,” said a U.S. law enforcement official who could not be quoted by name for security reasons. A U.S. State Department report released in March called Honduras “one of the primary landing points for South American cocaine.”

Drug Trafficking in Honduras (Crime Part III)  10/21/2011 La Gringa 

Canada’s Dirty Banks  10/5/2011 Dean Henderson: "Royal Bank of Canada has more off-shore subsidiaries than any other bank in the world. It bailed out the government of Guyana in 1976 after a CIA coup brought down the socialist government of Cheddi Jagan. Royal launched the business career of Venezuela’s most powerful Cisneros family, which overseas Rockefeller interests in that country. It has a joint venture in the Bahamas with National Westminster called RoyWest. Both the Bank of Nova Scotia and Royal Bank of Canada are controlled by Canada’s most influential family – the Bronfmans. The Bronfmans control DuPont, which spun off Conoco, as well as Seagrams, Vivendi and Eagle Star Insurance. Eagle Star is the Bronfman holding company and a joint venture with British powerhouses Barclays, Lloyds, Hill Samuel and N. M. Rothschild & Sons. Eagle Star combined with Allianz Versicherung – a German company controlled by the von Thurn and Taxis and Wittelsbach families – to become a global financial titan."

Post-2009 Coup, Honduras a 'Narco-Storehouse'  9/23/2011 In Sight: "With the state's focus fixed elsewhere and crucial support from the U.S. missing, criminal groups took advantage of the disorder. During Micheletti's brief time in office, up to 1,000 tons of cocaine may have traveled through Honduras by land, sea or air, according to analyst James Bosworth."

Court Pleadings Point to CIA Role in Alleged “Cartel” Immunity Deal  9/11/2011 NarcoNews: "The fingerprints of the CIA have surfaced in a controversial federal criminal case pending in Chicago against Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, an alleged kingpin in the Sinaloa “drug cartel.” ...“That is a very reasonable conclusion [that the CIA is likely involved in this case in some way],” says a former federal agent familiar with national security procedures. “Seeking CIPA protection, yup, there is hot stuff to hide.” Zambada Niebla, extradited to the US in February 2010 and now facing narco-trafficking charges in federal court in Chicago, claims in pleadings in his case that the US government entered into a pact with the leadership of the Mexican Sinaloa narco-trafficking organization that supposedly provide its chief narcos with immunity in exchange for them providing US authorities with information that could be used to target other narco-trafficking organizations."

The Sweet Deal With ‘El Narco’  9/7/2011 CounterPunch 

Revelan lazos de magnate hondureño con el narco  9/3/2011 Dick Emanuelsson: "Obviamente, si bien Facussé tiene varias preguntas incómodas que responder a partir del contenido de este cable, los Estados Unidos harían bien en explicar cómo, si durante más de ocho años han tenido acceso a esta información, nunca actuaron sobre ella."

DRUG PLANE BURNED ON PROMINENT HONDURAN'S PROPERTY  9/3/2011 Wikileaks: "Post's JIATF-S TAT provided information to the HAF March 14 about a known drug trafficking flight with a 1,000 kilo cocaine shipment from Colombia, which resulted in a fruitless air interdiction attempt. Separately, a law enforcement source provided information that the aircraft successfully landed March 14 on the private property of Miguel Facusse, a prominent Honduran, who is one of the nation's wealthiest individuals, leading industrialist, and uncle of former Honduran President Carlos Flores Facusse."

Classified Belgian police report on Nebula receives another look  9/2/2011 Wayne Madsen Report: "The ATLAS Report also identified who the Belgian police believed was a kingpin of Nebula. It is also noteworthy how Costa Rica is identified as a major nexus for the worldwide network. The information about Russian-Israeli Mafia control of Costa Rica has been verified by recent information obtained by WMR from Costa Rican sources. The ATLAS Report states: "We have been informed about a person who appears to be one of the mysterious top leaders in several countries, (including ours). This person is portrayed as being the ‘éminence grise’, the de facto director of most of the big multinational companies whose structures are being used to launder large amounts of capital. This person is: PRZEDBORSKI, Felix, born 12 December 1930, ‘stateless’, husband to Helène KRYGIER, formerly living in TERVUREN."

You Only Believe the Official 9/11 Story Because You Don't Know the Official 9/11 Story  9/2/2011 Global Research: "Why were the NORAD rules changed for the first time several weeks prior to 9/11, taking responsibility/authority for shooting down hijacked lanes away from NORAD military command for the first time in its history, and given to a civilian, Donald Rumsfeld, and then returned to NORAD the day after 9/11? "

The International: Oil, Drugs, Guns & Kissinger Associates  8/31/2011 Dean Henderson 

Honduras: killings continue as Aguán becomes "new Colombia"  8/30/2011 WW4 Report: "African oil palms have replaced bananas as the main commercial crop in the valley, and tensions increased as landowners like Facussé saw the potential for the palms in the biofuel business, which could attract carbon credits and international financing. To maintain their estates, the landowners have hired private guards and supplied them with arms. Campesino groups consider the guards paramilitaries and blame them for most of the 51 killings of campesinos that they say have taken place in the past two years. Meanwhile, narco traffickers and other criminals have reportedly moved into the area."

Are Foreign Criminal Gangs Driving Honduras Land Conflict?  8/24/2011 Honduras Weekly: "Drug traffickers are certainly a powerful presence in Colón, but other reports have tied them to palm oil plantation owners, rather than to the peasant movements. The state, located on the Caribbean coast close to Nicaragua, is a key transit location for trafficking groups moving drugs from South America towards Mexico and the United States. A statement released by representatives of the Catholic Church in Honduras said that drug traffickers are in the process of becoming big landowners in the region, and that they dominate Bajo Aguán, flaunting their wealth. Similarly, the palm oil landowners have themselves been accused of using foreign firepower, with allegations after a series of killings in November 2010 that Facusse had hired 150 Colombian paramilitaries to form a private army and attack the peasant movements. Land conflicts in other parts of Latin America, driven by the accumulation of land to grow monocrops such as palm oil, have tended to feature organized criminal groups on the side of big landowners, rather than on the side of the peasants. In the 1990s and 2000s Colombia saw mass displacements carried out by paramilitary groups, who would remove peasants from their land on behalf of big agribusinesses like palm oil."

More Narco airplanes land in Honduras  8/21/2011 Canal 10 

Drug Trafficking: Central America’s Dark Shadow  8/17/2011 Honduras Weekly: "Drug-related corruption has thoroughly infiltrated Central American governments and business elites. Cartels have penetrated key state institutions throughout Central America, including the police, army, executive branches, and judicial systems."

A drug trafficker's paradise  8/15/2011 Al Jazeera: "When cameraman Alfredo DeLara and I travelled to Colon, Honduras, we were surprised to see what this rural province has become. Everyone is armed: we saw drug dealers with AK-47s and revolvers in Toyota cars, farmers with submachine guns and gunmen in trenches within the perimeters of the palm oil plantations."

Honduras Catches First Narco-Sub  7/15/2011 In Sight: "Honduras' Navy intercepted a semi-submersible vessel, containing between three and five tons of cocaine, in the Caribbean Sea. The drug trafficking craft was spotted off the Mosquito Coast, close to the border with Nicaragua. The military gave chase, but the crew reportedly abandoned the semi-submersible and tried to sink it to destroy the evidence."

Honduras: Narco-trafficking threatens Plátano River Reserve  7/15/2011 InfoSur 

Bombshell: Bin Laden worked for US till 9/11  6/15/2011 Daily Kos: published 7/09

Former Cop and Drug Warrior: Why I Turned Against the Drug War  6/12/2011 Alternet: "Over the past 40 years, we’ve spent a trillion dollars prosecuting the drug war. We’ve jailed tens of millions of Americans for nonviolent offenses, ruined countless young lives, turned neighborhoods into armed battlegrounds, done major damage to the Bill of Rights, destabilized the political and economic policies of foreign countries, and tacitly granted commercial and regulatory monopolies to traffickers from Afghanistan to Jamaica, L.A. to New York. U.S. drug policy is the proximate cause of 37,000 deaths in Mexico alone since 2006."

Startling revelations from a Swiss banking insider  5/30/2011 Nachrichten Heute: "Several secret services from abroad, mostly English speaking, gave orders to fund illegal acts, even the killing of people thru Swiss banks. We had to pay on the instructions of foreign powers for the killing of persons who did not follow the orders of Bilderberg or the IMF or the World Bank for example."

Re-demobilized Colombian paramilitaries to sign Free Trade Agreement with U.S.  5/5/2011 Pulse: "When we reached the center of Barichara, the campesinos veered toward the church and my mom and I bought a copy of the day’s El Espectador, which contained a report on the WikiLeaks release of cables from the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá confirming awareness of complaints that palm oil producers had contracted paramilitaries to illegally displace Afro-Colombian communities from their land in the department of Chocó. Of course, the palm oil-paramilitary team-up was already publicized in the mainstream media years ago, as was Uribe’s role in promoting the crop as a biofuel."

Palmeros y el fantasma paramilita  4/24/2011 El Espectador: "El conflicto por la propiedad de la tierra en las regiones de Curvaradó y Jiguamiandó y la extensión de cultivos de palma africana en estos territorios del Chocó, constituye uno de los dilemas más significativos para la sociedad colombiana en el contexto de la lucha por los derechos humanos. La prueba de ello es que entre 2007 y 2009, al menos en once ocasiones la Embajada de Estados Unidos en Colombia remitió cables diplomáticos a Washington detallando este problema y dejando ver las dificultades para solucionarlo por la polarización de sus protagonistas." [Links to wikileaks cables]

Mohammed Atta & 'The Godfather' of Sarasota County  4/14/2011 Madcow Morning News: "David Lindsay Sr. was a top aide to a man repeatedly identified as the individual responsible for creating America’s first officially-sanctioned drug trafficking pipeline, General Claire Chennault of the famous Flying Tigers. In a book called “Sarasota: a history,” Jeff LaHurd writes, "David Lindsay Sr. served as a Major during World War II, and was stationed for two years with the Flying Tigers in China before commanding the Kunming Air Base, terminus of the "Hump" supply route from India." "

Final Judgment  4/12/2011 America First Books 

Según documentos desclasificados, la CIA financiaba el narcotráfico mundial  3/31/2011 Cubadebate: "La historia de las relaciones entre la Agencia Central de Inteligencia estadounidense y el narcotráfico comenzó en los años 70 y tuvo su punto culminante en los 90." [En realidad, empezo cuando se formo la CIA en la cinquenta.]

Nixon on Drugs – Part Two  3/24/2011 Watergate Exposed: "From 1968 on, Trafficante's Cubans were in effective control of the traffic in heroin and cocaine throughout the United States.[37] The Florida capo's only gangland partner of significance was the Cotroni family in Montreal. Trafficante carried out his business in a cool and collected manner. Never out of line with the national Syndicate, he enjoyed relative anonymity while other, less prominent gangsters wrote their names in history with blood. His organization was so airtight that when narcotics investigators finally realized how big a fish he was, they had to admit he was untouchable. The BNDD tried nabbing him in its 1969-70 Operation Eagle, then the most extensive action ever directed against a single narcotics network. The Bureau arrested over 120 traffickers, wholesalers, and pushers, but made no real dent. Within days, well-trained Cubans moved into the vacated slots.[38]"

Drug Trafficking in La Ceiba, a Honduran Caribbean City  3/7/2011 CoLab Radio: "The core area of drug trafficking is indeed the Department of Colon and the Mosquito Coast area, east of La Ceiba. There, the landing of Colombian avionetas transporting cocaine is common, as are 4X4s and SUVs."

Recension 4 étoiles d’un général 5 étoiles pour le livre de Peter Dale SCOTT « La route vers le Nouveau Désordre Mondial »  3/3/2011 ReOpen911.info 

With Increased US Aid, Honduras Militarises Anti-Drug Fight  2/22/2011 Upside Down World: "Javier Aguirre, a young man from Juticalpa, told IPS that things there are tense. "The traffickers walk about freely, flaunting their weapons and their bodyguards, and there are places where you can't go after 8:00 at night, because they shoot you if they don't know you. "The problem is that there is complicity between the police and the 'narcos'. Leaders of the cartels can often be seen going into the police station to 'fix' things with the police, using drugs or money," he added. The stories coming out of Olancho are shocking. For example, after the frequent shootouts and killings, groups of heavily armed thugs often show up before the forensic experts can identify the bodies, to burn the corpses so they won't be recognised. But such incidents are rarely covered by the press. A journalist from that area who spoke to IPS under condition of anonymity said reporters there engaged in self-censorship because they would not be "the first killed for talking."

RawFeed: WikiLeaks Casts Old Light on New Problem  2/22/2011 Insight Crime: "One cable (reproduced below), sent to Washington from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota in November 2006, discusses a meeting between high-level Colombian government and military officials and the Organization of American States’ Mission to Support the Peace Process in Colombia (MAPP). The body presented a report on some 22 “criminal structures associated with former demobilized paramilitaries,” which “have survived military and police operations to dismantle them.” According to the cable the report paid particular attention to gangs formed by former mid-level paramilitaries from the AUC’s so-called Northern Bloc, whose organizations, it says, “remain largely intact.”"

FBI Translator Submitted Report Entitled "Kamikaze Pilots" 5 Months Before 9/11 Warning of Al Qaeda Attacks on U.S. Cities  2/16/2011 Global Research: "The Group Director on matters of national security in the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that President Bush did not respond to unprecedented warnings of the 9/11 disaster and conducted a massive cover-up instead of accepting responsibility."

RawFeed: Bishop Talks Truce Between Rival Colombian Gangs  2/8/2011 Insight Crime: "Bishop Julio Cesar Vidal, who was one of the observers of the peace talks between the government and paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia – AUC) in the early 2000s, told InSight that he has been in touch with “the top levels” of command of drug-trafficking groups, including the Rastrojos, the Urabeños, the Paisas and the Aguilas Negras, about negotiating a “nationwide” disarmament."

9/11 Family Members Demand Answers from the 9/11 Commission: The Censored Testimony of FBI’s Behrooz Sarshar  1/31/2011 Sibel Edmond's Boiling Frogs: "In a public statement issued today (see below), members of the 9/11 Family Steering Committee demanded a prompt response from the former Chairman and Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission regarding Former FBI Language Specialist Behrooz Sarshar’s censored testimony to the Commission. The press release was prompted by recently released documents related to the interviews conducted by the 9/11 Commission published at Cryptome.org, in particular the “Memorandum for the Record” containing the Commission’s interview with Mr. Sarshar. The memorandum, after establishing Mr. Sarshar’s credibility and vaguely referring to his documented and witnessed testimony regarding specific tip(s) provided to the FBI in April and June 2001 regarding planned imminent “Kamikaze Pilots” attacks targeting major cities in the United States, leaves out the entire testimony. This testimony was also entirely left out of the Commission’s final report released in July 2004."

Colombia asks Israel to extradite mercenary convicted of training drug assassins  1/27/2011 AP: "Colombia asked Israel on Thursday to extradite former Israeli army Lt. Col. Yair Klein, who was convicted by a Colombian court and sentenced in absentia to nearly 11 years in prison for training drug lords' assassins in the late 1980s. "The evidence (against Klein) is conclusive," Interior Minister German Vargas told a news conference, saying the formal request had been made in Tel Aviv by Colombia's embassy there. "For the Colombian government it is essential that this sentence is completed and that this citizen clarify his participation in the organization and training of these groups."

Venezuela arrests 'Aguilas Negras commander'  1/23/2011 Colombia Reports: "Venezuela on Sunday claimed it arrested the leader of Colombian neo-paramilitary group "Aguilas Negras" in the northwestern city of Maracaibo. According to Interior Minister Tarek El Aissami, the arrested suspect is Victor Gonzalez Sierra, leader of the feared Aguilas Negras and wanted in Colombia for "various homicides." "This is a heavy blow to criminal drug trafficking organizations and this group trying to use our territory to escape justice of other governments," Venezuelan state radio quoted the minister as saying."

Tony Hayward in talks for Glencore job  1/23/2011 Guardian: "Glencore will need a new board if, as expected, it becomes a public company because the current five-person board is dominated by people who have an ownership stake. Hayward is not expected to be in the running for this although some believe he could become the senior non-executive on the board.The trading group has had its own share of controversy. It was formed in 1974 by Marc Rich, who faced up to 300 years in prison after having been the most wanted white-collar criminal in US history, but then won a pardon from President Bill Clinton on his last day in the Oval Office."

Aguilas Negras  1/23/2011 InSight Crime 

LAPD holds Israeli mobsters charged with murder and other crimes in rare extradition deal; Israeli courts rarely agree to extradite Israelis, in line with the Jewish tradition of not turning over Jews for trial in "Christian" courts  1/17/2011 Israel Palestine News: "Israeli brothers Meir and Yitzhak Abergil and three other Israelis were ordered held in prison without bond on Jan 14; they are charged with crimes ranging from murder and massive embezzlement to money laundering, racketeering and running a large L.A.-based Ecstasy ring. Yitzhak Abergil is allegedly the crime boss of the operation… Israeli police and media have frequently described the Abergils as bosses of one the country's most powerful crime syndicates, with extensive overseas operations."

Los nuevos callejones de la droga  1/7/2011 PL: "Nicaso Nicola Gratteri, procurador de la División Antimafia de Calabria, en su libro Mala Planta, identifica al Corredor 38 como la vía utilizada por el grupo mafioso italiano para hacer llegar la cocaína de Sudamérica a Europa. El Corredor 38 vino a sustituir al no ya tan seguro Corredor 9, usado antes con los mismos fines, pero ahora con puesto de gendarmería bastante eficiente. Testigos e informantes aseveran que utiliza a la ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina, y Valle de Punilla como escenarios principales del comienzo de su macabro negocio."

Afro-Colombian Farmers on Displacement and Resistance  1/5/2011 Upside Down World: "Activists working on behalf of Colombia’s internally displaced population are subjected to extrajudicial killings and death threats by paramilitary groups supported by the Colombian army and palm oil firms active in rural areas, Sanchez and Guzman report. "They say we're guerrillas and that they're going to kill us," says Sanchez."

Organized Crime in Central America  12/14/2010 Wilson Center: "According to consultant James Bosworth, Honduras, like El Salvador and Guatemala, has experienced the effects of organized crime in Mexico, especially with respect to illicit trafficking. In recent years, the country has recorded one of the highest (if not the highest) homicide rates in the world, upwards of 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Honduras has also become one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. However, Bosworth said, what distinguishes Honduras from its Central American neighbors is the 2009 coup against President Manuel Zelaya. The coup facilitated the expansion of organized crime in the country and demonstrated to the international community the incompatibility of goals of democracy promotion and public security."

It's 'Deja Coup' All Over Again - DEA to Hugo Chavez: "Find Your Own Trampoline"  12/6/2010 MadCow Morning News: "An investigation into the indictment for drug trafficking last month of a former crony of Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has revealed a case of “deja coup all over again." Makled-Garcia is accused of being behind a drug move on May 10 2009 which ended in the fatal crash of a Jetstream 19-passenger turbo-prop airliner carrying 1.5 tons of cocaine, on Utila, one of the Bay Islands just off Honduras' northern coast."

FBI Documents on Senator Paul Wellstone Raise Questions about His Death 8 Years Ago  10/29/2010 Democracy Now: "Minnesota Public Radio has obtained the FBI record of the late Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, who died in a plane crash eight years ago this week. The records show the FBI first tracked Wellstone in 1970 after he was arrested at an anti-Vietnam War protest. The records might also raise new questions about the plane crash that killed Wellstone, his wife, his daughter and three staffers. The National Transportation Safety Board determined the crash was caused by pilot error, but the FBI documents reveal for the first time that specific criminal leads were pursued by investigators. [includes rush transcript]"

9/11's Trainer in Terrorism Was an FBI Informant  10/27/2010 Lobster: by Peter Dale Scott, published 10/2006 - "I will expand on what I spoke about a month ago in Berkeley, concerning Ali Mohamed, Washington's double agent inside al-Qaeda, and also a chief 9/11 plotter.(1) I want to add important new material tonight. Ali Mohamed, an Egyptian, was a close ally of Osama bin Laden. As he later confessed in court, he also aided the terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri, a co-founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and by then an aide to bin Laden, when he visited America to raise money.(2) It is now generally admitted that Ali Mohamed worked for the FBI, the CIA, and U.S. Special Forces."

Narcotraficante Villela Meza, hermano de Armida de López contreras y cuñado de Federico Álvarez, será extraditado a EE.UU.  10/18/2010 Vos el Soberano: "Miguel Ángel Villela Meza es hermano de la lidereza de la fascista Unión Cívica Democrática UCD Armida Villela Meza de López Contreras, esposa del Canciller de la dictadura michelettista Carlos López Contreras. Así mismo, el capo de la droga y también traficante de armas, es cuñado del Supernumerario del OPUS DEI en Honduras, el costarricense Federico Álvarez, analista estrella del Diario La Tribuna."

British Novelist John le Carré on the Iraq War, Corporate Power, the Exploitation of Africa and His New Novel, "Our Kind of Traitor"  10/11/2010 Democracy Now 

S.S. Poet left Philly, but where'd it go?  10/7/2010 Philadelphia Inquirer: "She cited a 1980 Reuters report stating that when the 52 hostages were released, Iran took 32 new U.S. hostages identified as "New Jersey heroin smugglers." "Were these estimated thirty-two 'New Jersey heroin smugglers' taken hostage by Iran on or around January 20, 1981, the same as the estimated thirty-four men reported to have been on board The Poet, hijacked by the New Jersey Gambino clan?" Honegger wrote. Zukier-Fredette believes the October Surprise theory. She believes that the ship made it to Iran and disappeared."

Venezuelans Seize 2 Tons of Drugs on Colombian Border  9/19/2010 Inside Costa Rica 

Partners in Crime: The U.S. Secret State and Mexico's "War on Drugs"  9/17/2010 Global Research: Good links.

Nixon's Vengeful War on Marijuana  9/16/2010 Consortium News: "The U.S. government has maintained its own double standards, tolerating and protecting some drug traffickers who collaborated with the CIA. The U.S. government also has experimented with mind-altering drugs often on unsuspecting subjects. For instance: "

Covert Finances: Drug Trade Through Vietnam War  9/4/2010 Sherm Says 

Honduras since the coup: Drug Traffickers’ Paradise  8/31/2010 CIP: "In his book El Narcotráfico en América Latina (English: Drug Trafficking in Latin America), Adalberto Santana indicates that in the seventies and eighties, during some of which time Honduras was under military rule, the Central American country became a US ally against communism in the isthmus. Santana states that the US tolerated drug trafficking that even the highest ranks of the military government were involved with. The author cites a report – “El Narcotráfico en Honduras 1982-1988” (English: Drug Trafficking in Honduras 1982-1988) – from the Honduras Data Centre, according to which drug trafficking there between 1982 and 1987 made revenue of 12 billion dollars."

The trials of Rep. Maxine Waters: Ethics or payback?  8/20/2010 SF Bay View: "Prior to the Mercury series, there was massive evidence that the Reagan-Bush-North Contra apparatus was involved in flooding the United States with cocaine, through Mena, Arkansas, and other locations. Repeated efforts by Maxine Waters and honest agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration and other law enforcement agencies to investigate were systematically suppressed by Porter Goss for “national security” reasons. Maxine appeared before the Goss committee many times in her effort to unmask the drug kingpins that were in the U.S. government and the major banks of the United States. Porter Goss, now a non-member of the United States Congress, is co-chair of the ethics committee investigating Maxine Waters. If Mr. Goss is as successful in investigating her as he was in covering up the drug misdeeds of two presidents, Maxine is in deep doo-doo."

The trials of Rep. Maxine Waters: Ethics or payback?  8/20/2010 SF Bay View: "Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who waged a more successful war on drugs than the entire U.S. government, was concerned with people like Ronald Reagan and George Bush, who made enormous profits from this trade by flooding urban America with poison. Her efforts to investigate were suppressed by Porter Goss, who then chaired the House Intelligence Committee. Now Goss heads the ethics office that charged Waters with ethics violations for her legitimate advocacy for Black banks and economic justice for Black and Brown people."

Who Is Behind the 25,000 Deaths In Mexico?  7/23/2010 The Nation: "Yet the daily torrent of local press accounts from Ciudad Juárez makes it clear that most of the murder victims are ordinary Mexicans who magically morph into drug cartel members before their blood dries on the streets, sidewalks, vacant lots, pool halls and barrooms where they fall dead, riddled with bullets… General Jorge Juárez Loera, the first commander of the Joint Operation Chihuahua, put it this way: "I would like to see reporters change their articles and instead of writing about one more murder victim, they should say, 'one less criminal.' "

Dengue Fever Outbreak Leads Back to CIA & Army Experiments  7/17/2010 VoltaireNet: "In the spring and summer of 1981, Cuba experienced a severe hemorrhagic dengue fever epidemic. Between May and October 1981, the island nation had 158 dengue-related deaths with about 75,000 reported infection cases. Prior to this outbreak, Cuba had reported only a very small number of cases in 1944 and 1977. At the same time as the 1981 outbreak, covert biological warfare attacks on Cuba’s residents and crops were believed to have been conducted against the island by CIA contractors and military airplane flyovers. Particularly harmful to the nation was a severe outbreak of swine flu that Fidel Castro attributed to the CIA. ...The timing of this outbreak of Dengue fever presents two additional problems; the symptoms of Dengue fever are very similar to that of exposures to chemicals such as those contained in crude oil and the dispersants currently being used in the contaminated areas of the Gulf of Mexico, potentially making it difficult to diagnose the source of a sufferer’s symptoms. Worse yet, there looms the possibility that Corexit and other toxins present in the Gulf area may weaken the immune system, thus setting the stage for more severe forms of the disease in people who are, or have previously been, exposed to the virus."

Valentine's Pack Traces Real Drug War  7/12/2010 Consortium News 

Statistical Analysis and Visualization of the Drug War in Mexico  6/15/2010 Diego Valle-Jones: "While the first joint army operations in 2006 and 2007 lowered the homicide rates in Michocán and Guerrero, later military operations in Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo León, Veracruz and Durango have coincided with increases in homicides and attempts by the Sinaloa cartel to take over drug trafficking routes from rival cartels."

U.S. Military has Special Ops "Boots on the Ground" in Mexico  6/12/2010 NarcoNews 

How The CIA Created The Jamaican Shower Posse  6/3/2010 News One for Black America: "With the recent violence in Jamaica and the controversy over alleged drug lord, Christopher “Dudus” Coke, many people are talking about the infamous Jamaican Shower Posse and the neighborhood of Tivoli Gardens, where they have their base. What is being is being ignored largely by the media, is the role that the American government and the CIA had in training, arming and giving power to the Shower Posse. It is interesting that the USA is indicting Christopher “Dudus” Coke, the current leader of the Shower Posse for drug and gun trafficking, given that the CIA was accused of smuggling guns into Jamaica and facilitating the cocaine trade from Jamaica to America in the 70s and 80s. In many ways Dudus was only carrying on a tradition of political corruption, drug running, guns and violence that was started with the help of the CIA."

Can the US Triumph in the Drug-Addicted War in Afghanistan? Opium, the CIA and the Karzai Administration  4/5/2010 Asia Pacific Journal - Japan Focus: by Prof Peter Dale Scott

Wealthy Colombian businessman is a drug-trafficker, CIA operative alleges  3/21/2010 NarcoNews: “Colombia exports $100 billion or more in drugs each year and everyone that has been arrested accounts for only a very small amount of that retrieved [by the authorities],” Vega claims. “And they [the Colombian narco-traffickers now in control] have been working for 10 to 15 years making $100 billion a year, so where is all that money?”

CIA: What Really Happened in the quiet French village of Pont-Saint-Esprit  3/16/2010 VoltaireNet: "A U.S. journalist, who was investigating the Cold War mind-control experiments conducted by the CIA, came across some documents relating to an obscure episode in France that was never elucidated. He alleges that in 1951 the CIA was testing for a secret weapon: the aerosol spraying of LSD. The experiment was reportedly carried out in a French village, whose inhabitants and authorities were kept completely in the dark. But it went wrong and caused the death of 7 people. We asked Hank Albarelli to provide a summary of his investigation for the readers of Voltaire Network."

The Ultimate Hedge? Venice has a 60 year history of drug trafficking  3/8/2010 Madcow Morning News: "During World War II, when it was known as the Venice Army Air Field, it was home to the Stateside operations of a man widely and credibly accused of using proceeds from international heroin trafficking to prop up the war machine of a corrupt Chinese warlord whose army, even after its defeat, hung on to a lion's share of Southeast Asian real estate which became known as the Golden Triangle. Contemporary newspaper clips from the time show that the Venice Airport has had an extraordinary six-decade long history, and been the scene of covert activities including gunrunning, international heroin and cocaine trafficking, and being used as a launch pad for coups in the Caribbean and Central America."

Douglas Valentine's History of the DEA - Of Course Narcs Are Crooked …  3/4/2010 CounterPunch 

CIA Involvement With Drug Trade Resulted In Death Threats Against US Senator  2/24/2010 Wayne Madsen 

CIA drug traffic TI whistleblowers' death threats and psych confinement for 'delusion'  2/15/2010 Examiner 

CIA drug traffic TI whistleblowers' death threats and psych confinement for 'delusion'  2/15/2010 Examiner 

U.S. Embassy in Ankara denies links to Ergenekon  2/2/2010 Armenian News: "A national newspaper in Turkey has said part of an indictment in the Ergenekon probe alleged a car registered on the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul had entered a military zone to take photographs in Poyrazkoy district, the scene of an excavation which unearthed weapons and explosives last April. The spokesperson said they had no record of a Consulate vehicle being present at the site on April 7, 2009, Anatolian News Agency reported. The Ergenekon case in Turkey has been investigating a neo-nationalist gang believed to be the extension of a clandestine network of groups with members in the armed forces and accused of being behind a number of unsolved murders of journalists, academics, public-opinion leaders and writers."

The Real Grand Chessboard and the Profiteers of War (Part Two) by Peter Dale Scott  1/10/2010 Foreign Policy Journal 

The Real Grand Chessboard and the Profiteers of War by Prof. Peter Dale Scott  1/10/2010 Global Research: "To offset the pressure on limited armed forces assets, Donald Rumsfeld escalated the increasing use of Private Military Contractors (PMCs) in the Iraq War. At one point as many as 100,000 personnel were employed by PMCs in the US Iraq occupation. Some of them were involved in controversial events there, such as the Iraq Abu Ghraib prison scandal, and the killing and burning of four contract employees in Fallujah. The license of the most controversial firm, Blackwater, was terminated by the Iraqi government in 2007, after eight Iraqi civilians were gratuitously killed in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion.[28] (After much negative publicity, Blackwater renamed itself in 2009 as Xe Worldwide.) Insufficiently noticed in the public furor over PMCs like Blackwater was the difference in motivation between them and the Pentagon. Whereas the stated goal of Rumsfeld and the armed forces in Iraq was to end violence there, the PMCs clearly had a financial stake in its continuation. Hence it is no surprise that some of the largest PMCs were also political supporters for pursuing the ill-conceived "War on Terror." Blackwater was the most notorious example; Erik Prince, its founder and sole owner, is part of a family that figures among the major contributors to the Republican Party and other right-wing causes, such as the Council for National Policy. His sister once told the press that "my family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican Party."

Ros-Lehtinen Warns of Increased Drug Trafficking, Extremist Links between Latin America and Africa  1/6/2010 US House: "U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, commented today on remarks by a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) official regarding the “unholy alliance” between South American narco-criminal groups and Islamist extremist organizations in western Africa. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen: “The recent arrest of three west-African al-Qaeda operatives on drug smuggling charges darkens the already ominous picture of Islamist extremist groups in western Africa collaborating with narco-criminals in South America. “Groups like the FARC are finding new ways to sell drugs to Europeans via al-Qaeda groups in Africa. Al-Qaeda, in turn, is more than willing to use the drug business to help fund its extremist agenda."

Obama and Afghanistan: America’s Drug-Corrupted War by Prof Peter Dale Scott  1/1/2010 Global Research: "...the U.S. economy has become a narco-capitalist one, dependent on the hot or dirty money, much of it from the drug traffic."

Mumbai terror suspect David Headley was ‘rogue US secret agent’  12/17/2009 London Times: "He came to the attention of the US security services in 1997 when he was arrested in New York for heroin smuggling. He earned a reduced sentence by working for the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) infiltrating Pakistan-linked narcotics gangs. Indian investigators, who have been denied access to Mr Headley, suspect that he remained on the payroll of the US security services — possibly working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) — but switched his allegiance to LeT."

TRAVESTY in Haiti : A true account of Christian missions, orphanages, fraud, food aid and drug trafficking  12/10/2009 Marguerite Laurent 

Sicarios asesinan a funcionario antinarcórticos del Ministerio Público  12/8/2009 El Libertador: "En horas de la mañana, dos desconocidos asesinaron al jefe de la Direccion de Lucha Contra el Narcotráfico (DLCN) Julián Arístides González, cuando este venia de dejar a sus hijos de un colegio bilingue en las afueras de la ciudad, sin que hasta el momento la policía de investigación y la preventiva no hayan dado con los responsables del asesinato del general retirado."

Suspected Colombian paramilitary leader Magaly Moreno captured in Venezuela  11/21/2009 LA Times: "A woman described by Venezuelan authorities as an important leader of a Colombian paramilitary group has been captured, the justice minister said today. Interpol had called for the arrest of Magaly Janeth Moreno Vega, who was wanted by Colombian officials on homicide charges, said Venezuelan Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami. He referred to the 39-year-old suspect as a paramilitary chief for the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC... Moreno previously worked as an investigator for Colombian prosecutors and was detained with her boss several years ago on accusations of aiding militias, according to news reports. Moreno was convicted on conspiracy charges tied to various crimes after she acknowledged working for paramilitary boss Jorge Ivan Laverde, who has said he participated in the killings of more than 2,000 people, the Associated Press reported."

The agony of the Ecstasy  11/19/2009 Haaretz, Israel: "The most commonly heard estimate is that Israeli criminals control no less than 75 percent of the Ecstasy market in the U.S. How did Israel become a central player in this dubious game?"

Russia slams U.S. on Afghan drugs  11/19/2009 The Hindu: "The U.S. does not want to address the problem of drug production in Afghanistan, said Russia’s anti-narcotics chief after talks with U.S. Special Envoy for Af-Pak Richard Holbrooke. “My meeting with Holbrooke unfortunately confirmed our fears that they are not prepared to destroy the production of drugs in Afghanistan,” Viktor Ivanov, head of the Federal Narcotics Control Service, told Russian journalists on Tuesday, hours after Mr. Holbrooke left Moscow for Kabul after one-day consultations."

PLANS TO ESTABLISH FOUR MARITIME OPERATIONS CENTERS  11/9/2009 Cablesearch.org: "Minister of Government and Justice Jose Raul Mulino announced in late October that the GOP intended to establish four maritime operating centers to interdict narcotics and other illegal items transiting Panamanian waters. The operation centers would be jointly manned by security forces from the Panamanian National Police (PNP), National Aero-Naval Service (SENAN), and National Frontier Service (SENAFRONT). The idea for a joint maritime task force incorporating various Panamanian security services originated in the U.S. Embassy's Law Enforcement and Security Working Group as a possible solution to a FARC drug trafficking organization operating on the Pacific Coast. When the Ambassador suggested the idea to Mulino and Vice President/Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela, both were enthusiastic. However, Mulino later muddled the issue in a premature and incorrect announcement of joint "bases" which implied they would be U.S.-Panamanian bases, sparking an outcry."

Italia: jefe de los 23 agentes CIA condenados “traficó” en Honduras, con la red de Posada  11/7/2009 Habla Honduras: "“Bob” Seldon Lady, el ex jefe de la estación de la CIA en Milán, quien dirigía a los 23 agentes de la CIA condenados en Italia por secuestrar, torturar y luego ‘desaparecer’ al clérigo musulmán Abu Omar en la ciudad italiana de Milán en el 2003 era un elemento clave de la red que desde Honduras y El Salvador, con John Negroponte, Félix Rodríguez Mendigutía y Luis Posada Carriles traficó armas contra cocaina a favor de la Contra nicaraguense, cuando se encontraba en América Central en los años 80."

Honduras: la Corte Suprema limpia el general Vásquez de su pasado criminal  11/5/2009 Tercera Informacion: "El general golpista Romeo Vásquez, ha logrado limpiarse jurídicamente de su pasado criminal con la complicidad de la Corte Suprema de Justicia que dictaminó el "sobreseimiento definitivo por falta de pruebas" de los expedientes del actual jefe de las fuerzas armadas, de su primo Marvin y de doce otros socios implicados en el trafico de carros robados, que se les mantenía congelados desde 1993. Lo confirmó el diario golpista La Prensa de San Pedro Sula que entierró recientemente, en un par de párrafos, el caso Vásquez al final de un texto donde se anunció que su cómplice Wilfredo Leva Cabrera, un ex coronel narcotraficante del ejercito, tendrá que cumplir 85 años de prisón."

The Peru Shoot Down  10/29/2009 Zmag: "Among the five cases of intelligence operation cover up currently being investigated by the US House Intelligence Committee is the 2001 shoot down of a small plane in Peru, resulting in the death of a Baptist missionary from Michigan and her 7-month-old daughter. The CIA inspector general has already concluded that the CIA improperly concealed information about the incident. Intelligence Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky, who is leading the investigation, says she hasn't ruled out referrals to the Justice Department for criminal prosecutions if evidence surfaces that intelligence officials broke the law. On the other hand, she hasn't guaranteed that the true story will ever be released, since the Committee's report of its investigation will be classified." [Jan has reportedly been blackmailed for a lesbian affair by the Turkish-Israeli mafia who are partially funded by narcotics trafficking.]

Brought to You by the CIA - America's Drug Crisis  10/28/2009 CounterPunch 

Le secret de Guantánamo  10/28/2009 VoltaireNet: "Si l’on additionne la totalité des personnes qui ont été faites prisonnières en zone de conflit ou enlevées n’importe où dans le monde et transférées dans cet ensemble de prisons au cours des huit dernières années, ce sont au total 80 000 personnes qui auraient transité dans le système, dont moins d’un millier auraient été poussées vers les stades ultimes du processus de Biderman. Dès lors le problème de l’administration Obama se résume ainsi : il ne sera pas possible de fermer Guantánamo sans révéler ce qui y a été fait. Et il ne sera pas possible de reconnaître ce qui y a été fait, sans admettre que tous les aveux recueillis sont faux et ont été délibérément inculqués sous la torture, avec les conséquences politiques que cela implique."

The Education of Bob Baer - Unlearning the CIA  10/25/2009 CounterPunch: "So here was Baer among Jordanian princes, rogue oil traders in Iraq. Here he was in 1993 stealing a kilo of cocaine from the airplane of Morocco’s King Hasan, simply to prove that one of our allies in the Middle East was a drug runner (“I wanted to rub Washington’s nose in it.”). In Sarajevo he posed as an arms dealer, in Iraq he was an assassin, in Paris a pimp."

DEA Agents Accused in Court Pleadings of Dealing Heroin As Part of 1990s Pakistan Connection  10/20/2009 NarcoNews 

Man killed by HPD no agent, CIA insists  10/7/2009 Houston Chronicle: "The CIA said it had conducted the searches under a provision of federal law, however, that “exempts CIA operational files from the search, review, publication and disclosure requirements” of the Freedom of Information Act."

AFFIDAVIT OF EDWARD P. CUTOLO  10/1/2009 We The People: "73. Edwin Wilson explained that the profit from the sale of narcotics was laundered through a series of banks. Wilson stated that over 70% of the profits were laundered through the banks in Panama. The remaining percentage was funneled through Swiss banks with a small remainder being handled by banks within the U.S. Wilson indicated that a large portion of the profits are brought into the banks of Panama without being checked. I understood that some of the profits in Panamanian banks arrived through Israeli couriers. I became aware of that fact from normal conversations with some of the Embassy personnel assigned to the Embassy in Panama. Wilson also stated that an associate whom I don't know also aided in over seeing the laundering of funds, which was then used to purchase weapons to arm the various factions that the CIA saw as friendly towards the U. S. The associates name is Tom Clines. Wilson indicated that most of Operation Watch Tower was implemented on the authority of Clines."

Noam Chomsky: Coups, UNASUR, and the U.S. From a talk given in Caracas, Venezuela on August 29  10/1/2009 Zmag: "Abroad, the "supply-side approach" has been the basis for U.S.-backed counterinsurgency strategy in Colombia and elsewhere, with a fearful toll among victims of chemical warfare and militarization of conflicts, but enormous profits for domestic and foreign elites. Colombia has a shocking record of human rights violations, by far the worst in the hemisphere since the end of Reagan's Central American terror wars in the 1980s, and also the second-largest internal displacement of populations in the world, after Sudan. Meanwhile, domestic elites and multinationals profit from the forced displacement of peasants and indigenous people, which clears land for mining, agribusiness production and ranching, infrastructure development for industry, and much else. There is a great deal more to say about this, but I will put it aside. At home, the drug war coincided with the initiation of neoliberal programs, the financialization of the economy, and the attack on government social welfare systems, real, even though limited by international standards. One immediate consequence of the war on drugs has been the extraordinary growth in scale and severity of incarceration in the past 30 years, placing the U.S. far in the lead worldwide. The victims are overwhelmingly African-American males and other minorities, a great many of them sentenced on victimless drug charges. Drug use is about the same as in privileged white sectors, which are mostly immune."

More questions on 9/11 by Pepe Escobar  9/18/2009 Asia Times 

Venezuela cataloga como cínico e hipócrita informe de EE UU sobre narcotráfico mundial  9/17/2009 Aporrea: "El ministro venezolano del Interior, Tarek El Aissami, rechazó y catalogó de cínico e hipócrita, este jueves, el informe estadounidense que "descertifica" a Venezuela, junto a Bolivia y Birmania en la lucha contra el tráfico de drogas. "Rechazamos ese informe que raya lo inmoral, es cínico e hipócrita, y lo condenamos", sentenció El Aissami en una rueda de prensa donde también expresó su opinión respecto al incremento que Estados Unidos ha tenido en la producción, tráfico y consumo de estupefacientes, por lo que consideró que deberían revisar las políticas que les "han impulsado a ese fracaso".

CIA DRUG TRAFFICKING By David Guyatt  9/15/2009 Deep Black Lies 

Honduras: Narcotráfico e imperio converge  9/11/2009 CubaDebate: "En Honduras la actividad de los carteles de la droga, el lavado de dinero, el surgimiento de numerosas fortunas sin explicación, intensa actividad en la construcción, infraestructuras innecesarias, no son actividades nuevas. De hecho ya durante esta década incluso un diputado del derechista Partido Nacional fue capturado mientras peleaba por recuperar un cargamento d droga de una avioneta que aterrizo clandestinamente en una carretera sin pavimentar en el despoblado departamento de Olancho (http://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/2003/07/08/internacionales/inter2.html) . Este diputado fue puesto en la cárcel, y antes de que se esclareciera nada fue ejecutado en la penitenciaria. El caso se cerró pero la conexión entre los fondos de la droga y los políticos hizo aparición por primera vez. Resulta sorprendente la efectividad policial desde entonces para ignorar evidencias, pistas o indicios racionales sobre este tipo de casos."

Links between Colombian Intelligence Organisation and Venezuelan Opposition Uncovered  9/10/2009 Trinicenter: "The AUC were a phenomenon that was changed by drug-smuggling....so they looked for cultivation and smuggling zones, so this is what permeated the [border] zone, including today [the phenomenon] is still present in [Venezulean border state] Tachira with [paramilitary group] the Black Eagles."

Honduras Reports Lack of Towns Named for Oliver North  8/23/2009 NarcoNews: "Last Thursday night in the northeastern Honduran port of Trujillo, Al Giordano and I visited the Bahia Bar, past clients of which had allegedly included Marine Corps officer Oliver North in the 1980s. North’s patronage was presumably an effect of the bar’s proximity to the Trujillo airfield, which functioned as a transit point for Colombian cocaine en route to the United States."

US military base plan fuels Latin American tensions  8/11/2009 VoltaireNet: "Washington and Bogota have cast the agreement as a response to the shutdown of the US air base in Manta, Ecuador by the government of President Rafael Correa. That facility was ostensibly dedicated to anti-drug trafficking operations. The scope of the US-Colombian pact and both the number and location of the bases involved, however, indicate that Washington is pursuing far wider regional objectives. The Bogota daily El Tiempo, pointed out, “The absence of an airfield close to the Pacific, through which the principal drug-trafficking routes pass is noteworthy.” The Manta base was on the Pacific coast of Ecuador."

Stanford Financial Group  7/21/2009 Public Intelligence 

Las relaciones de los militares hondureños con el narcotráfico  7/19/2009 El Liberador: "El hondureño defensor de los Derechos Humanos, Andrés Pavón, afirmó que el general Vázquez Velázquez, jefe del Estado Mayor hondureño, tiene conocidos lazos con el narcotráfico. "Él es un hombre de la comunidad de inteligencia de América Latina, cercana a las estructuras de la DEA y la CIA", explica."

The JFK Assassination: Defending the Gangster State  7/17/2009 Michael Parenti 

Micheletti, vinculado al cartel de Cali, en una lista de narcos del ministerio de la Defensa  7/17/2009 CubaDebate: "El nombre del cabecilla golpista hondureño Roberto Micheletti aparece en una larga lista de narcotraficantes redactada, en una fecha no precisada, por un alto oficial del Ministerio de la Defensa y Seguridad Pública de Honduras que lo relaciona con el Cartel de Cali, la red colombiana de narcotráfico. El documento firmado por el Coronel de infantería René Adalberto Paz Alfaro y llevando el membrete del ministerio, señala en el número SN-FF. AA. 060, a ROBERTO MICHELLETI BAIN – con el error de ortógrafo en Micheletti – con la “CONEXIÓN” Cartel de Cali y bajo la mención “LUGAR” la palabra “Yoro”. Las notas biográficas de Micheletti precisan que empezó su carrera política en los años 80, cuando ocupaba el cargo de presidente del Consejo Local en Yoro donde siempre se hizo elegir de diputado al Congreso Nacional… Llama la atención que, hace unos días, un grupo de congresistas norteamericanos de extrema derecha encabezados por los representantes de la Florida, Mario y Lincoln Díaz-Balart, intentaron ensuciar el nombre del presidente constitucional Manuel Zelaya al solicitar del presidente Barack Obama que investigue su supuesta “vinculación con el narcotráfico”, a través de la DEA. Obama ni constestó. Los Díaz-Balart tienen un viejo expediente de relaciones turbias con los círculos colombianos afiliados al narcotráfico."

The CIA's Ghosts of Tegucigalpa  7/14/2009 Consortium News: "The DEA agent in charge of its recently opened Tegucigalpa office, Thomas Zepeda, had documented the complicity of Col. Torres Arias and other high-ranking Honduran officers in Matta Ballesteros’s drug operations. But DEA needed the Honduran military’s assistance to arrest Torres and his cronies, and the CIA needed them to support the contras. To avoid a showdown with the CIA, the DEA’s Zepeda proposed that a grand jury be empanelled to investigate corruption in the Honduran armed forces. But the CIA nixed the idea, no doubt to protect its collaborators. As one high-level diplomat later noted: “Without the support of the Honduran military there would have been no such thing as the contras. It’s that simple … So they got rid of the DEA station.”"

Declaration of the Afro-Honduran Assembly PDF  7/14/2009 TransAfrica: by ORGANIZATION OF ETHNIC COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT (ODECO)

Cele Castillo ordered to report to federal prison  7/12/2009 NarcoNews: "Castillo, as well as other law enforcers who spoke with Narco News, contend the federal prosecutor in the case turned Castillo’s paperwork violation (selling legally purchased weapons without a firearms-dealer permit) into a federal arms-trafficking case as payback for his whistleblowing activity — for exposing the CIA and White House’s complicity in arms- and narco-trafficking as part of the Iran/Contra scandal that played out during the administration of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush."

Diputado habría peleado por droga  7/8/2009 ElSavador.com 

Key Figures in Global Battle Against Illegal Arms Trade Lost in Air France Crash  6/7/2009 Sunday Herald, Scotland: "Dreyfus was an advocate of the stringent labelling of ammunition by weapons firms, arguing that by clearly identifying ammunition not only by its producer but also its purchaser, the likelihood of weapons being sourced by criminals from corrupt police or armed forces personnel is greatly reduced."

The Democratic State v. The Deep State  5/14/2009 Deep Politics: "Later, Carlo Digilio, who had worked with the CIA in Italy, would recount in court hearings how he had collaborated with activists from Ordine Nuovo and how the bombing campaign had been linked to a US plan to introduce a state of emergency in Italy in order to exclude the political left from government. The same view was presented by Italian Chief of Counter-Intelligence, General Gianadelio Maletti, who confirmed in court that US intelligence had provided Ordine Nuovo with explosives for the first major Italian bomb attack (Milan in 1969). Digilio also described how he passed on details of planned bomb attacks to his CIA contact, Captain David Carrett, who had also told him that the bombing campaign was part of a US plan to establish a state of emergency in order to control Italian domestic politics."

Stanford drug informer role claim  5/9/2009 BBC: "Secret documents seen by Panorama show both governments knew in 1990 that the Texan was a former bankrupt and his first bank was suspected of involvement with Latin American money-launderers. In 1999, both the British and the Americans were aware of the facts surrounding a cheque for $3.1m (£2.05m) that Sir Allen paid to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It was drug money originally paid in to Stanford International Bank by agents acting for a feared Mexican drug lord known as the 'Lord of the Heavens'."

Over 10,000 Dead: Is Mexican Drug War Violence Ebbing?  4/17/2009 NarcoNews: "Statistical Slights-of-Hand and Temporary Lulls Have Obscured the Drug War's Rising Costs"

Late Guinean leader's son charged with drug trafficking  4/15/2009 AFP: "The eldest son of late Guinean president Lansana Conte was put in jail Tuesday pending a trial on charges of cocaine trafficking, police sources told AFP. Ousmane Conte, whose father died in December after leading the west African nation with an iron fist for 24 years, was transferred from a military hospital to the Conakry prison, said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity."

Help Force Congress To Observe the Law on National Emergencies!!!  3/27/2009 911 Truth: "On 9/11 the Bush administration declared a State of Emergency (SOE), which was formally proclaimed on September 14, 2001, and extended by Bush repeatedly thereafter, most recently on August 28, 2008.1 Under cover of this SOE, Bush secretly enacted many extreme measures, ranging from suspension of habeas corpus to preparations for martial law in America; all these were undertaken as part of secret so-called "Continuity of Government" (COG) procedures associated with the SOE, and first instituted on 9/11.2 and 3 The National Emergencies Act, one of the post-Watergate reforms so detested by Vice-President Cheney, requires specifically that Not later than six months after a national emergency is declared, and not later than the end of each six-month period thereafter that such emergency continues, each House of Congress shall meet to consider a vote on a joint resolution to determine whether that emergency shall be terminated. (50 U.S.C. 1622 (2002)4"

Thousands march against mafia in Naples  3/21/2009 AFP: "Thousands of people, including the acclaimed author of mafia expose "Gomorrah," marched in southern Italy's Naples Saturday against decades of mafia violence that has killed some 900 people. "The mafia and the Camorra (the Naples-area mafia) are not eternal. They can be beaten," Antonio Bassolino, president of the Compania region that includes the city, told the crowd marking a remembrance day for victims of organised crime."

Spy Minister’s Wife and the Drug Bust  3/15/2009 The Times, South Africa: "Intelligence boss’s spouse linked to international cocaine ring. The wife of South Africa’s newly appointed intelligence boss is under investigation for international drug trafficking."

Questions Surround the the Sarkozys’ Private Visit to Mexico  3/12/2009 Le Monde 

Questions autour du voyage privé du couple Sarkozy au Mexique  3/12/2009 Le Monde: "Le site Rue89 cite un article du journaliste américain Al Giordano, qui citait lui-même l'enquête d'un journal local mexicain, accusant Hernandez d'avoir participé activement au trafic de cocaïne au Mexique dans les années 1980 et 1990. Giordano, dont le site Narco News couvre exhaustivement la question de la drogue en Amérique latine et aux Etats-Unis, a été poursuivi à plusieurs reprises par Roberto Hernandez Ramirez pour ces accusations, sans jamais être condamné."

Mexique : Sarkozy a-t-il séjourné chez un narco présumé ?  3/11/2009 Rue89: "Ce qui est certain à en croire nos confrères, c'est que le couple Sarkozy a séjourné dans un hôtel appartenant au milliardaire en question, Roberto Hernandez Ramirez, une des plus grosses fortunes du Mexique. L'hôtel, El Tamarindo Beach and Golf Resort, abrite une suite présidentielle à 3500 dollars la nuit, où aurait dormi le couple, selon Mediapart (sur abonnement). Interrogé par RTL, un conseiller de l'Elysée n'a pas démenti, mais n'a pas confirmé non plus. Dans un autre genre, le site Purepeople.com l'affirmait aussi, dès dimanche soir. Mais personne n'a relevé que le banquier Roberto Hernandez Ramirez, ancien PDG de la banque Banamex et membre du conseil d'administration de Citigroup (une des plus grandes institutions financières de la planète), souffre d'une réputation pour le moins sulfureuse. Dans les années 1990, il a été soupçonné au Mexique de faire transiter par ses propriétés de la cocaïne sud-américaine et de participer au blanchiment de l'argent de la drogue."

Guinea-Bissau president killed  3/2/2009 Al Jazeera: "Analysts say instability has been worsened by the presence of international drug trafficking organisations which use the country as a staging post for smuggling cocaine into Europe."

Twin assassinations leave Guinea-Bissau in turmoil  3/2/2009 AP: "Although numerous country experts stressed that the twin assassinations were not linked to drugs, Mazzitelli also points out that the method used to kill Waie — a bomb — is highly unusual. Coup d'etats and assassinations are common throughout the region, but they are typically carried out with kalashnikovs — not explosives. The sophistication of the bomb, which most likely was detonated from afar, raises the question of whether the killers of the army chief received expert help. Colombian cartels, for example, are known for using car bombs in their own turf wars."

Prosecutor claims Iran/Contra whistleblower is a "danger" to society  2/22/2009 Narco News: "Iran/Contra whistleblower Celerino “Cele” Castillo III was scheduled to report to prison on March 5, but the power of justice has intervened on his behalf. A federal judge in San Antonio, at a hearing held late last week, ruled that Castillo's report date to prison should be extended until July 20. The judge, W. Royal Furgeson Jr., issued his ruling over the objections of a federal prosecutor, who argued that Castillo should be sent to prison because he was a “danger to the community.” The hearing was called by the judge to consider a motion to allow Castillo to remain free on bail through his appeal. The motion was filed by Castillo's current attorney, public defender Judy Fulmer Madewell."

Charges Against Stanford a Long Time Coming, Offshore Banking Experts Say  2/19/2009 ABC: "Authorities tell ABC News that as part of the investigation, which has been ongoing since last year, Mexican authorities detained one of Stanford's private planes. According to officials, checks found inside the plane were believed to be connected to the Gulf cartel, reputed to be Mexico's most violent gang. Authorities say Stanford could potentially face criminal charges of money laundering and bribery of foreign officials."

Cooperation between Cuba and the United States Enables Drug Seizure  2/13/2009 Cuba Now 

THE STORY THE MEDIA WON'T TOUCH  2/5/2009 Progressive Review 

Ex-Mossad agent said among suspects in 420m pound fraud  1/29/2009 Haaretz 

The Male Sibel Edmonds  1/24/2009 Pottersville: "By the time Tice had appeared on Olbermann's Countdown on January 21 and 22, he had made some troubling but hardly shocking revelations: That the NSA, for purely political motivations and contrary to what Bush had told the nation when the NY Times story had broken, every American in the country was being spied on regardless of any credible suspicion of terrorist activity or lack thereof. In fact, Tice was being lied to. While collecting data with the vaguest of parameters (since terrorists make one to two minute phone calls, then all 60-120 second phone calls made by Americans were fair game), Tice was told the information he'd been collecting were for purely exclusionary purposes. In fact, everything Tice was collecting, all the raw data he'd been told would be thrown out, was actually an all-inclusive "save" pile."

Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered  1/23/2009 Prison Planet: published 12/04 - "Credible sources who were close to Gary Webb have stated that he was receiving death threats, being regularly followed, and that he was concerned about strange individuals who were seen on multiple occasions breaking into and leaving his house before his apparent 'suicide' on Friday morning. Webb, a Pullitzer prize winning journalist, exposed CIA drug trafficking operations in a series of books and reports for the San Jose Mercury News. He was found dead on Friday morning in what the police said was an apparent suicide. Webb's 1996 series in the Mercury News alleged that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of crack cocaine in Los Angeles and funneled millions of dollars in profits to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s."

U.S. military report warns 'sudden collapse' of Mexico is possible  1/13/2009 El Paso Times: "The Mexican possibility may seem less likely, but the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and press by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state. Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."

Cocaine plane trail is open challenge for Obama administration  1/11/2009 NarcoNews: "Attorney Mark Conrad, a former high-level supervisory U.S. Customs agent who has an extensive background in the intelligence world, offered the following insight into the cocaine planes saga in a prior interview with Narco News: Even though it looks as if you are unraveling odd connections you may be only seeing a small part of what is going on — or you may be seeing what you are expected to see, missing something else. My guess — and that is all that it is — is that this has something to do with operations in Venezuela — either to finance ops, or to divert attention from Agency ops in Venezuela to destabilize Chávez. … It is not in the U.S. interests for Chávez to create another Cuba on some of the largest oil field reserves in the world."

Watergate and the Future: News for 2009  12/22/2008 Raw Story: "In sum, I found that the very people who created Nixon and used him to advance their own political interests ended up destroying him. Nixon's famous paranoia, in other words, had a basis in reality."

Why the CIA does not want Dawood in Indian hands  12/22/2008 Foreign Policy Journal: "At the same time Ibrahim's role is being downplayed, Lakhvi's known role is being exaggerated. Initial reports described him as the training specialist for LeT, but the major media outlets like the New York Times and the London [Images] Times, citing government sources, have since promoted his status to that of commander of operations for the group. The only terrorist from the Mumbai attacks to be captured alive, Ajmal Amir Kasab [Images], characterised Ibrahim, not Lakhvi, as the mastermind of those attacks, according to earlier press accounts."

General George S. Patton was assassinated to silence his criticism of allied war leaders claims new book  12/21/2008 Telegraph: "But after a decade-long investigation, military historian Robert Wilcox claims that OSS head General "Wild Bill" Donovan ordered a highly decorated marksman called Douglas Bazata to silence Patton, who gloried in the nickname "Old Blood and Guts". His book, "Target Patton", contains interviews with Mr Bazata, who died in 1999, and extracts from his diaries, detailing how he staged the car crash by getting a troop truck to plough into Patton's Cadillac and then shot the general with a low-velocity projectile, which broke his neck while his fellow passengers escaped without a scratch. Mr Bazata also suggested that when Patton began to recover from his injuries, US officials turned a blind eye as agents of the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB, poisoned the general."

Australia target of Israeli ecstasy  12/13/2008 The Age, Australia: "Israeli crime syndicates control a significant share of the global ecstasy trade and have a long history of supplying the Australian market."

Castillo: the “missing link” in the Cubana airliner sabotage  12/12/2008 Granma: "You have spent a number of years researching the plots of anti-Cuba terrorists who wanted to blow up planes in mid-flight. What did you discover in relation to tolerance of these criminal activities on the part of the CIA and FBI? -- Yes, I’ve been investigating the subject for years and the most surprising thing that I’ve discovered is that U.S. agencies like the CIA and FBI had prior knowledge of their plans and intentions and did nothing to stop them. It is a complicity that goes beyond impunity. From the time that George Bush Sr. was a CIA officer in charge of anti-Cuba plans and then went on to become director of the Agency, then vice president and finally, president – that is, for more than 40 years – the Bush clan has protected the terrorists in Miami. "

Patrick Fitzgerald and Bin Laden’s Agent  12/10/2008 Never Yet Melted: "In Triple Cross, the third volume of his investigative trilogy on federal mishandling of the World Trade Center bombing investigation, Peter Lance identifies none other than Plame Game prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald as the FBI official most responsible for allowing a senior Al Qaeda operative closely tied to Bin Laden himself to remain operational and at-large under the protection of the US Government."

Juarez murders shine light on an emerging 'Military Cartel'  12/6/2008 NarcoNews: "Castillo’s charge that “Iraq veterans” are on the payroll of the DTOs, acting as enforcers and helping to fuel the violence in Juarez by moving weapons — including U.S.-issued munitions — from the U.S. into Mexico (which has very restrictive gun laws) might seem over the top at first glance. But as Narco News checked into the allegation, federal agents directed us to another law-enforcement-sensitive report that apparently was not well received by the U.S. Department of Defense. The law enforcers indicate that the report sheds some light on Castillo’s allegations concerning the Mexican DTOs’ reach into the U.S. military itself. The report [link here] was issued last year by the National Gang Intelligence Center, which serves as an intelligence bank for local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the U.S."

‘It’s gotta be Dawood’  12/5/2008 DNA India: "The police suspect that the gangsters in-charge of the fugitive don’s Mumbai operations, including those languishing in jails, knew in advance about the unprecedented terror attacks. The cops have fanned out in the city, searching for Dawood aides. They are also interrogating the jailed D-Company men. Sleuths from Mumbai crime branch visited Arthur Road jail on Wednesday to question gangsters like Mustafa Dossa and Salim Fruit, and former Dawood aide Abu Salem. On Thursday, the police went to Thane central prison where quite a few aides of Dawood’s arch-rival, Chhota Rajan, are lodged."

India has ‘proof of ISI involvement’  12/5/2008 The Hindu: "The Pakistani Army would very much like a military crisis on the border with India because that would relieve the pressures it was facing on the Afghan front. “Our dilemma is that we don’t want to play their game — we want them to continue being engaged in the fight against terrorism in the west because that’s also our war. But we can’t give them a pass either. The perpetrators have to be fixed.”"

The Mumbai Attacks: More Than Meets The Eye  12/4/2008 Countercurrents: "As noted, Ibrahim is among Interpol’s most wanted. The U.S. designated him as a global terrorist in 2003, stating that he had ties to al Qaeda and that he funded attacks by militant groups, including LeT, aimed at destabilizing the Indian government. Ibrahim’s organization is known as the D-Company and is known to be heavily involved in drug trafficking. According to the U.S. government, D-Company is involved in large-scale shipment of narcotics into the U.K. and Western Europe. He is also alleged to have ties to the CIA through casino operations in Nepal."

Reputed mobster: 'Usual suspect' or supporter of the Mumbai attacks?  12/3/2008 NBC: "Ibrahim's international crime ring has been dubbed the "D-Gang" by the Indian press. In Mumbai, police have said for years that political and religious terrorism have been interwoven with crimes such as drugs, prostitution, gambling and contract hits. Indian newspapers ascribe legendary feats of criminality to the group. Marie-Lou Fernandes was a Mumbai Deputy Police Commissioner until 2005, and tells NBC News that Dawood Ibrahim may not have been the instigator, but must have helped. Although there's no evidence he was involved, Fernandes said," It appears to me there is only one person who could orchestrate that: Dawood Ibrahim. Everything is pointing to Dawood Ibrahim. He has the expertise and the resources."

More evidence of CIA-backed syndicate involvement in Mumbai attacks  12/2/2008 Wayne Madsen: "Under pressure from Washington, this past May Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani cut a secret deal with the United States and India to turn over to Delhi a number of residents of Pakistan wanted by India for terrorism. One of those included in the deal was the CIA’s erstwhile asset, Mumbai-born Dawood Ibrahim, a veteran of CIA operations in Afghanistan during the mujahedin war against the Soviets. Ibrahim, according to our sources, has been under the protection of Pakistan’s Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) intelligence agency since June. He is being protected in Quetta, near the Waziristan tribal region. The CIA is fearful that if Ibrahim is deported to India, RAW and Russia’s Vladimir Putin will obtain the entire dossier on the CIA’s sponsorship of criminal activities and terrorist attacks. ISI would prefer Ibrahim to move to the United Arab Emirates, perhaps Dubai, where he has extensive financial interests. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is a business rival of Ibrahim and the ISI would like Ibrahim to be at a distance from Pakistan’s president and “settle scores” with his old “allies” and new enemies in Langley from outside Pakistani territory."

Mumbai terror attacks: Who could be behind them?  11/27/2008 Guardian, UK: "But if Ibrahim is involved, his gang members are suspected of having played a local, supportive role in the terror strike. "The latest attack on Mumbai has the stamp of Dawood Ibrahim," said a Delhi-based security expert who did not want to be identified. "Definitely the people who hit Mumbai were a mixture of local guys who know the city very well, and trained, hardcore fighters who came by sea.""

The Activities at Mena  11/16/2008 What Really Happened: Mena, Clinton, and Bush

Alex Jones Interviews Terry Reed About Drug Trafficking  11/16/2008 YouTube: Mena, Clinton, and Bush

STATEMENT OF PLAINTIFF TERRY K. REED  11/16/2008 Conspiracy Nation: published 6/96 - "Some of the CIA's activities which took place at Bill Clinton's Mena, Arkansas were patriotically driven and justified. Other activities, however, those which included the importation of cocaine and money laundering, can never be justified in the domain of the public. For this reason, there has been a concerted and bi-partisan effort to keep the subject matter known as MENA from becoming legitimized through the court process."

DEA complicit in drug trade, says Morales  11/6/2008 AFP: ""The worst thing is, it did not fight drug trafficking; It encouraged it," the Bolivian leader said, adding that he had "quite a bit of evidence" backing up his charges. Presidential Minister Juan Ramon Quintana presented a series of documents and press clippings at a news conference, which he described as "object data" that had influenced Morales' decision to suspend DEA activities last week."

U.S. government finally exacts revenge on Iran/Contra whistleblower Cele Castillo  11/1/2008 NarcoNews: "Celerino “Cele” Castillo III, a former DEA agent who played a key role in exposing the U.S. government’s role in narco-trafficking as part of the Iran/Contra scandal, is now a discredited man. At least that is what the office of U.S. Attorney Johnny “House of Death” Sutton in San Antonio, Texas, who is a “dear friend” of President George W. Bush, would like us to believe… "… As time went on I started to collect Vietnam vintage surplus to sell. But before long, I began to do what most of the vendors were doing at the gun show, selling and buying both used and new guns without a license. Over half of the gun show vendors are still doing what I got charged with. However, I strongly believe that because of my involvement as an "expert witness" and an activist against certain actions of our government, I obviously had become a target. After all, I had been forewarned by a defense attorney, that an AUSA Federal prosecutor had advised him to instruct me that in some way, shape or form, they were going to target me until they got me. And that they did."

Bachmann's pardon request reversed  10/26/2008 SC Times, MN: "U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann wrote a letter last year recommending a federal pardon for a major campaign contributor who was once convicted of felony money laundering, firearm and drug charges on the basis he had reformed. This month, she withdrew that recommendation on behalf of Frank E. Vennes Jr., eight days after the FBI searched his Shorewood home and office and confiscated documents, money, art, coins and jewels that agents think may be related to a $3 billion investment fraud scheme in which Minnesota business mogul Tom Petters has been charged."

None Dare Call It Murder  10/22/2008 Capitol Hill Blue: "Make no mistake - whatever they may call Cele Castillo's sentence for buying and selling guns without a license at a Texas gun show (which, folks, happens to be completely legal), any prison sentence at all for this man is a sentence of death just as surely as if the judge had sentenced Castillo to the needle. So what is Castillo's real crime? He has the goods - documentary evidence - to put the sitting president's father away for a long, long time for his illegal smuggling activities during Iran Contra. Unfortunately, Castillo also has a sense of honor - he just won't keep his mouth shut."

The Assassinations of the 1960s as "Deep Events"  10/17/2008 History Matters: [by Peter Dale Scott, brilliant as always] - "In writing this paper I have been helped immeasurably by the Mary Ferrell Foundation website, http://www.maryferrell.org. This comparative approach is now made much easier by the addition of MLK and RFK files to the existing JFK collection. As there is far more research to be done, I am hoping that some younger resercher will take advantage of this new opportunity."

As the Violence Soars, Mexico Signals It's Had Enough of America's Stupid War on Drugs  10/14/2008 Alternet: "The U.S.-financed War on Drugs has had savage results in Mexico, and now its president wants to decriminalize pot, cocaine and heroin possession."

Secret Bush Administration Plan to Suspend US Constitution - "Continuity of Government" (COG) Provisions activated in 2001  10/6/2008 Global Research: "Vogler's greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce United States "tyranny" before the entire world and to demand Alaska's freedom. The Alaska secessionist had persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue. That's right ... Iran. The Islamic dictatorship. The taker of American hostages. The rogue nation that McCain and Palin have excoriated Obama for suggesting we diplomatically engage. That Iran. AIP leaders allege that Vogler, who was murdered that year by a fellow secessionist, was taken out by powerful forces in the U.S. before he could reach his U.N. platform. "The United States government would have been deeply embarrassed," by Vogler's U.N. speech, darkly suggests Clark. "And we can't have that, can we?" "

Hallazgo de drogas en buque petrolero podría ser parte de un plan contra Venezuela  10/3/2008 ABN: "El elemento que resulta más sospechoso para las autoridades venezolanas, agregó Reverol, es que los dos ciudadanos de nacionalidad colombiana, que fueron detenidos mientras trataban de ocultar la droga en el buque, obtuvieron sus respectivos pasaportes en el consulado neogranadino de Houston, Texas, Estados Unidos. “No descartamos la posibilidad de que todo esto se trate de un plan orquestado para decir que Venezuela sí es cómplice del narcotráfico como lo han manifestado ellos (EEUU); que incluso estamos usando el transporte petrolero para llevar droga a ese país. No nos extrañaría, pero queremos enfatizar que investigaremos este caso hasta los últimos detalles”, dijo."

The Facts Speak For Themselves  9/26/2008 OpEd News: 23 facts on 9/11

Bin Ladin's Istanbul journey revealed  9/23/2008 Turkish Daily News: "During my stay in Istanbul, I got acquainted with many Iranian merchants who had escaped from Iran at the outbreak of the Iraq-Iran war. During that time, Arab mujahidin started going to Afghanistan with the help of the U.S. CIA, which set up a transit camp in Istanbul. Volunteers stayed in the camp and were then dispatched to Afghanistan," the al-Qaeda leader said."

The Destabilization of Bolivia and the "Kosovo Option"  9/21/2008 Global Research: "The secession of Bolivia's Eastern provinces is part of a US sponsored covert operation, coordinated out of the US State Department, in liaison with US intelligence. The death squads armed with automatic weapons responsible for killing supporters of Evo Morales in El Porvenir are supported covertly by the US. According to one report, "USAID has an "Office of Transition Initiatives" operating in Bolivia, funneling millions of dollars of training and support to right-wing opposition regional governments and movements."(The Center for Economic and Policy Research, September 2008). The US also provides support to various opposition groups through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The expelled US Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg worked under the helm of Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, who directly oversees the various "activities" of US embassies around the World. In this regard Negroponte plays a far more important role, acting behind the scenes, than Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. He is also known as one of the main architects of regime change and covert support to paramilitary death squads both in Central America and Iraq."

Deep Events and the CIA’s Global Drug Connection  9/19/2008 Global Research: "Since at least 1950 there has been a global CIA-drug connection operating more or less continuously. Especially with the passage of time, this connection has contributed to unexplained deep events and the consolidation of the global dominance mentality, at home as well as abroad. More specifically, the global drug connection is a factor underlying such unexplained deep events as the JFK assassination, the second Tonkin Gulf incident of 1964, and Iran-Contra. The global drug connection is not just a lateral connection between CIA field operatives and their drug-trafficking contacts. It is more significantly a global financial complex of hot money uniting prominent business, financial and government as well as underworld figures. It maintains its own political influence by the systematic supply of illicit finances, favors and even sex to politicians around the world, including leaders of both parties in the United States. The result is a system that might be called indirect empire, one that, in its search for foreign markets and resources, is satisfied to subvert existing governance without imposing a progressive alternative."

The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America’s War On Drugs  9/18/2008 Author's Guild: "“To cover a fraction of the costs of this massive enterprise, former spymaster Paul L. E. Helliwell established and directed a string of drug money laundering banks for the CIA. At the time, Helliwell was general counsel for the Thai consulate in Miami, an active leader in the Republican Party, and a friend of Nixon’s cohort, Bebe Rebozo. Among his drug smuggling credentials, Helliwell had worked with Chiang Kai-Shek’s intelligence chief, General Tai Li, and had set up the CIA’s drug smuggling air force, CAT [Civil Air Transport](later Air America), as well as the Bangkok trading company Sea Supply, which provided cover for CIA officers advising the drug-smuggling Thai border police.”"

All is Clouded by Desire  9/18/2008 Google Books: Covers Paul Helliwell's career.

The Golden Triangle Opium Trade: An Overview  9/18/2008 Asia Pacific Media Services: published 3/00

Paul Lional Edward Helliwell  9/18/2008 Spartacus: "Helliwell's main job was to help Chaing Kai-shek to prepare for a future invasion of Communist China. The CIA created a pair of front companies to supply and finance the surviving forces of Chaing's KMT. Paul Helliwell was put in charge of this operation. This included establishing Civil Air Transport (CAT), a Taiwan-based airline, and the Sea Supply Corporation, a shipping company in Bangkok. It was Helliwell's idea to use these CIA fronted companies to raise money to help support Chaing Kai-shek. According to Joseph Trento (Prelude to Terror): "Through Sea Supply, Helliwell imported large amounts of arms for the KMT soldiers to keep the Burmese military from throwing them out of the country. The arms were ferried into Burma on CAT airplanes. CAT then used the "empty" planes to fly drugs from Burma to Taiwan, Bangkok, and Saigon. There the drugs were processed for the benefit of the KMT and Chiang Kai-shek's corrupt government on Taiwan." Civil Air Transport (CAT), later renamed Air America, provided the CIA with the air power needed to sustain its covert operations for the next twenty-five years. Helliwell was to play an important role in running these covert, and often illegal operations."

The New Pearl Harbor Revisited: The Definitive Treatment of 9/11: A Review of David Ray Griffin's book  9/12/2008 Global Research 

EU Officials: Investigate CIA Plane Used in Renditions Caught with 4 Tons of Cocaine  9/10/2008 Mad Cow Morning News: "The CIA Drug Plane Scandal grew exponentially last week when European Union officials broke an official 40-year-long silence on the previously-taboo subject of the CIA’s worldwide involvement in drug trafficking. Last week Mexico City newspaper El Universal reported that The European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation has begun an investigation one of the planes, the cocaine-laden Gulfstream II business jet (N987SA), for suspected use in CIA "rendition" flights in which prisoners are covertly transferred to a third country or US-run detention centers."

Deep Events and the CIA’s Global Drug Connection  9/6/2008 Global Research: "One former federal official who helped scrutinize Castle says, “Castle was one of the CIA’s finance channels for operations against Cuba.” Mr. Helliwell reputedly was one of the paymasters for the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, as well as for other “extensive” CIA operations throughout Latin America."

The Real Drug Lords: A brief history of CIA involvement in the Drug Trade  8/31/2008 Global Research 

Bush wants to impose Posada Carriles on Honduras  8/29/2008 Granma: [History of the Bin Laden of the Americas]

The Bush Administration, ABC News and the Scare Tactics That Lead the US to War - The Anthrax Cover-Up  8/7/2008 CounterPunch: "Of course, ABC News knows the identity of the "well-placed sources" who fed this false information to them and, through them, to the American public. I'll leave it to Greenwald to explain the implications: And yet, unbelievably, they are keeping the story to themselves, refusing to disclose who did all of this. They're allegedly a news organization, in possession of one of the most significant news stories of the last decade, and they are concealing it from the public, even years later. They're not protecting "sources." The people who fed them the bentonite story aren't "sources." They're fabricators and liars who purposely used ABC News to disseminate to the American public an extremely consequential and damaging falsehood."

Book says White House ordered forgery  8/5/2008 Politico: “The White House had concocted a fake letter from Habbush to Saddam, backdated to July 1, 2001,” Suskind writes. “It said that 9/11 ringleader Mohammad Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq – thus showing, finally, that there was an operational link between Saddam and al Qaeda, something the Vice President’s Office had been pressing CIA to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq. There is no link.”

Three More Questions for ABC News - Getting to the bottom of the bentonite sourcing story  8/5/2008 Colombia Journalism Review 

The role of Corsican mafias in trafficking heroin in Vietnam, and U.S. military involvement  8/4/2008 Hongpong: extracted from "The Mafia Comes to Asia"

Private Spies: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing  8/2/2008 Global Research 

Vital Unresolved Anthrax Questions and ABC News  8/1/2008 Salon: "During the last week of October, 2001, ABC News, led by Brian Ross, continuously trumpeted the claim as their top news story that government tests conducted on the anthrax — tests conducted at Ft. Detrick — revealed that the anthrax sent to Daschele contained the chemical additive known as bentonite. ABC News, including Peter Jennings, repeatedly claimed that the presence of bentonite in the anthrax was compelling evidence that Iraq was responsible for the attacks, since — as ABC variously claimed — bentonite “is a trademark of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s biological weapons program” and “only one country, Iraq, has used bentonite to produce biological weapons.” ABC News’ claim — which they said came at first from “three well-placed but separate sources,” followed by “four well-placed and separate sources” — was completely false from the beginning. There never was any bentonite detected in the anthrax (a fact ABC News acknowledged for the first time in 2007 only as a result of my badgering them about this issue). It’s critical to note that it isn’t the case that preliminary tests really did detect bentonite and then subsequent tests found there was none. No tests ever found or even suggested the presence bentonite. The claim was just concocted from the start. It just never happened."

To Provoke War, Cheney Considered Proposal To Dress Up Navy Seals As Iranians And Shoot At Them  7/31/2008 ThinkProgress: "HERSH: There was a dozen ideas proffered about how to trigger a war. The one that interested me the most was why don’t we build — we in our shipyard — build four or five boats that look like Iranian PT boats. Put Navy seals on them with a lot of arms. And next time one of our boats goes to the Straits of Hormuz, start a shoot-up."

THE MISTAKE DEPARTMENT - One Example of Why American Foreign Policy is a Disaster  7/26/2008 Op Ed News: "The Los Angeles Times reported that 15 of the 19 alleged hijackers got their U.S. visas from the American Consulate General at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a consulate where I had served as chief of the Visa Section. What The Los Angeles Times did not report was what I had told their Washington, D.C. bureau after reading the story: (1) that the Jeddah Consulate was not a State Department post but an intelligence services operation; (2) that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) routinely demanded (and got) visas for sleazy characters with no ties to either their home country or Saudi Arabia; (3) that these vile people were terrorists recruited by U.S. intelligence officers along with Osama bin Laden, then a CIA asset. With the help of non-State Department officials… they were sent to America for training in blowing things up and shooting things down. Afterwards, they were sent on to Afghanistan to murder Soviet soldiers. It seems pretty clear that they and people that they had trained are now pursuing their own goals (and most likely U.S. foreign policy interests) in helping destabilize Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Their next target may be Iran."

From the Rivers of Babylon to the Whangpoo: A Century of Sephardi Jewish Life in Shanghai  7/23/2008 Sino Judaic Institute: "While at an early stage in the book Meyer mentions Baghdad's long-serving [1859-1909] ecclesiastical authority Hacham Yoseph Hayim, she does not involve him in her discussion of Shanghai Zionism [pp. 171-90]. She sees that phenomenon as largely the creation of N.E.B. Ezra between 1903 and 1936, when Ezra led the Shanghai Zionist Association [SZA] and edited Israel's Messenger. However, prior to Ezra, Hayyim was a powerful force inculcating pre-Herzlian Zionism among Baghdadis in India, Burma, the Straits Settlements, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and elsewhere. He urged his brethren to visit and settle the Land of Israel long before Herzl's establishment of the World Zionist Organization [WZO] in 1896, with which the SZA affiliated, and even before the founding of the WZO's predecessor organizations, Hovevei Zion and BILU. [See David Sassoon, History of the Jews in Baghdad (1949)]."

'Opium financed British rule in India'  7/23/2008 BBC: "Is it the fact that the British were the world's biggest opium suppliers two centuries ago that led you into this story? I should correct you. It was not two centuries ago. Under the British Raj, an enormous amount of opium was being exported out of India until the 1920s."

From the Rivers of Babylon to the Whangpoo: A Century of Sephardi Jewish Life in Shanghai  7/23/2008 Sino Judaic Institute: "Meyer's study of Baghdadi Jewish merchants who made the basis of their fortunes in the opium trade is welcome in that she confronts the moral issue head-on and advances the discourse pioneered by Fairbank and Downs. She builds on the scholarship of Joan Roland, Chiara Betta, Stanley Jackson, and others to delineate the Baghdadis' involvement in the exportation of Indian opium to China, beginning with David Sassoon's arrival in Bombay in 1833. Sassoon's second son Elias opened branches of the family firm in Guangzhou in 1844 and in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1845. Meyer delineates how other Baghdadi families followed the Sassoon example and, from a base in Shanghai, won fortunes in the trade: Abraham, Benjamin, Elias, Ezra, Hardoon, Kadoorie, Raphael, Silas, Solomon, and Toeg."

Opium, Streets of Shanghai - A guide to Shanghai in the 1920s  7/23/2008 Streets of Shanghai: "This consortium obtained its opium from four foreign merchant houses: David Sassoon & Co., E.D. Sassoon, S.J. David, and Edward Ezra."

Mr Sarkozy and the CIA. Based on Thierry Meyssan's "Operation Sarkozy"  7/18/2008 Axis of Logic: "His mother became the Secretary of Achille Peretti. After having co-founded the SAC, De Gaulle's body-guard had pursued a brilliant political career. He was elected D?put? and Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Seine, the richest suburb of the capital, then President of the National Assembly. Unhappily, in 1972, Achille Peretti was subject to serious accusations. In the United States, the magazine Time revealed the existence of a secret Corsican criminal organisation the 'Union corse ' which was said to control a large share of the traffic in drugs between Europe and America, the famous "French connection" which Hollywood brought to the screen. Based on parliamentary hearings and its own investigations, Time quoted the name of a Mafia boss, Jean Venturi, arrested some years earlier in Canada, who was no other than the commercial representative of Charles Pasqua for the drinks company Ricard. The names of several families were mentioned who were said to run the "Union corse", including the Perettis. Achille denied this, but had to resign from the presidency of the National Assembly and even escaped from a "suicide". In 1977, Pal Sarkozy separated from his second wife, Christine de Ganay, who then linked herself with the number two of the central administration of the Department of State in the United States. She married him and set up home with him in America. The world being small, as is well known, her husband was no other than Frank Wisner Jr., the son of the previous one. The functions of Junior at the CIA are not known, but it was clear that he had an important role there. Nicolas, who remained close to his step-mother, his half-brother and his half-sister, began to turn towards the United States where he "benefitted" from training programmes in the Department of State."

DEA Reports show that Mexican Cartel “Thugs” are receiving training from Iranian Revolutionary Guard  7/17/2008 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS 

Operation Gladio: CIA Network of "Stay Behind" Secret Armies - The "Sacrifice" of Aldo Moro  7/17/2008 Global Research 

Seymour Hersh: US Training Jondollah and MEK for Bombing preparation  7/9/2008 Prison Planet: "He explains how the Bush Administration’s policy of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend” has led the US to support the Baluchi organisation Jondollah and the MEK (Mujahideen-e-Khalq a.k.a PMOI), both of which have clear track records of terrorist activities including against the US. He reiterates that the US has been giving arms and cash to the terrorists in the MEK for years and reveals that “most of the [MEK] leaders have been taking our money and cashing it in an awful lot of bank accounts in London.” He also reveals for the first time that the US has trained MEK teams in the state of Nevada and that “they do a lot of crazy stuff inside Iran”. Hersh warns that “we have been moving cruise missiles there for a few months now”, and that the US military is ready. “Our submarines are there, our destroyers are there with cruise missiles aboard, our aircrafts are there, our soldiers are there” to attack Iran within “10 to 12 hours” of the go-ahead order by President Bush, he says, stressing that troops have to go on the ground in Iran in order to destroy Iran’s defensive systems."

The JFK Assassination and 9/11: the Designated Suspects in Both Cases  7/5/2008 Global Research: by Peter Dale Scott

'Opium financed British rule in India'  6/23/2008 BBC: "Opium steadily accounted for about 17-20% of Indian revenues. If you think in those terms, [the fact that] one single commodity accounted for such an enormous part of your economy is unbelievable, extraordinary. In fact the revenues don't account for entire profits generated [out of opium trade] -there was shipping, there were so many ancillary industries around opium."

CIA spook Roland Carnaby gunned down by intolerance  5/29/2008 NarcoNews: "Attorney Mark Conrad is a former supervisory special agent who oversaw nine states and two foreign offices for the Internal Affairs Office of the U.S. Customs Service (which has since become part of the Department of Homeland Security). He also is a member of the Houston chapter of the Association for Intelligence Officers (AFIO) – of which Carnaby was the president. Conrad says while he was a federal agent, he, on occasion, worked with the CIA in relation to various intelligence- and national security-related matters, so he is very familiar with the Agency’s operations and has contacts in the intelligence world to this day. Conrad says he considered Carnaby a friend and confirms that Carnaby did work for the CIA and was considered a valuable player in the Agency’s clandestine operations. What did he do? “Whatever they [the CIA] needed,” Conrad says. Last spring, at an AFIO meeting in Houston, Conrad says he was present when James Pavitt, the former Deputy Director of Operations for the CIA, lauded Carnaby publicly for his service to the CIA and the country."

Italy officer tells of spying on spies in cleric's kidnapping  5/29/2008 LA Times: "The officer, Bruno Megale, recounted an astonishing tale of spies spying on spies. Police, armed with judicial warrants, used cellphone logs, wiretaps and intercepted e-mails to ensnare a CIA station chief, a U.S. Air Force colonel, five American diplomats and officers from Italy's military intelligence service accused of collaborating with the Americans. The Americans are being tried in absentia; none are in Italy and none have acknowledged the proceedings in Milan's main courthouse. For their 20-plus court-appointed defense attorneys, one said, this is a trial of ghosts."

Memorial service for Palestinian activist reveals more layers  5/23/2008 Statesman:  published 5/11/08 - "But Hamad's brother-in-law denied Saturday that the family had described him as suicidal. And the circumstances have fueled online theories that Hamad was killed by the U.S. government or Israeli operatives. Roberta Clark, a spokeswoman for the Austin chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, referred to Hamad's death as a tragedy but said that rumors pointing the finger at Israel "are hateful and hurtful and they fuel the flames of those who are anti-Semitic and/or anti-Israel." "

Council Member Adrian Garcia - City Hall Annex  5/23/2008 American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS), Houston: "Council Member Garcia's goals for his second term include increasing the number of police officers patrolling the streets of Houston, improving emergency preparedness at the neighborhood level, increasing the amount of Homeland Security funding for our region, and he wants to build Houston's economy by giving large and small businesses in Houston priority for city contracts over out-of-town firms; this is his “Invest in Houston First!” initiative ." [See http://www.asisonline.org/]

The Adrian Garcia Campaign for Harris County Sheriff  5/23/2008 adriangarcia.com 

MI5 spy quits over scandal  5/19/2008 Herald Sun, Australia: "The officer was believed to be in his 40s and to have served in the military before joining MI5, where he was involved in surveillance operations, the paper reported. He had responsibility for watching al-Qaida suspects, Russian spies, crime bosses and drug lords. The disclosure raises questions about why the service's vetting procedures failed to discover an agent's wife was a prostitute, leaving him open to blackmail attempts."

Iran busts CIA terror network  5/18/2008 Tehran Times: but 9/11 happened because they hate our freedom -- "The Intelligence Ministry on Saturday released details of the detection and dismantling of a terrorist network affiliated to the United States. In a coordinated operation on May 7, Iranian intelligence agents arrested the terrorist network’s members, who were identified in Fars, Khuzestan, Gilan, West Azerbaijan, and Tehran provinces, the Intelligence Ministry announcement said. The group’s plans were devised in the U.S., according to the announcement, which added that they had planned to carry out a number of acts such as bombing scientific, educational, and religious centers, shooting people, and making public places in various cities insecure."

WAYNE MADSEN ON MURDER OF CIA AGENT IN HOUSTON  5/16/2008 Vunet.org: Site has numerous (not all) Wayne Madsen Reports on Roland Carnaby - May 15, 2008 -- CIA agent was monitoring Israeli finances - May 14, 2008 -- SPECIAL REPORT. CIA agent kept Mossad "close" - May 13, 2008 -- Carnaby subjected to character assassination campaign - May 5, 2008 -- Carnaby CIA status confirmed - April 30, 2008 -- BREAKING NEWS. UPDATED 4X. CIA agent gunned down by Houston police

Fake CIA Agent Roland Carnaby: Conspiracy Theorists Having A Field Day  5/16/2008 JBlog Central: The Jewish and Israeli Blog Network: "Since Carnaby's death there hasn't been any intrepid newspeople digging into Carnaby's life. We received a comment here at DBKP (Death By 1000 Papercuts) where someone has claimed Carnaby bilked his father out of hundred of thousands of dollars in some sort of investment in a "security" firm. We cannot validate this claim but would be interested if anyone else had information which could confirm the allegation. We're interested in just how Carnaby managed to support himself through the years. Carnaby may be an enigma at the moment but we believe the information on Carnaby is out there, just waiting to be dug up."

Archive for Roland Carnaby  5/13/2008 Rose Speaks 

Susan Carnaby Sues Houston Police  5/13/2008 Rose Speaks: Court case documents.

Militants imperil stability in Turkey  5/12/2008 The Nation, Abu Dhabi: "The group called Ergenekon is seen as the latest incarnation of the “deep state”, a term used by politicians and media in Turkey to describe nationalist officials who see themselves as patriots and take the law into their own hands to fend off what they perceive as threats to the republic. Ergenekon, whose name refers to a legend about the origins of the Turkish people in central Asia, is alleged to have been led by Veli Kucuk, a former general. Police action against the group was triggered by the discovery of 27 hand grenades and other explosives in a house in Istanbul last summer. After months of covert investigations and phone trappings, police arrested dozens of alleged gang members in January. More than 40 people, among them Mr Kucuk and other former soldiers, prominent radical nationalists as well as lawyers, journalists and academics, have been arrested and charged with membership in the terrorist organisation and trying to incite a rebellion against the government."

UK palm oil consumption fuels Colombia violence, says report  5/11/2008 The Guardian: "British consumers have become the biggest export market for the controversial crop which is used in margarine and pastries as well as toothpaste, soap and detergents and cosmetics. The surge in demand has sustained a ruthless landgrab by rightwing paramilitary groups in Colombia's rural areas, War on Want, a London-based advocacy group, says in its report. "The UK, despite being one of the largest consumers of Colombia's palm oil products, remains unaware of the devastating impact of cultivation of this crop on the lives of indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities."

Last gasp for Olmert's political career?  5/9/2008 IHT 

Police review first-aid training - Fatal shooting of man who claimed to work for CIA prompts new look  5/9/2008 Houston Chronicle: "Both veteran officers who fired at Carnaby, Sgt. Andrew J. Washington and Officer Charles Foster, are back on duty."

Police Defend Officers In Chase Shooting  5/9/2008 Click2Houston: "One of the reasons that they do this job is they want to help, so it's not like they shoot somebody and say, 'OK, we're going to let him lay there and die,'" he said."

HPD addresses deadly police chase  5/9/2008 ABC 

The Adam Ciralsky and David Tenenbaum Cases  5/8/2008 JonathanPollard.org: Ciralsky interviewed Alan Premel who has been linked to Carnaby.

Adam Ciralsky on "DarkSide" Ops and Alan Premel  5/8/2008 NBC: by Adam Ciralsky, 9/25/07 - "I served at CIA in a legal capacity and i wanted to ask a former CIA officer their take on it. So we turned to recently resigned CIA former clandestine service officer and analytical red cell analyst Alan Premel for his input on the buzz surrounding bin Laden."

CIA Employee, Ciralsky, Claims Agency Harrased Him Over 'Israel Ties'  5/8/2008 JonathanPollard.org: Was there an Israeli angle to the neocon hit on Carnaby? Ciralski helped establish Premel as legitimate.

Lawsuit by Young Jewish Attorney Charges Anti-Semitism at CIA-Source Says "They're Out of Control;" ADL Offers Sensitivity-Training  5/8/2008 JonathanPollard.org: Ciraslki helped legitimize Premel in an NBC interview - "Mr. Ciralsky's case is based on a CIA document which speaks of "rich Jewish persons and friends from college." Supporting Likud? The document says Mr. Ciralsky has ties to and supports the Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and adds "He may not be telling more because it makes him and his family appear as fanatic supporters of the hard-line Likud party-and he does not want to be portrayed as such." ...According to a report by Seth Gitell in the Forward, the Ciralsky case has now deteriorated to a semantic brawl between Mr. Sher and Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League. According to the Forward, after 14 years of refusing to help Jonathan Pollard because he did not believe anti-Semitism played a role in his case, Mr. Foxman has recognized that the CIA is chock-full of "discrimination, prejudice, and anti-Semitism." But, Mr. Sher said, Mr. Foxman has recognized these failings in the agency only because the CIA is now willing to pay the ADL for the organization's "sensitivity training." "

Luis Posada Carriles, a terror suspect abroad, enjoys a 'coming-out' in Miami  5/7/2008 LA Times: "No, the man being honored by 500 fellow Cuban Americans at a sold-out gala was Luis Posada Carriles, the former CIA operative wanted in Venezuela on terrorism charges and under a deportation order for illegally entering the United States three years ago. Posada, 80, has mostly kept a low profile since his release from a Texas prison a year ago and a federal judge's dismissal of the only U.S. charges against him -- making false statements to immigration officials. But recent events like the Friday dinner and an exhibition and sale of his paintings last fall show that the man who spent his life trying to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro has returned to the social forefront of this city's exile community."

Drug pilot, election exec killed on CIA plane  5/7/2008 Mad Cow Morning News: "The downed plane's relevance to the ongoing story of vote fraud in America involves the identity of it's passenger, Jose Alfredo Anzola, a 34-year old founder of Smartmatic, a Venezuela-based election company whose American subsidiary counted one in every three votes in the 2004 Presidential election, while engaged the whole time in heated controversy over allegations the firm counting America's votes had hidden ties to—of all people— Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. The connection between last week's plane crash and the ongoing saga of CIA Drug trafficking begins with 43-year old Mario Donadi Gafaro, the veteran drug pilot at the controls of the twin engine plane."

The Middle East firestorm was to have started on April 25  5/6/2008 Wayne Madsen Report: reposted from WMR site, scroll down - " It is known that retired CIA officer and contractor Roland Carnaby, a Lebanese-American, had close contact with all of Lebanon's various factions. On April 29, four days after the planned assassination of Nasrallah by Mossad, Carnaby was killed in broad daylight by Houston police. WMR previously reported that Carnaby had successfully penetrated a Mossad ring active in the Houston area. It is clear that Israel would not have carried out the Nasrallah assassination without the knowledge and approval of the neocon cell operating from Vice President Dick Cheney's office and extending to elements of the U.S. Air Force, CIA, and other federal agencies."

Diamonds, Dubai, the Russian-Israeli Mafia and bin Laden  5/6/2008 Wayne Madsen: published 3/06 - "Osama was a rich man, a millionaire, but spend a lot on the Afghan war and reconstruction. While he was in Africa in exile, the Israelis approached him to take over the diamond business from the Lebanese in West Africa. (background: Muslims provide the strong arm for the raw diamond trade in West Africa, and it required a respected and tough Muslim like Osama to wrestle the trade away from the Shi'ites from southern Lebanon. The Israelis could not stand the thought of their Antwerp diamond industry financing suicide bombers in south Lebanon)." "With the diamond trade under his control, Osama became a billionaire (repeat), a billionaire . . . The diamonds were sent to the Russian mafiyah, who then sold to Antwerp."

Don Clark's Big Lie About Roland Carnaby  5/6/2008 Gene Dios: "According to Clark's bio that was released when he went to work for Sharp Technology, Clark managed the FBI's investigation of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was also in charge of the investigation of Achille Lauro attack in which Leon Klinghoffer was killed. He coordinated and managed the investigation and prosecution of the dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas and he was in charge of the investigation and coordination to locate FBI’s top-10 fugitive and accused “Railcar Killer” Rafael Resendes Ramirez. Clark was also the special agent in charge of the Houston FBI office, a position he held until he retired in 2000. He's a well-known figure in Houston law enforcement circles… Roland Carnaby introduced Pavitt and Clark and gave a presentation that evening. Yet we're to believe that a highly-decorated and highly-respected former FBI agent has no recollection of Carnaby's name? ...What matters even more is that the media, the press, the Fourth Estate, has buried this story so far that it's hoped that we short-attention spanned Americans will forget it. This American won't forget it. If this is how the police treat one of their own, how will they treat us when push comes to shove?"

Carnaby text in Association for Intelligence Officers (AFIO) site  5/6/2008 AFIO: [now only on Google cache] - "AFIO extends sympathy to the family of former Houston Chapter President Roland V. Carnaby, and to his friends and chapter members, over his untimely and inexplicable death. A man gifted with remarkable people skills and charm, Roland called upon his wide range of contacts -- particularly those in the Houston and Federal law enforcement communities -- to support an impressive speaker series and other local activities in the Houston chapter he reactivated a few years ago. Mr. Carnaby underscores the achievements and energy associate members bring to the association to assist in the educational mission of AFIO. Funeral arrangements -- when announced -- will be conveyed to his chapter members."

Carnaby CIA status confirmed  5/5/2008 Wayne Madsen Report: requires subscription

OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING INCIDENT AT 200 WEST LOOP SOUTH  5/5/2008 Tribune, Texas: "The two officers who discharged their weapons, Sergeant A.J. Washington and Officer C.A. Foster, both assigned to the Traffic Division, were not injured. Sergeant Washington was sworn in as an HPD officer in February 1986 and Officer Foster was sworn in in August 1993."

9/11 Conspiracy Connection To DC Madam Murder  5/5/2008 Prison Planet: "In addition, Madsen pointed out that Jack Abramoff, who was also connected to the DC Madam scandal, allowed at least two of the 9/11 hijackers to use one of his casino boats in the days before 9/11, and this is what Palfrey was probably referring to when she spoke about her call girls picking up information about 9/11 before it happened. "There's the link, when you've got Abramoff and you had two of those hijackers on his casino boat a few days before 9/11 - I just wonder if that's what Jeane was talking about," said Madsen, "Because now I'm looking at this crazy incident in Houston with Roland Carnaby, a retired CIA guy who was still contracted to the CIA, being gunned down in broad daylight by the Houston police department - now I've been told by Agency sources in Houston that one of the people he was looking at was Abramhoff and the casino boats - so here you've got two people in the same week, looks like they were both assassinated in broad daylight," he concluded."

Cash payoffs, bonds and murder linked to White House 911 finance  5/5/2008 The Antechamber: "Is the situation so bad that patriotic intelligence agents--worried about the future of their own families--are increasingly bypassing "purchased" and compromised mainstream media outlets because they don’t trust them to tell the truth anymore? "

Roland Carnaby  5/5/2008 Cryptogon: compilation of articles on Carnaby - "Everywhere that I’ve seen this story being discussed on the Internet, there are a lot of anonymous comments saying that Roland Carnaby made it all up; that he just imagined that he was in the CIA, Photoshopped himself into a picture of the lobby of CIA headquarters, created the plaques and commemorations himself. All of that is possible. In fact, it may even be likely... However, there is a mountain of stuff here that is so odd that it practically left a bitter taste in my mouth just from reading it. I don’t know what the “National Security Command Center” is, but that’s the organization listed as the owner of the vehicle Carnaby was driving when he was killed. And maybe a total faker can become the president of a local chapter of the Association for Intelligence Officers. Right?"

Roland Carnaby?  5/5/2008 RigorousIntuition.ca: Considerable information on Carnaby and Premel, traces many on-line postings about Premel and how some were fabricated.

Ed Wilson's Revenge - The Biggest CIA Scandal in History Has Its Feet in the Starting Blocks in a Houston Court House  5/4/2008 From the Wilderness: [discusses David Adler's role as Edward Wilson's attorney.]

Script: The Traitor 4/05  5/4/2008 ABC Nightline: [Aired 4/27/05 - David Adler is one of the voices in Houston calling Carnaby a fake. Here, he is interviewed about his rescue of rogue agent Edward Wilson, imprisoned for selling arms to Libya..]

Former FBI special agent Don Clark lies his pants off about knowing Roland Carnaby  5/4/2008 Ron Paul War Room: "But on Feb. 16, 2007, Clark and Carnaby shared the bill at an AFIO event in Houston: 16 February 2007 - Houston, TX - AFIO Houston Chapter hosts James L. Pavitt, former DDO CIA, and Don K. Clark, Former Special Agent-in-Charge of the Houston Field Office of the FBI at a formal dinner - 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the SHERATON SUITES HOTEL, 2400 West Loop South (I-610), Houston, Texas 77027. 713-586-2444. A presentation and introduction will be made by Roland V. Carnaby President of AFIO Houston Chapter, and Dr George Friedman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Stratfor." [Carnaby shares billing with Friedman, founder of Stratfor, aka the Shadow CIA.]

From someone in Houston that's paying attention  5/4/2008 Freedom4Um: scroll down to #3 - "I think it's very curious that all three major TV stations in Houston apparently had copters following this guy, as well as 4 HPD choppers.. On the video tapes shown, the scene showed only one true HPD Traffic Enforcement vehicle, but plenty of other white unmarked police cars, including two pulled up next to this SUV. I didn't think unmarked cars could participate in chases, and I thought HPD had just instituted a new policy where they don't conduct high-speed chases that could endanger innocent civilians, because they have accidentally killed too many with their high speed chases before… In the tape, you can clearly see two men dressed in camouflage pants, with brown or black tee shirts on that have some kind of badge hanging down. These two men are carrying assault rifles. Who are they and why are they there? ...One of the cops after seeing Roland laying on the ground dying, claps his hands together, like YES! We got him! Why anyone who was not threatening to them would be treated like a common criminal gunned down in broad daylight is beyond comprehension. ...If Roland wasn't CIA, why did the CIA immediately and simultaneously deny any knowledge of him and announce that someone will be arriving from Langley, VA. to "ASSIST" the HPD with their investigation? 19. Why is the family lawyer being retained a CIA lawyer that investigated the assasinations of both JFK & MLK? Why not Rusty Hardin or some other media hungry attorney from Houston?"

The Power of One  5/4/2008 Law.com: [David Adler attacks Carnaby for being a fraud, this article discusses his background.]

New Colombia drug gangs wreak havoc  5/4/2008 LA Times: "The young farmer was killed in a roadside ambush in February near this mining and drug trafficking hub in north-central Colombia, apparently by one of a new generation of criminal gangs that have emerged in the two years since right-wing paramilitary fighters officially disbanded. The status of the paramilitary fighters has serious ramifications for President Alvaro Uribe, a conservative U.S. ally who famously broke up the militias, which were playing a role in destabilizing the country. But he has seen his presidency challenged by revelations that many of his closest allies were tied to the right-wing gunmen. The paramilitary groups, originally formed to defend farmers and ranchers against leftist rebels, subsequently turned to drug trafficking and other criminal activities, including extortion and mass killings, prosecutors say."

Fake fed faced fracas for falsehoods  5/3/2008 True Crime Tumblelog: "Thing is, even digging up public records on Carnaby can support his contention that he was CIA and did secret work for the government. He played fast and loose with his name. Public records showed that he was using the name Roland Manti Karnabe when he got married to a younger woman named Paula in the 80s. He was still using the “M” when he was at one address in the 90s. He seemed to change his middle name to “Vincent” arbitrarily at some point. One fed who knew Carnaby/Karnabe socially knew him as “Tony.” Apparently Carnaby’s family was fine with him using an alternate spelling of his last name. He supposedly was the scion of a wealthy clan of Karnabes who had interests in shipping."

Roland Carnaby: Man shot by Houston Police, Attorney Says it was an "Assassination"  5/3/2008 JBlog Central: The Jewish and Israeli Blog Network: [This is the second such entry on Carnaby on "The Jewish and Israeli Blog Network," both casting doubt on Carnaby.]

Premel's Intel Chief (Roland Carnaby) Retires "One of the CIA's former counter-terrorism chiefs and pioneers in covert operations…"  5/3/2008 Godlike Productions: Copies a post rescued from Google cache, dated 2/12/08, appears to show Carnaby as a CIA heavyweight -- "One of the CIA's former counter-terrorism chiefs and pioneers in covert operations, Roland Carnaby retires. In the past few months, Mr. Carnaby, who has led a private intelligence firm in Houston, Texas has been delegating more and moredaily responsibilities to his lietenants and is completing his succession planning, say people familiar with the matter. A decision about his departure could come within weeks, though the situation remains fluid, say these people… The departure of Mr. Carnaby, 52, would mean the loss of CIA's most experienced, talented and high profile clandestine officers in management. Few executives who helped pioneer the commercialization of private intelligence and private security firms have remained on top for as long, except for some who can also claim founder titles, such as Patriot Oil, and Pan-American Shipping and Consulting Group."

'CIA operative' faced arrest for impersonating federal agent  5/3/2008 KHOU, Houston: "He was also the president of a local chapter of an intelligence officer’s association. While an officer in the Houston chapter of the Association for Intelligence Officers, the association’s national office identified him as an “associate” member. The association has several classifications for members including designations for confirmed current and past members of the intelligence community. Associate members are considered to not have been an intelligence operative or agent, but rather citizens who support the intelligence community." [Can the president of a local chapter be an associate member?]

Tie in with May 4 Houston Refinery FALSE FLAG? - CIA agent Roland Carnaby Killed by Houston Police  5/3/2008 CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS: "WMR has learned that one individual who interposed himself with the media after Carnaby's shooting is a well-known Jewish-American asset for the Mossad station in Houston."

Overwhelming Evidence Points To Murder Of DC Madam  5/3/2008 Prison Planet: "Evidence is stacking up to suggest that the alleged "suicide" of DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey was in fact a calculated murder, as the manager of Palfrey’s Florida Condo reveals that Palfrey was not suicidal when he spoke to her Monday and told him of her fears about a contract being out on her life. The new testimony is backed up by at least four other recorded public statements on behalf of Palfrey attesting to the fact that she would never commit suicide and if she was found dead to immediately suspect murder. Despite these on-the-record statements, the majority of the corporate media has ignored each one and instead given credence to the unverified claim of a professional conspiracy debunker who has been caught fabricating statements in the past."

In his final moments, Carnaby made calls to FBI, HPD as he fled  5/2/2008 Houston Chronicle: "He asked him questions like who's your supervisor? Do you have a contact number you can call and verify? And the answers weren't very good," Jett said." [Why do this when he is retired?]

Wife of man who claimed CIA link sues  5/2/2008 Houston Chronicle: "When a person has their back to you, the officer cannot be in reasonable, objective fear for his life," Kallinen said."

The Right's America-Hating Preacher  5/2/2008 Consortium News: "In many countries, especially the United States, churches are granted broad protections against government interference. With missionaries traveling around the world and with church members attending international religious conferences, a church also provided an effective cover for spying, money-laundering or passing on messages to agents. In 1962, KCIA founder Kim Jong-Pil traveled to San Francisco where he met with Unification Church members. According to an account later published by a congressional investigation, Kim Jong-Pil promised discreet support for Moon's church… Kodama and Sasakawa also allegedly grew rich from their association with the yakuza, a shadowy organized crime syndicate that profited off drug smuggling, gambling and prostitution in Japan and Korea. Behind the scenes, Kodama and Sasakawa became power-brokers in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Kim Jong-Pil's contacts with these right-wing leaders proved invaluable to the Unification Church, which had made only a few converts in Japan by the early 1960s. Immediately after Kim Jong-Pil opened the door to Kodama and Sasakawa in late 1962, 50 leaders of an ultra-nationalist Japanese Buddhist sect converted en masse to the Unification Church, according to Kaplan and Dubro."

Was it a spy, or would-be spy, in that SUV?  5/1/2008 Houston Chronicle: "This friend, and others, remain loyal, both to the warm and engaging man they knew and to the intelligence agent he claimed to be. They insist his bona fides were too solid and his recognition by former intelligence personnel too genuine for him to be a fake. A caller identifying himself only as "Chuck" and responding to an inquiry sent to chapters of the Association for Intelligence Officers insisted Carnaby worked with the CIA in the 1980s in its Soviet Union unit… On the other hand, he was friends with local federal agents and they often came to the couple's Spring home for dinner, Burch said. The couple had private dinners with the head of the Houston Port Authority, she said, and Carnaby also was close friends with former Harris County Sheriff Johnny Klevenhagen, who she said was best man at their wedding in 1986. Klevenhagen died in 1999. The Port Authority connection could make sense for a strictly commercial reason. Carnaby's family, which used the different spelling of Karnabe, was involved in the shipping industry, which was the apparent source of his considerable but undetermined income. He paid cash for his cars."

Mystery widens in case of ‘CIA operative’ gunned down by police  5/1/2008 KHOU: [Cites David Adler against Carnaby. Adler once helped free rogue agent Edward Wilson]

"CIA" Agent Shot by Houston Police: Death by Cop Suicide?  5/1/2008 JBlog Central: The Jewish and Israeli Blog Network: [First entry on Carnaby on the JBlog Central: The Jewish and Israeli Blog Network. Casts doubt on Carnaby's CIA status.]

Investigators Sorting Fact from Fiction in Fatal Chase Man Fatally Shot by Police Claimed to be CIA Agent  5/1/2008 Fox, Houston: [photo shows Carnaby bleeding to death in handcuffs, face down, with no assistance being rendered]

Former FBI Agent: I Knew Chase Suspect By Different Name  5/1/2008 Fox, Houston:  [But Agent Clark, who is now a Fox Security and Law Enforcement analyst, shared billing with Carnaby at an AFIO event. See http://www.afio.com/sections/wins/2007/2007-06.html#Houston]

CIA Man Roland Carnaby - GETS POPPED ~ LIVE FOOTAGE  5/1/2008 YouTube of local TV station: [Shows the assassination of Carnaby, who appears to be facing the officer who shot him. Note also the camera panning the book, "At the Center of the Storm," by former CIA director George Tenet, inscribed "Dear Tony aka "RC." …You have always stood side by side with me…" - RC presumably are his initials and they are side by side with Tony in Tenet's handwriting.]

US policemen shoot, kill ex-CIA official erroneously  5/1/2008 IBN, India: Video shows police giving chase, breaking Carnaby's window, and firing, on CNN in India.

HPD: Carnaby flashed CIA card before deadly chase Killed man known to his friends as a federal intelligence officer  4/30/2008 Houston Chronicle: "Susan Carnaby said her husband has worked for the agency for 30 years. He often travelled overseas, leaving for months at a time. If he was in Washington, he would tell her, but most of the time she had no idea where he had gone, she said. It was top secret, he told her."

BREAKING NEWS. UPDATED 4X. CIA agent gunned down by Houston police  4/30/2008 Wayne Madsen Report: requires subscription - "Well-known US intelligence agent killed under suspicious circumstances."

Credentials Show Chase Suspect In CIA  4/30/2008 Click2Houston: "The family said the reason for all the confusion was that Carnaby went by other names. A book signed by the former director of the CIA was autographed to "Tony" -- one of his aliases." [It also had the initials "RC," Roland Carnaby.]

Memoriam - CIA Wall of 83 Stars & OSS Memorial  4/30/2008 AFIO Houston: "Boudi Carnaby - Army Intelligence, Ret. (WWII) - In Italy in mid-August, Boudi succumbed to his injuries from an accident. Boudi Carnaby takes his place with the fallen of America's finest generation. He is survived by his wife Antoinette and his three daughters; by his brother Vincent, by his sister Mary, and by his nephew Roland V. Carnaby, President of our AFIO Houston Chapter."

The Mob's President: Richard Nixon's Secret Ties to the Mafia  4/27/2008 Crime Magazine: published 1/06 - "Three Syndicate gamblers from Cleveland — including Morris ''Moe'' Dalitz, a friend of Nixon's best buddy Bebe Rebozo — were part owners of Lansky's glittering Hotel Nacional in Havana. In fact, during the Batista regime, as recalled by Mafia hit man Angelo ''Gyp'' DeCarlo, ''The Mob had a piece of every joint down there. There wasn't one joint they didn't have a piece of.'' In a noteworthy reversal of that situation, the Cuban dictator owned part of at least one Mob-run gambling operation in the United States. Batista was partners with New Orleans godfather and future Nixon benefactor Carlos Marcello of a casino in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana called ''The Beverly Club.'' Another Rebozo associate, Tampa godfather Santos Trafficante, was the undisputed gambling king of Havana. Trafficante owned substantial interests in the San Souci – a nightclub and casino where fellow gangster Johnny Roselli had a management role. The relationship between Nixon and Rebozo tightened in Cuba in the early ‘50s, according to historian Anthony Summers, when Nixon was gambling very heavily, and Bebe covered Nixon's losses – possibly as much as $50,000. Most of Nixon's gambling took place at Lansky's Hotel Nacional. Lansky rolled out the royal treatment for Nixon, who stayed in the Presidential Suite on the owner's tab."

IDF choppers in service of drug cartel  4/27/2008 Ynet, Israel: "Another diplomatic incident threatens to taint U.S.-Israeli relations: The American government has recently demanded Israel clarify how five U.S.-made helicopters sold to Israel in the mid-70s found their way into the hands of a Columbian drug cartel."

Turkey slams Argentina in genocide row  4/26/2008 The News, Pakistan: "Turkey slammed Argentina on Friday over a new parliamentary document referring to the World War I killings of Armenians as genocide and cancelled a visit to the country by a cabinet minister. “The Argentine Senate has approved a new text supporting the baseless Armenian allegations... (which) we strongly condemn and fully reject,” the foreign ministry said, without giving details about the document."

Berlusconi ally denies Mafia-run ballot plot  4/13/2008 Guardian, UK: "The fee asked was €200,000, the newspaper added. Italian newspapers said investigators believe that Micciche was working with members of the Piromalli clan, part of the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta Mafia, which has recently overtaken its Sicilian and Neapolitan counterparts thanks to drug trafficking and its ties to Colombian cartels."

Former war crimes prosecutor alleges Kosovan army harvested organs from Serb prisoners  4/12/2008 Guardian, UK: "The alleged organ harvesting is said to have been uncovered by journalists who called in the UN in Kosovo and provided information to the tribunal. "There were credible accounts of abductions and an organ harvesting operation provided to reputable journalists who have had many years of experience in the region," said Sudetic. The journalists refused to identify their witnesses. Other sources claim the body parts were flown to Istanbul where they were transplanted into wealthy Arab patients. Del Ponte's account is the first time such allegations have come from such an authoritative source. But officials and analysts are surprised that she should choose to air them now, five years after her investigators went to the alleged scene of the crime."

Serb prisoners 'were stripped of their organs in Kosovo war'  4/11/2008 Telegraph: "Carla Del Ponte, who stepped down in January as chief prosecutor at the Hague tribunal for crimes committed in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, said investigators found a house suspected of being a laboratory for the illegal trade. A senior adviser to Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's prime minister and a leading member of the Kosovo Liberation Army which is accused of benefiting from the trade, yesterday denied the allegations. "These are horrible things even to imagine," said Bekim Collaku. "But this is a product of her [Miss Del Ponte's] imagination." Miss Del Ponte reports that the allegations were made by several sources, one of whom "personally made an organ delivery" to an Albanian airport for transport abroad, and "confirmed information directly gathered by the tribunal". "

U.N. Official Calls for Study Of Neocons' Role in 9/11  4/10/2008 Ny Sun: "A new U.N. Human Rights Council official assigned to monitor Israel is calling for an official commission to study the role neoconservatives may have played in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks."

POISON GATE UPDATE NOW LINKED TO PLAME GATE  4/6/2008 CbusIMC: published 6/06 - "The Valerie Plame team had been investigating Litvinenko and his cohorts for direct links with the attempt to plant WMD in Iraq along with connections to 9-11, and the noted American Turkish Council. Yes, folks, Litvinenko knew Wildcard and he knew about the compromised cells on American soil. All tied to Russian-Israeli rogue mafia."

Sonny Bono 'assassinated' by hitmen  4/4/2008 The Australian: "Bono, an experienced skiier, was ambushed on the slopes by hired hitmen, who beat him to death and then staged a tree collision, Mr Gunderson said. He called for authorities to dig up Bono's remains and open a homicide investigation. His claims have reportedly been backed by top forensics experts who fear Nevada authorities were too quick to call the death a skiing accident. Investigator Bob Fletcher had also confessed he sent evidence of a 10-year study that linked top US government officials to arms and weapons dealers to Bono less than a month before his death, the Globe reported. "(Bono) was going to make it his No.1 priority... There's no doubt in my mind Sonny was murdered by someone who needed him silenced," Mr Fletcher told the paper."

Clinton Aide Met on Trade Deal - Penn Held Talks On Colombia Pact Opposed by Senator  4/4/2008 WSJ: "Attendance by the adviser, Mark Penn, was confirmed by two Colombian officials. He wasn't there in his campaign role, but in his separate job as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, an international communications and lobbying firm. The firm has a contract with the South American nation to promote congressional approval of the trade deal, among other things, according to filings with the Justice Department."

Colombia's Uribe Says Passage Of Free-Trade Pact Is Critical  4/4/2008 WSJ: "Failure by the U.S. Congress to pass a free-trade agreement with Colombia this year would be a serious setback for Washington's closest ally in South America, President Alvaro Uribe said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "I wouldn't know what to say. It would be very serious," said Mr. Uribe during an interview on the presidential plane Wednesday. Mr. Uribe said he can't understand why Congress would fail to pass the treaty, given that Colombia has a "historic friendship with the U.S." and, with U.S. help, has fought the hemisphere's "most serious terrorist threat." "

Mark Penn and the Stealth Corporate Campaign - By Al Giordano  4/4/2008 NarcoNews 

Uribe’s Attack on Obama - The Far Right’s Spokesman in Latin America Is Worried About What Could Be Long Overdue Changes in US Policy  4/3/2008 NarcoNews 

Movie About Gary Webb, 'Dark Alliance' Reporter Who Died, Planned  4/3/2008 Editor & Publisher: "Universal Studios is planning to develop a feature film based on the true story of Gary Webb, The San Jose Mercury News reporter who committed suicide years after his bombshell series on CIA drug activities was questioned, Variety reported. "Peter Landesman will write the screenplay, based on the two books the studio optioned: 'Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion,' by Webb, and Nick Schou's 'Kill the Messenger: How the CIA's Crack-Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb,'" Variety reported. "Scott Stuber will produce with Nick Wechsler; Naomi Despres and Landesman will be exec producers. Webb was vilified by major newspapers after his series was published." Webb's 1996 three-part series "Dark Alliance" claimed that the CIA was involved in the crack cocaine trade and initially drew praise as a piece of investigative reporting. But, after critics began to pick apart some pieces of the series, Webb was accused of sloppy reporting and, later, demoted to a lesser beat at the Mercury News before leaving the paper. "The film will posit that Webb was mostly right, and that the CIA sought to smear him to cover up a scandal," Variety reported."

Venezuela bombs drug runways near Colombia border  3/28/2008 Reuters: "Traffickers often use illegal runaways to land aircraft packed with drugs en route to the United States or Europe. The army plans to destroy dozens of border runways in coming days. Chavez says U.S. accusations about his country's drugs record are untrue and aimed at discrediting him. Although he refuses to sign an anti-drug cooperation agreement with Washington, Venezuela frequently extradites Colombians accused of drug crimes to the United States."

Bush Administration Seeks to Declare Venezuela a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” - Rising Tensions May Be Tied to Covert Drug Operations Reported by Narco News  3/17/2008 Global Research: "In other words, the U.S. State Department is using Uribe's "dodgy dossier" as a pretext for sanctions and embargoes against the Bolivarian republic. If implemented, such restrictions would severely limit the ability of U.S. firms to do business with Caracas while making it nearly impossible for Venezuela to export oil to the United States or import vital spare parts necessary to keep the economy going."

U.S. Cocaine-Plane Invasion Spooking Latin America - Trail of Evidence Points to Major Covert Operation Targeting Venezuela  3/17/2008 NarcoNews: "Two Florida-based companies that have exported a total of at least 11 aircraft to Venezuelan buyers since 2003 are linked to four cocaine planes and what appears to be an elaborate covert intelligence operation, an ongoing Narco News investigation shows. The covert program, law enforcement sources contend, likely involves the CIA and components of Defense Department intelligence agencies, and is focused, in part, on penetrating, or even propping up, narco-trafficking groups in Venezuela. That country’s outspoken leader, Hugo Chávez, is regularly demonized by U.S. policymakers for, among other things, supposedly allowing his country to become a haven for narco-traffickers. The operation also appears to prioritize intelligence objectives over law enforcement goals, which means tons of cocaine might well be getting a free pass into the United States."

VENEZUELA: Guns, drugs and thugs: the threat from Plan Colombia  3/17/2008 Green Left, Australia: published 17/11/93

US Seeks Weapons Suspect's Extradition  3/7/2008 AP: "The U.S. is seeking the extradition of a suspected Russian arms dealer dubbed the "Merchant of Death," but for now he will remain in Thailand, where authorities are investigating if he used the country as a base to negotiate a weapons deal with terrorists, officials said Friday. Viktor Bout, a 41-year-old whose dealings reportedly inspired a 2005 movie about the illicit arms trade, is accused of running weapons to al-Qaida, the Taliban and parties involved in bloody conflicts across Africa. He was arrested at a Bangkok hotel after a four-month sting operation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Thai and U.S. authorities said."

Crimes by Homeland Security agents stir alert  3/5/2008 Miami Herald: "Bribery. Drug trafficking. Migrant smuggling. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is supposed to stop these types of crimes. Instead, so many of its officers have been charged with committing those crimes themselves that their boss in Washington recently issued an alert about the ''disturbing events'' and the "increase in the number of employee arrests.''

Neil Bush accompanies Moonies to meeting with Paraguayan  2/28/2008 EFE: "Moon's various organizations and enterprises have large landholdings in northern Paraguay, on the border with Brazil, and the country's Supreme Court rejected in mid-2007 the expropriation of more than 52,000 hectares (128,395 acres) of Moonie-owned land ordered by Congress. The high court's ruling was harshly criticized by Duarte because the expropriation was intended to help residents of the poor, remote town of Puerto Casado. Neil Bush later went to the Senate to take part in an international seminar, "New Leadership Paradigms in Latin America and the Caribbean at a Time of Crisis on the Global Level," organized by the federation. Bush, who became a poster boy for the $500 billion U.S. savings and loan debacle during the 1988-1992 presidency of his father, George H.W. Bush, said in brief remarks that he had a pleasant conversation with Duarte."

John McCain's Sweet Ride - Lobbyist's Plane Flew Saudi Royals After 9/11  2/27/2008 Mad Cow Morning News: "The lavishly-furnished custom Boeing 727 airliner (727PX) which ferried Senator John McCain on four occasions during his Presidential run in 2000 also flew Saudi Royals out of the U.S. right after 9/11, carrying an entourage of Saudi Royals from Las Vegas to London six days after the 9/11 attack in a controversial operation later scrutinized by the 9/11 Commission. The 727 figures in the current tempest over his relationship with female lobbyist Vicki Iseman, who provided and flew with McCain on the plane. With hundreds of air charter companies and airliners to choose from, the Saudis chose a company that owns “Worship Ministries” and Christian Network, Inc., turning to Paxson Communications, a “Christian broadcaster” which owned the plane, to make its corporate jet available to spirit the Saudi princes and their entourage out of the U.S. six days after 9/11."

Narco News Investigation: Cocaine Planes Cross Paths with Corporate America’s Green Movement  2/25/2008 NarcoNews: "Howard Altman of the Tampa Tribune reported recently that Malago is a business partner in a “green” company called Atlantic Alcohol with an individual named Larry Peters, who owns Skyway Aircraft Inc. in St. Petersburg, Fla. Skyway also happens to have sold two planes to Venezuelan buyers in recent years that have since been identified as aircraft that were subsequently used in drug-trafficking operations. Peters’ company sold a Beech 200 aircraft to a Venezuelan purchaser in October 2004, about a month before it was apprehended in a Nicaraguan cotton field linked to a payload of some 1,100 kilos of cocaine. In addition, a recent FBI affidavit filed in federal court in Miami identifies another plane, a Cessna Conquest II (tail number N12DT), that was sold by Skyway in 2006 to a Venezuelan purchaser allegedly linked to a drug trafficking organization (DTO)."

Someone, operating under a special chain of command within the United States Air Force, just stole a nuclear weapon.  2/25/2008 Above Top Secret: published 11/07, scroll down - "Six nuclear weapons disappeared from Minot AFB in North Dakota. Five nuclear weapons were discovered at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. Which leads to my chilling conclusion: Someone, operating under a special chain of command within the United States Air Force, just stole a nuclear weapon."

McCain Withheld Controversial Abramoff Email  2/25/2008 Huffington Post: "On the stump, Sen. John McCain often cites his work tackling the excesses of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff as evidence of his sturdy ethical compass. A little-known document, however, shows that McCain may have taken steps to protect his Republican colleagues from the scope of his investigation. In the 2006 Senate report concerning Abramoff's activities, which McCain spearheaded, the Arizona Republican conspicuously left out information detailing how Alabama Gov. Bob Riley was targeted by Abramoff's influence peddling scheme. Riley, a Republican, won election in November 2002, and was reelected in 2006. In a December 2002 email obtained by the Huffington Post -- which McCain and his staff had access to prior to the issuance of his report -- Abramoff explains to an aide what he would like to see Riley do in return for the "help" he received from Abramoff's tribal clients."

Narco Aggression: Russia accuses the U.S. military of involvement in drug trafficking out of Afghanistan  2/24/2008 Global Research: "The Vesti channel’s report from Afghanistan said that drugs from Afghanistan were hauled by American transport aircraft to the U.S. airbases Ganci in Kyrgyzstan and Incirlik in Turkey. The Ganci Air Force base at the Manas international airport in Kyrgyzstan was set up in late 2001 as a staging post for military operations inside Afghanistan. The Kyrgyz government threatened to close the base after neighbouring Uzbekistan shut down a similar U.S. airbase on its territory in 2005, but relented after Washington agreed to make a one-off payment of $150 million in the form of an assistance package and to pay $15 million a year for the use of the base. One of the best-informed Russian journalists on Central Asia, Arkady Dubnov, recently quoted anonymous Afghan sources as saying that “85 per cent of all drugs produced in southern and southeastern provinces are shipped abroad by U.S. aviation.” A well-informed source in Afghanistan’s security services told the Russian journalist that the American military acquired drugs through local Afghan officials who dealt with field commanders in charge of drug production. Writing in the Vremya Novostei daily, Dubnov claimed that the pro-Western administration of President Hamid Karzai, including his two brothers, Kajum Karzai and Akhmed Vali Karzai, are head-to-heels involved in the narcotics trade. The article quoted a leading U.S. expert on Afghanistan, Barnett Rubin, as telling an anti-narcotics conference in Kabul last October that “drug dealers had infiltrated Afghani state structures to the extent where they could easily paralyse the work of the government if decision to arrest one of them was ever made.” Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Richard Holbrooke said in January that “government officials, including some with close ties to the presidency, are protecting the drug trade and profiting from it.” In an article carried by Washington Post, the diplomat described the $1-billion-a-year U.S. counter-narcotics effort in Afghanistan as “the single most ineffective programme in the history of American foreign policy.” “It’s not just a waste of money. It actually strengthens the Taliban and Al Qaeda, as well as criminal elements within Afghanistan,” Holbrooke wrote in the The Washington Post in early January."

False Flag Prospects, 2008 -- Top Three US Target Cities - by Captain Eric H. May  2/23/2008 Global Research: "The easiest way to carry out a false flag attack is by setting up a military exercise that simulates the very attack you want to carry out. As I'll detail below, this is exactly how government perpetrators in the US and UK handled the 9/11 and 7/7 "terror" attacks, which were in reality government attacks blamed on "terrorists.""

Jimmy Breslin on the Mob  2/15/2008 WBUR 

Off the Books: The Outsourcing of American Foreign Policy, Part II -- Operation Blowback  2/12/2008 Get Underground: [interview with Peter Dale Scott]

Chavez Denounces Colombian Paramilitary Activity in Venezuela  2/12/2008 Venezuela Analysis: "The president made reference Sunday to a study of Columbian paramilitary activity titled The Business of War, written by Caracas-based German Political Scientist Darío Azzellini. In an interview on the Venezuelan Social TV station (TVES) Sunday night, Azzellini reported that paramilitary operations are carried out by mercenaries from the U.S. and Latin America who are recruited by private military companies but pose as civilian employees. Beyond government oversight, they are contracted by large landowners, business owners, and other elites to control local populations. A principal source of paramilitary income is their control of 100% of Colombian heroine exports and 70% of Colombian cocaine exports, Azzellini claimed. In Colombia, giant drug cartels manage large quantities of the drugs, but in Venezuela paramilitaries deal smaller amounts in local communities to increase their leverage within the populations they are contracted to control. Chavez and Azzellini publicized this “open secret” at a time of heated opposition accusations that Chávez does not sufficiently cooperate in combating drug trafficking through Venezuelan territory. ...Nonetheless, paramilitaries in Venezuela are known for “social cleansing,” or the hired killing of local community members, says the Ezequiel Zamora National Farmers’ Front (FNCEZ), an organization that defends the rights of rural communities. Since an agrarian reform law favorable to rural workers was passed by the Chávez administration in 2001, paramilitaries have murdered 190 rural community members who dared to stand up to the owners of plantations, milk factories, and mines. The most recent killings were last month, when Municipal Legislator Freddy Ascaño and Community Council Federation President Alfredo Montiel were executed by paramilitaries in their municipality of Tucaní, south of Lake Maracaibo in western Venezuela, the local population reported to the FNCEZ. Paramilitary groups and their powerful contractors have also purchased farms beyond the border region of Venezuela, in the state of Guárico, the FNCEZ alleges. They use the lands for military training and the elaboration of their business in drugs, food, and gasoline contraband. Operations are facilitated by “miniscule sectors” of the local police, the National Guard, and other federal security forces that have been drawn into the paramilitary activity."

Kosovo: The US and the EU support a Political Process linked to Organized Crime - Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci is part of a criminal syndicate  2/12/2008 Global Research: "The PDK, led by Hashim Thaci, former Kosovan Liberation Army commander, took control of many municipalities after the war. The party has close links with organized crime in the province. (The Observer, 29 October 2000) Mr. Thaci, nicknamed "the Snake" during his KLA days, is a sharp-suited 32-year-old former rebel commander with poor oratory skills, links to organized crime and a determination to preserve relations between his party and the United States (The Scotsman, 20 October 2000) "

Off the Books: The Outsourcing of American Foreign Policy, Part I -- A Roll of the Dice  2/11/2008 Get Underground: "One [Continuity of Government plan] was a national plan; one was a state of California plan where Reagan at the time was governor. To deal with the massive rioting going on in the cities there was a – this was the real source of paranoia in high places – Reagan appointed Louis Giuffrida, who was thinking of massive detention of blacks. And when Reagan became president he brought Giuffrida around with him to be the head of FEMA, so now all this planning was going on in an era where we were separated by more than a decade from the riots but the planning was now going on on a federal level. Oliver North was principally involved in it. Vice President of George H.W. Bush was overseeing North. And then there was this secret committee planning for Continuity of Government. Congress didn’t know about this even though, I mean, it was very serious business – they were planning for, you know, suspending the Constitution."

Deep State Coup Averted in Turkey  2/9/2008 : "We do, however, know where it started – and why. Indeed, it is more than a bit ironic that the major recurring threat to society and political stability in Turkey over the past 60 years, the "Deep State," was actually enabled by the country's Western allies, and first of all, America. After WWII and with the creation of NATO, the military alliance created "secret armies" throughout Europe, consisting of so-called "stay behind" forces, charged with waging sabotage campaigns and resistance in the case of a Soviet invasion. However, they became prone to corruption, interference with domestic politics and society, and were in some cases involved with brutality against Leftists and the citizenry in general. While the most famous of NATO's secret armies was the Gladio operation in Italy, it was arguable in Turkey that this dangerous policy had the most serious long-term consequences, with the creation of a stay-behind force known as the Counter-Guerrillas. The core of this covert paramilitary force was made up of right-wing radicals and fascists who espoused a narrative of inherent Turkish greatness and racial superiority, in the context of not only Turkey itself but of the ethnically Turkic republics of Central Asia (then under Soviet control); there were also the fond dreams of the bygone Ottoman Empire which, in its heyday, spread across the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans."

CIA continues to manage Miami terrorist groups  2/8/2008 Granma: ""The terrorist organizations in Miami intensified their operations against Cuba in the 1990's with attacks from the sea and hotel bombings, one of which killed an Italian tourist in 1997. These terrorist activities were violations of U.S. law, but U.S. law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, did not stop them," Agee said. "Why?" he asked, and then went on to explain, "In my opinion it's because the CIA has never ended its involvement with these terrorist groups. In Miami the Agency has close liaison with the FBI and local police, and all they have to do is ask for hands off these organizations and nothing will be done. For me there is no other explanation for the impunity with which these terrorists have broken U.S. law over so many years and continue to do so," Agee continued, citing the cases of Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles."

Four more American drug planes seized  2/7/2008 Mad Cow: "The Republican connection begins with the statement in court filings that the money to purchase the planes was laundered through a bank which is almost invariably described as “fast-growing” in admiring business news articles. The drug money was wired, usually from Mexico, to an account at Commerce Bank in Miami, whose Chairman, Dennis Nixon, is the South Texas Co-chair of John McCain’s campaign. Nixon was also a Bush Pioneer and Ranger in George W. Bush’s two Presidential campaigns, raising $300,000 in one night for Bush’s re-election bid in Texas border town Laredo. High-profile Texas businessman Dennis Nixon's bank is even— in one of the sales—involved on both ends. Money was wired from Mexico, first to an account at Commerce Bank in Miami, then on to International Bank of Commerce (IBC) in Oklahoma to complete the sale. Dennis Nixon's International Bancshares of San Antonio owns both banks."

Egypt says ships did not cause Internet cable damage  2/4/2008 AFP: [Rumours blame the US/Israel] - "Damage to undersea Internet cables in the Mediterranean that hit business across the Middle East and South Asia was not caused by ships, Egypt's communications ministry said on Sunday, ruling out earlier reports. The transport ministry added that footage recorded by onshore video cameras of the location of the cables showed no maritime traffic in the area when the cables were damaged. "The ministry's maritime transport committee reviewed footage covering the period of 12 hours before and 12 hours after the cables were cut and no ships sailed the area," a statement said. "The area is also marked on maps as a no-go zone and it is therefore ruled out that the damage to the cables was caused by ships," the statement added."

Top Colombian cocaine chief 'Jabon' found shot dead  2/1/2008 AFP: "He was indicted by the US Justice Department on May 6, 2004, which called him the head of Colombia's most powerful cocaine cartel, allegedly responsible at the time for exporting 500 tonnes of cocaine worth 10 billion dollars to the United States. The indictment said the cartel used the paramilitary Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia forces to protect its drug routes and laboratories. The cartel collected its drugs in the Valle del Cauca region and then shipped them to the Pacific port of Buenaventura, where they were transferred to Mexican drug transporters for shipping via boats and aircraft to the United States, according to the indictment. Varela's death brings to an end the era of the three big Colombian cartels, with their once huge presence filled by numerous harder-to-detect small trafficking organizations, according to Colombian experts."

Third Cocaine Plane Surfaces and is Tied to Web of Government Connections - Drug War Beginning to Look Like One Giant Cover Story  1/29/2008 NarcoNews: "According to press reports and an investigation conducted by the European Parliament into the CIA’s terrorist rendition program, Devon Holding is a CIA shell company and N168D is a tail number to a CIA aircraft. The former ICE agent went on to explain the cause of his humor over the Nicaraguan press reports. He said if the armed men involved in the cocaine shipment were indeed real narco-traffickers, they would not have left a witness alive to talk, nor would they have bungled the attempt to burn the plane — which is not a hard thing to accomplish considering the flammable nature of the fuel that feeds it. Most telling, he says, they would never leave behind their guns. “Those guns are their only protection,” the ICE agent says. “And an AK-47 is a prized possession in their world.”"

Hillary and Sun Myung Moon: A Strategic Catastrophe  1/28/2008 The Real Sun Myung Moon: [Moon's Unification Church has long been suspected of money laundering and alliances with major narcotraffickers] - "The video included one prominent American politician, Senator Hillary Clinton who is quoted as expressing the following sentiments: "I applaud the Universal Peace Federation's global networks of individuals and organizations committed to peace building through dialogue, education, and service." "

Moscow police nab suspected Israeli-Russian mafia boss  1/27/2008 Haaretz: "According to sources in the Israel Police, Mogilevich was not particularly active in Israel, coming to the country primarily to receive citizenship and a passport. Israel was recently connected with the mafia boss, however, in an affair first revealed by the Moscow Times newspaper in 2003. The paper published a report claiming that companies founded by Mogilevich in Hungary and in Romania were connected with a money-laundering scheme in a big gas deal, which was intended for Poland but was carried out with a Russian energy holding company."

On FBI whistle-blower Sibel Edmonds  1/25/2008 People's Voice: "Brewster Jennings, a CIA front for the counter-proliferation division, had dealings with all the Turkish American organizations. Some of Sibel's comments suggest that she thought someone within those organizations found out Plame was a spy and could have been tied to the effort to out her . It is probably more than coincidental that a number of top neo-cons have business relationships with Turkey. Richard Perle and Doug Feith do consulting and lobbying for Turkey through International Advisors, Inc. Others who work or worked for Turkey are Marc Grossman, Paul Wolfowitz, Eric Edelman, and former Congressman Stephen Solarz. Most of these people also have close ties to Israel. Of course, there is a strong de facto, but silent, alliance between Turkey and Israel. Citizens of both countries work together moving illegal arms and procuring illegal end user certificates to cover their shipments. Perle, Wolfowitz, and Feith have established records of trying to create loopholes in regulations affecting the arms trade. In January, 2004, Israeli citizen Asher Karni, who was connected to the network, was arrested for shipping 66 nuclear triggers to Pakistan. Federal judge Thomas Hogan released him on $100,000 bail --which the prosecutor did not challenge, and Karni moved into a Jewish rest home. Hogan is the same judge who permitted the FBI to raid William Jefferson's Congressional office. Karni was eventually given a three year sentence. Zeki Bilman, his alleged accomplice, died under strange circumstances. Karni lived in South Africa for twenty years and is said to have masqueraded as a Muslim. FBI leakers claim that wiretaps named Douglas Feith and Turkish MIT intelligence agents working in the American Turkish Council. In 1995, Der Spiegel claimed that Urs Tanner, who operated a plant in Switzerland and was allegedly tied to the ring, was a CIA agent, probably tied to Plame's Brewster Jennings counter proliferation effort. The same leakers claim that Eric Edelman , former ambassador to Turkey, was deeply involved in the drug and nuclear arms network. He had served as Scooter Libby's assistant and is now Undersecretary of Defense. Richard Pearle's International Advisors, Inc., a lobbyist for Turkey, was also tied to the network. Former Speaker Bob Livingston also lobbies for Turkey, and Dennis Hastert has received large political contributions from the Turkish lobby."

Turkey's Drug-Terrorism Connection  1/25/2008 Consortium News: "Edmonds, who left the FBI in 2002, said she stumbled upon this corrupt network – which also may have involved money laundering and drug trafficking – when she was hired after the 9/11 attacks to translate a backlog of tapes dating back to 1997. That was the same year when Consortiumnews.com published a remarkable story by Martin A. Lee about Turkish government officials caught in a web of corruption with notorious drug traffickers and right-wing terrorists. In view of the Sunday Times article and a follow-up on Jan. 20, we are republishing our earlier story to provide historical context for Edmonds’s allegations."

How the CIA Inflitrated the DEA - Operation Two-Fold  1/25/2008 CounterPunch 

Desperate Iraqi Farmers Turn to Opium  1/24/2008 CounterPunch: "Al-Qa'ida is in control of many of the newly established opium farms and has sometimes taken the land of farmers it has killed, said a local source. At Buhriz, American military forces destroyed the opium farm and drove off al-Qa'ida last year but it later returned. "No one can get inside the farm because it is heavily guarded," said the source, adding that the area devoted to opium in Diyala is still smaller than that in southern Iraq around Amara and Majar al-Kabir. After being harvested, the opium from Diyala is taken to Ramadi in western Iraq. There are still no reports of heroin laboratories being established in Iraq, unlike in Afghanistan. Iraq has not been a major consumer of drugs but heroin from Afghanistan has been transited from Iran and then taken to Basra from where it is exported to the rich markets of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Gulf. Under Saddam Hussein, state security in Basra was widely believed to control local drug smuggling through the city. The growing and smuggling of opium will be difficult to stop in Iraq because much of the country is controlled by criminalized militias. American successes in Iraq over the past year have been largely through encouraging the development of a 70,000-strong Sunni Arab militia, many of whose members are former insurgents linked to protection rackets, kidnapping and crime. Muqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the powerful Shia militia, the Mehdi Army, says that criminals have infiltrated its ranks. The move of local warlords, both Sunni and Shia, into opium farming is a menacing development in Iraq, where local political leaders are often allied to gangsters. The theft of fuel, smuggling and control of government facilities such as ports means that gangs are often very rich. It is they, rather than impoverished farmers, who have taken the lead in financing and organising opium production in Iraq."

FBI denies file exposing nuclear secrets theft  1/20/2008 London Times: [the fist comment on the Times site is: "Is the irony caught by anyone else that the original title of this story was "FBI "Covers Up" File Exposing Theft Of Nuclear Secrets?" What's with the cover up of the cover up? "] -- "One of the documents relating to the case was marked 203A-WF-210023. Last week, however, the FBI responded to a freedom of information request for a file of exactly the same number by claiming that it did not exist. But The Sunday Times has obtained a document signed by an FBI official showing the existence of the file."

Cocaine Jet Crash in Mexico Linked to Narco-Trafficker Who Worked for U.S. Government  1/12/2008 NarcoNews: "Baruch Vega, a Colombian citizen who has a long history as a CIA asset operating in Central and South America, has told Narco News that the Gulfstream II was part of an undercover government operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – a law enforcement agency that is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Previously, DEA officers had told Narco News the same thing, indicating the Gulfstream II was linked to an ICE operation called the Mayan Express. Documents obtained previously by Narco News also indicate that the jet was used in prior CIA operations and was last owned, in part by a pilot named Greg Smith — who was involved in prior DEA, FBI and CIA operations in Latin America some eight years ago."

Former President Ford Admits CIA Compromised the Warren Commission's Probe of JFK Assassination  1/9/2008 Crime Magazine: "In his final public words, former President Gerald R. Ford said the CIA destroyed or kept from investigators critical secrets connected to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The stunning admission by Ford—a member of the Warren Commission that investigated the JFK assassination—is contained in the foreword to a new edition of the commission's report, A Presidential Legacy and The Warren Commission. Ford died in late 2006 at the age of 93. In the new book, Ford said the commission's probe put "certain classified and potentially damaging operations in danger of being exposed." The CIA's reaction, he added, "was to hide or destroy some information, which can easily be misinterpreted as collusion in JFK's assassination."

Sibel Edmonds  1/8/2008 Washington Note: "I am not in a place to judge the veracity of her claims, but I do find it odd that the Senators and investigators involved were vigorously seeking to know the back story to her narrative until a certain point. And then, it's like someone pushed an off button, cease and desist. Again, I won't argue details of the case with her or others about this -- but the thought has occurred to me that she may have been unaware of a larger operation in which she was in a compartmentalized piece of the game. I think that much of the effort to get A.Q. Khan involved aggressive, comprehensive, globally deployed intelligence efforts to penetrate networks and to quickly animate action through the attempted sale of bogus nuclear equipment and blueprints."

Worldwide Coverage of the Sibel Edmonds Bombshell! And in the United States of America...um.…  1/8/2008 Brad Blog: "Sunday's British blockbuster, detailing how nuclear secrets were then proliferated to Iran, Libya, North Korea, and potentially even al-Qaeda, was picked up on Monday and reported by international mainstream outlets such as The Times of India, Pakistan's Daily Times, Iran's PressTV, Israel's Haaretz and even the Turkish Daily News. Here in the United States, the mainstream media coverage included: That's right. Nobody. None of them. Zilch. Not a one."

Sibel Edmonds, Turkey and the Bomb - A Real 9/11 Cover-Up?  1/7/2008 CounterPunch 

SIBEL EDMONDS SPEAKS TO UK SUNDAY TIMES: SAYS U.S. OFFICIALS INVOLVED IN RELEASE OF NUKE SECRETS TO TURKEY, PAKISTAN, IRAN, OTHERS, POSSIBLY EVEN AL-QAEDA  1/6/2008 Brad Blog: "While the FBI was investigating, several arms of the government were shielding what was going on."

Sibel Edmonds case: Front page of the (UK) papers (finally)  1/6/2008 Let Sybel Edmonds Speak 

Sibel Edmonds Speaks…  1/6/2008 Huffington Post 

RASTREO A PROTESTAS RAIZALES  12/24/2007 IndyMedia. Colombia: "La siguiente crónica periodística no hace otra que develar la existencia de un plan sistemático, fríamente calculado desde las altas instancias del Gobierno de Colombia, para desprestigiar a las organizaciones étnicas que buscan la libredeterminación del pueblo indígena Raizal del Archipiélago, principalmente de Archipielago Movement for Ethnic Native Self Determination (AMEN-SD) y generar de esta manera una atmósfera que propicie la persecución, el aislamiento y hasta el aniquilamiento de los líderes Raizales independentistas. El plan que busca perversamente asociar el interés de los narcotraficantes con el de las organizaciones del pueblo Raizal más militantes, si bien ha sido remozado y actualizado no es nada novedoso ya que fue diseñado desde principios de la década de los años setenta del siglo pasado con el firme propósito de socavar, a través de diferentes medios, el sentimiento de autodeterminación del pueblo Raizal."

Lukery: Sibel Edmonds and the Untellable story of AIPAC (America Israel Public Affairs Committee)  12/11/2007 HongPong 

America's Fascist Coup Owes to Bush's Nazi Grandfather  12/9/2007 Global Research 

The CIA's Destroyed Interrogation Tapes and the Saudi-Pakistani 9/11 Connection  12/7/2007 Huffington Post: by Gerald Posner, infamous author of "Case Closed," who delivers another kind of message here.

Confessions of a Covert Agent - Psychological Operations are my specialty  12/3/2007 Global Research: "The author of the text below claims to be highly experienced in covert intelligence programmes and psychological operations - psyops. Interestingly, he charges that Robert Gates personally helped rig the presidential elections of 2000 an 2004 via massive computer fraud. Stating that this opinion is taken for granted throughout the US intelligence community, the author warns against future elections manipulated via computer fraud. He paints a vivid and disturbing picture of the levels of moral depravity now surging out of the Neocon volcano."

New Document Provides Further Evidence That Owner of Crashed Cocaine Jet Was a U.S. Government Operative  12/1/2007 NarcoNews 

CIA Operation "Pliers" Uncovered in Venezuela  11/30/2007 Venezuela Analysis: "The document confirms that psychological operations are the CIA's best and most effective weapon to date against Venezuela, and it will continue its efforts to influence international public opinion regarding President Chavez and the situation in the country. Operation Tenaza is a very alarming plan that aims to destabilize Venezuela and overthrow (again) its legitimate and democratic (and very popularly support) president. The plan will fail, primarily because it has been discovered, but it must be denounced around the world as an unacceptable violation of Venezuela's sovereignty."

Counterattack as Fateful Referendum Looms - CIA Venezuela Destabilization Memo Surfaces  11/28/2007 CounterPunch: "The memo then recommends that Operation Pincer (OP) [Operación Tenaza] be operationalized. OP involves a two-pronged strategy of impeding the referendum, rejecting the outcome at the same time as calling for a 'no' vote. The run up to the referendum includes running phony polls, attacking electoral officials and running propaganda through the private media accusing the government of fraud and calling for a 'no' vote. Contradictions, the report emphasizes, are of no matter. The CIA-Embassy reports internal division and recriminations among the opponents of the amendments including several defections from their 'umbrella group'. The key and most dangerous threats to democracy raised by the Embassy memo point to their success in mobilizing the private university students (backed by top administrators) to attack key government buildings including the Presidential Palace, Supreme Court and the National Electoral Council. The Embassy is especially full of praise for the ex-Maoist 'Red Flag' group for its violent street fighting activity. Ironically, small Trotskyist sects and their trade unionists join the ex-Maoists in opposing the constitutional amendments. The Embassy, while discarding their 'Marxist rhetoric', perceives their opposition as fitting in with their overall strategy."

Venezuelan Opposition Protesters Shoot Chavez Supporter  11/28/2007 Venezuela Analysis: ""There were four of us, trying to carry our friend to the community, but they surrounded us throwing bottles. I took the opportunity to move him [Oliveros] because they were going to hit him with a bottle in the face and I moved him so it did not hit him in the face. He had one bullet in the leg, a man from the local community was going to carry him, but in this moment they shot him twice in the back and this is when he fell to the ground." "We pleaded with them for the life of our friend that was lying bloody on the ground, to please allow us the opportunity to pick him up and they responded that now they were coming for us, that they were coming for me," Borges added."

Operación Tenaza: Informe confidencial de la CIA devela plan de saboteo al referéndum del 2 de diciembre  11/27/2007 Aporrea 

Arizona's 'Cokeheads' the National Guard  11/27/2007 NarcoNews: "There were so many Arizona National Guardsmen eager to run cocaine from the border of Arizona and Mexico to Tucson and Phoenix, that the FBI had to shut down its sting, Operation Lively Green. While those soldiers were being sentenced in recent months in Tucson, the Arizona National Guard announced its soldiers would be commanding an armed drone in Iraq by remote control from Tucson."

What The Heck is the Sibel Edmonds Case Anyway? And Why Should You Care About It?  11/20/2007 Brad Blog 

Shining Path's Resurgence in Peru  11/19/2007 PINR: "As military offensives in Colombia continue to crack down on the F.A.R.C. guerrilla movement, coca fields appear to be moving from Colombian territory to neighboring countries, including Peru. A major fear of the Peruvian government is that there may be a rapprochement between the Shining Path and F.A.R.C., with drug trafficking across the border becoming the axis of this narco-alliance. For years, there have been reports that F.A.R.C. patrols cross the Putumayo River, the natural border between Peru and Colombia, and penetrate deep into the Peruvian jungle in Loreto region, presumably to meet with coca growers, drug traffickers and, most likely, with Shining Path members. Furthermore, it is well documented that Shining Path has turned to drug trafficking as a stable source of funds. It is believed that as many as 150 hectares of coca (a key ingredient of cocaine) are cultivated by Shining Path on the left bank of the valley of the Ene River."

A warning sign?  11/16/2007 Venezuela Analysis: "In the lead up to last year’s presidential elections some pipe bombs were set off near military bases and at the Central University of Venezuela. As I wrote in my blog post yesterday “Whilst there is much to be optimistic about given the beginning of the campaign [in favour of the reform], this also means that Venezuela has entered into a new more dangerous phase. I think even the opposition know they will lose, but they also know that perhaps more is at stake now than in any other electoral process until now. This means they will try everything – including acts of violence and terrorism – to try and impede the referendum going ahead”."

Mexican insurgents cause record $80 per barrel crude oil price - Al-Queda's goal to collapse the US. economy appears on track  11/12/2007 Voz de Azatlan: published 9/12/07

More Questions Than Answers - Those Minot Nukes  11/5/2007 CounterPunch 

Thompson Adviser Has Criminal Past  11/4/2007 WaPo: "Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing. Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the "first day founders." Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as the head of "Thompson's Airforce." Discussion PolicyDiscussion Policy CLOSEComments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post. Who's Blogging? » Links to this article Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation have saved him more than $100,000, because until the law changed in September, campaign-finance rules allowed presidential candidates to reimburse private jet owners for just a fraction of the true cost of flights. Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation. Thompson's campaign said the candidate was not aware of the multiple criminal cases, for which Martin served no jail time. All are described in public court records."

The Air Force Report on the Minot-Barksdale Nuclear Missile Flight  11/1/2007 CounterPunch: "Why hasn't the Air Force or the FBI investigated the 6-8 untimely deaths including three alleged suicides, one of a Minot weapons guard, one of an assistant defense secretary, and one of a captain in the super-secret Air Force Special Commando Group, as well as alleged fatal vehicle "accidents" involving four ground crew and B-52 pilots and crewmembers at Minot and Barksdale? Could any of this strange cluster of deaths have been related to the incident? The Air Force "investigation" didn't even mention these incidents, and my investigation, reported in the Oct. 24 issue of the magazine American Conservative, found that none of the police investigators or medical examiners in those incidents had even been contacted by Air Force or other federal investigators."

The United States’ new backyard  11/1/2007 Le Monde Diplomatique: "As they have multiplied, the conflicts have become interrelated. Weapons, combatants and skills move across porous frontiers, sometimes in the wake of hundreds of thousands of refugees driven into exile by the fighting. Over the past two years combat techniques pioneered in Iraq have spread to Afghanistan – the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) against troop transports, and suicide bombings, which were unknown during the Soviet occupation (and which have now also spread to Algeria). This summer, in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon, hundreds of fighters, many of them foreigners who fought in Iraq, held out for more than three months against the Lebanese army. There are thousands of Arab, Pakistani and central Asian combatants now on the loose, all trained in Iraq. Others, trained by the US and Pakistan to resist the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, migrated to terrorist groups in Egypt, Algeria and elsewhere, as well as into al-Qaida. All these wars have encouraged a profitable trade: weapons handed out to the Iraqi security forces are now in the hands of Turkish criminals (7)."

Geopolitics of Drugs: Narcoavión de Guantánamo  10/29/2007 Chicago Public Radio: excellent compilation of information about the narcoavion that crashed in mexico laden with cocaine and fresh from Guantanamo Naval Base.

Venezuela Increasingly A Conduit For Cocaine  10/28/2007 WaPo: "Now, however, the volume of cocaine trafficked through Venezuela has risen sharply. Shipments have increased significantly, with suspected northbound drug flights out of the country increasing threefold from 2003 to 2006, according to American radar tracking. Counter-drug officials say up to 220 tons of cocaine -- a third of what Colombia produces -- now pass through Venezuela, double the figure in the 1990s. Most of it is bound for the United States and burgeoning markets in Spain, Britain and Italy. The traffickers have operated with illegally obtained Venezuelan identification cards from agencies as varied as the National Guard, the DISIP intelligence agency and even the economy ministry, all while living in some of the finest neighborhoods in the Venezuelan capital, according to authorities in Bogota, the Colombian capital, and in Caracas. The trend has led to spiraling turf wars among drug gangs in Caracas slums and has directly challenged the government's ability to rein in corruption. "The problem of drugs has gotten out of the hands of Venezuela," said Mildred Camero, a former drug czar in President Hugo Ch¿vez's government and now a consultant on narcotics to the United Nations, the United States and private industry. "Now the situation in Venezuela is grave, grave, grave," Camero added. "At some moment, we're going to collapse." In an interview, Venezuelan Attorney General Isa¿as Rodr¿guez characterized the corruption as isolated and said the government has made fighting the drug trade a priority. But he acknowledged the problem and said traffickers have corrupted some Venezuelan officials while working hand in hand with others. "In the DISIP, which is the intelligence police, and undoubtedly in some sectors of the National Guard, there is complacency or participation in drug trafficking," Rodr¿guez said. "And not just them, but civil officials at airports.""

Loren Stoddard and the Poppies of Afghanistan - The Flat Drug World  10/13/2007 CounterPunch 

Africa: Inside France's secret war  10/5/2007 Independent, UK: "The policies here in the CAR are part of a much bigger approach by France towards Africa," she says. "We call this system 'Franceafrique', and it was set up by Charles de Gaulle to replace the former colonial system. There is clear continuity from the imperial system to the present day." The motives for this war are, Roland-Gosselin says, drenched in dollars and euros and uranium. "The overarching goal is to take African resources and funnel them towards French corporations," she says. "The CAR itself is a base from which the French can access resources all over Africa. That is why it is so important. They use it to keep the oil flowing to French companies in Chad, the resources flowing from Congo, and so on. And of course, the country itself has valuable resources. CAR has a lot of uranium, which the French badly need because they are so dependent on nuclear power. At the moment they get their uranium from Niger, but the CAR is their back-up plan." So this is, in part, a war for nuclear power? " Yes, but also a lot of this money has been funnelled, through corruption, straight back into the French political process. Say somebody needs a road built here in the CAR. The French government will insist on a French company – and the French company back home donates a lot to the 'right' French political party." This neo-imperial war reached its psychotic apogee in 1994, when the French government used the CAR as a base to fund and fuel the Rwandan genocide, the most bloody since the death of Adolf Hitler. Vincent Mounie is a leading figure in Sur Vie, a French organisation monitoring its government's actions in Africa. He explains: "The French were totally complicit in the genocide. There were French troops there before, during and after the genocide, backing the most extreme Hutu forces as they murdered the Tutsis. You know the identity cards that divided the Rwandan population into Hutus and Tutsis in preparation for the slaughter? They were printed in Paris." The French military base in Bangui had to be abandoned in 1996 after it was burned down by enraged locals, tired of the French ramming tyrants down their national gullet. Today the old base is overgrown, and the French military has shifted to new camps in Birao. But I stare at it now. The French planes that backed the Rwandan holocaust left from here."

Colombian Leader Disputes Claim of Tie to Cocaine Kingpin  10/3/2007 NYT: "President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia lashed out on Tuesday at claims in a new book that he had close ties to the cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. He said he never aided Mr. Escobar’s drug dealings or benefited from his political patronage. Mr. Uribe’s comments were in response to the book, “Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar,” by Virginia Vallejo, Mr. Escobar’s former mistress. Ms. Vallejo repeats claims that Mr. Uribe, as head of the civil aviation authority in the early 1980s, helped Mr. Escobar’s cartel secure licenses for landing strips used to transport cocaine." See also Text of DIA report that Uribe was a close personal friend of Pablo Escobar

Jet plane that crashed with 4 tons of cocaine tied to the CIA and the Russian Mafia  10/3/2007 Voz de Azatlan: "The Gulfstream II jet plane with tail number N987SA was initially traced to William Achenbaum, a wealthy New York real estate tycoon. Mr. Achenbaum says that the jet plane was being managed by Air Rutter International that according to the New York Post is owned by Arik Kislin of Long Island in New York (See New York Post 'CRASH JET HAD AIR OF MYSTERY' ). Kislin and Achenbaum are principals of the Hotel Gansevoort in New York. (See New York Post 'SHADY 'INN' CROWD') Arik Kislin is the nephew of Semyon Kislin that the Center for Public Integrity alleges is a powerful Russian Mafia member. (See http://publicintegrity.org/report.aspx?aid=323 ) The Kislin family have made very large contributions to the political campaigns of Rudy Giuliani."

International narcotics agenda behind Myanmar instability  9/28/2007 Global Research: "According to a report by Thomas Fuller of the International Herald Tribune, the Golden Triangle has, in recent years, lost its prominence as a narco-region. In fact, the legendary Triangle now accounts for as little as 5% of world opium supply, according to some estimates… In fact, the demise of the Golden Triangle in recent years can be traced to geostrategic developments that run counter to the agenda of international interests whose financial and banking system depends on the multi-billion dollar cash flows of the criminal drug trade… 1. The United Nations credits Myanmar’s central government for leading opium eradication. 2. Militias with long-standing ties to the heroin business have also pushed eradication. 3. China has played a major role pressing opium growers to eradicate."

Who owned drug plane that crashed in Mexico?  9/27/2007 McClatchy: "Some news reports have linked the plane to the transport of terrorist suspects to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but those reports cite logs that indicate only that the plane flew twice between Washington, D.C., and Guantanamo and once between Oxford, Conn., and Guantanamo. No terrorist suspects are known to have been transferred to Guantanamo directly from the United States. The jet, carrying the tail number N987SA, changed hands twice in recent weeks. But how it ended up in the hands of suspected drug traffickers remains a mystery. The Mexican attorney general's office said the blue and white Gulfstream II crashed on Monday in a remote jungle area on the Yucatan Peninsula. Authorities seized 132 bags of cocaine weighing four tons. Two men were arrested and jailed on drug trafficking charges in Merida, officials said. They declined to identify the men, however."

9/11 Commission Deception, Cheney’s Actions on 9/11, and Why He Should Testify Under Oath  9/26/2007 Journal of 911 Studies: "The 9/11 Commission Report is an example of concerted cover-up, partly by omissions, and just as importantly by its cherry-picking of evidence to create impressions that are in fact authoritatively disputed, and in some cases probably not true. There are many examples of cherry-picking and contrived simulations of fact. More importantly, there is a consistent pattern in this: to minimize Cheney’s responsibility for what happened that day."

Venezuela Dismisses U.S. Criticism on Cooperation against Drug Trafficking  9/19/2007 Venezuela Analysis: "Venezuelan Minister of Justice Pedro Carreño, reaffirmed yesterday that Venezuela is not disposed to work with the DEA. In May Carreño had accused the DEA of operating as a "drug cartel." He added that Venezuelan authorities had "determined that via this organization [the DEA], a large quantity of drugs left our country by way of the delivery of confiscations, of which we were never informed." Ever since Venezuela broke off relations with the DEA the U.S. government has repeatedly made allegations that Venezuelan authorities are not doing enough to combat drug trafficking. However, Venezuelan authorities have repeatedly rejected the claims. According to Venezuela's National Anti-Drug office, drug interdictions increased from 43.2 tons in 2004, to 77 tons in 2005. For 2006 Venezuelan authorities captured 60.3 tons and Minister Carreño added that security forces have confiscated 33.8 tons of drugs so far this year."

The Octopus in the Cathedral of Salt  9/14/2007 Virginia Quarterly Review: [The Octopus is United Fruits, renamed Chiquita Brands to avoid the connotations of its monstruous history, some of which is discussed in this article. The Cathedral of Salt is a famous cathedral in Bogota.] - "Although the FARC is involved deeply in the business, it is the right-wing AUC that worked closely with the cartels to organize the smuggling system. Coca growers, who are usually poor peasants or campesinos, earn the least of all… In a front-page deal reached with the US government this year, Chiquita pleaded guilty to making millions of dollars in payments to a group on the State Department list of foreign terrorist organizations: the AUC. Lawyers for the company argued that they were forced into the making payments out of fear for the safety of its workers. Chiquita also admitted that they had a similar arrangement with the FARC. The result of the plea deal was a $25 million fine for a business that earned $3.9 billion in revenue in 2006, and there were no charges filed over the weapons shipment. It is not surprising that Chiquita Brands was forced to make protection payments to armed groups operating around their plantations, but that is not the entire story."

Traffickers Infiltrate Military in Colombia Officers Provided Secret Information On U.S. Navy Ships  9/8/2007 WaPo: "An investigation by the Colombian Defense Ministry has found that drug traffickers and rebels from the country's largest guerrilla group infiltrated the U.S.-backed military here, paying high-ranking officers for classified information to help elude capture and continue smuggling cocaine. The information obtained by the powerful Norte del Valle drug cartel included the secret positioning of U.S. naval vessels and aircraft in the Caribbean early last year, part of a carefully coordinated web designed to stop cocaine from reaching the United States, according to high-ranking Colombian military officials. The cartel is headed by Diego Montoya, who is on the FBI's list of most wanted fugitives… Colombian authorities have passed on their findings, particularly the navigational charts, to the Drug Enforcement Administration and other U.S. agencies. The Colombian military does not track the coordinates of U.S., Dutch or British ships on patrol, suggesting there had been a breach in American security… The investigation into the activities of rogue officers in the Third Division has shed light on a murky episode from 2006 that angered Colombian officials and raised questions among U.S. lawmakers. On May 22, a platoon of troops ambushed and killed 10 members of an elite, U.S.-trained team of policemen that was on a counter-drug operation in the town of Jamundi. Authorities now say that army Col. Bayron Carvajal and several soldiers -- all of whom were arrested last year -- were probably in the pay of the Norte del Valle cartel. "You can presume that Jamundi is connected to the penetration of the Third Brigade," Santos said, "because of where it happened, because of the ties to narco-trafficking."

Taliban Raise Poppy Production to a Record Again  8/26/2007 NYT: "Afghanistan produced record levels of opium in 2007 for the second straight year, led by a staggering 45 percent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province, according to a new United Nations survey to be released Monday."

Iran seeks to tame wild border province  8/26/2007 AFP: "The province has a well-earned reputation for instability and has been the scene of kidnappings, shootouts and bomb attacks in the past years blamed both on rebel groups and armed drug traffickers. In a bid to increase security through economic development, Ahmadinejad has allocated 50 trillion rials (over five billion dollars) to Sistan-Baluchestan for infrastructure projects in the two years since he came to power. "This province has a lot of unexplored potential," provincial governor Habibollah Dahmardeh told an AFP correspondent. "But it has many problems, most notably water shortages and drugs."

Deep Politics III  8/25/2007 History Matters: several extracts from Peter Dale Scott's new writings on the assassination of President Kennedy

Questions From Le Monde on Franco-American Anti-Terrorist Cooperation - Alain Chouet Interview  8/25/2007 Unanswered Questions: published 3/07 - "Since the 1980s, the CIA from the Maghreb to the Philippines has played the card of fundamentalist Sunni Islamist movements to counter Soviet or Iranian influences - local Communist or “progressive” parties - to assure a cordon sanitaire around Saudi Arabia, etc. We disagreed with this strategy, which led to deep disagreements… For various reasons, many specialists on this issue are persuaded that Osama bin Laden was, at least until 1998, a GID agent manipulated at the highest level by Prince Turki. OBL, in fact, stepped in everywhere that Saudi strategic interests were in play (Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and finally, Afghanistan). His forfeiture of Saudi nationality was a farce for gulls. It goes without saying that when one has a “complicated and sensitive” agent, one does not spend one’s time proclaiming that he is your best friend in the world. Quite the contrary."

Feared clan who made themselves at home in Britain  8/23/2007 Guardian: published 3/06 - "The Baybasin gang were not coy about their drug smuggling or violence. They also had political and intelligence links."

The Secrets Behind ‘State Secrets’: How Turkey's Mafia-like 'Deep State' (and its Neocon Friends) Penetrated the American Government  8/23/2007 Just a Citizen: published in 2006 - "French filmmaker Mathieu Verboud is set to release a new documentary for European television this fall, which will reveal important new insights into the case of former FBI translator and president of the National Security Whistleblower’s Coalition Sibel Edmonds. Edmonds, a Turkish-American whose wrongful termination lawsuit was suppressed by the government’s invocation of the all-too-common “state secrets privilege”, reported to her superiors espionage and deliberate mistranslations on the part of fellow Turkish translator, Melek Can Dickerson. It seems Ms. Dickerson had relationships with targets of FBI investigation working at the Turkish Embassy and the American Turkish Council, a fact which meant that anything she translated was likely to be false. However, instead of receiving a promotion for bringing Ms. Dickerson’s’ espionage to the attention of her bosses, Edmonds was fired after she went in frustration to the U.S. Senate. The FBI refused to investigate Edmonds’ claims, at least in part, because the contract linguist had discovered quite a messy scandal: the content of the mistranslated documents revealed that some very powerful people in the U.S. government, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, were connected to foreign organized crime. Even worse, these foreign criminals connected to the high and mighty in the U.S. were also connected internationally, through the heroin trade and associated money laundering, to international terrorist organizations like al Qaeda."

Dubai buys big into US casino firm  8/23/2007 Al Jazeera 

Dark Side of Rev. Moon  8/22/2007 Consortium News: extensive archive on the notorious narcoterrorist and owner of UPI & the Washington Times

Deep State  8/18/2007 Wikipedia: "In Turkey, many people believe in the existence of the "deep state" (Turkish derin devlet), an influential and informal anti-democratic coalition within the Turkish political system, composed of high-level elements within the Turkish military, security and intelligence services, the judicial branch, and important commanders of organized crime.[1] The ideology of the "deep State" is seen by leftists as being anti-worker or islamist; by islamists as being anti-islamic and secularist; and by ethnic kurds as being anti-kurdish. The theory of the "deep State" has been widespread in Turkey since the early 1970s. At the beginning the discussion on a secret formation within the State focused on the term Counter-Guerrilla (in Turkish: kontr-gerilla). Drawing on the analogy with Italy, the name Gladio is sometimes used as well."

Strategy of tension  8/18/2007 Wikipedia: "A strategy of tension (Italian: strategia della tensione) is a way to control and manipulate public opinion using fear, propaganda, disinformation, psychological warfare, agents provocateurs, as well as false flag terrorist actions (including bombings). According to historian Daniele Ganser, "It is a tactic which consists in committing bombings and attributing them to others. By the term 'tension' one refers to emotional tension, to what creates a sentiment of fear. By the term 'strategy' one refers to what feeds the fear of the people towards one particular group" [1]. The term was coined in Italy during the trials that followed the 1970s and 1980s years of lead, during which terror attacks and assassinations committed by neofascist terrorists (such as Ordine Nuovo, Avanguardia Nazionale or Fronte Nazionale) were committed. Some claim that the terrorists were backed by the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies, the P2 masonic lodge and Operation Gladio, a NATO secret "stay-behind" army officially set up to perform guerilla and resistance activities should Italy be successfully invaded by the Soviet bloc (there were equivalent armies in most Western states). Unmonitored by civilian agencies, Gladio members began to pursue their own right-wing anti-communist agenda using violent means, which included false flag bombings, blamed on extra-parliamentary left-wing militant organizations. Examples include the 1972 Peteano bombing, long thought to have been carried out by the Red Brigades, but for which the neofascist terrorist Vincenzo Vinciguerra has been imprisoned, the attempted assassination of former Interior Minister Mariano Rumor on 17 May 1973 or the 1980 Bologna massacre."

Operation Gladio  8/18/2007 Wikipedia: "Gladio (Italian, from Latin gladius, meaning sword) is a code name denoting the clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Italy after World War II, intended to counter a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe."

Stefano Delle Chiaie  8/18/2007 Wikipedia Español: "Stefano delle Chiaie (13 de septiembre de 1936) es un terrorista neofascista internacional, de nacionalidad italiana, cercano a la logia P2 de Licio Gelli. Participó en la Operación Gladio, y también en la Operación Cóndor. Stefano Delle Chiaie empezó como miembro del Movimiento Social Italiano (MSI). Su oposición a la política de entendimiento con la Democracia Cristiana que impulsó el secretario general del MSI, Arturo Michelini, llevó a Delle Chiaie a promover la corriente integrista Ordine Nuovo . Ayudó a Junio Valerio Borghese en su fracasado golpe de 1970, y participo en la estrategia de la tensión que Gladio estaba implementando con la ayuda de la P2 de Licio Gelli y el SISMI, los servicios secretos italianos. Pero tuvo una carrera internacional. Después del golpe fallido, huyó a la España franquista (como Vincenzo Vinciguerra con la protección de los servicios de inteligencia italianos, que le permitieron la huida. Allí continuará organizando su grupo Avanguardia Nazionale, y conoce a Léon Degrelle."

GLADIO: THE SECRET U.S. WAR TO SUBVERT ITALIAN DEMOCRACY  8/18/2007 William Bowles 

Turkey’s pivotal role in the international drug trade  8/18/2007 Le Monde Diplomatique 

How deep is the deep state?  8/18/2007 SoL: "After he returned from Ethiopia, Erdogan went on his comments about the subject in a television program and said that the “deep state” dates back to the time of the Ottomans, but it should be minimized and eliminated if possible. Erdogan’s remarks defending that this structure exists in all countries was resembled to the speeches of the ninth President of the Republic, Suleyman Demirel. It is stated that Erdogan, who didn’t make any steps to solve the problem of illegal structuring within the state since he came to power, has been trying to blur the vision and create an impression that the subject is unsolvable. The Prime Minister’s description of the “criminal organization within the state” seems to aim hiding the real reasons of Dink’s assassination and the US intervention in Turkey."

Susurluk scandal  8/18/2007 Wikipedia: "Abdullah Çatli was a convicted fugitive, who had been wanted for drug trafficking and murder. Evidence seized at the crash site indicated that he had been carrying: a special diplomatic credentials, given by the Turkish authorities; a government-approved weapons permit; six ID cards, each with a different name; Lucy Komisar writes that "At the scene of the Mercedes-Benz crash, Turkish investigators found Çatli with a fake passport. "The person on this photo, Mehmet Özbay, serves as a specialist for the police directorate and he is allowed to carry guns." Mehmet Özbay was an alias -- the very same alias that Mehmet Ali Agca had on his own passport. " several handguns, and silencers; and a cache of narcotics. thousands of US dollars."

JFK, 9/11 and War  8/18/2007 911Truth.org: by Peter Dale Scott - "In American history there are two types of event: ordinary events which the information systems of the country can understand and establish. There are also deep events, or meta-events, which the mainstream information systems of the country cannot digest. I mean by a “deep event” an event in which it is clear from the outset that there are aspects which will not be dealt with in the mainstream media, and will be studied only by those so-called “conspiracy theorists” who specialize in deep history. The events I shall discuss today exhibit continuities with each other and with other deep events, notably the Iran-Contra affair of the mid 1980s and the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. But the three I shall discuss today – the JFK assassination, the initial Watergate break-ins, and 9/11 – are outstanding in this respect: that while they were attributed to insignificant and very marginal people, they had momentous impact, far more than most daily events by more important people, in redirecting American history. 1 If history is what is recorded, then deep history is the sum of events which tend to be officially obscured or even suppressed in traditional books and media. Important recent deep events include the political assassinations of the 1960s, Watergate, Iran-Contra, and now 9/11. All these deep events have involved what I call the deep state, that part of the state which is not publicly accountable, and pursues its goals by means which will not be approved by a public examination. The CIA (with its on-going relationships to drug-traffickers) is an obvious aspect of the deep state, but not the only one, perhaps not even the dirtiest."

The Susurluk Accident  8/18/2007 World History Archives 

Italian arms investigators see Iraqi ties  8/12/2007 USA Today: Perugia, Italy - "Operation Parabellum, the investigation led by Dario Razzi, anti-Mafia prosecutor in this central Italian city, began in 2005 as a routine investigation into drug trafficking by organized-crime figures, branched out into an inquiry into arms dealing with Libya, and then widened to Iraq. Court documents obtained by the AP show that Razzi's break came early last year when police monitoring one of the drug suspects covertly opened his luggage as he left on a flight to Libya. Instead of the expected drugs, they found helmets, bulletproof vests and the weapons catalog. Tapping telephones, monitoring e-mails, Razzi's investigators followed the trail to a group of Italian businessmen, otherwise unrelated to the drug probe, who were working to sell arms to Libya and, by late 2006, to Iraq as well, through offshore companies they set up in Malta and Cyprus. Four Italians have been arrested and are awaiting court indictment for allegedly creating a criminal association and alleged arms trafficking — trading in weapons without a government license. A fifth Italian is being sought in Africa. In addition, 13 other Italians were arrested on drug charges. In the documents, Razzi describes it as "strange" that the U.S.-supported Iraqi government would seek such weapons via the black market."

Bush, Colombia & Narco-Politics  8/8/2007 Consortium News: "The new disclosures also have brought back to public attention the Uribe family’s long history of ties to drug lords and paramilitary militias. Colombia’s Supreme Court announced in July that it was investigating Senator Mario Uribe, the president’s cousin and his point man in the Colombian Congress, for alleged links to the AUC. Several paramilitary leaders have said Mario Uribe was one of their allies and an intermediary with the government. He has denied any wrongdoing. But the family link to purported drug lords dates back several decades. As a young man and an aspiring politician, Álvaro Uribe lost his position as mayor of Medellín – after only five months on the job – because the country’s president ousted him over his family’s suspected connections to traffickers, according to media reports at the time. His father Alberto Uribe, a wealthy landowner, reputedly had been a close associate of the Medellín cartel and its kingpins, such as Pablo Escobar and the Ochoa brothers, who were personal friends. In 1983, Alberto Uribe was reportedly wanted by the U.S. government for drug trafficking when he was killed in a kidnapping attempt by the FARC. According to media accounts, his body was airlifted back to his family by one of Escobar’s helicopters. In the early 1990s, Álvaro Uribe’s brother, Santiago, was investigated for allegedly organizing and leading a paramilitary militia that was headquartered at the Uribe family hacienda. He was never charged and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. But Santiago was photographed alongside Fabio Ochoa at a party even after the government had declared Ochoa one of the most notorious Medellín cartel kingpins. The incident with Santiago Uribe coincided with Álvaro Uribe’s eight years in the Senate, where he opposed extradition of drug suspects. His critics accused him of working for the Medellín cartel."

PRINCES OF PLUNDER  8/6/2007 Nexus: published 2/05 - "A furious Colonel Tucker, the regimental commander of the American 504th – that had secured the bridge, vehemently argued there was no time to waste before the Germans reinforced and that the British must grab the chance to reinforce Frost at Arnhem. Immune to these arguments, the English Major repeated “Well, we can’t move our tanks at night,” and then added “We will move them in the morning.” 33 The next morning, as expected, the whole area was heavy with German armoured reinforcements. Cornelius Ryan does not name the Grenadier Guards Major in his book, which is unusual… The Grenadier Guards officer he was referring to was Major Peter Alexander Rupert Smith, of the extremely powerful and influential Smith family - an almost publicly unknown dynasty of bankers that dates back 350 years. It was in the 1650’s when Thomas Smith founded Samuel Smith & Co, Bankers in Nottingham, which is believed to have been the first English bank headquartered outside of London. Successive generations of Smiths ensured that the family business flourished and by 1902 a total of ten branches were operating. Not only did a leading member of the family befriended Lord Rothschild, but a family member later married a Rothschild. A further dynastic marriage was to the well-known Baring family of bankers. Their influence kept on expanding and expanding. Frances Dora Smith married Sir Claude Lyon-Bowes, who were the grandparents of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon who would marry Prince Albert (Bertie) in 1923. Prince Albert became King George V1 in 1936 and Elizabeth become Queen Elizabeth 1 - later known as the Queen Mother. Frances Dora Smith married Sir Claude Lyon-Bowes, who were the grandparents of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon who married Prince Albert (Bertie) in 1923. Prince Albert became King George V1 in 1936 and Elizabeth become Queen Elizabeth 1 - later known as the Queen Mother. In recent years, newspaper article concerning the Queen Mothers favourable attitude to the “pro-peace movement” spoke of her “desire to avert war with Germany and for closer ties to be established between the two countries.” 36 One newspaper went so far as to state that the Queen would have willingly accepted a German occupation providing that the monarchy and her place in it remained intact.37 Her brother, David Bowes-Lyon, to whom she was exceptionally close was, before the war, a director of Lazard Brothers bankers and who also held an “important but vaguely defined role in SOE.”38 The Lazard’s connection is significant inasmuch as this bank was a link to pro-Nazi Sir Henri Deterding of Royal Dutch Shell and Viscount Bearsted of Hill Samuel, both of whom connect to Baron Kurt von Schroder – a hard core Nazi, a financier of SS chief Heinrich Himmler and a leading member of the “circle of friends of the Reichsfuhrer.” Von Schroder coincidentally employed Allen Dulles as his American attorney. 39 He was also a director of Lazard Brothers and a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship, which was founded in 1935 by German banker Ernest Tennant - a close friend of Hitler’s Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop - and had numerous members who admired Hitler. Some, went even further. For example, Sir Oswald Mosley founded the fascist British Black shirts, which was funded by Berlin. Another was nazi enthusiast, Admiral Sir Barry Domville, who would later become a Shickshinny Knight 40. Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe Coburg & Gotha was sent by Hitler to England to be the President of the Fellowship with instructions to improve Anglo-German relations and to push for an alliance between both countries. Another member was the Duke of Hamilton, who as we have seen, was the British point of contact sought by Rudolf Hess in his flight to Scotland. Saxe Coburg Gotha is, of course, the real family name of the British royal family, who changed to Windsor during the First World War to dilute any expressions of animosity by the British public."

Project Hammer Reloaded  8/6/2007 Nexus: "Riches looted by the Nazis and Japanese during WWII and recovered by the United States OSS and CIA have been used to finance secret government projects over the decades and save major banks from insolvency."

Did "Le Cercle" Kill Diana?  8/1/2007 We The People: historical perspective on state terror in Europe

CIRCLE OF POWER  8/1/2007 COPI: "As the decade of the "eighties" slowly slipped above the now less than pink eastern horizon, right-wing beneficiaries of a co-ordinated international destabilisation programme gave their heart-felt thanks. Among them were Britain’s Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher - Madonna of the Armaments industry - and America’s less brittle, and considerably less acute, Ronald Reagan - humble originator of the mega-tax-buck-swallowing SDI "Star Wars" programme and also, thus, a valued friend of the boys at Guns R Us International. These two decades saw a proliferation of right-wing, quasi official and secretive groups that co-ordinated intelligence, propaganda and undertook covert black-operations around the globe. One of the most shadowy of all is the "Pinay Cercle", named after its founder Antoine Pinay, Premier of France in 1951. Known more simply as "Le Cercle" it is recognised as a more clandestine sister organisation to the already very secretive Bilderberg Group1 - a "behind-the-scenes ‘invisible’ influence" network. 2 Both groups share a familiar membership which includes Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski and David Rockerfeller. Each of these three luminaries of the international power network are, in addition to the foregoing, influential members of The Trilateral Commission and the Council for Foreign Relations as well as being regular attendees at Britain’s "Chatham House" - The Royal Institute of International Studies - shadowy twin to America’s CFR."

THE STORY OF A FBI-SPONSORED ORGY, THE COCAINE STING THAT WENT WRONG, AND THE ENSUING FALL-OUT  7/15/2007 NarcoNews: "In January, 2002, Perry and another recruiter ran 11 kilograms of FBI cocaine from Nogales to Tucson. More than 70 others, including military police from Oklahoma, a Nogales parking enforcement officer, a port inspector from the Mariposa port of entry and federal and Arizona prison guards all joined in, hungry for the chance at $1,500 a load."

Drug czar gives warning - Federal official calls marijuana growers dangerous terrorists  7/13/2007 Record Searchlight, CA: "John P. Walters, President Bush's drug czar, said the people who plant and tend the gardens are terrorists who wouldn't hesitate to help other terrorists get into the country with the aim of causing mass casualties."

Saudi Flights on Mob, CIA linked Charters  7/12/2007 Mad Cow: "The owner of one of the air charter companies involved in the airlift of Saudi Royals and bin Laden family members out of the U.S. after the 9/11 attack has been identified in numerous published reports as a business partner and “close associate” of New England Mob Boss Raymond J. (Junior) Patriarca, the MadCowMorningNews has learned. Frank Zammiello's Northstar Aviation in Warrick R. I. flew four Saudis, including a Saudi Sheikh (name unfortunately redacted) on a flight which left Providence R.I. September 14, 2001 and flew to Paris. FBI documents refer to it as the “Northstar Aviation flight.” "

Who Runs the CIA? Outsiders for Hire.  7/8/2007 Washington Post: "Over the past five years (some say almost a decade), there has been a revolution in the intelligence community toward wide-scale outsourcing. Private companies now perform key intelligence-agency functions, to the tune, I'm told, of more than $42 billion a year. Intelligence professionals tell me that more than 50 percent of the National Clandestine Service (NCS) -- the heart, brains and soul of the CIA -- has been outsourced to private firms such as Abraxas, Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon… Today, when Booz Allen Hamilton loses a contract to SAIC, people rush from one to the other in a game of musical chairs, with not enough chairs for all the workers who possess both the highest security clearances and expertise in the art of espionage. Some inevitably lose out. Any good counterintelligence officer knows what can happen next. Down-on-their-luck spies begin to do what spies do best: spy. Other companies offer them jobs in exchange for industry secrets. Foreign governments approach them. And some day, terrorists will clue in to this potential workforce."

Biofuel gangs kill for green profits  6/3/2007 London Times: "The paramilitaries are not subtle when it comes to taking land,” said Dominic Nutt, a British specialist with Christian Aid who recently visited Colombia. “They simply visit a community and tell landowners, ‘If you don’t sell to us, we will negotiate with your widow'."

Cuba anger at US exile decision  5/10/2007 BBC: "Posada Carriles is free and without legal charges against him, it is of the entire responsibility of the White House," Dagoberto Rodriguez Barrera of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington said in a statement. He said that the White House had done everything it could to protect "the Bin Laden of the hemisphere" from revealing US government links with terror activities."

U.S. charges against anti-Castro exile dismissed  5/9/2007 Reuters: "Cardone dismissed the immigration charges on grounds that the U.S. government case was based on statements it got from Posada Carriles, 79, under false pretenses. He thought he was in an immigration interview that was actually a criminal interrogation, his lawyers said, and the judge agreed. "The government's tactics in this case are so grossly shocking and so outrageous as to violate the universal sense of justice," Cardone wrote."

Venezuela Accuses U.S. DEA of Being a “Drug Cartel”  5/8/2007 Venezuela Analysis: "¨The United States establishes cooperation agreements in the fight against drug trafficking through economic cooperation so that they can later impose the presence of military bases under the pretense of cooperation," said Carreño yesterday. Carreño dismissed any possibility of permitting the intervention of US authorities in Venezuela to fight drug trafficking and accused the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of forming its own “drug cartel.” According to the Carreño, when Venezuela ended its cooperation with the DEA two years ago, they observed that the US agency was trafficking drugs through the country. "They were making a large quantity of drug shipments under the pretense of monitoring them, and they didn't carry out arrests or breakup the cartels," explained Carreño. "We were able to determine the presence of a new drug cartel in which the United States Drug Enforcement Agency was monopolizing the shipment of drugs," he said. Carreño assured that Venezuelan security forces are willing to receive information that the United States can offer in order to detain drug traffickers in the country, but he maintained that Venezuela "is not going to allow them to carry out operations in our territory." "

Alleged Hit Man Worked at US Embassy  4/25/2007 AP: "A retired army colonel accused of conspiring to assassinate President Alvaro Uribe's most vocal critic worked for the U.S. Embassy two years ago… Villate also was accused before his embassy job - when he was still in the military, in mid-2004 - of spying on leaders of Cali's public employees union in what the union described as an assassination plot. That scandal was widely publicized at the time, and remains under criminal investigation. The U.S. Embassy conducted normal background checks before hiring Villate that "did not turn up any derogatory information about him," Louis said in a later statement." [Uribe was revealed in a declassified DIA memo to have been a "close personal friend" of Pablo Escobar and a "narcosenator" prior to assuming the presidency.]

France told US before September 11 of Al-Qaeda plans: report  4/17/2007 AFP 

Fugitive says he met missing ex-FBI agent  4/13/2007 FT: "According to Mr Salahuddin, the meeting was only to put Mr Levinson in touch with Iranian authorities to help his investigations on smuggling of cigarettes as part of the former agent’s work for a tobacco company. “What he was trying to do in Kish was to find a channel to introduce him to authorities in Tehran to help find out about networks involved in smuggling of cigarettes, because his contractor company has been losing a lot of money.” ...US officials have stressed that Mr Levinson, whose expertise lies in Russian criminal gangs and counterfeiting, was not in Kish on US government business."

Former Bush Speechwriter Hints at 9/11 Inside Job  4/13/2007 Global Research: "For Gold, a lifetime Bush family friend and a GOP darling, to go turncoat and detail how the Neo-Cons were feverishly preparing for a false flag event to justify their pre-planned war, while questioning the official 9/11 story, is a resounding slap in the face to those who claim that 9/11 couldn't have been an inside job because whistleblowers would foil the conspiracy. Hundreds of experts and professionals in all sectors of government, the military, science and industry have blown the whistle, but whenever they attempt to garner media attention, they are harangued as anti-American traitors by loudmouth TV shills who are on the payroll of the very criminals that carried out 9/11."

House of Death  3/8/2007 Dallas Observer: "This is a big deal, a very big deal because of the scope and duration of the activity. For six months, you had members of the U.S. government who knew that a person on their payroll was engaging in murder, and they did nothing to stop it," says Bill Weaver, a University of Texas at El Paso law professor who has closely followed the case. "As much as they deny it, they had prior knowledge."

High-Fivers and Art Student Spies - What Did Israel Know in Advance of the 9/11 Attacks?  3/7/2007 CounterPunch 

Two FBI Whistleblowers Confirm Illegal Wiretapping of Govt Officials, Support Sibel Edmonds Claims  3/5/2007 Daily Kos: "Sibel worked for this particular agent when she was at the FBI - so this illegal spying uncovered all of the criminal activity that Sibel knows about "large-scale drug deals and of selling classified military technologies to the highest bidder" - and to top it off, no action has been taken, no arrests, no idictments, and they buried the enitre case by gagging Sibel, and congress - by claiming 'national security.'"

Moon/Bush 'Ongoing Crime Enterprise'  2/17/2007 Consortium News: "Benefiting from relationships with the Bush family and other prominent Republicans, Moon’s Unification Church slips away from one illegal scheme after another – despite overwhelming evidence and first-person admissions about the systematic pattern of the criminality. Somehow U.S. authorities never put two and two together. Even Moon’s 1982 felony conviction for tax evasion arising from an earlier money-laundering scheme and public confessions from his ex-daughter-in-law and other church insiders about later financial conspiracies don’t clue in the feds to the bigger picture before them. So, while prosecutors mostly look the other way, Moon continues to pour an estimated $100 million a year into his influential Washington Times newspaper and other pro-Republican media outlets. Additional millions have gone to fund right-wing political conferences; to pay speaking fees to world leaders, such as former President George H.W. Bush; and to bail political allies out of financial troubles."

Did "Bogotá Connection" Embassy Leaks Doom U.S. Spy Plane in Colombia?  2/15/2007 Narco News 

Tucson military recruiters ran cocaine  12/17/2006 Arizona Daily Star 

Who was behind the polonium poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko?  12/17/2006 Global Research 

Taliban repel British assault in south Afghanistan  12/5/2006 Reuters: "Afghan police and soldiers have so far held just the bridgehead and the short road at the north end of the valley, criss-crossed by networks of ancient canals that make Helmand fertile enough to produce a third of the world's opium crop."

The House of Death  12/3/2006 Guardian: "In August 2004 someone tried to shoot him at an El Paso restaurant - instead killing an innocent bystander. After that, he was taken into protective custody. And then, on 9 May 2005, Ice, the agency that had cherished him, decided that his US visa was irregular and began legal proceedings to deport him to Mexico - without doubt a death sentence. He is now in a maximum-security jail in the Midwest, fighting his former employers through the courts. In October The Observer won clearance to visit him with his lawyer, Jodi Goodwin. On the eve of the interview he was abruptly moved to a different facility where officials said a visit was impossible. Goodwin passed on a message: 'I'm not mad, I'm sad and disillusioned. Every time I did a job and brought them information, I was congratulated. Now they want to deliver me to my death.'"

CIA role claim in Kennedy killing  11/21/2006 BBC 

Tapes Depict Proposal to Thwart Bomb Used in Trade Center Blast  10/28/2006 NYT: "Mr. Salem, a 43-year-old former Egyptian army officer, was used by the Government to penetrate a circle of Muslim extremists now charged in two bombing cases: the World Trade Center attack and a foiled plot to destroy the United Nations, the Hudson River tunnels and other New York City landmarks. He is the crucial witness in the second bombing case, but his work for the Government was erratic, and for months before the trade center blast, he was feuding with the F.B.I."

Victor Bout: The World’s Leading Dealer in Illegal Arms  10/24/2006 Forward America 

Lieberman's mob connections  10/19/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll to last entry for October 19, 2006 - "Independent (pro-GOP) senate candidate Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut has been financed by mob money ever since his first run for his US Senate seat in 1988. That was the year Lieberman, who was broke, became awash in campaign money from the late Miami-based Cuban right-wing leader Jorge Mas Canosa. The funding for Lieberman was arranged by his primary GOP backer, William F. Buckley, Jr. Buckley was so incensed that the Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker had opposed the nomination of Buckley's brother, James Buckley, for a federal judgeship, he pulled out all his markers with the Cuban exile community to fund Lieberman's campaign. With the Cuban money flow turned on, Lieberman soon began attracting mob money tied to the Cuban gambling interests of mob financier Meyer Lansky and the Genovese crime family. Much of that money was laundered through dubious Wall Street hedge funds."

LITEMPO: The CIA's Eyes on Tlatelolco  10/18/2006 National Security Archives: "The declassified U.S. documents reveal CIA recruitment of agents within the upper echelons of the Mexican government between 1956 and 1969. The informants used in this secret program included President Gustavo Díaz Ordaz and future President Luis Echeverría. The documents detail the relationships cultivated between senior CIA officers, such as chief of station Winston Scott, and Mexican government officials through a secret spy network code-named "LITEMPO." Operating out of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, Scott used the LITEMPO project to provide "an unofficial channel for the exchange of selected sensitive political information which each government wanted the other to receive but not through public protocol exchanges." [Scott was Chief of Station in 1963 at the time of the JFK hit.]

Troops accused of gun-running for cocaine and cash  10/13/2006 London Times: "NINE British soldiers are facing a court martial for allegedly smuggling guns out of Iraq to sell for drugs and cash. Investigators fear that weapons and ammunition being trafficked by troops from war zones will end up in the hands of gangsters. The soldiers from the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment are accused of buying cocaine from gangs in Germany, where their unit was based. Royal Military Police have investigated claims that the alleged drugs were sold to other British troops still serving in Iraq."

Activist opposing the government's policies is charged with crimes against the state, declared mentally unbalanced, and forced to take psychotropic drugs in a military prison  10/12/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to first entry for October 12, 2006 - "On September 8, Susan Lindauer, a one-time congressional staffer for Rep. Peter DeFazio and Sen. Ron Wyden or Oregon [Wyden is a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence], and journalist, was ordered released from incarceration from the Bureau of Prisons Carswell Federal Medical Center located at the Naval Reserve Air Station in Fort Worth, Texas. Lindauer, who was never convicted of any crime, spent seven months in the prison hospital and was transferred to New York City where she spent an additional four months in prison. Lindauer claims that from August 1996 to the outbreak of the Iraq war, she served as a back channel intermediary with the Iraqi Mission to the UN in New York and was constantly supervised by her handlers in the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). In March 2004, Lindauer was arrested by the FBI at her Takoma Park, Maryland home and charged with acting as an unregistered agent for the Iraqi government from October 1999 to February 2004 and engaging in illegal financial transactions with the Iraqis. Federal prosecutors also charged Lindauer with meeting Iraqi intelligence agents during a 2002 trip to Baghdad, including a meeting at the Al Rashid Hotel. Lindauer claims that she was one of three CIA assets who were covering the Iraqi Mission to the UN. She said she and the other two assets, who were also being run by the FBI, were charged with being agents for Iraq. From the beginning, the government's case against Lindauer was unique. In his decision ordering Lindauer's release from federal custody, Judge Michael Mukasey of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan ruled that the government could not force Lindauer to take psychotropic drugs in order for her to stand trial in the case. In in a rare departure, Mukasey commented on the government's case against Lindauer before the trial. He stated, "There is no indication that Lindauer ever came close to influencing anyone or could have." The Justice Department maintained that Lindauer attempted to influence her cousin to prevent a U.S. military attack on Iraq. Lindauer's second cousin is none other than Andrew Card, who served as George W. Bush's Chief of Staff and who is a major source for Bob Woodward's revealing book about the Bush march to war, State of Denial. Lindauer's father is John Lindauer, the 1998 GOP candidate for governor of Alaska, who was defeated by Tony Knowles."

Al-Qaeda terrorist duped FBI, Army  10/8/2006 Raleigh News & Observer: published 10/01 - ""This individual approached the CIA to offer information," a U.S. official told The News & Observer, speaking on condition that no further identification be provided. "Some time later, we found out he was talking to known terrorists and had identified himself as a CIA agent. We felt him to be untrustworthy, and we put him on the State Department watch list." The CIA also warned other U.S. government agencies about Mohamed and urged them to detain him if possible, the official said. The next year, 1985, Mohamed managed to get a visa to enter the United States. One year later, he enlisted as a regular soldier in the U.S. Army at the age of 34. He was assigned to the U.S. Special Operations Command in Fort Bragg. Fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, French and English, Mohamed brought extensive knowledge of the Arab world. Though officially a supply sergeant, he spent much of his time teaching soldiers about the Mideast. Robert Anderson, a retired lieutenant colonel, remembers him vividly. Anderson said Mohamed made no secret of his religious views. "He had identified himself as a fundamentalist, but after I interviewed him I identified him as a fanatic," said Anderson, who lives in Fayetteville, N.C."

How the FBI protected Al Qaeda’s 9/11 Hijacking Trainer New Revelations about Ali Mohamed by Dr. Peter Dale Scott  10/8/2006 Global Research: "It is now generally admitted that Ali Mohamed (known in the al Qaeda camps as Abu Mohamed al Amriki — "Father Mohamed the American")8 worked for the FBI, the CIA, and U.S. Special Forces. As he later confessed in court, he also aided the terrorist Ayman al-Zawahiri, a co-founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and by then an aide to bin Laden, when he visited America to raise money.9 The 9/11 Report mentioned him, and said that the plotters against the U.S. Embassy in Kenya were “led” (their word) by Ali Mohamed.10 That’s the Report’s only reference to him, though it’s not all they heard. Patrick Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney who negotiated a plea bargain and confession from Ali Mohamed, said this in testimony to the Commission Ali Mohamed. …. trained most of al Qaeda’s top leadership – including Bin Laden and Zawahiri – and most of al Qaeda’s top trainers. He gave some training to persons who would later carry out the 1993 World Trade Center bombing…. From 1994 until his arrest in 1998, he lived as an American citizen in California, applying for jobs as an FBI translator.11 Patrick Fitzgerald knew Ali Mohamed well. In 1994 he had named him as an unindicted co-conspirator in the New York landmarks case, yet allowed him to remain free. This was because, as Fitzgerald knew, Ali Mohamed was an FBI informant, from at least 1993 and maybe 1989.12 Thus, from 1994 “until his arrest in 1998 [by which time the 9/11 plot was well under way], Mohamed shuttled between California, Afghanistan, Kenya, Somalia and at least a dozen other countries.”13 Shortly after 9/11, Larry C. Johnson, a former State Department and CIA official, faulted the FBI publicly for using Mohamed as an informant, when it should have recognized that the man was a high-ranking terrorist plotting against the United States.14 "

President dubs alleged Pearl killer MI6 spy  9/29/2006 Gulf Times: "Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has disclosed that Omar Sheikh, who kidnapped and murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl and is now facing death penalty, was actually the British secret Agency MI6’s agent and had executed certain missions on their behest before coming to Pakistan and visiting Afghanistan to meet Osama and Mullah Omar. General Musharraf’s book has also given a new twist to the whole drama of kidnapping and murder of American journalist as many believe here British national Omar Sheikh might use Musharraf’s memoir to plea his innocence after, quite surprisingly, Musharraf tried to give a clean chit to Omar despite his role in kidnapping which is punishable with death in Pakistan. It has been reported that General Musharraf has written in his book that while Omar Sheikh was at the London School of Economics (LSE), he was recruited by the British intelligence agency MI6, which persuaded him to take an active part in demonstrations against Serbian aggression in Bosnia and even sent him to Kosovo to join the jihad."

TONS OF COCAINE: CARACAS TO WASHINGTON By Peter Dale Scott, PhD  9/22/2006 From the Wilderness: "Dr. Peter Dale Scott – deconstructs the recent propaganda directed by Washington in an attempt to implicate Hugo Chavez in a 2.2-ton shipment of cocaine. After Scott wrote this response to a story posted at VCrisis.com, it was revealed that the facts surrounding how the seizure of that shipment went down are anything but clear."

Who benefits from the Afghan Opium Trade?  9/21/2006 Global Research 

U.S. faults Bolivia anti-drug efforts  9/18/2006 AP 

Bush Administration knew the Whereabouts of Osama  9/12/2006 Global Research: published 11/16/03 - "If the CBS report by Dan Rather is accurate and Osama had indeed been admitted to the Pakistani military hospital on September 10, 2001, courtesy of America's ally, he was in all likelihood still in hospital in Rawalpindi on the 11th of September, when the attacks occurred. In all probability, his whereabouts were known to US officials on the morning of September 12, when Secretary of State Colin Powell initiated negotiations with Pakistan, with a view to arresting and extraditing bin Laden."

Why 9/11 happened: Bush curtailed Operation CATCHERS MITT  9/11/2006 Daily Kos 

Group of Israeli intelligence agents operated under cover as movers and staged a series of false flag operations on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001  9/11/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to Sept. 11, 2006 - "A warehouse located at 3 West 18th Street in Weehawken, New Jersey, where a group of Israeli intelligence agents operating under cover as movers and staged a series of false flag operations on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, attracted the constant attention today of a roving Weehawken police cruiser. The warehouse, which was leased to Urban Moving Systems, an Israeli-owned firm, was discovered to have contained pipes, wires, detonators, blasting caps, fertilizer-fuel compounds, and traces of anthrax by the FBI after an Urban Moving Systems van with five Israelis, spotted earlier photographing the World Trade Center before the first plane struck the North Tower, was stopped by East Rutherford, New Jersey police. Dressed as Arabs and seen by witnesses celebrating the attacks, the five Israelis earned the nickname, "the dancing Israelis." The East Rutherford police stopped the Israeli van based on an FBI national "Be On Lookout" (BOLO) notice issued earlier on the morning of 911. When asked if he recalled the incident, the Weehawken police officer told WMR that the local police had no role in the investigation of the warehouse after the FBI stepped in to assert Federal jurisdiction in the case. The FBI permitted the owner of Urban Moving Systems, Dominick Suter, known to be a Mossad agent, to flee the country after his five employees were arrested for suspicion of involvement with the 911 attack. Suter's name also showed up on a U.S. government watch list of 911 suspects that also contained the names of the hijackers and several of their interlocutors. After being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for 71 days, the Israelis were permitted to fly home to Israel, a decision prompted -- over the objection of the CIA -- by pressure being applied on the Bush administration by then-Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. WMR has reported that Suter later re-entered the United States and was working for a Florida-based aircraft parts supply company."

The Truth behind 9/11: Who Is Osama Bin Laden?  9/10/2006 Global Research: published 9/12/01, still topical.

MAFIA SUMMIT IN HAVANA: LUCKY LUCIANO STAYS IN CUBA. (PART VII)  9/10/2006 Cuba Now: "Once the capomafiosi and their retinue left Havana, Luciano held a conversation with his consigliere in the garden of the Miramar residence where they could speak without being heard. Wearing shorts and flowered shirts they sat in comfortable seats at a round table of iron arabesque stand and a glass top, served with bottles of whisky and water, a bucket of ice, and a tray of sandwiches. I’m glad you agreed on joining the drug business... Although you don't want to know anything about Vito, but it seems that he was right when he told you that it would be the business of the future... "

Pakistan: Welcome, Citizen Osama!!  9/6/2006 All Spin Zone 

Why is President Bush's brother hanging out with an alleged Russian mobster?  9/5/2006 Jazz from Hell 

Is TSA's terrorism Watch List being abused to target whistleblowers?  9/3/2006 NarcoSphere: "When he and his family arrived at the first-class ticket counter, another airline official again informed McLaughlin that he was on the terrorism Watch List… [quoting AP on Feb 13, 2003:] A jury has sided with two narcotics agents who claimed their boss — the Pennsylvania attorney general — retaliated against them because they uncovered a drug-trafficking ring that diverted profits to a CIA-backed Dominican presidential candidate. Agents John McLaughlin and Charles Micewski filed a lawsuit claiming their forcible transfer from the Philadelphia office of the state Bureau of Narcotics Investigation violated their civil rights. A federal jury in northeastern Pennsylvania agreed, awarding $1.5 million to McLaughlin and Micewski on Friday after a one-week trial. The verdict capped more than five years of litigation."

A Meta-Group Managing Drugs, Violence, and the State  8/28/2006 Nachrichten Heute: by Peter Dale Scott

More neo-con malfeasance surfaces in Europe -- three "suicides" getting another look and ransacking of a Socialist presidential candidate's home point to more Bush administration and neo-con dirty tricks  8/21/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to 2nd entry for Aug. 21, 2006''

How war against drugs may have helped Hezbollah  8/21/2006 Times: ''Around 250 sets of military night vision equipment sent to Tehran from Britain appear to have been passed on to the Lebanon-based militia group which it funds and supports. They were sold under an export licence in 2003 to help the Iranians to monitor the desert and mountainous border regions with Afghanistan. Despite the British Government’s current confrontation with Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons programme, the longstanding co-operative arrangement between Tehran and London over countering the heroin trade has produced effective results. It is a relationship born of necessity. About 60 per cent of the heroin that reaches Britain and other European capitals comes from the poppy fields of Afghanistan, via Iran. The battle to stem the flow of heroin and opium has resulted in the deaths of more than 3,500 Iranian anti-narcotics police since 1997.''

Two Strange Deaths in European Wiretapping Scandal  8/19/2006 Alternet: ''Were the two alleged suicides more than an eerie coincidence? A few media in Italy -- La Stampa, Dagospia and Feltrinelli, among others -- have noted the unsettling parallels. But so far no journalists have been able to overcome the investigative hurdles posed by two entirely different criminal inquiry systems united only by two prime ministers not eager to provoke the White House's wrath. In the United States, where massive eavesdropping programs have operated since 9/11, investigators, reporters and members of Congress have not explored whether those responsible for these spying operations may be using them for partisan purposes or economic gain. As more troubling revelations come out of Europe, it may become more difficult to ignore how easily spying programs can be hijacked for illegitimate purposes. The brave soul who pursues this line of inquiry, however, should fear for his or her life.''

Colombia’s Coca Survives U.S. Plan to Uproot It  8/19/2006 NYT: ''Jon Caulkins, a drug policy expert at Carnegie Mellon University, echoing other analysts, estimates that the drug war has cost American taxpayers upward of $40 billion annually in recent years, though there is no comprehensive government tally of all its state and federal spending. Today that money goes for patrol boats, prisons, police departments and extradition flights to bring drug kingpins to trial in the United States — not to mention a dedicated federal bureaucracy.''

The CIA-Contra-Crack Connection, 10 Years Later  8/19/2006 LA Times: ''Webb asserted, improbably, that the Blandon-Meneses-Ross drug ring opened "the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles," helping to "spark a crack explosion in urban America." The story offered no evidence to support such sweeping conclusions, a fatal error that would ultimately destroy Webb, if not his editors." [But this was the first pipeline from Colombia to the black community!]''

DHS, DOJ seeking to deliver informant to House of Death's door  8/14/2006 NarcoNews 

The Foiled UK Terror Plot and the "Pakistani Connection"  8/14/2006 Global Research: ''Of significance in assessing "the reliability" of the intelligence transmitted by the ISI to its British and US counterparts, are the detailed documented links of Pakistan's Military Intelligence (ISI) to the "Islamic terror network". While actively collaborating with the British police investigation, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) is known to have supported and financed a number of "Islamic terror groups" including Al Qaeda. In fact the terrorist training camps in Pakistan were set up in the early 1980s with the support of the ISI and the CIA. And the leaders of these various Islamic organizations were also indoctrinated in the ISI sponsored madrassas. The ISI was instrumental in the creation of the militant Jammu and Kashmir Hizbul Mujahideen (JKHM) in the late 1980s. Confirmed by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), it has also supported and provided financial assistance (during the entire post-Cold War era), to the two main Pakistan-based Kashmir rebel groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba, (Army of the Pure) and Jaish-e-Muhammad (Army of Mohammed), which claimed responsibility for the terror attack on the Indian parliament in October 2001.''

London Fog - Doubts Hang Over Terror Plot  8/14/2006 CounterPunch: ''We await the release of more facts about the 21 (or 23, or 24) young men and one (or two) young women who intended to blow up in mid-air nine (or 10 or 12) transatlantic airplanes "soon" or in the "next few days" or just "imminently". The two-score young Muslim Brits allegedly were preparing liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks, but actually nitroglycerin (or nitormethane, or triacetone triperoxide). However, one of these was so unstable it was likely to fail (as it did in another plot) or smelled so pungent a patrol dog would sniff it at half a mile, or was "almost impossible" to mix on an airplane. Then we were told the British police had been tracking this plot for a "year" or "several months" but decided to pounce on the alleged perps last Wednesday because of "information" from a "source" in Pakistan. Why then? A good question, especially as we were also told none of the intended terrorist travellers had yet purchased an airline ticket. Odd...for at this time of year in Britain transatlantic tickets are not immediately available.''

Tony Blair government, under siege by a Labor Party revolt, cleverly cooked up a new "terror" scare to avert the public's eyes away from Blair's increasing political woes.  8/13/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: ''The London terror plan was "known" last Sunday by British and American authorities, according to the Indian press. American Airlines flight 109 from London Heathrow to Boston boarded a family of five, however, after the plane left Heathrow authorities determined that the father appeared on a British suspect list drawn up after the 7/7 London transit attacks. At first, the pilot was instructed to fly all the way to Boston where U.S. authorities could claim credit for apprehending the suspect. However, the pilot, fearing for the safety of his passengers and crew, refused and quickly returned to Heathrow without informing the passengers. Once on the ground, it was discovered that the male had in his carry-on baggage the type of combination liquid explosive and electronic device now being hyped by the British and American media. British sources report that the reason for the delay in informing the airlines and traveling public about the liquid bomb on the American flight was to maximize the beneficial political impact for Blair and George W. Bush, both plummeting in the polls from the situations in Iraq and Lebanon. Earlier this week, two employees of Murdoch's London tabloid, News of the World, were charged with hacking into the voice and text cell phone messages of three members of the staff of Clarence House, the residence of Princes Charles, William, and Harry. One of those charged with the wiretapping was Clive Goodman, the Royals editor of the News of the World. The same paper earlier tried to politically damage two anti-Iraq war British politicians -- Scottish Socialist Tommy Sheridan and Respect Party MP George Galloway. The paper charges that Sheridan was unfaithful to his wife by going to swinger's clubs. He won a quarter million dollar lawsuit against the paper. Galloway was confronted by Mazher Mahmood, an individual who uses the moniker "Fake Sheik," who posed as a wealthy Arab businessman and tried unsuccessfully to get Galloway to accept cash and make anti-Semitic remarks. In fact, Mahmood was and continues to be a reporter for News of the World, his continued employment approved by Murdoch. Goodman has merely been suspended by Murdoch but he has not been fired. However, what prompted Murdoch and Blair to hype a new global "terror" threat was what Murdoch learned from eavesdropping on the phone calls of Prince Charles' staff at the future king's office, home, and limousine. The eavesdropping revealed that Charles was working with Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who is to the left of Blair, to conduct the same type of political maneuver that John Major used to oust Margaret Thatcher from office. London's left-wing Mayor, Ken Livingston, was also in on the Charles-Brown plan and it was expected that in return for his support, Livingston would get a senior position in a Brown cabinet -- a development that sent shock waves through the neo-con circles in London, Washington, and Jerusalem, including British Home Secretary John Reid and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The Charles-Brown plan was briefed by Blair to Bush during the former's recent visit to Washington. However, because the phony terror plot was known to both leaders -- they decided to be away on vacation when the terror plot was "uncovered." Bush is vacationing at his Crawford, Texas "ranch," while Blair is on vacation in Barbados, staying at Sir Cliff Richard's luxurious villa. After Blair met with Bush in Washington, he flew to California where on July 30 he attended Murdoch's News Corporation private corporate executive conference at the posh Inn at Spanish Bay golf resort in Pebble Beach. Blair met with Murdoch, Israeli former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Newt Gingrich, and various Fox, Star, and Sky News executives. The final touches were agreed to by Blair and Murdoch on how the fake terror plot would play out in Murdoch's media empire. Blair told Bush that a Brown government would move to withdraw British troops from Iraq, break the "special relationship" with the Bush White House, and move closer to the European Union and the United Nations. The Israeli attack on Lebanon created a rift within Blair's Cabinet with some former Blair loyalists signaling their support for the political coup against Blair. As a result, a suspect passenger was permitted to board an American aircraft at Heathrow with a liquid bomb to lay the groundwork for the media and travel hysteria five days later. The wiretapping of Charles' messages also indicated that he has weighed in with various European royal families to discourage them from inviting Bush on state visits to their nations. This, reportedly upset the Bush and Blair regimes, who were working together to improve Bush's image in Europe. The White House's displeasure with the monarchies in Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg, and Norway are a direct result of the Murdoch eavesdropping on Charles' staff. Not surprisingly, after Galloway tore into a Sky News reporter on a recent televised interview, The Sun, a Murdoch paper, is now reporting that one of the 24 British aircraft liquid bomber suspects now under arrest, Waheed Zaman, met with Galloway "many times." The paper quotes the sister of the suspect. A Galloway spokesman denies that Galloway knows the suspect. What is suspect is the Murdoch media empire that makes up news and commits illegal acts to provide cover for the false flag operations being conducted by Britain, the U.S., and Israel. Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) agency has helped provide the cover story for the alleged liquid bombers. Working with British and U.S. intelligence, the ISI says it broke up the plot after arresting terrorist suspects in Lahore and Karachi. However, the ISI claims that the men were affiliated with the Kashmiri terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, a group that is run and funded by the ISI itself. The disclosure of the Charles-Brown plot has already created a backlash from the neo-cons. The Murdoch media is already floating the rumor that Home Secretary Reid is now Blair's chosen successor, while there will be an effort to scandalize Charles in an effort to convince the British public that it would be best to skip over him and have Prince William assume the throne upon Queen Elizabeth's death or abdication. British commentators are noting that it is Reid, a noted neo-con, who is chairing national security "Cobra" meetings in Blair's absence. Blair bypassed Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and many political observers believe that Prescott was passed over because of evidence that he was involved in supporting the Charles-Brown coup. Prescott chaired Cobra meetings in the wake of the July 7, 2005 (7/7) London transit bombings.''

U.S. Attorney General backing effort to silence House of Death informant  8/12/2006 NarcoNews: ''“My position [in the case] is that Lalo is afraid to return to Mexico because he would be killed,” she says. “Legally, you can seek protection in the United States if you fear you are being returned to a place where you would be killed.” Goodwin adds that if Lalo is unsuccessful in his appeal, the case could be brought to the doorstep of the U.S. Supreme Court. Lalo finds himself in this position after working as an informant for the very same government that is now seeking to deport him to what he fears will be a certain death at the hands of the narco-traffickers he betrayed while on the payroll of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). While working as an ICE informant, Lalo participated in up to a dozen murders between August 2003 and mid-January 2004 at the House of Death in Ciudad Juárez. Lalo had penetrated a narco-trafficking organization — headed by Heriberto Santillan-Tabares — that employed police officers in Juárez to help carry out the murders.''

Terror grounded: UK foils plot to blow up 10 planes  8/11/2006 DNA, India: [this story is repeated in the western press at an earlier date, but does not mention the explosives] "An eerie prologue to the events of Thursday played out to anxious authorities on Sunday. Masked explosives capable of destroying an airplane midair were recovered in a tense operation from a family travelling from London to Boston. A source at Heathrow airport recounted the drama. The five-member family — two adults and three children — boarded American Airlines Flight 109 for Boston. They checked in at the last moment, inviting only a perfunctory check of the children’s hand-baggage. After the aircraft took off the check-in computer at the airport flashed a warning that a person under observation had boarded the flight. Airline staff informed immigration and security officials. A background check revealed that the male adult member of the family was on a suspect list prepared by Scotland Yard after the 7/7 terror attacks in London.''

Britain Names Suspects in Alleged Airline Bomb Plot; British Muslims Skeptical, Fear Backlash  8/11/2006 Democracy Now 

Venezuela Captures Suspected Drug Lord  8/10/2006 Venezuela: ''Elias Verde Peña, believed to be the leader of a drug ring in Venezuela and Europe, was detained Monday in western Caracas, Venezuela’s Office of the Attorney General said in a statement. Verde is being investigated for multiple homicides and alleged links to 22 Venezuelans who were detained March 21 at a Paris airport. Nearly 45 pounds of cocaine was discovered in the stomachs of those arrested in France. Following the Paris scandal, the Judicial Police Chief of Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar International Airport and 14 other security officials were dismissed. Venezuelan authorities last week detained Libardo Parra Gonzalez, a suspected Colombian drug trafficker and paramilitary leader. Gonzalez, who is wanted in Colombia and the United States for alleged crimes including drug trafficking, kidnapping and extortion, was deported to Colombia to face charges. In 2005, Venezuela signed multilateral agreements with both France and Colombia to collaborate more effectively on counter-narcotic efforts. On Monday, Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel was in Bogotá where he used the opportunity to highlight the neighboring nations’ growing cooperation in the fight against drugs.''

London-Boston Flight Called Back - American Airlines Plane Returns To England With 'No Fly' Passenger  8/7/2006 AP: ''[does not mention there were explosives aboard, which becomes part of the story in an Aug 11 Indian paper, DNA]''

Was 9/11 an 'inside job'?  8/3/2006 Seattle PI 

9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon  8/2/2006 Washington Post: ''Suspicion of wrongdoing ran so deep that the 10-member commission, in a secret meeting at the end of its tenure in summer 2004, debated referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, according to several commission sources. Staff members and some commissioners thought that e-mails and other evidence provided enough probable cause to believe that military and aviation officials violated the law by making false statements to Congress and to the commission, hoping to hide the bungled response to the hijackings, these sources said. In the end, the panel agreed to a compromise, turning over the allegations to the inspectors general for the Defense and Transportation departments, who can make criminal referrals if they believe they are warranted, officials said. "We to this day don't know why NORAD [the North American Aerospace Command] told us what they told us," said Thomas H. Kean, the former New Jersey Republican governor who led the commission. "It was just so far from the truth. . . . It's one of those loose ends that never got tied."''

www.homelandsecurityssi.com  7/29/2006 SSI: ''Security Solutions International SSI represents Israeli know-how in counter-terror training for Homeland Security First Responders.''

Montgomery Police Department's SWAT Team Learns Israeli Tactics  7/25/2006 WSFA Alabama: ''As the fighting continues overseas, some lessons from the Middle East conflict are hitting home right here in Alabama. Members of the Montgomery Police Department SWAT team are in a five day counterterrorism school taught by a former Israeli servicemember. Out at the practice range, the 12 member team learns that timing is everything. SWAT team member Todd Wheeler notes, "The way the Israelis do it, it's extremely dynamic. It's extremely fast and that's the only way to fight counterterrorism." That's also why the Montgomery SWAT team is training with Aaron Cohen. He's a veteran of the Israeli counterterrorist unit. Now his four year stint with that team will work for this team. Cohen says he wants, "to be able to help them reduce risk while responding to terrorist threats while in crowded areas." Cohen says these drills and the current situation in the Middle East are a powerful combination for him. He explains,"It's tough. It hits home for me because my unit is working there right now.''

US Cops Continue Studying Counterterrorism in Israel  7/25/2006 The Conservative Voice 

Santrina owner arrested  7/17/2006 Granma: "The 43-year-old man, son of notorious terrorist Ernestino Abreu, and an accomplice of Posada since his days in Panama, appears in the official register as president of the Caribbean Marine Ecological Protection Foundation (FPEMC), the phony owner of the Santrina shrimper in which Posada made his clandestine crossing."

Pinochet's Mad Scientist  7/12/2006 Consortium News: ''In a court document filed in early July 2006, Gen. Manuel Contreras, former chief of Chile's feared intelligence service, implicated the country's ex-dictator, Gen. Augusto Pinochet, and one of his sons in a scheme to manufacture and smuggle cocaine to Europe and the United States, explaining one source of Pinochet's $28 million fortune. Contreras alleged that the cocaine was processed with Pinochet's approval at an Army chemical plant south of Santiago during the 1980s and that Pinochet's son Marco Antonio arranged the shipments of the processed cocaine. [NYT, July 11, 2006] At the time of the alleged cocaine smuggling, Pinochet was a close ally of the Reagan-Bush administration, providing help on a variety of sensitive intelligence projects, including shipping military equipment to Nicaraguan contra rebels who also were implicated in the exploding cocaine trade to the United States.''

Racist extremists active in U.S. military SPLC urges Rumsfeld to adopt zero-tolerance policy  7/7/2006 SPLC 

5.5 Ton Cocaine Bust Reveals New Details of 9.11 Attack  5/16/2006 Mad Cow Morning News: ''Makram Chams owned a Kwik-Check convenience store in Venice, where the biggest overseas money transfer to the terrorists, $70,000 from the UAE., was sent, according to the testimony of FBI agents during the 9.11 Commission hearings. Actually the FBI testimony never mentioned Chams, or his store. They did however show the receipt for the money order at the final hearing of the 9.11 Commission, which we attended. And we were already familiar with the address where the money order went: 201 Nokomis Avenue. Makram Cham's Kwik-Chek... Strangely, Chams left town soon after the 9.11 attack, abandoning a thriving convenience store which has stood vacant ever since… An understanding of what Makram Chams had been doing while in Venice--and for whom--had eluded us, and been one of our biggest unanswered questions, one which might shed light on whether the U.S. Government possessed guilty foreknowledge--or even culpability--in the 9.11 attack. Our search for Chams had been unsuccessful. No one knew where he was, or why he'd left. But now Chams has re-surfaced in Saudi Arabia, where he worked in an unlikely capacity: as a contractor for American defense firm Titan Corp. News of Makram Chams' current whereabouts came to us when a researcher recently sent this addendum to Titan Corp’s 2005 SEC filing: “On March 14, 2005, Makram Majid Chams, a former consultant of Titan filed a claim with the Preliminary Committee on Labor Disputes Settlement in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Chams alleges that Titan wrongfully terminated his consulting agreement and that he was defamed by Titan's publication in a local newspaper of a mandatory notice that he is no longer representing Titan. The plaintiff is seeking approximately $21.9 million in damages. We intend to defend our position vigorously.''

Atta's Big Gamble. Plus: Jack Abramoff's Link To A Mysterious Saudi -- And Perhaps To Al Qaeda  5/16/2006 Brad Blog: published 8/05 - "The FBI does not include any mention of Chams in their publicly-released material on Atta. Of course, we now know (from the Able Danger story and other sources) that Atta did far more in this country than the Authorized Version would have us believe. Casino ship owner Cham and his disturbing dealings with wealthy Saudis find an echo in the career of Jack Abramoff. Not only was he in the same business, he also has a Saudi connection many will consider unsettling. As Kate Camborat the TPM Cafe notes, Abramoff did PR work for a Saudi billionaire named Saleh Abdullah Kamel, chairman of the General Council for Islamic Banks. Kamel sure needed a good PR person. According to a number of published accounts report (which I cannot independently confirm), he has another good buddy -- a fellow named Osama Bin Laden."

Chris Cox,SEC,Makram Majid Chams, 9/11,Abhu Ghraib,etc.  5/15/2006 IndyMedia: compendium of material about Chams - "Makram Chams, although Lebanese, is more connected to the U.S. military - industrial complex as well as to elite Saudis than anything. In other words he is a George W Bush kind of guy first and a Lebanese last,he just happened to be born in Lebanon. While he owned a convenience store in Venice,Florida and was a friend to Mohamed Atta he disappeared immediately after 9/11 or so we thought.As it turned out he did NOT seek refuge in the enemy states of Afghanistan under the Taliban or in Saddam's Iraq.No.Although of Lebanese birth,he took refuge with W Bush's allies in Saudi Arabia where he was and presumeably is protected and was employed by the U.S. military-industrial corp Titan, presumably using his 'good works' in Venice,Florida with Mohamed Atta et.al.,as part of his resume.."

US in secret gun deal - Small arms shipped from Bosnia to Iraq 'go missing' as Pentagon uses dealers  5/12/2006 Guardian: "A complex web of private firms, arms brokers and freight firms, was behind the transfer of the guns, as well as millions of rounds of ammunition, to Iraq at "bargain basement prices", according to Hugh Griffiths, Amnesty's investigator. The Moldovan air firm which flew the cargo out of a US air base at Tuzla, north-east Bosnia, was flying without a licence. The firm, Aerocom, named in a 2003 UN investigation of the diamonds-for-guns trade in Liberia and Sierra Leone, is now defunct, but its assets and aircraft are registered with another Moldovan firm, Jet Line International. Some of the firms used in the Pentagon sponsored deals were also engaged in illegal arms shipments from Serbia and Bosnia to Liberia and to Saddam Hussein four years ago."

French Prime Minister under full scale neo-son attack.  5/11/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to 3rd entry for May 11, 2006 - "French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, under fire for carrying out an order from President Jacques Chirac to investigate neo-con Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy's financial sources and discovered links to a Luxembourg-based clearinghouse called Clearstream. Sarkozy was suspected of illegally receiving kickbacks involving the sale of six French frigates to Taiwan in 1991. According to informed French and Italian sources, Sarkozy, who is being defended by the global neo-con media as the victim of a "smear campaign," appears to be up to his neck in suspicious foreign financial connections and that is what prompted DeVillepin, Chirac, and French intelligence to investigate the right-wing and vociferously anti-Arab and anti-Muslim Interior Minister. Sarkozy is suspected of links to the same Russian-Israeli mafia syndicates that have been connected to Jack Abramoff, Dick Cheney, and leading Israeli politicians."

Debate far from over for Mexico's drug bill  5/10/2006 Monitor: "Mexico's Secretary of Public Security Eduardo Medina Mora argues the bill has been sensationalized by the media. Selling drugs or using them in public would remain a crime punishable by jail, and police would still be able to take anyone found using drugs into custody for questioning, he told reporters last week. The bill also sets stiffer penalties for trafficking and empowers Mexico's 400,000 local and state police to pursue and arrest street dealers, something that is now the responsibility only of the 21,000-strong federal police force. Mexico would not have been the first country to decriminalize drugs. Half a dozen European countries, as well as Colombia, have passed some form of decriminalization law, says Bruce Bagley, a professor of international studies at the University of Miami. Many other countries have decriminalized marijuana. Most US states, by contrast, have much stricter laws. "Is decriminalization the way to go? Absolutely," says Mr. Bagley. "The US method of repression does not work. Not only have we failed to reduce drug use, we have filled our jails with prisoners in for drug-related crimes, many of them non- violent - which has a devastating impact on society, especially on the poor.""

Major cocaine shipment, using a CIA proprietary aircraft, landed in Mexico en route from Caracas, Venezuela with 5.5 tons of cocaine on board  5/10/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to May 10, 2006 - "WMR reported on April 21 on a major cocaine shipment, using a CIA proprietary aircraft, that landed in Mexico en route from Caracas, Venezuela with 5.5 tons of cocaine on board. The pilot was reported to have "escaped" from Mexican police. U.S. and foreign neo-con propaganda organs immediately tried to link the aircraft, a DC-9 that was sold to unknown persons in Venezuela by a Clearwater, Florida-based firm called Royal Sons, LLC, to Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Colombia's FARC guerrillas. The plane was painted in the colors and bore an insignia similar to those used by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The insignia identified the aircraft as "Sky Way Aircraft." It has now been revealed by knowledgeable sources that Sky Way is affiliated with an off-shore company called DuPont Fund 57289, Inc., headed by a "Richard DuPont, Jr.," who likely does not exist. DuPont Fund is not affiliated with the DuPont business group or any subsidiaries of the multinational chemical firm. DuPont Fund is headquartered at Apartado 10455-1000 in San Jose, Costa Rica. This is the same address used by Red Sea Management, Ltd., an off-shore company and trust facilitator that is linked to another address -- 76 Dean Street in Belize City, Belize, which is apparently a post office box drop. Red Sea has a Cyprus-based subsidiary called Dark Sea Consultants that specializes in on-line gambling operations in the Middle East and East Asia. WMR sources report that this operation, involving cocaine smuggling and on-line gambling, is linked to the illegal operations of convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, members of Russian-Israeli-Ukrainian crime syndicates, and top Republican elected officials, including Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, and others who benefited from the infusion of drug and gambling proceeds into their political war chests, as well as the financing of pay-offs and bribes to election officials in Florida, Ohio, and other states to buy the 2004 election for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney." [see WMR for links to earlier stories on this topic].

CIA boss Goss is cooked  5/6/2006 NY Post: "CIA Director Porter Goss abruptly resigned yesterday amid allegations that he and a top aide may have attended Watergate poker parties where bribes and prostitutes were provided to a corrupt congressman. Kyle (Dusty) Foggo, the No. 3 official at the CIA, could soon be indicted in a widening FBI investigation of the parties thrown by defense contractor Brent Wilkes, named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the bribery conviction of former Rep. Randall (Duke) Cunningham, law enforcement sources said… Johnson vouched for the integrity of Foggo and Goss but said, "Dusty was a big poker player, and it's my understanding that Porter Goss was also there \[at Wilkes' parties\] for poker. It's going to be guilt by association." "It's all about the Duke Cunningham scandal," a senior law enforcement official told the Daily News in reference to Goss' resignation. Duke, a California Republican, was sentenced to more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty in November to taking $2.4 million in homes, yachts and other bribes in exchange for steering government contracts. Goss' inability to handle the allegations swirling around Foggo prompted John Negroponte, the director of National Intelligence, who oversees all of the nation's spy agencies, to press for the CIA chief's ouster, the senior official said. The official said Goss is not an FBI target but "there is an impending indictment" of Foggo for steering defense contracts to his poker buddies."

Sex, Lies, and Government Contracts  5/5/2006 Alternert 

Team Abramoff Visited the White House over 200 Times in Bush’s First 10 Months in Office  5/3/2006 Pensito Review: "The Secret Service released logs showing the comings and goings of convicted Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and members of his staff at the White House that present a jaw-dropping level of access to the Bush Administration after the 2000 election:"

Records of Abramoff's White House visits  5/1/2006 AP: "The president has said he does not know Abramoff personally. When a photo of Bush with Abramoff surfaced earlier this year, the president said he has his picture taken with "a lot of people." In the 2001 photo, Bush is shaking hands with a leader of an Indian tribe. Abramoff is in the background. A few days after Bush made the remarks about the photo, Abramoff expressed surprise in e-mails to a magazine editor about the president's faulty memory. Abramoff told the Washingtonian magazine that he had met with Bush nearly a dozen times and that Bush knew him well enough to joke with him."

Colombia’s Secret Narco-Police - Claims of Collaboration with Drug Traffickers and Paramilitaries Sting the Country’s DAS Security Service and Support Allegations of DEA Corruption Published in Narco News  4/29/2006 NarcoNews: "Though it has barely registered in the U.S. press, a national scandal is currently unfolding in Colombia, where a jailed high official of the Administrative Department for Security (DAS, in its Spanish initials) has been speaking freely with journalists about the extensive collaboration between the secret police agency and right-wing paramilitary groups. Rafael García lost his post as DAS’ information technology chief after being charged with taking bribes from rightwing paramilitaries and narcos (often, one and the same). He now claims that DAS has been working for years, at least since Uribe’s 2002 election, in conjunction with the paras and their narco allies, sharing documents and intelligence to help kill and intimidate activists and unionists, help powerful drug traffickers avoid prosecution and murder informants. And investigative journalists in Colombia have verified and shed more light on a number of these claims."

Former German Minister Says Building 7 Used To Run 9/11 Attack  4/25/2006 Prison Planet: "Von Bülow commented on the disputed identities of the named hijackers. "The names of these nineteen [hijackers] never came up in the official passenger list, until now there's no proof they were on the planes." Von Bülow also pointed out how the alleged hijacker's flight instructors told investigators that they couldn't even fly Cessna's, never mind complex large commercial airliners. Von Bülow also touched upon the implausible collapse of the buildings. The towers came down in the velocity of free fall which is totally impossible, they fall down in 8, 9, or 10 seconds, the pancake theory is ridiculous," he said. Von Bülow also highlighted the fact that there were 67 successful intercepts of errant aircraft in the year of 2001 before 9/11 and yet four planes were allowed to veer wildly off course without any being intercepted on that one day."

Firing of CIA Inspector General (IG) officer, 61-year old CIA veteran Mary O. McCarthy  4/24/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to the first April 24, 2006 entry - "An intelligence professional who knows McCarthy reports that she discovered sensational illegal activities by the CIA and was stymied by the Inspector General senior management. McCarthy is said by a colleague to be a devout Catholic who must have bent the rules only out of religious impulses and a high degree of frustration. The intelligence community source also confirmed past CIA activities in drug smuggling, which have now been resumed by Porter Goss. Three CIA proprietary airlines that flew in Laos during the Indochina war flew heroin from the Golden Triangle in Burma to South Vietnamese and American intermediaries for street distribution to U.S. troops in South Vietnam. The CIA proprietary airlines involved were Air America, Byrd and Sons, and Continental Air Services, Inc. (CASI). CASI, based in Vientiane, Laos, flew the most lucrative aircraft for hauling large amounts of heroin -- ironically, the Swiss-built Pilatus "Porter" -- which could haul large amounts of drugs, 15 armed men, and land uphill on remote airstrips in Laos. Porter Goss was a clandestine CIA officer in Latin America during the height of the CIA's illegal drug smuggling activities. The current leaks of information about renewed CIA drug smuggling activities are clearly an attempt by some CIA professionals to link Goss to past illegal activities."

The Smack Brigades - How Opium Lost the Afghan War  4/23/2006 Sobaka: "In Iraq and in Afghanistan today there are the same temptations, and though the pay for the American soldier is better than ours was it is still not much by their country's standards. Addiction is not a Soviet disease. In an army, the only sign that I know of for sure that it is happening is that your enemy begins to shoot you with your own guns."

Porter Goss's Cocaine Import Agency (CIA) has links to "Al Qaeda" and Saudis  4/21/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to April 21, 2006 - "Last year, WMR reported on links between the Saudi Royal Family and CIA proprietary airline companies involved in cocaine smuggling. On April 10, Mexican police, acting on a tip from INTERPOL, seized a DC-9 aircraft carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine with an estimated street value of $100 million. The U.S.-registered plane was en route from Caracas, Venezuela, which, according to French intelligence, is a known hub for cocaine shipments from Colombia to Saudi Arabia (see article below). The DC-9 (registration number N900SA) made an emergency landing at Ciudad del Carmen in Campeche state. A Falcon aircraft that arrived at Ciudad del Carmen from Toluca airport in Mexico state in advance of the arrival of the DC-9 was also seized. The cocaine was contained in 128 suitcases. The Mexican police later claimed the unidentified DC-9's pilot managed to escape. However, the police did arrest the co-pilot. The DC-9 was painted in the familiar blue and white colors of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration with am official-looking seal with an American eagle bearing the inscription: "Sky Way Aircraft - Protection of America's Skies." The registered owner of the aircraft is: Royal Sons Inc., 15875 Fairchild Drive, Clearwater, Florida. On April 5, 2006, the plane flew from St. Petersburg/Clearwater International to Simon Bolivar International in Caracas. "Sky Ways" (see article below) has also been linked to the Saudi government and Bush family/CIA activities. Royal Sons, the name of which may indicate the involvement of Saudi princes, such as the cocaine-transporting Prince Nayif, cited below, also maintained an office at 224 East Airport Ave., Venice, Florida, at the same time lead hijacker Mohammad Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi were training at Huffman Aviation, which was located near by at 400 East Airport Avenue. Two years before 911, Venice was also the subject of intensive intelligence operations by Israeli intelligence agents masquerading as "art students." Not surprisingly in light of Saudi involvement with cocaine smuggling, the activities of the Israelis drew the particular attention of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which had Venice airport under surveillance and later prepared a lengthy report on the activities of the Israelis. Atta and al Shehhi also used Clearwater airport for practice take-off and landings during off-peak hours."

US recalls ambassador to Azerbaijan  4/21/2006 UPI: "The U.S. State Department is recalling U.S. Ambassador Reno Harnish from Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijani media is rife with speculation that Harnish is being recalled because of a burgeoning human smuggling scandal which came to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Moscow newspaper Trud newspaper reported on Thursday that FBI agents began interviews with embassy officials about the smuggling of Azerbaijani prostitutes into the United States and the issuing of visas."

Cheney has tapped Iranian expatriate, arms dealer to surveil discussions with Iran, officials say  4/20/2006 Raw Story: "The Department of Defense and Vice President Dick Cheney have retained the services of Iran-Contra arms dealer and discredited intelligence asset Manucher Ghorbanifar as their “man on the ground,” in order to report on any interaction and attempts at negotiations between Iranian officials and US ambassador to Iraq, Zelmay Khalilzad, current and former intelligence officials say… If these allegations are true, Ghorbanifar’s recruitment reinstates him to a position he held during the Iran Contra affair, when he was implicated in the scandal of selling arms to Iran in order to fund a right wing terrorist group, the Contras, who were battling the democratically-elected Sandinista government in Nicaragua."

Saudi Entrepeneur Adnan Khashoggi Linked to 911 Terrorists  4/18/2006 Questions, Questions: published 10/04, extensive discussion of the topic

5 1/2 Tons of Cocaine Found on Venezuela Plane  4/11/2006 AP: "Mexican soldiers seized 5 1/2 tons of cocaine from a commercial plane arriving from Venezuela, Mexico's Defense Department announced Tuesday. The army was waiting for the plane on Monday at the airport of Cuidad de Carmen, 550 miles east of Mexico City, after receiving information from Venezuelan and U.S. authorities, Gen. Carlos Gaytan told a news conference… A U.S. State Department report released in March said that Venezuela has become a key transit point for drugs because of "rampant corruption at the highest levels of law enforcement and a weak judicial system." Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez suspended cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in August, accusing its agents of spying."

Cuba claims drug war victory, without US help  4/9/2006 Reuters 

The Road to 9/11: Chapter 8: Al Qaeda and the U.S. Establishment  4/6/2006 Peter Dale Scott: 'In one former Soviet Republic, Azerbaijan, Arab Afghan jihadis clearly assisted this effort of U.S. oil companies to penetrate the region. In 1991, Richard Secord, Heinie Aderholt, and Ed Dearborn, three veterans of U.S. operations in Laos, and later of Oliver North’s operations with the Contras, turned up in Baku under the cover of an oil company, MEGA Oil.[15] This was at a time when the first Bush administration had expressed its support for an oil pipeline stretching from Azerbaijan across the Caucasus to Turkey.[16] MEGA never did find oil, but did contribute materially to the removal of Azerbaijan from the sphere of post-Soviet Russian influence. Secord, Aderholt, and Dearborn were all career U.S. Air Force officers, not CIA. However Secord explains in his memoir how Aderholt and himself were occasionally seconded to the CIA as CIA detailees. Secord describes his own service as a CIA detailee with Air America in first Vietnam and then Laos, in cooperation with the CIA Station Chief Theodore Shackley.[17] Secord later worked with Oliver North to supply arms and materiel to the Contras in Honduras, and also developed a small air force for them, using many former Air America pilots.[18] Because of this experience in air operations, CIA Director Casey and Oliver North had selected Secord to trouble-shoot the deliveries of weapons to Iran in the Iran-Contra operation.[19] (Aderholt and Dearborn also served in the Laotian CIA operation, and later in supporting the Contras.) As MEGA operatives in Azerbaijan, Secord, Aderholt, Dearborn, and their men engaged in military training, passed “brown bags filled with cash” to members of the government, and above all set up an airline on the model of Air America which soon was picking up hundreds of mujahedin mercenaries in Afghanistan.[20] (Secord and Aderholt claim to have left Azerbaijan before the mujahedin arrived.) Meanwhile, Hekmatyar, who at the time was still allied with bin Laden, was “observed recruiting Afghan mercenaries [i.e. Arab Afghans] to fight in Azerbaijan against Armenia and its Russian allies.”[21] At this time, heroin flooded from Afghanistan through Baku into Chechnya, Russia, and even North America.[22] It is difficult to believe that MEGA’s airline (so much like Air America) did not become involved.[23]"

DeLay implicated in Florida gangland hit of casino boats owner  4/4/2006 Wayne Madsen: scroll down to April 4, 2006 - "WMR sources report that Broward County prosecutors are livid about the failure of the FBI to inform them that Moscatiello was an FBI informant at the time of the Boulis murder. They are convinced that the George W. and Jeb Bush administrations in Washington and Tallahassee, respectively, deliberately blocked the prosecution from linking Moscatiello to the criminal cases against Abramoff and Kidan. Kidan placed Moscatiello and Ferrari on the Sun Cruz payroll after Abramoff assumed control of the company. Abramoff and Kidan were sentenced to over 5 years in prison last week for lying to financers in their purchase of Sun Cruz from Boulis. The light sentences were the result of plea agreements in which they prmised to cooperate with federal prosecutors. However, the Sun Cruz case goes far beyond Abramoff and involves DeLay, according to informed sources. The Broward County prosecutors believe that the FBI's written summaries (FD-302s) of their interviews with Moscatiello were withheld from the prosecution by the FBI in order to protect senior GOP officials. Had the prosecution known Moscatiello was an FBI informer, he could have been offered a plea bargain in return for his cooperation against Republican politicians in Florida and Washington, DC."

Wiseguy defendant doubled as FBI snitch - The star defendant in the murder of Konstantinos 'Gus' Boulis had secretly been playing both sides of the law.  4/1/2006 Miami Herald: "In the Boulis case, Moscatiello, 67, is not the only defendant, but he is by far the most infamous. The other two charged in the case -- mob wannabes Anthony ''Little Tony'' Ferrari and James ''Pudgy'' Fiorillo -- don't come with the Gotti glitter. What's more, Moscatiello is pals with Adam Kidan. Moscatiello advised him on his Long Island bagel chain long before Kidan teamed up with powerful Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff to buy SunCruz in 2000. Soon after the deal, Boulis was shot dead in his BMW on a Fort Lauderdale street as he was leaving his office in February 2001. Ferrari, Fiorillo and Moscatiello were arrested Sept. 26, 2005 -- more than four years after Boulis' death. The three men pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges. Neither Kidan nor Abramoff has been charged in connection with his murder. Moscatiello claimed that Ferrari told him it was Kidan who ordered the hit on Boulis. Kidan, who once had Moscatiello and Ferrari on SunCruz's payroll, had been publicly feuding with Boulis after the sale of his gambling-ship empire."

An Act of State - The Execution of Martin Luther King  3/31/2006 CounterPunch: review of Pepper's book by his investigator.

The Strength of the Wolf  3/31/2006 Douglas Valentine: ""This fascinating and engrossing account of early US efforts to control the illegal drug trade is also much more. Valentine deeply examines the practices of the CIA, carefully and skillfully making a connection between it and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN). The book exposes the close relationship between organized crime and those in intelligence. From the Cold War to the 1960s, FBN director Harry Anslinger, in a desperate bid to outflank the FBI, entered into a "suicidal" relationship with the CIA. In 1962, the FBN began "its descent into knave spookery and internecine warfare." "Valentine also smartly examines the CIA's role in using drugs as a weapon to turn foreign agents and supply funds to anti-communist organizations. His account of MKULTRA--the CIA experiment with LSD--is fascinating and nicely documented. Exploring the deep politics defined by Peter Dale Scott (Deep Politics and the Death of JFK, CH, Mar. '94), Valentine deftly plumbs the hidden roots of the early war on narcotics and proves that foreign policy considerations always trumped public health." "

Will the Real Daniel Ellsberg Please Stand Up! The Clash of the Icons by Douglas Valentine  3/31/2006 CounterPunch: published 3/03 - "Today only questions remain. Why did Conein meet the Corsicans in 1965? Was the rumor of an assassination attempt on Ellsberg concocted to provide Conein with a plausible cover story for his "truce" with the drug smuggling Corsicans? If so, why does Ellsberg deny that his CIA comrades, Lansdale, Conein and Scotton, were involved in drug smuggling, as McCoy contends? And, finally, was McCoy deliberately led by Conein in a wide circle around the CIA's unilateral drug smuggling operation? Unless these questions are resolved, the truth about Watergate and the Pentagon Papers will continue to elude historians, and this quiet discrepancy will serve, like the TV movie based on Ellsberg's autobiography, only to perpetuate the myths, mysteries, and half-truths that define American history--a history that hauntingly reflects standard CIA operating procedures."

Long Live The 9/11 Conspiracy! Anyone still care about the heap of disturbing, unsolved questions surrounding Our Great Tragedy?  3/29/2006 SF Chronicle 

Long Live The 9/11 Conspiracy! Anyone still care about the heap of disturbing, unsolved questions surrounding Our Great Tragedy?  3/29/2006 SF Chronicle 

Venezuela Refuses to Extradite Man Wanted in the US for Drug Trafficking  3/29/2006 Venezuela Analysis: "In a move likely further increase friction in the already tense relations between Venezuela and the US, Venezuela released Mateo Holguin Ovalle, a Dominican wanted by the US for drug trafficking. The decision was based on a Venezuelan law which requires extradition for those wanted for organized crime, except in cases where the receiving country does not guarantee not to apply the death penalty, life imprisonment, or a sentence that exceeds 30 years, according to a release by Supreme Court Judge Héctor Coronado Flores. The move comes exactly a week after Venezuela’s embassy in the US put out a strongly worded statement asking the US to either extradite or prosecute Posada Carriles, an anti-Castro terrorism suspect. Previously, a US judge had ruled that Carriles could not be extradited to Venezuela, on the grounds that he may be tortured here."

Judge OKs Abramoff subpoena - Ex-lobbyist says he knows nothing about slaying of casino boss  3/24/2006 CNN: "A judge has approved subpoenas for former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and an ex-business partner to answer questions about the mob-style slaying of the owner of a gambling fleet they bought. Abramoff and Adam Kidan have insisted, through their attorneys, that they know nothing about the slaying of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, who was ambushed in his car by a gunman in Fort Lauderdale a few months after the pair bought SunCruz Casinos from him. A lawyer for Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello, one of three men charged in the 2001 slaying, wants to question Abramoff and Kidan, according to court documents. Circuit Judge Michael Kaplan approved the request Thursday, but the subpoenas had not been issued by Friday morning. The SunCruz purchase is "at the heart" of the murder case, Moscatiello attorney Dave Bogenschutz said in court papers."

Alleged Former Paramilitary Named Military Commander  3/22/2006 NarcoNews: "A general who is believed to have once been a member of a right-wing terrorist group now heads Colombia's armed forces. Just days before signing a trade agreement with the U.S. which will accelerate the sell-off of Colombia’s land and resources to foreign corporations, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe appointed General Mario Montoya to head Colombia’s armed forces. Uribe brought in Montoya, long a favorite of the U.S., to help rehabilitate the military’s image following a hazing scandal. Montoya, however, has his own dark past – throughout a long career, working to consolidate resource-rich areas, the general has frequently been charged with working hand in hand with right-wing paramilitaries. At the press conference announcing Montoya’s promotion, Uribe said “In this moment of our Nation’s history we need triumphant commanders. We don’t need commanders to justify defeats” and called for “a final victory” -- giving Montoya a clear go-ahead to use any means necessary to crush resistance in Colombia."

Informant weighs in on U.S. law enforcement corruption in Colombia  3/18/2006 NarcoNews: "Vega told Narco News that between 1997 and 2000, the FBI and DEA each employed him as an informant in separate investigations focused on the North Valley Cartel leadership. At the same time, Vega claims, he also worked as a foreign counterintelligence source for the CIA. During the course of those DEA and FBI investigations, Vega claims he discovered the operations were being compromised by corrupt players within both DEA and U.S. Customs — a federal law enforcement agency whose investigative arm has since become U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security. U.S. Customs, too, was involved in targeting Colombian narco-traffickers during the same period that Vega was working with the FBI, DEA and CIA in Colombia. Vega claims that ICE did have access, at one point, to much of the information about the informants and cooperating sources within the North Valley organization that had been cultivated through the separate FBI and DEA investigations. Vega alleges that agents in the DEA office in Bogotá as well as someone within U.S. Customs were leaking information about ongoing U.S. law enforcement investigations to key players in the Colombian National Police (CNP). Vega says those CNP officials were aligned with North Valley narco-traffickers. In the wake of the information being leaked, there was a bloodbath, Vega says, with numerous informants and cooperating sources being assassinated in the aftermath. Similar allegations are made in the Kent memo."

Slobodon Milosevic, Serbia's former President, was found dead in his cell in The Hague in the Netherlands  3/12/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: "With Russia applying pressure for Milosevic's transfer to Moscow, the "other neocons," those in the Clinton administration who supported overt and covert funneling of weapons and funds to anti-Yugoslav forces (MPRI's training contract with Croatian ethnic cleansers and the Richard Perle/Douglas Feith funding, through the Feith&Zell/Riggs Bank Bosnian Defense Fund, of Bosnian regular and irregular forces, including Iranian Pasdarans Revolutionary Guard and Al Qaeda forces, had plenty to be worried about. Milosevic and his intelligence services had collected evidence pointing to the involvement of Madeleine Albright, Richard Holbrooke, Wesley Clark, Perle, Feith, and others in the political, military, and financial backing of Muslim units in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo associated with Osama Bin Laden and Albanian heroin smugglers tied to the Taliban in Afghanistan. On March 7, 2002, Milosevic charged that Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda helped the Kosovo Liberation Army attack the Balkans. This is from his cross-examination of Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla leader Sabit Kadriu."

Internet blows CIA cover - It's easy to track America's covert operatives. All you need to know is how to navigate the Internet.  3/12/2006 Chicago Tribune 

ANOTHER INSULT FROM BUSH AND THE PENTAGON NEO-CONS  3/11/2006 From The Wilderness: "But there is something else about John F. Kennedy in particular that makes the Bushes jumpy. The name "George Bush" appears much too frequently in documents, some newly released, relating to the assassination of President Kennedy. Since there is no statute of limitations on murder or accessory to murder, I can understand why Bush pere and fils may want to erase November 22, 1963 from the history books. The document trail linking George H. W. Bush to those involved in the assassination of President Kennedy is nothing less than chilling."

Rightwing Narco's Family Paid $83 Million to the U.S. to Avoid Prosecution  3/9/2006 NarcoNews: "the Colombian newsmagazine Cambio (owned and directed in part by former drug legalization supporter Gabriel García Marquéz) has dug up a juicy tidbit of its own. In this week’s issue, whose cover reads “The Price of Justice,” the magazine reveals that on January 31 of this year the U.S. Justice Department received the last $1.3 million of an $83 million payment from the family of slain Colombian paramilitary boss and narco-trafficker Gonzalo “The Mexican” Rodríguez Gacha. In return for the massive payment, the family – Rodríguez’ widow and seven of his “heirs” – received immunity from prosecution, which they were facing from the Jacksonville, Florida U.S. District Court."

El precio de la justicia - Los herederos de El Mexicano le entregaron a E.U. 80 millones de dólares a cambio de que no los persigan. ¿Debería ser ese dinero para Colombia?  3/9/2006 Cambio 

Danilo's war - The story of one officer's rise and fall in Colombia's drug wars illustrates the challenges police face.  3/6/2006 St Petersburg Times: published 1/05 - "Sensing their days were numbered, the cartel bosses were looking to get out of the business and cash in their assets. So, one by one they approached U.S. law enforcement agents to explore cooperation deals in return for reduced jail time. Mutual suspicion over who would be the next to turn set off a bloody vendetta between the potential snitches in the valley. Hundreds died. Eventually, Gonzalez realized that the time had come to make his own pitch for survival. Early in 2003 he contacted a Colombian fashion photographer in Miami, Baruch Vega, who had worked for years as a U.S. government informant. Gonzalez offered to mediate the surrender of the entire cartel. "There's a lot of people willing to cooperate with information," he told Vega, who tape-recorded their conversations. During hours of discussions, Gonzalez admitted to knowing "every drug trafficker, almost without exception," but he insisted he had an explanation. "In one or another form I received information from them," he said. He claimed that since leaving the police he had dedicated himself to raising cattle and had never been directly involved in drug trafficking. He was willing to meet with U.S. officials and discuss surrender terms. "If there's something that has to be resolved I am willing to do it," he said. "Otherwise I can never live in peace.""

Bogotá DEA Corruption Allegations Interect with Covert FBI, CIA Activity in Colombia - New Document Unravels More Mysteries in Kent Memo; Narco-Trafficker, Informant Drop the Dime on Suspected DEA Foul Play  3/6/2006 NarcoNews: “Specifically, the narcotics traffickers in Colombia were infusing acrylic with cocaine and shaping it into any number of commercial goods,” Kent states in his memo. “The acrylic was then shipped to the United States and Europe where, during processing, the cocaine was extracted from the acrylic.” Informants working with Fields and other Florida agents sent samples of the cocaine-laced acrylic to the DEA, but the agency’s chemists couldn’t figure out how to extract the cocaine. As a result, the Florida agents decided to have the informants come to the United States with a sample of the acrylic, so they could walk the DEA’s chemists through the extraction process. “Agents contacted the Bogotá [DEA] Country Office to discuss the informants’ planned travel and their bringing cocaine out of Colombia infused in acrylic,” the Kent memo alleges. “They were advised that the best tact was for the informants to carry it out themselves.” But when the informants got to the airport to leave for the U.S., they were arrested. A DEA agent in Bogotá, it turns out, had told Colombian officials to “lock them [the informants] up and throw away the key,” according to the Kent memo. The Bogotá agent then claimed that he had no idea the Florida agents had given the informants permission to transport the cocaine. Kent’s memo does not name the Bogotá agent allegedly responsible for double-crossing the Florida agents and their informants. But Narco News sources claim Pena is that agent. “His [Pena’s] misrepresentations were backed by another agent in Bogotá,” Kent alleges in his memo. “The informants were imprisoned for nine months while the accusations flew back and forth. Once it was determined that the agents in Bogotá were lying, the informants were released. One of the informants was kidnapped and murdered in Bogotá where he had gone into hiding.”

Carl Cameron Investigates (Fox News) Monday, December 17, 2001  3/5/2006 Fox News: partial transcript of the famed Cameron show on Israeli activities against the US government - "art students" and the role of Israeli owned companies servicing CIA and phone companies, possibly protecting Israeli organized crime. The transcript has been repeatedly deleted from a number of places on the web, starting with Fox news a few days after it went up.

FBI WHISTLEBLOWER SIBEL EDMONDS IS READY TO TALK!  3/3/2006 Brad Blog: "She's fought her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It was the very same day that the façade cracked on the front of the building and a chunk of marble -- just above an allegorical statue representing "Order" and just below the words "Equal Justice" -- came crashing to the ground. The highest court in the land refused to hear her case… Information omitted & covered up regarding money laundering & narcotics operations, some of which involved entities from the Middle East and the Balkans, in several US cities… Information omitted & covered up regarding certain Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI)-related activities linked to the 9/11 attacks between August & October 2001… numerous other topics.

Bolivia's "Death to Yankees" senator loses US visa  2/24/2006 Reuters: "The congresswoman is one of the most prominent advocates of expanding coca production, which has alarmed Washington as it struggles to control flow of its derivative cocaine into the United States. She said recently: "We need, and we can, develop markets for our coca ... China is particularly important. The Chinese like herbs and they'll like our coca tea." "

THE FRANKLIN CASE AND THE FIVE - "Don't forget to tip!”  2/24/2006 Granma: "Franklin has already enjoyed an incredible sentence reduction despite his treason. After negotiations between the spy’s lawyers and the Attorney General, Federal Judge T.S. Ellis III, of the Alexandria district of Virginia, gave him a 12-year sentence… and then freed him on bail pending the trial of two Israeli agents, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, with whom he actively collaborated. Franklin handed over an enormous volume of information from the Pentagon on Iran, to those two individuals and another Israeli spy, Naor Gilon, then political advisor at the Israeli embassy in Washington, an action evidently behind Israel’s escalating threats of war on Iran."

New Documents Shed More Light on Alleged DEA Corruption in Colombia  2/22/2006 NarcoNews 

Cheney/Libby compromises of CIA nuclear counter-proliferation operations rolled up ultra-sensitive maritime interdiction operation in Southeast Asian waters  2/22/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to Feb 22, 2006 - "The CIA's maritime interdiction program was designed to stop suspect cargo vessels on the high seas, mostly in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea, and search them for nuclear material and missiles and their respective components. The unique and most sensitive aspect of the CIA program was the use of Southeast Asian sea pirates to gain access to the interdicted vessels. The CIA's interdiction program began in the early 1990s, around the same time that Brewster Jennings and Associates began its counter-proliferation activities. Special armed CIA units, masquerading as pirates themselves, accompanied the actual pirates on their fast boats when they attacked merchant vessels identified by other intelligence as likely trafficking in nuclear and missile cargo. The CIA teams, wearing personal dosometers and using Geiger counters and other radiation detection equipment, would inspect cargo holds and containers as the "official pirates" off-loaded commercial cargo such as electronic equipment, small vehicles, and other merchandise. The quid pro quo was that the CIA would not interfere with the pirates' looting of commercial cargo and the pirates would give the CIA teams first access to the cargo holds and containers. The two teams also provided each other mutual security."

Dubai's Port of No Return  2/22/2006 Village Voice: the Voice is now owned by the NYT - "No matter what Bush and his supporters say, there is indisputable evidence of tight connections between the United Arab Emirates and leadership of both the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The country is the center of financial activity in the Persian Gulf, and has next to no laws controlling money laundering.Two of the hijackers came from the UAE and hijacker money was laundered through the UAE. The details are spelled out in documents in the government's case against Moussaoui."

The Houses of Bush, Sabah, and Maktoum  2/21/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll to Feb 21, 2006 - "The Bush Crime Family's close business dealings with the royal houses of Kuwait (the Sabah family) and Dubai (the Maktoum family) either borders on or is treason according to information received from U.S. military and Persian Gulf sources by WMR… UAE banking insiders have revealed that accounts used to fund the Taliban and Al Qaeda involved members of the Dubai royal family. Banking insiders in Dubai report that in March 2002, U.S. Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill visited Dubai and asked for documents on a $109,500 money transfer from Dubai to a joint account held by hijackers Mohammed Atta and Marwan al Shehhi at Sun Trust Bank in Florida. O’Neill also asked UAE authorities to close down accounts used by Al Qaeda and affiliated partners like Victor Bout. The UAE complained about O’Neill’s demands to the Bush administration. O’Neill’s pressure on the UAE and Saudis contributed to Bush firing him as Treasury Secretary in December 2002."

Enquiry: The Killing Years in Ireland  2/21/2006 Totse 

'It's time ordinary republicans stopped being led like sheep'  2/21/2006 Sunday Tribune, Northern Ireland 

Who Is Osama? Where Did He Come From? How Did He Escape? What About Those Anthrax Attacks? A Half-Dozen Questions About 9/11 They Don't Want You to Ask  2/19/2006 CounterPunch: by Werther, the pen name of a Northern Virginia-based defense analyst.

The Assassination of Robert Kennedy - USA, 1992  2/19/2006 RICENPEAS FILMS: "The Assassination of Robert Kennedy, a gripping documentary by the acclaimed producer Chris Plumley, exposes how the CIA planted two operatives within the Los Angeles Police Department who manipulated the investigation of Kennedy’s assassination. Robert Kennedy’s death seemed an open and shut case, yet in spite of the testimonies of seventy-seven witnesses, it remains shrouded in mystery. Many witnesses at the time complained of pressure by the LAPD to change their testimony. For the first time, Plumley exposes how evidence was changed: how an FBI officer saw bullets being removed from the scene of the assassination and how LAPD officers who didn’t tow the line found themselves suspended on ridiculous charges or taken off the case. This hard-hitting documentary is produced in the gripping style of The Day The Dream Died, the documentary which catapulted Chris Plumley to international prominence and formed the backbone of Oliver Stone’s acclaimed film JFK."

Professor McCoy Exposes the History of CIA Interrogation, From the Cold War to the War on Terror  2/17/2006 Democracy Now: "Well, if you look at the most famous of photographs from Abu Ghraib, of the Iraqi standing on the box, arms extended with a hood over his head and the fake electrical wires from his arms, okay? In that photograph you can see the entire 50-year history of C.I.A. torture. It's very simple. He's hooded for sensory disorientation, and his arms are extended for self-inflicted pain. And those are the two very simple fundamental C.I.A. techniques, developed at enormous cost."

‘We can do what we want to do’ - Patriot Act retaliation against Black NSA whistleblower  2/15/2006 SF Bay View: "A travesty of justice occurred on Dec. 15, 2005. Kenneth Wayne Ford Jr., an honest and honorable young African-American man, was judged guilty of espionage and lying on a federal form by a jury of by no means his peers. Ford faces up to 15 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines. He is to be sentenced on March 1. An intern-analyst for the super-secret National Security Agency, Ken Ford authored a signals intelligence report that told the truth about nuclear WMD (weapons of mass destruction) components in Iraq. That earned him the wrath of the Bush administration. In the Clinton White House, Ken Ford had been a uniformed member of the U.S. Secret Service. He was trained to take a bullet for President Clinton or the first lady. Will either President Clinton or Sen. Clinton be present at his sentencing in gratitude and in solidarity? Will other whistleblowers, human rights and antiwar activists, Congressional Black Caucus members and intelligence and military veterans stand idly by while an innocent Black man is lynched?"

Jack Abramoff’s White Man's Burden  2/15/2006 Media Channel: "A top-secret meeting was then underway between Savimbi and his boosters led by a young American Republican activist, none other than Jack Abramoff, a man who could bring down the current GOP Administration. He was there representing an organization he founded, the International Freedom Foundation. Abramoff, and others disguised their identities. His code name was “Pacman.” Also present, a South African newspaper reports, “Leaders of the Afghan mujahedin, Nicaraguan contras, Laotian guerrillas and members of the Oliver North American right." (Could a Bin Laden operative have been there with the CIA-backed Afghan delegation? There’s no evidence of that yet.) "

Osama's Game: an Interview with Michael Scheuer  2/15/2006 Minneapolis City Pages: "Most officials thought last month's Osama bin Laden tape was no big deal—maybe even a gesture of weakness. Author and ex-CIA analyst Michael Scheuer, who founded the Agency's bin Laden unit 10 years ago, thinks they're dead wrong."

Weldon: 'Able Danger' ID'd 9/ll Ringleader  2/14/2006 AP: "Pre-Sept. 11 intelligence conducted by a secret military unit identified terrorist ringleader Mohamed Atta 13 different times, a congressman said Tuesday." [This makes more plausible the claim that Mossad was shadowing Atta and his crew via the Israeli "art students" prior to 9/11.]

Abramoff said to claim close ties to Rove  2/13/2006 AP 

Air marshals charged with plotting to smuggle cocaine past security  2/13/2006 Houston Chronicle: "Two federal air marshals scheduled to appear this afternoon on drug conspiracy charges are accused of smuggling 15 kilograms, or 33 pounds, of cocaine for $4,500 per kilogram, the U.S. Attorney's Office said today. Air marshals Shawn Ray Nguyen, 38, and Burlie L. Sholar III, 32, both of Houston, were arrested Thursday at Nguyen's Houston home, where an informant had delivered the cocaine and $15,000 in "up front'' money."

Venezuelan police arrest Carlos Ojeda; top drug lord wanted by the US DEA!  2/12/2006 Vheadline 

Hearing reveals purpose of raids  2/8/2006 Anchorage Daily News: "Kane is accused of orchestrating the purchase of the two rocket launchers from an Internet site and having them delivered to Security Aviation. The company and affiliates have purchased about seven two-seat L-39 jets since former Anchorage assistant district attorney Mark Avery bought Security Aviation last summer."

Why Indeed Did the WTC Buildings Collapse?  2/3/2006 Brigham Young University: By Steven E. Jones, Department of Physics and Astronomy - "In writing this paper, I call for a serious investigation of the hypothesis that WTC 7 and the Twin Towers were brought down, not just by impact damage and fires, but through the use of pre-positioned cutter-charges. I consider the official FEMA, NIST, and 9-11 Commission reports that fires plus impact damage alone caused complete collapses of all three buildings. And I present evidence for the controlled-demolition hypothesis, which is suggested by the available data, testable and falsifiable, and yet has not been analyzed in any of the reports funded by the US government."

Abramoff espionage links with apartheid South Africa sanctioned by Reagan-Bush White House  2/2/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: extensive discussion of Reagan-Bush era operatives with links to South African military.

Jeb shredding state records?  2/1/2006 Rock River Times, IL: "The source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the governor also has brought in personnel from Texas to replace key members of his staff in Tallahassee. The Texans are overseeing the destruction of state documents, according to the source. A source in the FBI confirmed that public records are being destroyed on orders of Jeb Bush. The source said the governor may have taken that action in response to the continuing criminal probe of Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the federal investigation of the 2001 gangland murder in Miami of Gus Boulis, owner of the Sun Cruz casino boat."

Bush administration "Back to the Future" antics in Central America  2/1/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: "According to high-level U.S. intelligence sources, the Bush administration is planning a redux of the Contra wars of the 1980s. With polls showing that Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega may become Nicaragua's next President in November 2 elections, the Bush administration has ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to establish a network of small clandestine communications stations along the Honduran and Costa Rican borders with Nicaragua, supplemented by additional support bases in El Salvador. Many of those involved in the covert operations are veterans of the Contra wars of the 1980s. The hub of U.S. covert activity is centered in the Soto Cano airbase in Honduras. Formerly the Palmerola airbase, the base was active in U.S. support for the contras against the Sandinistas in the 1980s. U.S. intelligence sources also report that right-wing elements in the CIA and Pentagon also have a nasty surprise in store for Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, if he is, as expected, elected President of Mexico in July's elections. Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico City, a champion of Mexico's poor, and an ally of Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales, is leading in most polls. Intelligence whispers from U.S. covert actors in Latin America indicate that if Obrador is elected and fails to moderate his leftist policies, he will not live to see his inauguration day. Apparently, Obrador has gotten the message from the Bush administration. Last night, he told Mexican television that he would appoint three non-PRD members to his three most important cabinet posts: Treasury, Foreign Affairs, and Interior."

Republican Florida House Speaker - Rise to Power Covertly - Employing Medellien Drug Cartel Leaders  1/30/2006 Wayne Madsen 

Abramoff -- His Crimes and Connections to Public Figures…  1/29/2006 Democratic Underground: numerous links on Abramhoff

A Small Circle of Friends: Larry Pratt, the Council for Inter-American Security and International Fascist Networks  1/29/2006 Refuse & Resist: published 3/96 - "Phillips and other American far-rightists, including Black "pro-life" Republican Party presidential candidate, Alan Keyes, were members of the South Africa lobby. The International Freedom Foundation (IFF), an organization founded by "conservative" activist, Jack Abramhoff, was recently exposed by senior South African military personnel as a cut-out of the South African military and Special Branch. IFF functioned as a propaganda arm for South African STRATCOM (strategic communications) counter-insurgency operations directed against the African National Congress and the trade union confederation.[44] "

Jack Abramoff, cinematic genius? He shoulda stayed in Hollywood  1/29/2006 Washington Post: published 11/28/05, contains this gem - "When "Red Scorpion" was released, it was picketed by anti-apartheid protesters angry that Abramoff had shot the movie in territory controlled by South Africa's white supremacist government, using soldiers and military equipment lent by the South Africans. The protesters would have been even angrier if they'd known that the International Freedom Foundation, a right-wing group founded by Abramoff, was secretly bankrolled by the South African army — but that wasn't known until a South African colonel revealed it in 1995."

CSI: K Street  1/28/2006 Arianna Huffington: "And lest you think it unfair to tar Abramoff with the Kidan brush, keep in mind that Abramoff is the one who brought Kidan into the SunCruz deal, who joined him in conning lenders into giving them a $60 million loan, whose clout was such that said lenders were willing to overlook Kidan's checkered financial past, and who sealed the fraudulent $60 million loan deal by inviting the vice president of the loan company to join him and his dear friend Tom DeLay in Abramoff's luxury FedEx Field skybox to watch a Redskins game. What's more, after Boulis and Kidan had come to blows during a contentious SunCruz meeting, Joan Wagner, one of Boulis' associates, sent Abramoff an email asking him to intervene. Instead, Abramoff forwarded the email to Kidan, who replied: "We need to shut her down." He then added: "Jack, you need to act above all of this." And so he has. Indeed both Abramoff and Kidan have denied any involvement in Boulis' murder, and expressed a willingness to cooperate with prosecutors in the case. But something sure smells fishy in Florida. And with the three accused killers now facing the death penalty, does anyone doubt they'll spill the beans -- perhaps on Abramoff's partner -- rather than face the electric chair?"

Apartheid South African intelligence meetings on foreign activities, including support for Jack Abramoff's Washington operations, were code-named "Sanhedrin."  1/28/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: "The following exchanges took place before the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in Johannesburg on September 11 and 23, 1998. Former South African super-spy Craig Williamson, the person who ran Abramoff as an agent in Washington, testified on the secret meetings (Note how the Commission Chairperson studiously steered the commision away from the topic of "Sanhedrin" in the second hearing and how the questioner in the first hearing kept inquiring why the term "Sanhedrin" was used by the intelligence services)."

When Republicans Loved a Filibuster  1/27/2006 Consortium News: "In 1991, the Democratic-controlled Senate was planning an investigation into whether Republicans had conducted secret negotiations with Iran’s Islamic fundamentalist regime during the 1980 campaign, when Jimmy Carter was still President and Iran was holding 52 Americans hostage. The unresolved hostage crisis destroyed Carter’s reelection hopes and gave an important boost to Ronald Reagan when the hostages were released on Jan. 20, 1981, immediately after he was sworn in as President and George H.W. Bush became Vice President. A decade after those events, some Democrats wanted to get to the bottom of recurring allegations that George Bush Sr., a former CIA director, had joined clandestine negotiations with Iran in fall 1980 that may have delayed release of the hostages for political gain, what was called the “October Surprise” mystery. Meanwhile, Republicans were worried that a full-scale October Surprise investigation might implicate Bush in near-treasonous talks with an enemy state and devastate his 1992 reelection campaign. Confirmation of the allegations also would have eviscerated the legitimacy of the Reagan-Bush era. So, in November 1991, Republican leaders used the filibuster to block funding for the investigation. The Democrats mustered 51 votes – a majority – but fell short of the 60 votes needed for cloture. A fully funded investigation was prevented."

THE BOMBING OF THE ALFRED P. MURRAH FEDERAL BUILDING  1/26/2006 The Rifle Warrior: By Craig Roberts, Tulsa Police Department (Ret.), published 1996

The WORMSCAN List  1/26/2006 whatreallyhappened.com: published 1996 - "WORMSCAN is a collection of news items concerning the involvement of police, lawyers, judges, politicians, bankers, prison guards, spooks, and other social predators in the enormously profitable illegal drug business. What had at first appeared to be merely a can of worms has, upon closer examination, proven to be a barrel of vipers. No attempt has been made to note every news item. These are simply those cases which have come to my attention in the everyday news. Note that many sources are radio news reports, and thus the spelling of many names is undoubtedly bogus."

Call for Investigation of DA’s Russel Crystal and Tony Leon  1/25/2006 South African Communist Party: "The Young Communist League calls on the National Prosecutions Authority to extend its investigations on Apartheid era crimes to include an investigation into the past involvement of Tony Leon and Russel Crystal who are reported to have been involved with and recruited or where recruited by Craig Williamson, the self-confessed Apartheid agent who was responsible for the assassination of Ruth First (wife of Joe Slovo and former National Secretary of the Young Communist League in the late 40’s) Tony Leon is reported to have been bankrolled in his student election campaigns at Wits University and was financed in his year-long visit to the United States by Jack Abramhoff, a long time intelligence asset for South Africa’s apartheid era security services."

U.S. State Dept. Steps Up Support of Bolivian Counterdrug Ops, Despite Morales' Rise to Power  1/25/2006 NarcoNews: "The Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) of the U.S. State Dept. is taking action to “allow for an expansion of NAS support to counternarcotics operations in Bolivia,” according to a department planning document that was obtained, and had just begun circulating, today. This otherwise unannounced escalation of U.S.-backed counterdrug missions comes four days after Evo Morales – a vociferous advocate of the rights of coca-crop farmers – took office as Bolivia’s first Indian president. The first step toward expanding NAS-backed activities is the planned purchase of up to 90 heavy duty pick-up trucks, which will be delivered to “the Government of Bolivia pursuant to an agreement with the U.S. Department of State,” according to a Jan. 25 procurement notice found through a routine search of the FedBizOpps contracting database. Although the U.S. Embassy in La Paz will buy the trucks to replace old ones, a closer look at the planning document reveals that the planned acquisition is not just a routine matter. Rather than simply replacing an aging fleet of off-highway 4x4s, the new fleet of vehicles will heighten the capability of counterdrug forces to transport personnel and supplies during these expanded operations, many of which will take place in rural regions of the country where President Morales spent most of his life living and working among coca growers."

Abramhoff & Kidan Implicated in Gangland Style Killing  1/23/2006 Mad Cow Morning News 

DEA is caught in the chicken coop in Bogotá corruption case  1/22/2006 NarcoNews: "From what I can see, the fox that has supposedly been sent back into the chicken coop to count the chickens now has a few feathers sticking out of its snout."

John Dimitri Negroponte  1/22/2006 Celerino Castillo: "From 1985 to 1991, I was assigned to Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador. As one of two DEA agents that covered those countries, I observed that our U.S. government was complicit in drug trafficking and human rights violations. The area was rife with rebellion, gunrunning, and a perception that communism was on the move towards our back yards. One of my job descriptions was to train members of their military intelligence on interdiction of drug enforcement. However, most of my time was spent assisting the CIA in training the death squads. We were utilizing CIA contract agents from different parts of South America, specifically Venezuela and Argentina. In reality, Central America became one huge country, which allowed the death squads to over flow into each other. Mario Sandoval-Alarcon, best know as the godfather of the death squads and creator of the notorious death squad, ?La Mano Blanca? ran all death squads. Sandoval was so loved by Ronald Reagan, that he got a private invitation and attended Reagan's inauguration."

Jack Abramoff's past as a South African spy  1/21/2006 Wayne Madsen Report: [scroll down to Jan 21, 2006] "rding to South African intelligence sources, convicted GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff was a long-time intelligence asset for South Africa's apartheid era security services. The revelations from South Africa help to explain Abramoff's connections to white supremacists who use Confederate heritage organizations to mask their true agendas (see article directly below). In 1985, Abramoff launched the International Freedom Foundation (IFF) in Washington. In fact, IFF was a front for South African military intelligence, code named Pacman, and a major front for South Africa's international propaganda efforts. The IFF was a joint project of Russel Crystal, currently a Democratic Alliance official in South Africa, and a former apartheid South Africa top spy, Craig Williamson. According to South African intelligence sources, Abramoff was first recruited by Crystal and Williamson during 1979 and 1980. Crystal and Williamson were both paid agents of the Apartheid Security Police (SAP (V)). Money paid to Abramoff initially came from SAP(V) accounts."

`Leg-breaker' takes stand in trial - Hired muscle changes story in Gus Boulis murder case  1/21/2006 Sun Sentinel, FL 

Calls linked to Boulis slaying  1/21/2006 Miami Herald: "Nicholson testified that Fiorillo admitted to shooting Boulis. Moscatiello, after his September arrest, told investigators that Fiorillo and Ferrari admitted their involvement. Moscatiello also claimed that Ferrari told him Kidan ordered the hit. Kidan has never been named as a suspect."

The Imperium's Quarter Century  1/20/2006 Consortium News: "What’s now known about the Iranian hostage crisis suggests that the “coincidence” of the Reagan Inauguration and the Hostage Release was not a case of frightened Iranians cowering before a U.S. President who might just nuke Tehran. The preponderance of evidence suggests that it was a prearranged deal between the Republicans and the Iranians. The Republicans got the hostages and the political bounce; Iran’s Islamic fundamentalists got a secret supply of weapons and various other payoffs."

The Cuban connection is still in Miami and Dallas  1/20/2006 Granma: "Ruby also had links with David Yaras, the mafia executor who admitted to having met him in 1964, and with David Ferrie, of Cuban origin, Marcello’s pilot who, in his turn used to see Lee Harvey Oswald in New Orleans. According to the Committee findings, Ferrie, who was a CIA agent, was also in contact with Oswald through the Aerial Civil Patrol Falcon Squadron and a famous New Orleans office on 544 Camp Street, where members of groups acting against the Cuban Revolution, like Guy Bannister, also operated. Oswald had his office for the deceptively titled Fair Play with Cuba organization in the same building at the same time."

Organised crime gangs pose threat to Cuban development  1/20/2006 Jane's, UK: "Currently, the Cubans are prepared to co-operate on a limited and pragmatic basis with the US, as well as with authorities in Jamaica and their other neighbours. Were the regime in Havana to become even less supportive of counternarcotics operations, whether because of rising corruption or state policy, this would pose a serious challenge to regional interdiction efforts. It would also open up new opportunities for organised crime, for which Cuba could become a new fall-back location for drug warehousing and processing facilities, or simply as a safe haven. Less overtly, a rapid and under-controlled shift to market economics could, as happened in the post-Soviet states, open up the country for a criminalisation of its financial system. It could again become an offshore playground and magnet for organised crime money, not least as a money-laundering centre. Already Russian gangs, drawing on historical connections with the island and connections with the Cuban elite, have used its financial system to launder funds."

Globetrotters  1/20/2006 The Stakeholder: "US government investigators probing Washington's explosive Congressional bribery scandal centered on disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff recently visited Hong Kong, according to a witness interviewed by the authorities. The investigators reportedly are chasing convoluted money trails leading to Abramoff and government officials he sought to influence."

Deep Politics III by Peter Dale Scott: OVERVIEW: THE CIA, THE DRUG TRAFFIC, AND OSWALD IN MEXICO  1/19/2006 History Matters: [Published in 2000, contains an extensive discussion of individuals whose records span from the Kennedy assassination to Cocaine Contra]

FBI Penetrated; Again! By Sibel Edmonds  1/18/2006 National Security Whistleblowers Coalition 

Doubt cast on AP story's claim of “No Wrongdoing” in DEA corruption scandal  1/17/2006 NarcoNews: "Although the AP story headline seems to imply that the corruption charges are a dead issue, at least one former high-ranking DEA official contends the allegations are, in fact, very credible. In addition, representatives of the two watchdog agencies charged with investigating the corruption, to date, don’t seem to have their stories straight about the status of their investigations, based on comments made to Narco News. Narco News published its exclusive story on Jan. 9 based on a leaked memo drafted by Department of Justice attorney Thomas M. Kent. In the memo, Kent alleges that DEA agents in Bogotá assisted narco-traffickers, engaged in money laundering, and conspired to murder informants."

IN THE MIAMI KINGDOM OF IMPUNITY - Immigrant from Pinar del Río who dares to arrest terrorists  1/17/2006 Granma 

IN THE MIAMI KINGDOM OF IMPUNITY - Immigrant from Pinar del Río who dares to arrest terrorists  1/17/2006 Granma 

DEA Responds to Narco News Story, Says It Will Investigate Agents in Colombia  1/13/2006 NarcoNews 

HOW ABRAMOFF FUNDED THE ANTI-GAY AGENDA  1/11/2006 Doug Ireland: "Abramoff did more than hire anti-gay luminaries as Rev. Lou Sheldon (head of the Traditional Values Coalition) and Ralph Reed (former head of the Christian Coalition) with money from Abramoff’s clients and front groups to lobby for special interests. Abramoff also funded an anti-gay group close to the lobbyist’s best buddy and biggest water-carrier, Rep. Tom Delay (right) -- the U.S. Family Network -- with laundered money that has been traced to Russian oil interests."

Castro Did It - Again  1/10/2006 JFK Accountability: by Peter Dale Scott, Rex Bradford - "Although there is legitimate concern that the latest revival of this theory at this time may be a prelude to a revival of anti-Castro operations, it is also possible that it is a diversion. A diversion from the increasing revelations about the games that the CIA was playing with Oswald files just before the assassination. And a diversion from the growing consensus that previously-suppressed facts about Kennedy's policies on Cuba and the Cold War, which placed him at odds with powerful hard-liners in his own country, may indeed lie at the heart of the mystery about his murder."

Leaked Memo: Corrupt DEA Agents in Colombia Help Narcos and Paramilitaries  1/9/2006 NarcoNews: "Internal Justice Dept. Document Alleges Drug Trafficking Links, Money Laundering and Conspiracy to Murder"

Hauling in the Abramoff Crowd  1/7/2006 Consortium News: "Most of the buzz around the Jack Abramoff case has been which members of Congress might get fingered by the Republican lobbyist in a Washington bribery scandal. But Abramoff and his associates also must worry about demands for their testimony in a gangland-style murder of a business rival in Florida. Brian Cavanaugh, a prosecutor in Ft. Lauderdale, said late Friday that his office is making arrangements to interview Abramoff and two of his associates, Michael Scanlon and Adam Kidan, as potential witnesses in the 2001 murder of Konstantinos “Gus” Boulis, who had sold the SunCruz casino line to Abramoff and Kidan."

Posada Carriles May Soon Hit the Streets  1/6/2006 NarcoNews: "It’s now clear why the United States refused to charge Posada Carriles with terrorism. Not until now do we see exactly why the government charged him only with the single and timid charge of entering the country without proper papers. Instead of pursuing justice, the United States government simply scolded the terrorist. According to an article published this Wednesday in the Miami Herald’s Spanish language newspaper, the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently informed Posada’s lawyers that his “status as a detainee would be reviewed on the 24th of January.” This means that within a few weeks Posada Carriles, the man responsible for the blowing up of a passenger plane with 73 people on board in 1976, could soon be freed by the U.S. government under regulations that prohibit the indefinite detention of undocumented aliens whose deportation from the country cannot be carried out within a ninety-day period."

Attempt to use the Confederate Memorial Museum in Washington, DC to hold a honorary reception for "Freedom Fighter Groups" tied to the International Freedom Foundation led by Jack Abramoff and funded by South Africa's apartheid government.  12/19/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to December 19, 2005: "According to those familiar with the Conservative Network, it was the template for the future "K Street Project," an attempt to purge the Federal government, including Federal regulatory agencies, as well as lobbying firms, law firms, and media of liberals and replace them with right-wing functionaries. This has resulted in the infiltration of the Federal government by individuals associated with white supremacist and neo-Nazi organizations. The Conservative Network was headed by retired Rear Admiral James Carey, who, at the same time he was a member of the Federal Maritime Commission, was asked by the Reagan White House Office of Presidential Personnel to "establish a professional forum for the Senate Confirmed Presidential Appointees to regularly meet, socialize, network and communicate with one another." Carey became Vice Chairman of the FMC in 1985 and was appointed by George H. W. Bush as chairman in 1989. Carey's appointment was handled by J. Michael Farrell, the Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel for Boards and Commissions. One of Farrell's other nominations was that of Kenneth Tomlinson as chairman of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, which Farrell also chaired under George H. W. Bush. Tomlinson recently resigned as the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting after it was discovered he hired outside right-wing consultants to develop a black list of suspected "liberals," including Bill Moyers, Diane Rehm, and Tavis Smiley."

Links between GOP right-wing and Viktor Bout's African client, President Yahya Jammeh  12/16/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to December 16, 2005: "More details emerge of links between GOP right-wing and Viktor Bout's African client, President Yahya Jammeh. Richard Hines, a close ally of GOP right wingers and the owner of RTH Consulting, signed contracts with the military dictatorship of Gambia, a client of Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout to obtain for the Gambian dictatorship "meetings with the President's National Security Advisor, Deputy Secretary of State, and new CIA Director." The contract, dated November 23, 2004, refers to Condoleezza Rice, Richard Armitage, and Porter Goss. The contract also states that RTH will "recast the image of the . . . President of . . . Gambia [Yahya Jammeh] in a favorable light that reflects the party's, the President's, and the government's actual, proud history with the early focus on the Washington, DC media and minds of the conservative Republican leadership in the U.S. Congress." In addition, RTH commits to "gain the support of the conservative Republican leadership in the United States Congress for the government of The Gambia and President Jammeh, and thereby weaken opposition in Washington, DC." It is also noteworthy that The Gambia has reportedly been involved in selling off-shore oil blocks to Houston-based oil companies linked to Bush and Cheney business interests. There are also interesting connections between World Air Leasing of Hondo, Texas and Gambia. World Air has leased several repainted U.S. commercial aircraft to Gambia. More recently, RTH signed a contract with the Akwa-Ibon State of Nigeria, an oil-rich state in the southern Niger River delta. RTH is to "arrange meetings with White House staff" and other government agencies."

THE PHONY WAR - An Interview with DEA Veteran Celerino Castillo  12/12/2005 The New Federalist: published 10/94. Classic.

Viktor Bout: the story splits!  12/11/2005 Yorkshire Ranter: published 5/23/04

Victor Bout Follow Up  12/11/2005 War and Piece: published 5/24/04, so this Blout US link has been known for some time.

Additional ties between southern Christian fundamentalists, Texas oil interests, and Russian-Israeli mobsters and weapons smugglers uncovered  12/11/2005 Wayne Madsen Report:  "According to informed Washington insiders, there is increasing evidence of financial links between key "Christian Right" GOP notables and an international ring of Russian-Ukrainian-Israeli mobsters tied to notorious Russian weapons smuggler Viktor Vasilevich (aka Anatoliyevich) Bout. Bout, whose U.S. assets were frozen by the Treasury Department, continues to provide various contractor services in Iraq and is considered by Condoleezza Rice to be out-of-bounds for U.S. law enforcement authorities. When she was National Security Adviser, Rice pre-empted an attempt by Sharjah, United Arab Emirates authorities to arrest Bout. To U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies, Rice was very clear when it comes to Bout: "Look, but don't touch" was her direct order to the CIA and FBI."

Victor Bout's File  12/11/2005 Ruud Leeuw: numerous links - "Victor Bout is a former KGB major and arms merchant, the most notorious in the Post Cold War era and he plays a critical role in areas where the weapons trade has been embargoed by the United Nations."

Plea Deal Near With 2nd Abramoff Associate  12/9/2005 Washington Post: "Adam Kidan, a longtime confidant of Abramoff's, has agreed to testify against Abramoff in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., next month when he is to face trial on fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with their purchase of a fleet of Florida casino boats. A Kidan plea would tie Abramoff's legal troubles in Florida more closely to the Washington investigation into his lobbying practices, pressuring Abramoff to reach a deal of his own that could implicate members of Congress and other government officials, lawyers involved in the case said."

Mohammed Atta and Prince Nayif: the Saudi drugs dealers who helped finance the 911 attack - Released confidential documents point to financing of 911 attacks tied to Bush family drug network  12/7/2005 Wayne Madsen 

FBI mishandled Florida terror investigation: NYT  12/5/2005 Reuters 

Justice Dept. says FBI mishandled terror case  12/4/2005 International Herald Tribune: Article fails to mention it was drug money being laundered.

Was Affair Linked To Investigation Of Global Trafficking Controlled By Israelis?  12/4/2005 Daily Star: "Israel has a long history of involvement with the Colombian and other cartels in Latin America. Former Israeli Army and intelligence officers supplied the drug barons with weapons and trained their private armies, including special assassination squads, throughout the 1980s. One of the more notorious of these Israelis, a lieutenant colonel in the army reserve named Yair Klein, was convicted by an Israeli court in 1991 for illegally exporting arms to the Colombian cartels. He was fined $40,000. In 1998, Klein, a balding ex-paratrooper, was indicted in Bogotá on charges of training Colombian paramilitaries in terrorist tactics in the 1987-89. He was allegedly one of four Israelis hired by Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, one of the Medellin cartel's most violent bosses, who was later assassinated. Klein turned up in war-torn Sierra Leone running guns to rebels. He was arrested there in January 1999 and freed 16 months later. His current whereabouts are unknown, but Israeli arms dealers are still working with Colombian paramilitaries. On May 7, Nicaraguan and Panamanian authorities launched an investigation into how 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 5 million rounds of ammunition shipped from Nicaragua by two Israeli-owned arms companies to Colombia on Nov. 10, 2001, and wound up in the hands of the United Defense Forces of Colombia, a group the US government has branded as terrorist. "

The Politics of Three – Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Israel  12/4/2005 Paul W. Rasche: Site details Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence's (ISI) involvement in drug trafficking, as well as the complicity of Saudi and Israeli organizations. Appears to be dated to late 2001 or 2002.

Indictment ties Posada ally to Broward arms stash  12/3/2005 Miami Herald: "A task force of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms and FBI agents recovered nine firearms from the cooler transported from Alvarez's 280-unit Lauderhill apartment complex and from a gun safe in the storage facility. Among the seized firepower: one Maddi Company AK-47 machine gun; one M-14 machine gun; one RPB Industries M-11A-1 machine gun; two Colt AR-15 semiautomatic rifles; two Essential Arms Co. J-15 machines guns; one Heckler and Koch grenade launcher; and one silencer. ''In an attempt to evade detection by law enforcement, [Alvarez] would remove machine guns with obliterated serial numbers, a silencer without a serial number, and a [grenade launcher] from the storage facility . . . in order to transfer [the] items to Osvaldo Mitat,'' according to the indictment. During last month's bond hearing, Kainen told the federal magistrate: ``I would suggest, your honor, there is no evidence that these [weapons] were going to be used in the United States."

Report Finds Cover-Up in an F.B.I. Terror Case  12/3/2005 NYT: Mike German resigned from the FBI when his investigation of right wing links to Al Qaeda was shut down - "Mr. German's case dates to 2002, when the F.B.I. division in Tampa opened a terror investigation into a lead that laundered proceeds, possibly connected to a drug outfit, might be used to finance terrorists overseas. The F.B.I. was considering initiating an undercover operation to follow the lead, and Mr. German, who had extensive experience infiltrating militias, skinheads and other groups, was asked to take part. But in the coming months, Mr. German would alert F.B.I. officials that the Orlando agent handling the case had "so seriously mishandled" the investigation that a prime opportunity to expose a terrorist financing plot had been wasted. He said agents had not adequately pursued leads, had failed to document important meetings with informants, and had tolerated violations of rules and federal law on the handling of wiretaps." [Now, what right wing terror groups in Florida are solidly connected to narcotics?]

FBI mishandled Florida terror investigation: NYT  12/3/2005 Reuters: "The case dates to 2002, the Times said, when the FBI's Tampa office opened a terror investigation into whether laundered money, possibly connected to a drug outfit, might be used to finance terrorists overseas. The FBI was considering initiating an undercover operation and asked an agent with expertise in the area to take part." [Was this squelched because it affected a Company asset?]

The Money Trail  12/2/2005 Charcha: "In the following articles, the reader can see the evolution of the money trail of global terrorism."

Miamigate?  12/1/2005 Progresso Weekly: "If you pull Álvarez's string, you can follow it all the way to the White House. We might then assume that this is not a "strategy" of the government but of its opponents, as happened in the other "gates." Evidently, the Bush administration is facing an opposition that's sitting on the heart of the system, and the reason for this is the failure of the war in Iraq. ...There is nothing more compromising for the credibility of the "war on terrorism" than the connection between the administration and the Miami terrorists, and that's something the administration's foes know well. Until recently, the government had managed to sweep the Posada affair under a rug, but its inefficiency and disrespect for public opinion have been so blatant that it seems the federal prosecutors were left to their own devices, to sink or swim. Only that can explain the lack of criticism that met Posada's illegal entry to the United States, his "clandestine" presence in Miami, the manipulation of a hearing where the prosecutor accepted the defense's arguments without a peep, and where the judge was a government employee. These things can happen with a strong government that enjoys the complicity of powerful groups but not with a lame-duck president like George W. Bush, so I smell a trap in the impunity. I have no idea who ordered the detention of Santiago Álvarez, but I tend to think it was not the government. Maybe they found out too late, or couldn't prevent the arrest without digging themselves into a deeper hole. They might even be able to control the damage. But if they cannot, Bush's "gate" will be memorable. Cuban Americans in Miami are his best stronghold; the day he does not rule them in Miami is the day he does not rule anywhere else."

Alleged underworld boss loses appeal against extradition  12/1/2005 Haaretz, Israel: "The Supreme Court yesterday unanimously rejected an appeal by suspected underworld figure Ze'ev Rosenstein against his extradition to the United States. Rosenstein is wanted in the U.S. for his alleged role in major drug-trafficking deals involving Ecstasy… "Israel - like the world's other nations - is forced to confront a new criminal reality in which crime has become more organized, more international and more widespread than ever before," the justices wrote. "The most obvious are international drug crimes in which, to our great regret, Israeli criminals are taking a central role. This reality requires the joint efforts of nations and tight international cooperation, of which extradition is a key tool.""

Venezuela clinches Spain defence deal  11/29/2005 FT: "José Bono, Spanish defence minister, defended Spain’s right to sell the military hardware to Venezuela and insisted that the equipment was of a defensive nature. Washington could still block the inclusion of some US-made components in the equipment. Mr Bono said neither the boats nor transport aircraft were armed and that the patrol aircraft were only equipped for self-defence. He also suggested the US had no right to pass judgment. Mr Chávez has said the vessels and aircraft will be used to combat the drug trade in Venezuela, which borders Colombia, the world’s top cocaine producer."

The police who arrested the Five participated in the conspiracy to assassinate Venezuelan Attorney General Anderson  11/28/2005 Granma: "IN its November 10 late edition, the Miami daily El Nuevo Herald revealed that according to "a Venezuelan government witness in the investigation into the murder of Attorney General Danilo Anderson," Héctor Pesquera, former FBI chief in Miami, who directed, organized and effected the arrest of the five Cubans transformed into spies in a grand media show, was also involved in the assassination of the Venezuelan official. ...Pesquera is the same "SAC" (Special Agent in Charge) of the Miami FBI who, for months, supposedly did not suspect the presence, just a few kilometers from his office, of 14 of the 19 Al Qaeda terrorists involved in the September 11 attack. Meanwhile he was pursuing, arresting and setting up the political trial and conviction of five Cuban antiterrorist agents who had infiltrated Miami extremist groups. Puerto Rican and assimilated into the U.S. power structure, this former counterintelligence officer was FBI chief in Puerto Rico, where he arranged the release of Miami terrorists involved in the case of La Esperanza yacht captured by the Coast Guard en route to the Isle of Margarita, Venezuela, in an attempt on the life of the Cuban president. Personally linked to Miami terrorist bosses such as José Basulto and Horacio García, Pesquera knows every detail of the conspiracies against Cuba and Venezuela that have been developed in the Floridian city while he headed the federal police there."

How our governments use terrorism to control us  11/28/2005 On Line Journal 

Witness recounts plot to kill tycoon  11/27/2005 Orlando Sentinel: "The conversation, relayed by Nicholson to Fort Lauderdale police detectives three days after Boulis' slaying, discussed the escalating business dispute between Boulis and the men who bought his SunCruz Casino business. Moscatiello told Ferrari he had to "take care of this situation desperately," according to court documents."

Kosovo Liberation Army helps establish "Protectorate" in Haiti  11/27/2005 Global Research: published 11/04, still topical.

Feds probing SunCruz links to GOP  11/26/2005 Miami Herald: "When U.S. Rep. Bob Ney assailed the owner of SunCruz Casinos in 2000, it seemed puzzling that an Ohio lawmaker would go out of his way to attack a South Florida businessman who was trying to sell his floating gaming empire. It turns out, according to federal investigators, Ney publicly called SunCruz founder Konstantinos ''Gus'' Boulis a ''bad apple'' in exchange for the company's new owners contributing $10,000 -- in his name -- to a national campaign fund to help elect Republicans to Congress. The latest disclosure is another South Florida link in a long-running Washington scandal that revolves around the influence-peddling of powerful lobbyists who collected tens of millions of dollars from their clients and also led investors to buy Dania Beach-based SunCruz Casinos. Law enforcement sources say that just weeks after the controversial sale to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his business partner Adam Kidan in September 2000, the two men took $10,000 from their gambling business and donated the money to the National Republican Congressional Committee on Ney's behalf. Ney, who has not been charged but has received a federal subpoena from the Justice Department, is being investigated in two public corruption probes -- one in Washington and the other by the U.S. attorney's office in South Florida... ...On Monday, Scanlon, Abramoff's lobbying partner, pleaded guilty in Washington to conspiring to bribe government officials, including Ney. In his plea agreement, Scanlon agreed to help federal authorities in Washington and Miami. He admitted to helping Abramoff and Kidan buy SunCruz by persuading Ney to insert comments into the Congressional Record that were ''calculated to pressure the then-owner to sell on terms favorable'' to the buyers."

The Big Fix 2004 - Part II  11/26/2005 Mad Cow: "Sequoia Pacific has a more colorfully-criminal corporate history, we learned, than that of any organization this side of the Gambino Family. In fact, the Gambino Family and Sequoia Pacific have had more than a nodding acquaintance, according to newspapers in New York reporting on the intrigue surrounding the awarding of a multi-million dollar contract for election machines in New York City during the mid-90’s, where Sequoia’s representative in the bidding gained notoriety for attempting to grease the skids al little at a marathon luncheon hosted by Salvatore Reale, a Gambino underboss who later pled guilty to racketeering…"

Witness claims he heard hit plan in Boulis murder Details emerge in case against trio charged with '01 Boulis murder  11/26/2005 Sun Sentinel: "The conversation, relayed by Nicholson to Fort Lauderdale police detectives three days after Boulis' murder, discussed the escalating business dispute between Boulis and the men who bought his SunCruz Casino business. Moscatiello told Ferrari he had to "take care of this situation desperately," said court documents. Nicholson said he also heard Moscatiello say, "If they go to court they're going to lose everything and they can't afford to lose everything."" [The men who bought the business include Kidan and his partner, Republican lobbyist Abramoff]

MAFIA HAS EYES ON CUBA, REPORT SAYS  11/26/2005 Nuevo herald: published 5/99 - "GQ names St. Martin, in the Dutch Antilles, as a key organized-crime staging area for Cuba, and Rosario Spadaro, an Italian businessman with two hotels and two casinos there, as a financier with Mafia ties who is likely to be a key figure in future organized-crime ventures in Cuba." [Spadaro is partners with Kidan, himselff a partner of Abramoff in SunCruz.]

The Big Fix 2000  11/26/2005 Mad Cow: "Who own America’s elections? Did Mobsters decide the fate of the election in Florida, in a contest that had nothing to do with counting hanging chad? While the nation’s eyes were riveted on punch cards being held up to the light, charges a new documentary, Mob-controlled companies that count America’s vote were slipping through the back door and stealing the election. Top executives of the election companies responsible for the Florida Vote Snafu have been convicted of multiple election-rigging felonies, the show charges, and “look more like extras on the TV series The Sopranos than people we’ve entrusted with the sacred American right to vote,” snorts producer Daniel Hopsicker. “The big question, of course, is, ‘what happened in Florida? We found the answer in New Jersey.” "

Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe of Lobbyist  11/26/2005 Washington Post: "The events in 2000 that interest investigators are connected to the purchase by Abramoff and Kidan of SunCruz Casinos, owner of a fleet of Florida gambling boats. Ney twice placed comments in the Congressional Record about SunCruz, first criticizing its former owner when Abramoff and Kidan were in difficult purchase negotiations and then, in October, praising Kidan's new management. Abramoff and Kidan are facing trial in January on charges of defrauding lenders in their purchase of the casino boats."

Operation 40  11/26/2005 Spartacus: "Over the next few years Operation 40 worked closely with several anti-Castro Cuban organizations including Alpha 66. CIA officials and freelance agents such as William Harvey, Porter Goss, Gerry Hemming, E. Howard Hunt and David Morales, Bernard L. Barker, Frank Sturgis, Tosh Plumlee, and William C. Bishop also joined the project. Cuban figures used by the Operation 40 included Antonio Veciana, Luis Posada, Orlando Bosch, Roland Masferrer, Eladio del Valle, Guillermo Novo, Carlos Bringuier, Eugenio Martinez, Antonio Cuesta, Hermino Diaz Garcia, Barry Seal, Felix Ismael Rodriguez, Juan Manuel Salvat, Ricardo Morales Navarrete, Isidro Borjas, Virgilio Paz, Jose Dionisio Suarez, Felipe Rivero, Gaspar Jimenez Escobedo, Nazario Sargent, Pedro Luis Diaz Lanz, Rafael Quintero, Jose Basulto, and Paulino Sierra."

The Big Fix 2004 - Part I  11/26/2005 Mad Cow: published 11/15/04 - "An investigation into the surprisingly-sordid history of America’s “election services industry” has revealed that executives and owners of the two largest companies, E S & S and Sequoia Pacific, have been convicted of bribery and suborning public officials in more than a dozen states. And while a felony conviction may be enough to prevent you from voting in Florida, convicted felons can take heart in the fact that the “blemish” on their record in no way disqualifies them from owning companies counting the votes."

Abramoff probe broader than thought: paper  11/25/2005 Reuters: "Prosecutors in the department's public integrity and fraud divisions are looking into Abramoff's dealings with four Republicans -- former House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, Rep. John Doolittle of California and Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana, the paper said, citing several people close to the investigation. Abramoff is under investigation over his lobbying efforts for Indian tribes with casinos. He has also pleaded not guilty to federal charges in Florida that he defrauded lenders in a casino cruise line deal. The prosecutors are also investigating at least 17 current and former congressional aides, about half of whom later took lobbying jobs with Abramoff, as well as an official from the Interior Department and another from the government's procurement office, the Journal said."

Unraveling the pretense of the Guatemalan “Narco-State”  11/22/2005 NarcoNews: "About 30 suspects who were once part of an elite unit of the Guatemalan special forces were training drug traffickers in paramilitary tactics just over the border from McAllen. The unit, called the Kaibiles after the Mayan prince Kaibil Balam, is one of the most fearsome military forces in Latin America, blamed for many of the massacres that occurred in Guatemala during its 36-year civil war. By September, Mexican authorities announced that they had arrested seven Guatemalan Kaibiles, including four “deserters” who were still listed by the Guatemalan Army as being on active duty. Mexican authorities say the Kaibiles were meant to augment Las Zetas, a drug gang of soldiers-turned-hitmen drawn from Mexico’s own special forces. It’s logical that the Zetas would turn to their Guatemalan counterparts. In addition to being a neighbor, “Guatemala is the preferred transit point in Central America for onward shipment of cocaine to the United States,” the State Department has consistently reported to Congress since 1999. In early November, anti-drug authorities at the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala told the Associated Press that 75 percent of the cocaine that reaches American soil passes through the Central American nation."

Drugs and the Guatemalan Military  11/18/2005 National Security Archives 

Israeli Mossad establishing Trinidad & Tobago base against Venezuela  11/14/2005 Vheadlines 

More false flag ops in France, Belgium & Germany, with Caribbean next target?  11/11/2005 On Line Journal: "There is also evidence that the FBI arrived in Trinidad after the July blast to cover up for the Israelis. Local police complained that the FBI presence was not required and Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he was unaware that anyone had requested help from the FBI at the time. In cases where local police and federal agents detained Israeli agents snooping around sensitive industrial and military facilities in the United States, the FBI quickly had them transferred to their control whereupon they were hurriedly deported from the United States. In some cases, deported Israelis have returned to the United States."

Nuevo giro en asesinato de fiscal venezolano  11/10/2005 Nuevo Herald: "Un testigo del gobierno de Venezuela en la investigación de la muerte del fiscal Danilo Anderson, aseguró que un director del FBI de apellido Pesquera y un funcionario de la CIA a quien sólo identificó como Morrison, participaron en una reunión en Panamá en la que se planeó el asesinato del funcionario… Vásquez, quien se identificó como médico colombiano militante de las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), dijo que Pesquera y Morrison estuvieron presentes entre el 4 y el 6 de septiembre del 2003 en una reunión que se realizó en Darién, una provincia panameña limítrofe con Colombia. A la misma reunión asistieron además, según Vásquez, la periodista Patricia Poleo como representante del Movimiento Libertad; Salvador Romaní, hijo del líder anticastrista del mismo nombre que actualmente reside en Miami; los ex policías Rolando Guevara, Otoniel Guevara y Pedro Lander; el actor Orlando Urdaneta, el capitán Luis García como representante de la organización anticastrista Comando F4, e Israel Pincheski como representante de los banqueros. ''Allí se discutió el plan apoyado por el FBI y la CIA'', continuó Vásquez, ``y algunos presidentes de medios de comunicación para sacar a Chávez del gobierno. En esa misma reunión se dice que el objetivo final era matar al presidente Chávez, al fiscal general y a un connotado líder opositor de apellido Mendoza''."

Israeli national arrested in Trinidad threatens to go on a hunger strike  11/9/2005 Caribbean Net News 

Son of Miami Chief Timoney arrested on drug charges in New York  11/3/2005 Florida Ledger: "The 25-year-old son of Miami police Chief John Timoney was arrested for trying to buy 400 pounds of marijuana from an undercover federal agent, the Drug Enforcement Administration said Wednesday. A court complaint said Sean Timoney of Philadelphia gave the agent a gym bag filled with approximately $450,000 in cash."

The Global Drug Meta-Group: Drugs, Managed Violence, and the Russian 9/11  10/29/2005 Peter Dale Scott: 48 pages

Top Ten Things You Never Knew about Jack Abramoff  10/27/2005 Mad Cow 

Al Qaeda and the U.S. Establishment  10/15/2005 Peter Dale Scott: "A survey of U.S. history since World War Two suggests that the United States power state has consistently used the resources of drug-trafficking terrorists, and more recently those of al Qaeda, to further its own ends, particularly with respect to oil, at the expense of the public order and well-being of the American public state.[75] For at least two decades, from Brzezinski’s backing of Hekmatyar in 1979 to Bush’s backing of the Afghan Northern Alliance in 2001, the United States has continued to draw on the resources of drug-trafficking Islamic jihadists who are or were associated at some point with Al Qaeda."

Susan Bell: a shameful secret history  10/10/2005 Independent, UK: "In 1996, the award-winning journalist Gary Webb uncovered CIA links to Los Angeles drug dealers. It was an amazing scoop - but one that would ruin his career and drive him to suicide. His widow, Susan Bell, looks back on a shameful secret history… His series of articles - which prompted the distinguished reporter and former Newsweek Washington correspondent Robert Parry to describe Webb as "an American hero" - incited fury among the African-American community, many of whom took his investigation as proof that the White House saw crack as a way of bringing genocide to the ghetto. Webb's reports prompted three official investigations, including one by the CIA itself which - astonishingly for an organisation rarely praised for its transparency - confirmed the substance of his findings (published at length in Webb's 1998 book, also entitled Dark Alliance). "Because of Gary Webb's work," said Senator John Kerry, "the CIA launched an investigation that found dozens of connections to drug runners. That wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been willing to stand up and risk it all." "

New Mob Link in Abramoff Scandal - Kidan Owned Island Casino with Sicialian Mafia Figure  10/10/2005 Mad Cow Productions: "One of the principals in the scandal, Adam Kidan, an Abramoff partner and a former Republican “fund-raiser,” was the co-owner and general counsel of a Caribbean island hotel-casino with Rosario Spadaro, called "a member of the Sicilian Mafia" in an Associated Press story reporting his recent arrest in Italy in a major investigation into international arms trafficking… GQ names St. Martin, in the Dutch Antilles, as a key organized-crime staging area for Cuba, and Rosario Spadaro, an Italian businessman with two hotels and two casinos there, as a financier with Mafia ties who is likely to be a key figure in future organized-crime ventures in Cuba."

Uruguay: Israeli drugs barron wanted by US courts escapes from jail  10/5/2005 The Insider: "An major international drug dealer from Israel, who is believed to be one of the largest single suppliers of illegal drugs to the US black market, was broken out of jail by men who apparently identified themselves as American or Israeli intelligence officers. Israeli mercenaries are known to operate a commercial jail breaking operation, and these gangs are so effective and international in their capabilities that the Israeli secret service, Mossad, may be involved."

narcotraffic to Europe  10/4/2005 CTRL.org: "In addition to buying the hallucinogenic herbs woodrose and DMT from "retired" CIA western hemisphere director of operations Col. Caldwell "JC" King's ANDCO, we CIA brats encountered pound-denominated quantities of Afghanistan black hashish which had a layer of white crystals in the center. It was so strong that one puff would put a person on an LSD trip, or frozen mushrooms as discovered in a plastic bag in a freezer in a loft on Canal St, NYC, to sleep the opium dream sleep(previous century, decades ago). It was imported to the US inside of rugs woven by little Afghan girls with tiny fingers. They make the best "Persian" style rugs in the world."

Clearing the Baffles for 911  10/2/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: extensive discussion of Israeli art students who targeted DEA and other law enforcement as well as Saudi and Russian-Israeli drug trafficking.

Cruisegate: Curtains for the GOP MOB  9/30/2005 Mad Cow: "We learned of Barry Seal’s peripheral involvement in the story while perusing the records of the three men indicted so far. Amazingly, Seal, a long-time CIA pilot who government prosecutors said was at one time the biggest drug smuggler in American history, was indirectly responsible for the 1983 federal prosecution for heroin smuggling of "Big Tony," one of the three men so far indicted in Boulis’ death. While the details are admittedly tangential to the Boulis assassination, they are useful in illustrating the “secret history” of the rise to power of “connected” individuals friendly to the current Bush Administration."

Assassination in Puerto Rico - The FBI Murders a Legend  9/26/2005 CounterPunch: "Filiberto, she says, knew that the FBI was there to kill him and did not talk at any time about surrendering himself. After all, that is what happened in Cerro Maravilla, where the local police -acting allegedly in cohort with the FBI- executed two unarmed independentistas, well after they had surrendered to the authorities. The Attorney General for Puerto Rico has already corroborated Elma's story. The FBI fired more than a hundred rounds of bullets. Filiberto was able to respond only ten times. There was no attempt to arrest him; they came to kill him with premeditation… From 1990 to 2005, Filiberto was running loose in Puerto Rico, outsmarting the FBI on an Island that is smaller than the State of Connecticut and where everybody, through means of gossip, can easily find out what the other islanders are doing, even in their bed. So, the FBI knew for sure that Filiberto was being protected by the community at large. The FBI had a motive for their assassination. Filiberto Ojeda will be buried the afternoon of September 27, 2005, as a hero in his hometown of Naguabo, Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rican Bar Association has announced that it will conduct a full investigation -together with the Government of Puerto Rico- to determine if the FBI murdered Ojeda."

U.S. Decertifies Venezuela on Drug Control  9/16/2005 Narcosphere: "It would seem, then, that the White House and State Department are using the drug war pretext to begin what could evolve into a Cuba-style economic blockade of Venezuela. At the very least, they are employing a tool that in the past has been quite effective for the political isolation of other countries, and, in the case of Panama in 1989, was part of the run-up to U.S. military invasion."

Skull & Bones - The Bush's China Connection  9/15/2005 Illuminati News 

OPEN LETTER TO FORMER OFFICER OF CIA FRITZ W.ERMARTH  9/15/2005 CTRL.org: "I write the book about KGB-roots of our Kremlin regime and publish it by parts at Internet (some parts were translated into english at site chechenpress.co.uk). Last three parts (19-21) are concerning of the company Far West Ltd (registred in Switzerland) – this firm is ruling by Vladimir Filin, former officer of GRU. At the site of this company (http://www.pravda.info/region/3601.html and so on) recently were published very interesting articles about their busyness in Afganistan: they export from this country carpets with aid of American Air Force! “Carpets” are carring in American aircrafts from military base in Bagram to American base in Kirghizia…"

SOON TO BE LAUNCHED IN PARIS • A book revealing the FBI’s terrorist Miami connection  9/7/2005 Granma: ""The hopes of the agents and police officers were quickly extinguished. Pesquera, they said, began to fraternize with key members of the exile leadership, such as Alberto Hernández (formerly of the CANF); Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; Domingo Otero (another former CANF hardliner) and Roberto Martín Pérez (...) Pesquera, according to an agent in his office, quickly made a brusque turn toward the right, and all investigations related to terrorism were abandoned.""

Two Sentenced for Cocaine Smuggling  8/30/2005 AP: "A Colombian man and the ex-girlfriend of a Saudi prince each were sentenced to more than 20 years in prison Monday for drug conspiracy after prosecutors said they used the prince's Boeing 727 to transport two tons of cocaine from Venezuela to Paris. Doris Mangeri Salazar, a Coral Gables real estate agent, was sentenced to 24 years and four months in state prison by U.S. District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez. Ivan Lopez Vanegas was sentenced to 23 years and four months, the U.S. Attorney's office said. In May they were convicted of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute and were ordered to pay $25,000 in fines. Salazar was convicted for acting as a broker in a transaction between Colombian drug traffickers and Nayef bin Sultan bin Fawwaz al-Shaalan, a Swiss banker who married into the Saudi royal family. Salazar had been the prince's girlfriend at the University of Miami… Al-Shaalan and a Spaniard, Jose Maria Clemente, also were charged in the case. Spain has refused a U.S. extradition request for Clemente and Saudi Arabia -- which has no extradition treaty with the United States -- has been unwilling to produce al-Shaalan."

Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuela's president  8/22/2005 Media Matters: "He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent. You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war. And I don't think any oil shipments will stop. But this man is a terrific danger and the United ... This is in our sphere of influence, so we can't let this happen. We have the Monroe Doctrine, we have other doctrines that we have announced. And without question, this is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us very badly. We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."

Specter meets Venezuelan leaders, discusses U.S. anti-drug agency  8/18/2005 AP 

Venezuela Says DEA Stole Equipment  8/18/2005 Venezuela Analysis: "The director of Venezuela’s drug control agency, the National Commission Against Illicit Drug Use (Conacuid), Luis Correa, said that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) removed equipment from the building it shared with Conacuid. Correa said the equipment involved 13 devices for tapping cell phone systems, which the DEA had donated to Conacuid several years ago."

Able Danger Intel Exposed - "Protected" Heroin Trafficking  8/17/2005 Mad Cow Morning News 

9/11 in Historical Perspective: Flawed Assumptions - Deep Politics: Drugs, Oil, Covert Operations and Terrorism: A briefing for Congressional staff, July 22, 2005  8/13/2005 Peter Dale Scott: published 7/22/05, has such gems as "In the former Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan, Arab Afghans clearly assisted this effort of U.S. oil companies to penetrate the region. In 1991-92, Richard Secord, Heinie Aderholt, and Ed Dearborn, three veterans of U.S. operations in Laos and Iran-Contra, turned up in Baku under the cover of an oil company, MEGA Oil.[15] MEGA never did find oil, but did contribute materially to the removal of Azerbaijan from the sphere of post-Soviet Russian influence. As MEGA operatives in Azerbaijan, Secord, Aderholt, Dearborn, and their men engaged in military training, passed “brown bags filled with cash” to members of the government, and above all set up an airline on the model of Air America which soon was picking up hundreds of Mujahideen mercenaries in Afghanistan.[16] (Secord and Aderholt claim to have left Baku before the Mujahideen arrived.) Meanwhile, Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar in Afghanistan, who at the time was still allied with bin Laden, was “observed recruiting Afghan mercenaries [i.e. Arab Afghans] to fight in Azerbaijan against Armenia and its Russian allies.”[17] At this time, heroin flooded from Afghanistan through Baku into Chechnya, Russia, and even North America.[18] It is difficult to believe that MEGA’s airline (so much like Air America) did not become involved.[19] The triple pattern of drugs, oil, and al Qaeda was seen again in Kosovo in 1998, where the Al-Qaeda-backed Islamist jihadis of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) received overt American assistance from the U.S. Government.[20] Though unmentioned in mainstream books on the war, both the al Qaeda and drug backgrounds of the KLA are recognized by experts and to my knowledge never contested by them.[21] "

Chavez revokes US agent immunity  8/12/2005 BBC: "Caracas has withdrawn the diplomatic immunity of US anti-drugs officials working in Venezuela. It follows a move by the US State Department to revoke the visas of six Venezuelan officials in Washington. Both countries are locked in a row after President Hugo Chavez accused the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of spying on his government."

Venezuela says Americans could be denied visas  8/12/2005 AP: "Rangel said DEA agents in Venezuela also worked with "unacceptable autonomy" while "detaining and interrogating Venezuelans" without notifying Venezuelan authorities. The vice president said DEA agents maintained "strange ties" with drug traffickers in Venezuela, which often serves as a corridor for Colombian cocaine destined for the United States and Europe."

Chavez Accuses U.S. Drug Agents of Spying  8/8/2005 LA Times 

U.S. mulls sanctions on Venezuela over drug move  8/8/2005 Reuters 

Al Qaeda, US Oil Companies and Central Asia.  7/30/2005 Global Research 

Bin Laden Cocaine Plot Fell Through  7/26/2005 NY Post: "In April of this year, Afghan tribal leader Hajji Bashir Noorzai (search), who was one of the most wanted drug dealers in the world and previously had been identified as bin Laden's major heroin supplier, was busted in New York City on federal criminal charges."

"THIRD POSITION" AND "AL QAEDA." Additional ties between "Al Qaeda" and right-wing "Third Position" cells investigated in Europe.  7/24/2005 Wayne Madsen Report: scroll down to July 24, 2005 - "With the London Transport bombings, the Madrid train bombings, known links between far right leaders and Islamist radicals in Britain and Italy, and the uncovering of a neo-Fascist private intelligence ring in Italy tied to Islamist extremists and a mysterious U.S. covert operations unit run from the National Security Council and Pentagon, there is renewed interest by European law enforcement in similar Al Qaeda-rightist links in Germany and Switzerland. Ever since the 1980s, there were confirmed intelligence reports of neo-Nazi European groups training in terrorist camps in North Africa. When veteran FBI agent Mike German began looking more deeply into links between right wing terrorist groups in the United States and Islamist radicals, his entire penetration operation was shut down on orders of Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller. German resigned from the Bureau in protest."

Prince Turki, former head of Saudi intelligence, becomes Saudi ambassador to US  7/23/2005 Online Journal: "Turki al-Faisal's own ties to Washington and Langley, and throughout the intelligence world are legendary. Prince Turki has been intimately involved with the CIA, Pakistan's ISI (a virtual branch of the CIA), and the creation and guiding of Islamic "terrorism" (Bin Laden politics, Taliban), and all aspects of the geostrategy leading up to, and out of, September 11, and pipeline politics (Bridas-Unocal, trans-Afghan pipeline competition). The Saudi energy company Ningarcho is connected to Prince Turki. The deep connections between the Saudi royal family, the Bush family, the highest echelons of the Washington-Wall Street elite, Osama bin Laden, terrorism, intelligence agencies, oil, narcotrafficking, arms trafficking, criminal finance (BCCI), etc. are amply documented history. Prince Turki has long been part of this milieu."

Where is Luis Posada?  7/19/2005 NarcoNews: "Bush senior was also Vice President of the United States when Posada “escaped” from a Venezuelan prison while being tried for the Cubana bombing. Posada resurfaced soon after his 1985 escape from Venezuela, as Ramon Medina, a chief player in the Iran-Contra affair,a grotesquerie hatched by the CIA and the Reagan-Bush Administration that helped fund itself by facilitating drug sales in the United States. In 1986, Bush family friend and lapdog, Elliot Abrams, lied stone-faced to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence about U.S. involvement in the "contra" affair, making sure to protect Bush senior: "Mr. Stokes asked whether denial of U.S. involvement included the Vice President. Mr. Abram’s said Mr. Gregg of the Vice President’s staff had introduced Mr. [Felix] Rodriguez to Salvadoran Air Force officials in 1984 to serve as an adviser on air/ground operations. Mr. Rodriguez’ actions since that time were on his own." Abrams has resurfaced as a chief adviser in the Bush junior administration. And Bush senior, as President, released Posada’s comrade-in-arms, Orlando Bosch, from federal detention in 1990. Now with the weight of all this history on him, and no doubt tremendous familial pressure, Bush junior must decide what to do with a 77-year-old terrorist who is really the living embodiment of a failed United States policy of decades past. The federal government transported Posada to El Paso, Texas, where he is to have a bond hearing on July 25. We are unable to go into any further detail, but credible information has it that Posada is no longer in El Paso. Additionally, two separate calls to the detention facility supposedly holding Posada yielded differing information concerning his upcoming bond hearing. During a call this morning, employees said that the bond hearing set for the 25th will be accomplished electronically, with neither Posada nor his attorney to be present. Later in the day, however, a second call to the detention center yielded the information that Posada was “most definitely” at that facility and that he would be present for the bond hearing next Monday. Bill Conroy, well known to regular readers of Narco News and the Narcosphere, said that he checked with sources on the inside and could not confirm that Posada had been moved. But one of his sources said that “it would not be a big surprise if Posada were moved. They could move him on a whim, claiming he was under threat or for some national security pretense. [The government] want[s] to control [Posada] as much as [it] can without killing him.” "

Exploitation Akin to Modern-Day Slavery is Alive and Well in Florida  7/19/2005 Black America Web: "Police who raided the camp found 148 rocks of crack cocaine, 20 cases of beer and dozens of cases of cigarettes. Former workers, such as Will Anderson, told the Florida Times-Union that the drugs were basically used as payola to workers, most of whom were transported to the camp from homeless shelters and other flophouses from throughout the state to harvest cabbages in the middle of nowhere. Most were black men. Black men who couldn’t shake drug habits. Black men whose prior convictions made it tough for them to start over with a square job. Black men who were desperate. Yet, what those men found at the camp wasn’t a way to amass cash, but another prison."

Vice-President Responds to Otto Reich, Denies Venezuela is “Cubanizing”  7/13/2005 Venezuela Analysis: "Holding up statistics that showed that in the first semester of 2005 Venezuelan authorities seized double of the amount of drugs that were confiscated during the corresponding time period in 2004, Rangel toyed with, and then dismissed, the idea that the US ambassador to Venezuela did not have access to this information. “This [lack of information] is not the custom among these ambassadors,” he affirmed, adding that “generally U.S. ambassadors have good information in the countries in which they are present.” The Venezuelan Vice President went on to add that these statistics “reveal that there is efficient work on the part of Venezuelan authorities and that, in second place, I must say that due to agreements with the U.S. there are twelve offices of the DEA operating in the national territory, the majority in Caracas.” Rangel then alleged that Brownfield’s statements prove that he is taking an active role in the U.S. orchestrated “campaign” intended to “strike Venezuela in the fight against drug trafficking.” "

Adam Kidan  6/21/2005 Source Watch 

The Secret World of Jack Abramoff  6/21/2005 Mad Cow: "One of the most amazing thing about this most amazing scandal—hundreds of millions in slush funds beats Oval Office blowjobs by a mile—is that some of the same names in the Abramoff scandal also surface in connection with Mohamed Atta’s."

FBI Whistleblower: White Supremacists Are Major Domestic Terrorist Threat  6/13/2005 Democracy Now: interview with Mike German - "Well, I think the problem is if you blind yourself to the conspiracy, then the chances of them being successful in their next act of lone extremist terrorism is more likely. So, you know, again I’m not saying that we could necessarily take these leaders into court and convict them, because the whole purpose of their methodology is to separate themselves from the actual criminal activity, but what I’m saying is if we don't pay attention to those leaders, you're going to insure that the next group is successful, just as if we were only investigating the mafia one murder at a time and not looking at the underlying organization. And frankly, you know, these groups, like the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nations, have rich criminal histories just as deep as the Italian mafia does, yet, you know, we tend to give them a political status that I don't think is necessarily deserved."

Massacres, corruption accompany Plan Colombia  5/19/2005 Worker's World: "The “rogue American soldiers” refers to three incidents reported recently in the media. Shortly after midnight on May 3, an anonymous caller alerted police in Cundinamarca, the municipality where the capital Bogotá is located, to a “big” event in the region—the delivery of a shipment. When the police arrived, they found 29 metal boxes with 32,900 rounds of ammunition and three men—one Colombian plus a colonel and a sergeant from the Special Forces of the U.S. Army. The last two were shooting instructors at the nearby National Army Training Center of Tolemaida. The booty was reportedly going to be sold to right-wing paramilitaries. This incident comes after two others: one on March 29, when five U.S. soldiers who were part of the “anti-drug” operations in the south of Colombia were arrested for carrying 16 kilograms of cocaine in a U.S. military plane, and a recent case of a U.S. soldier being investigated for the hit-and-run death of two Colombian soldiers last year. These episodes are not unique nor isolated incidents. In fact, as part of Plan Colombia the Colombian government had to, at Washington’s request, sign a treaty that grants immunity to the 800 U.S. military personnel and 600 U.S. contractors operating in that country. What is unique is that these incidents became news in the Colombian media, which reflects the opinion of part of the oligarchy. It is still early to ascertain their real meaning."

Cuban leader denounces U.S. hunt for convicted cop killer  5/10/2005 Newsday: "Castro suggested that the action was meant to divert attention from Cuba's demand that U.S. officials arrest Luis Posada Carriles, who is wanted in Venezuela on charges of involvement in blowing up a civilian Cuban jetliner in 1976, killing 73 people."

U.S. promotes double standard in how it deals with 'terrorist' cases  5/9/2005 USA Today: "What bothers me is that while these men, whose suspected crimes fit the State Department's definition of terrorism, haven't set off Justice Department alarm bells, Shakur is being treated like a disciple of Osama bin Laden. If she killed Foerster (her attorney argues the evidence suggests otherwise), Shakur should be returned to New Jersey to spend her life in prison. By not proclaiming that it will arrest Posada on sight and deport him, the Bush administration caters to those in the Cuban exile community who view him as a freedom fighter — and undermines its leadership of the fight against terrorism."

LOS RAIZALES SANANDRESANOS. REALIDADES ÉTNICAS Y DISCURSO POLÍTICO  5/9/2005 IndyMedia. Colombia: "Los raizales del Archipiélago de San Andrés y Providencia han empezado a utilizar su identidad cultural como una estrategia étnica que les ha permitido reivindicar ciertos derechos frente al Estado y frente al resto de habitantes de la isla. En este proceso se han empezado a rescatar particularidades culturales dándoles un carácter de importancia dentro de su discurso, como es el caso del idioma, mientras que otros aspectos de su cultura han sido puestos aparte, ya que no tienen importancia dentro del discurso político. El análisis del discurso étnico raizal muestra cómo la etnicidad se construye de acuerdo con la coyuntura política e ideológica colombiana e internacional."

Commentary: NJ Troopers Have Selective Amnesia About How They Victimized People Like Assata Shakur  5/3/2005 Black America Web: "I’m dubious because the New Jersey State Police had then –– and still have –– a reputation for being notoriously racist. In many cases, stopping someone for a busted tail light tends to be more of an excuse to target someone, namely black people, for harassment rather than to advise them to get the light fixed. And while neither I nor any of the white people who convicted Shakur were there when Foerster was shot, it’s rather interesting that up until that time, she only had a record of organizing free breakfast programs and other community empowerment programs, and not a record of provoking violence. I’m dubious because, as much as people like Fuentes are calling for justice for Foerster, some of their own are still doing the same injustices to black people as they did in Shakur’s day. In 1998, troopers on that same New Jersey turnpike upon which Shakur was stopped shot and wounded three unarmed black and Latino men whom they suspected were carrying drugs. They weren’t. The next year, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office issued a report that found that racial profiling by the troopers was rampant. And as recent as 2003, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that internal affairs officers for the New Jersey State Police looking into racial and sexual harassment allegations found a T-shirt with the letters LOD. The initials, which stand for “Lords of Discipline,” represent a secret society that many black and women officers say is sexist and white supremacist. I’m also dubious because Shakur was convicted by an all-white jury –– a jury that was, at that time, probably was more consumed with administering punishment to black people than in administering justice to them. Some bounty hunter in Florida said he plans to try and capture Shakur. I hope he fails. I hope he fails not only because I believe that Shakur was wrongly convicted, but because I believe it is the height of hypocrisy for the Bush administration to put her on the same terrorist watch list as Osama bin Laden. It is also hypocritical because right here in the United States, we are harboring a number of fugitives and murderers from other countries. And it’s sheer political lunacy to compare Shakur to bin Laden; she hasn’t killed 3,000 people, nor does she have the capability of carrying out terrorist attacks against the United States."

When authorities screen your children for mental illness ...  4/26/2005 Mother Jones: "Aliah Gleason is a big, lively girl with a round face, a quick wit, and a sharp tongue. She's 13 and in eighth grade at Dessau Middle School in Pflugerville, Texas, an Austin suburb, but could pass for several years older. She is the second of four daughters of Calvin and Anaka Gleason, an African American couple who run a struggling business taking people on casino bus trips… Six weeks later, in January 2004, a child-protection worker went to Aliah's school, interviewed her, then summoned Calvin Gleason to the school and told him to take Aliah to Austin State Hospital, a state mental facility. He refused, and after a heated conversation, she placed Aliah in emergency custody and had a police officer drive her to the hospital. The Gleasons would not be allowed to see or even speak to their daughter for the next five months, and Aliah would spend a total of nine months in a state psychiatric hospital and residential treatment facilities. While in the hospital, she was placed in restraints more than 26 times and medicated -- against her will and without her parents' consent -- with at least 12 different psychiatric drugs, many of them simultaneously."

U.S. Prison Population Soars in 2003, '04  4/25/2005 AP: "He said many of those incarcerated are not serious or violent offenders, but are low-level drug offenders. Young said the prison population could be lowered by introducing drug treatment programs that offer effective ways of changing behavior and by providing appropriate assistance for the mentally ill. According to the Justice Policy Institute, which advocates a more lenient system of punishment, the United States has a higher rate of incarceration than any other country, followed by Britain, China, France, Japan and Nigeria. There were 726 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents by June 30, 2004, compared with 716 a year earlier, according to the report by the Justice Department agency. In 2004, one in every 138 U.S. residents was in prison or jail; the previous year it was one in every 140. In 2004, 61 percent of prison and jail inmates were of racial or ethnic minorities, the government said. An estimated 12.6 percent of all black men in their late 20s were in jails or prisons, as were 3.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.7 percent of white men in that age group, the report said."

Drugs war landmark in Afghanistan  4/25/2005 BBC: "Shortly after, a report prepared for the US Congress by its research services identified him and another alleged Afghan drugs lord, Juma Khan, as linkmen between the men's own drugs interests and extremist organisations still operating in Afghanistan. They include the Taleban, al-Qaeda and the Hisb-e-Islami party of the renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The same report said Bashir Noorzai was a confidant of Taleban leader Mullah Omar. There are reports he introduced Mullah Omar to Osama Bin Laden, and it is said he became a major financier for the Taleban."

John Bolton: Ally of CIA-linked Drugrunners  3/30/2005 David Corn 

Disarmament, Extradition and Amnesty - The Future of Colombia's Paramilitary Death Squads  2/18/2005 CounterPunch: "Born and raised in the slums of Medellín, Diego Fernando Murillo became known in the crime world as a ruthless killer. In 1992, he narrowly escaped Colombian authorities when his boss, Pablo Escobar, went into hiding. The resulting manhunt eventually killed Mr. Escobar but launched Diego Murillo's career in the Colombian drug world. After switching alliances between various drug cartels, he has arrived at the top of the pyramid power structure of Colombia's right wing paramilitary forces, known as the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC)." [Kinda like the career of his ally President Uribe, who is reported by the DIA to have been a close personal friend of Pablo Escobar.]

Abramoff’s ex-partner will testify against him  1/24/2005 AP: "A former partner of Jack Abramoff has agreed to cooperate in the fraud case against the Washington lobbyist over his 2000 purchase of the SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet. Documents filed in federal courts in Miami and Washington say the agreement was part of a plea deal that Michael Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, reached with prosecutors in a separate case. If Scanlon provides “substantial assistance,” prosecutors will seek a lighter sentence, according to the agreement. The plea deal was filed Monday, when Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials. He was ordered to pay restitution totaling more than $19 million to Indian tribes that he admitted had been defrauded while he and Abramoff represented them. Scanlon’s attorney, Stephen Braga, confirmed in an e-mail Wednesday that his client was cooperating in the SunCruz case. Abramoff and New York businessman Adam Kidan are scheduled to go to trial in January on wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy charges in their $147.5 million purchase of SunCruz. Federal prosecutors allege that they defrauded lenders by faking a $23 million wire transfer to make it appear that they put their own money into the purchase. Both have pleaded not guilty and remain free on bail."

Jury Suggests Probation for Ex-Drug Agent  1/15/2005 AP: "Coleman arrested 46 people, most of them black, in the small, mostly white farming community of Tulia. He worked alone and used no audio or video surveillance, and no drugs were ever found, but 38 defendants were convicted or reached plea deals. Gov. Rick Perry pardoned 35 of the defendants in 2003, after an investigation into the drug cases was launched amid charges they were racially motivated. Freddie Brookins Jr., one of the people sent to prison on Coleman's word, told jurors that he was bitter about being convicted of something he didn't do. "I missed seeing my kids grow up," said Brookins, 27, who was pardoned by the governor."

Dangers of questioning government actions  1/6/2005 Chicago Tribune: "I have a confession to make: I still think Gary Webb had it mostly right. I think he got the treatment that always comes to those who dare question aloud the bona fides of the establishment: First he got misrepresented--his suggestion that the CIA tolerated the contras' cocaine trading became an allegation that the agency itself was involved in the drug trade. Then he was ridiculed as a conspiracy-monger--joked one commentator, Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post, "Oliver Stone, check your voice mail." In the end, Webb was rendered untouchable. I know that I risk being marked down as something of a nut for saying I think Webb was fundamentally right. As my friend and former Commentary page columnist Salim Muwakkil said in one of his pieces on this issue: "To connect the CIA with crack--a drug with race-specific overtones--is considered a mere variation of the old theme of black genocide and is thus deemed irrational in mainstream discourse.""

Colombian cocaine suspect in Cuba, out of U.S. reach  12/27/2004 Miami Herald: "Even as Colombia extradites a record number of drug traffickers to the United States, one reputed capo is eluding capture and extradition in an unusual way: He is being held in Cuba on a charge of using a false passport. Havana has been slow to move on the charge against Hernando Gómez, and Colombian authorities say they have no news on their request for is extradition to Bogotá to face charges here. Now, some of Gómez's associates have told The Herald that they suspect that Gómez may have bribed his way into an extended stay in Cuba so he could avoid a Colombian prison and later possible extradition to the United States."

Was Gary Webb 'Suicided' To Kill New Book on Mossad's South American Drug Running?  12/27/2004 Portland Indy Media 

Protecting people or profit?  12/14/2004 BBC: "America's privatised military machine is at the heart of the war on drugs in Colombia. Defence corporations hired by the US government enjoy extremely lucrative contracts, but who is responsible when something goes wrong?"

In Memoriam: Gary Webb  12/13/2004 Peter Dale Scott: "Gary Webb, Pulitzer Prize winner, died last week in what was pretty clearly a suicide. Even if he pulled the trigger of the gun that killed him, he was still a victim punished unjustly for his pursuit of the truth. It is clear that anyone who has dared to speak out about the CIA and the drug traffic has risked losing his job. In like fashion Celerino Castillo was eased out of DEA, and Robert Parry lost his job at AP. When Gary was absurdly abused by a pack of attack dogs at the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post, Gary’s editors at the San Jose Mercury-Tribune failed to stand by him; and in the end virtually they forced him off the paper by reassigning him to a trivial suburban post. The guilty consciences of the major newspapers is reflected now in the demeaning obituaries they have written about him. Gary’s treatment of the CIA-drug story was not flawless; no one’s is or can be. But he deserved far better than he got; and it is the other journalists who attacked him who should now hang their heads in shame."

Fighting Terrorism Takes Gavels as Well as Guns By Mike German  11/7/2004 Washington Post: Mike German resigned from the FBI when his investigation of right wing links to Al Qaeda was shut down. [Related to Sibel Edmonds case]

U.S. refusal to collaborate with Cuba will incite drug trafficking  10/15/2004 Granma: "Washington has turned down six Cuban proposals to work together to combat drug trafficking."

“Storm in Moscow”: A Plan of the Yeltsin “Family” to Destabilize Russia by John B. Dunlop  10/8/2004 Hoover Institution: classic report on state sponsored narcoterrorism

Cuba still deciding fate of Colombian drug lord it captured  10/5/2004 Miami Herald 

DEA Agent’s Whistleblower Case Exposes the “War on Drugs” as a “War of Pretense”  9/24/2004 NarcoNews: "Lau explains that if the U.S. Government was really serious about eradicating the drug trade, “they would have done it. But they do not really want to.” “Let’s say the DEA was successful in eradicating all drug trafficking,” Lau adds. “What would be left to prop up pro-U.S. regimes that rely on the drug trade? … The CIA can use the proceeds of the drug trade to pay for armies to support a friendly government.” Lau also says a lot of careers in the intelligence community have been built around human assets who have been planted within the ranks of the narco-trafficking organizations. If you take down the drug trade, you take down the very assets that are helping to make careers – and at times, corrupt fortunes – within the intelligence community, Lau points out."

Contra Campaign  9/23/2004 Miami New Times: "The so-called Kerry Committee alleged that Rodriguez had helped steer $10 million from the notorious Medellín cocaine cartel to the contras. The committee concluded that trafficking was rampant in the rebels' effort… That was some seventeen years ago, but Rodriguez's hatred for Kerry -- and his closeness to the Bush family -- has driven Rodriguez from the CIA shadows onto the open political stage. He's railed against Kerry on Cuban radio and in the October edition of Soldier of Fortune magazine. He also jumped at the chance to join the Vietnam Veterans for Truth, an anti-Kerry group that invited Rodriguez to speak at a nationally televised September 12 rally at the Capitol… President Dick Cheney, who was then a congressman, played a key role in the disinformation campaign. He led the effort to squelch various Iran-contra investigations, especially when it came to drug allegations. And George W. Bush? Well, he seems to have no qualms about Iran-contra, since he has hired several of the scandal's central figures -- including Elliott Abrams, Otto Reich, and John Negroponte -- to serve under him… Perhaps the most damning allegation against Rodriguez comes from former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Celerino Castillo, a decorated Vietnam vet who was stationed in Central America during Iran-contra. While working for the DEA, Castillo says he became aware of drug trafficking at San Salvador's Ilopango air base, where Rodriguez was organizing the contra supply effort. The DEA agent has testified in Congress and recounted in his well-documented book, Powderburns, how the airport hangars controlled by Rodriguez and other government operatives were used by drug traffickers. "The only reason Felix wasn't arrested is because he knew where all the bodies were buried in the Iran-contra operation," says Castillo, who is now a substitute high school teacher living in Texas."

New super strain of coca plant stuns anti-drug officials  8/27/2004 Scotsman: "This is a very tall plant," said Colonel Diego Leon Caicedo of the anti-narcotics police. "It has a lot more leaves and a lighter colour than other varieties." A toxicologist, Camilo Uribe, who studied the coca, said: "The quality and percentage of hydrochloride from each leaf is much better, between 97 and 98 per cent. A normal plant does not get more than 25 per cent, meaning that more drugs and of a higher purity can be extracted."

UQ Wire: Was Bush Spy Pick On Agency Hit Team?  8/24/2004 Unanswered Questions Wire: "The Mexico City nightclub photo reveals a mixed group of apparent Cuban exiles, Italian wise guys, and square-jawed military intelligence types. It was discovered among keepsakes kept in the safe of the widow of CIA pilot and drug smuggler Barry Seal (third from left). It appears on the cover of “Barry & ‘the boys:’ The CIA, the Mob & America’s Secret History” (MadCow Press, Eugene OR. 2001). Goss appears second on the left. He is seated between notorious CIA pilot and drug smuggler Barry Seal (third left) and the equally-notorious CIA assassin Felix Rodriguez (front left), a Cuban vice cop under the corrupt Mob-run Batista regime who later became an Iran Contra operative and a confidant of the first George Bush. The only one of the spook celebrants displaying any hint of tradecraft (seated on the other side of the table covering his face with his sport coat) is Frank Sturgis, most famous as one of the Watergate burglars." [Felix ran Ilopango at the heart of Cocaine Contra.]

Drug Czar Sees Little Colombia Cocaine Ebb  8/5/2004 Newsday: especially when President Uribe is a cartel member…

In re-ignited Haitian Revolution, which side is Cruising Into History on?  8/4/2004 SF Bay View: "Haitians at the forum who strongly support democracy and oppose rule-by-force expressed concerns about the mission of the Ron Daniels’ cruise, to celebrate Haiti’s independence when the Haitian people are today not free and an unelected government is in control with foreign troop support and former FRAPH convicted felons, drug dealers, rapists and ex-Haitian military have appointed themselves judge, jury and executioner of Haitian law and justice in contravention to the will of the peaceful masses in Haiti. They say Daniels’ cruise should not be allowed to be used by the Latortue regime as “evidence” of the legitimacy of their unconstitutional rule nor as pretext to further oppress and brutalize the Haitian people struggling to regain their independence and sovereignty."

U.S. INTELLIGENCE LISTED COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT URIBE AMONG "IMPORTANT COLOMBIAN NARCO-TRAFFICKERS" IN 1991  8/2/2004 National Security Archives: "Then-Senator and now President Álvaro Uribe Vélez of Colombia was a "close personal friend of Pablo Escobar" who was "dedicated to collaboration with the Medellín [drug] cartel at high government levels," according to a 1991 intelligence report from U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) officials in Colombia. The document was posted today on the website of the National Security Archive, a non-governmental research group based at George Washington University. Uribe's inclusion on the list raises new questions about allegations that surfaced during Colombia's 2002 presidential campaign. Candidate Uribe bristled and abruptly terminated an interview in March 2002 when asked by Newsweek reporter Joseph Contreras about his alleged ties to Escobar and his associations with others involved in the drug trade. Uribe accused Contreras of trying to smear his reputation, saying that, "as a politician, I have been honorable and accountable." "

AMERICA'S SECRET WAR  8/2/2004 Third World Traveler: "Blandon was the son of a wealthy Nicaraguan family who fled from Nicaragua to Los Angeles on June 19, 1979, at age 29, just as the Somoza dictatorship collapsed. His family's ranches and real estate holdings in Managua, and his wife's substantial wealth, were confiscated by the Sandanista government. The Blandons worked in Los Angeles to build an anti-Sandanista movement, holding rallies and cocktail parties, but Blandon testified that their efforts raised little money. The trial record shows that, in 1981, Blandon was introduced to Norwin Meneses, another Nicaraguan living in California. With Meneses, Blandon flew to Honduras where they were introduced to the military chief of the CIA's Contra army, Enrique Bermudez. According to the MERCURY NEWS, "Bermudez was hired by the Central Intelligence Agency in mid-1980" to create the FDN. The MERCURY NEWS says, "Bermudez was the FDN's military chief and, according to congressional records and newspaper reports, received regular CIA paychecks for a decade, payments that stopped shortly before his still-unsolved slaying in Managua in 1991." (The Contra-Sandanista war ended in 1988.) After meeting with the CIA's Bermudez, Blandon testified in court, he and Meneses started raising money for the Contra revolution by selling drugs in L.A."

Colombia: Paramilitary Commanders Address Congress  7/29/2004 AntiWar.com: "Three senior paramilitary leaders wanted for mass killings of civilians and drug trafficking addressed a congressional hearing in Colombia Wednesday while protesters and supporters clashed outside. Although previous Colombian governments have stuck to the official position of considering members of the paramilitary militias criminals who should be brought to justice, right-wing President Alvaro Uribe is following a different strategy, engaging in negotiations with the main umbrella group. Salvatore Mancuso, Iván Roberto Duque and Ramón Isaza, three of the most wanted men in Colombia, spoke in Congress Wednesday in the midst of tight security, after receiving a safe-conduct pass."

Cuba informs US of drug kingpin arrest  7/13/2004 AFP 

Turkey, Drugs, Faustian Alliances & Sibel Edmonds  6/28/2004 Cryptome 

Plan puts Colombia on offensive  6/22/2004 CSM: "Though the Colombian government is quiet on the plan's details and cost, US assistance comes from the same resources used for the $3.2 billion antidrug effort called Plan Colombia, which began in 2000. With this new initiative, US officials are pushing for an increase in the four-year-old cap on troops and contractors that currently limits to 400 each the number of military and civilian personnel permitted in Colombia at any one time. The Bush administration wants to double the troop cap to 800 and raise the ceiling on civilian contractors to 600. In Congressional testimony last Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega called the existing caps "too restrictive" and said they were damaging the implementation of new and existing US-funded programs. The House Armed Services committee has raised the troop cap to 500, but that number could change when a vote goes before the full Congress."

Affidavits portray Haiti as a chaotic drug haven  6/20/2004 Sun Sentinel, FL: "Days before President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced out of Haiti, a notorious cocaine trafficker stood before a federal judge in Miami and said Aristide, once his friend, had turned Haiti into "a narco-country." "

Trafficking with the Taliban  6/19/2004 Mad Cow: "Mohamed Atta’s ability to roam at will across America—despite having his name on the CIA’s terrorist watch list—was not due to official incompetence or bureaucratic snafu, but to Atta’s status as a good earner, in a lucrative drug trafficking operation which linked Osama bin Laden’sthugs and drug lieutenants to their equally-thuggish American counterparts."

U.S. being forced to transfer some units  6/19/2004 San Diego Union Tribune: "More than a dozen sailors, including eight SEALs, are being investigated after testing positive for illegal drug use, the Navy confirmed yesterday. Seven sailors assigned to the Naval Special Warfare Command, including five SEALs, failed drug tests in early May while they were on a training exercise in Thailand. Other sailors reported seeing the commandos using drugs in Pattaya, a Thai beach resort. That was enough for Rear Adm. Joseph Maguire, the Naval Special Warfare commander, to order a drug-testing sweep of 3,300 of the 4,600 men and women under his command."

Indigenous Group Along Colombia-Venezuelan Border Threatened by Tensions, Smuggling  6/18/2004 One World: "Growing tensions between the governments of Colombia and Venezuela, as well as the persistence of fighting between left-wing insurgents and Army-backed paramilitary groups within Colombia, are threatening the welfare of a hundreds of members of the Wayuu indigenous group, descendants of the Arawaks who dominated the southern Caribbean before the European conquest of the Americas. A massacre allegedly committed by right-wing paramilitaries in the Caribbean border town of Bahia Portete two months ago reportedly killed at least 12 Indians, although 30 more, including 20 children, remain unaccounted for, according to Massachusetts-based Cultural Survival… Paramilitaries, who have long profited from drug trafficking, were, according to some accounts, invited into the region several years ago by local mafia families precisely to assert control over the trade. According to one report in the Bogota newspaper, 'El Tiempo,' the massacre was carried out in retaliation against a group that included some Wayuu from the town who allegedly stole cocaine from the paramilitaries. Another account published by 'El Espectador,' depicted the massacre as part of an ongoing struggle between the paramilitaries and a group of Wayuu over control of the port itself."

State Dept. Quashed 9/11 Links To Global Drug Trade - FBI Whistleblower  6/7/2004 Break For News: "LATEST: Sibel Deniz Edmonds was awaiting a June 14 court hearing to determine if she can publicly tell the full story of intelligence failures over the 9/11 attacks. The U.S. government wants her knowledge to remain a state secret. Judge Reggie Walton has now called off the hearing --no reason cited, and no future date scheduled. The fourth time he's done this in past two years. Sibel Edmonds will hold a press conference with Daniel Ellsberg at 3rd & Const. Ave. on Monday, June 14, at 9:30 AM in front of the Court."

Ex-Haitian police commander pleads innocent to Miami drug charge  6/4/2004 Miami Herald 

Former Haitian senator to face cocaine-smuggling charge  6/2/2004 Sun Sentinel: "The U.S. investigation into drugs, money and corruption under Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide stretched Tuesday from the ranks of the Haitian National Police into the upper echelon of the Senate and ruling political party. Fourel Celestin, a former president of the Senate and member of Aristide's Famni Lavalas Party, was taken into custody Tuesday at the Miami offices of the Drug Enforcement Administration. He is being held without bail." [Meanwhile, industrial strength traffickers continue to roam Haiti, supported by the new government.]

Who Towers Behind Trump?  6/1/2004 American Free Press: "Everyone knows, of course, about Trump’s gambling operations and of the wide-ranging links of the gambling industry to organized crime. But the story is much bigger than that. In his own memoir, The Art of the Deal, Trump proudly described how in 1987 he bought his first casino interests when he purchased 93% of the voting stock in the Resorts International gambling concern."

The Developing Andean War - Corporate Investment and Government Double-Dealing  5/25/2004 CounterPunch: "The same is true in the developing war in the Andes where the war in Colombia seems to be spreading inexorably into Ecuador and Venezuela. There, as in Iraq, Britain and Spain have faithfully supported the US. But while in Iraq the war was originally justified as part of the "war on terrorism", the Andean war is also dressed up as part of the "war on drugs". It is worth noting the Andean war's relationship with big business and dubious international finance."

Former Haiti police chief arrested  5/17/2004 CNN: "U.S. federal agents have arrested Haiti's former national police chief in Miami, as part of the Drug Enforcement Administration's ongoing investigation into drug trafficking in the Caribbean nation, according to a DEA spokesman and court documents."

Venezuela's Public Defender German Mundarain denounces US interference in paramilitary case  5/12/2004 Vheadlines: "The maximum defender of human rights said that he’s convinced that “there are (local) groups who are conniving with traditional terrorist and criminal groups.” He added that he is fed up with knowing how paramilitary groups operate in the world, principally in Colombia, almost always with funding from drug trafficking; they are permanently dedicated to developing terrorist acts."

UQ Wire: Re. Daniel Hopsicker On The 911 Inquiry  5/10/2004 Unanswered Questions Wire: "We also looked at the links between the I.S.I, Pakistan, Mohamed Atta, and top U.S. government officials. Why was head of Pakistan's I.S.I., Lt. General Mahmoud Ahmad, the "money man behind 9-11," who had $100,000 wired to Mohamed Atta meeting with top U.S. officials from September 4th- the 13th? When we marched on our Senators demanding an investigation of 9-11, this was one of the questions we raised, only to have Bush and Cheney ask to have the Inquiry limited and overseen by the CI,A and the very men who breakfasted with Lt. Gen. Mahoud Ahmad, Pakistani's I.S.I. chief, on the morning of September 11th (Rep. Porter Goss and Senator Bob Graham- headed the House/Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee which conducted the official Inquiry into 9-11)."

Exhumaron osamenta en hacienda donde entrenaban paramilitares que planeaban derrocar a Chávez  5/10/2004 Aporrea: "Fue localizada la osamenta de una persona, quien aún no ha sido identificada, en el área de la hacienda Daktari, donde fue capturado el primer grupo de paramilitares colombianos, en la madrugada del domingo 9 de los corrientes, informó el jefe de la División Contra Homicidios, del Cuerpo de Investigaciones Científicas, Penales y Criminalísticas (Cicpc), comisario Juan Iglesias… Asimismo, Chávez garantizó el respeto a los derechos humanos de los paramilitares colombianos detenidos a la fecha y quienes aún están en fuga, "no habrá torturas ni encapuchados para aplicar corriente eléctrica ni violaciones ni sadomasoquismo", en apego a la Constitución Bolivariana de Venezuela y en función de la paz de la República."

‘Plan Colombia has been not an antidrugs plan but a counterinsurgency plan’  5/8/2004 Progreso Weekly: "Arauca is a key region for all the armed participants in the conflict because it is rich in crude oil and lies on the border on Venezuela. And it is vital not only for those participants but also for international companies and other governments that have economic and strategic interests in the zone, such as the United States and the U.S. company Occidental Petroleum, which owns the Caño Limón pipeline, the most important oil conduit in Arauca. Because many of the violations of human rights and international law are committed in the areas along the pipeline, it is very important for the Colombian government to restore order and security in Arauca."

Hitting them while they’re down: The difficult position of Afro-Colombians  4/29/2004 Progreso Weekly: "Colombia has progressive laws providing Afro-Colombians with rights and displaced persons with help, but these laws have no teeth. They suffer intimidation, massacres, supply blockades, and massive displacement caused by the armed actors, both paramilitaries on the right and guerrillas on the left. They are also affected by harsh U.S.-funded drug policies that spray herbicides on illegal coca crops, often mixed with food crops, and are provided relatively little in the way of alternative development assistance. And Afro-Colombian communities endure lower scores than their compatriots on all the human development indicators. The Afro-Colombian population is no small minority, representing around a quarter to a third of the country’s population[1]. There are about 10 million Afro-Colombians, 900,000 of which are displaced[2] – a number which represents a large percentage of all displaced Colombians. Noteworthy when you consider that Colombia suffers the largest internal refugee crisis after the Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

Bush Goes from Illogical to Ridiculous on Cuban Drug Issue  4/26/2004 Prensa Latina: "Cuba is well aware of its dangerous geographic position, and for that reason is evaluating a Caribbean Regional Maritime Cooperation Agreement for international cooperation against drug traffic and has repeatedly offered to sign a bilateral cooperation agreement with the US to combat such drug traffic. Although the US has refused to consider these offers, even with the courtesy of a negative, the Cuban Coastguard has systematically informed the US Coastguard 7th district of pertinent information that has allowed them to frustrate 16 drug operations and capture 35 drug traffickers, 13 speedboats and two airboats since July 2000."

Kerry's Cuban Problem - How the Democratic nominee is blowing Florida By Ann Louise Bardach  4/26/2004 Slate: "Relying on the assumption that Cuban-Americans in Miami are monolithically conservative was part of Gore's mistake. In fact, the Cuban exiles are not, as a rule, conservatives. More often than not, they champion social issues linked to Democrats: support for Social Security, Medicare, prescription drug benefits, and bilingual education. They tend to be pro-choice and concerned about environmental issues. The Cuban connection to the Republican Party has hung mainly on one issue: support for a non-engagement policy with Cuba going back to Eisenhower. But there is also a lingering bitterness at Democrats over President Kennedy's refusal to provide air cover during the Bay of Pigs invasion. But this passion is not shared by younger and newer arrivals from Cuba—who now form a majority. About 60 percent of Cuban-Americans in the United States arrived after the 1980 Mariel Boat exodus. According to two recent polls, one conducted by Florida International University and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the other by Bendixen & Associates, this group tends to view themselves primarily as economic, not political refugees."

''The Role of Drug Trafficking in Colombia's Internal Political Conflict''  4/20/2004 PINR: cites current estimate for FARC drug profits at $400 million (2000) but no current estimate for the cartel/paramilitaries, only $2 to $5 billion in the 80s.

Swept Under the Rug - Customs Internal Corruption Investigator: "We Were Getting Too Close"  4/18/2004 NarcoNews: "The interagency tiff set off by the handling of the tapes exposing two Customs inspectors as being in league with drug traffickers, as well as other ongoing case-related tensions among the task force members, prompted the U.S. Attorney’s Office to withdraw from Firestorm in early December 1990, according to congressional documents. By the end of the month, the task force was dead in the water."

"Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy" a/k/a the Kerry Report transcripts  4/17/2004 Memory Hole: "The rare landmark Senate hearings on the narco-corruption of officials and intelligence agencies in the US, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Chaired by Senator John Kerry."

Afro-Colombians: 'Invisible' People Strive to Survive War, Racism  4/16/2004 NCM: "Ingrid Vaicius, a Colombia Project Associate at the Center for International Policy in Washington, D.C., said the “invisibility” of Colombians of African descent stems from their staying to themselves on the Pacific Coast. And, she said, the Colombian government does not want to admit that its poorest and most marginalized citizens are Black. “The secret is out now because of so many Blacks being displaced from their farms and turning up in cities such as Bogotá, the Colombian capital. They have the worst education, and now they are at every stoplight begging and this is causing people to question why this is happening,” Ms. Vaicius explained… He and the other two activists also pointed out that U.S. foreign policy and militarization of the fight against drugs through “Plan Colombia” has displaced huge numbers of Blacks. “Plan Colombia,” started in 1999 under President Bill Clinton, was launched to stop cocaine production by supplying the Colombian government with helicopters and other aircraft to spray fields as well as military assistance. The U.S. gave $2.5 billion of aid. Critics say the operation has clearly caused more harm than good, with the brunt of Plan Colombia borne the backs of farmers. They complain that insecticides sprayed to kill coca plants often destroy food crops. Many also suspect the U.S. wants access to Colombia’s oil reserves and natural resources, like gold, silver and copper."

THE MIAMI MAFIA IN CANADA - A drug trafficking “right-hand man”  4/16/2004 Granma: "THE “right-hand man” of Ismael Sambra, current leader of the Cuban Canadian Foundation, was arrested in December 1990 as chief of a drug trafficking gang, resulting in the most important seizure of cocaine in Montreal’s history. On May 7, 1993, Máximo Morales, aged 57 and of Cuban origin, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and importing 115 kilograms of the drug; just a small quantity of the huge volume of drugs that his organization had trafficked. At that time, Morales represented the French-speaking province of Quebec on the executive of a “human rights” faction founded by Sambra, whose was located in Toronto. However, according to various sources, the drug trafficker was aspiring to take over the presidency of the small organization… According to statements by police officers at the time of the arrest, detectives assessed that Morales’ organization – a mafioso group led by César Riviera from Toronto – had imported 1,500 kilograms of cocaine the year before the “businessman’s” arrest and earnings worth $3.4 million during the six weeks prior to that event. In that period, the Rivera-Morales network controlled half the cocaine market for the Canadian province of Ontario, according to information circulated at the time of the police operation… Granma International revealed in 2003 how Sambra’s arrival in Canada was sponsored by a mysterious “anonymous donor” who had urged the head of York University to “provide him with a cover,” and how he went on to create his organization with the support of Miami’s Cuban-American National Foundation (CANF)."

US seeks graft charges against Aristide  4/7/2004 Sydney Morning Herald: "American judicial authorities are looking into prosecuting the former Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, on corruption charges, the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said. "There are inquiries being made . . . to see if there is any evidence of wrongdoing on his part," Mr Powell said at a news conference with the new interim prime minister, Gerard Latortue, in Port-au-Prince on Monday. Mr Aristide went into exile in February after widespread violence and looting. A US indictment against him on drug trafficking or other international charges would further inflame political tensions between those who claim he was forced into exile by US troops and others, like Mr Powell, who say the Americans saved his life."

Haitian Premier Hails Rebels As 'Freedom Fighters'  3/21/2004 Haiti Democracy Project: just like the contras, the "founding fathers" of Nicaragua, the rebels are also fueled by the drug trade.

Warrant snags Aristide aide  3/16/2004 Toronto Star: ""It is not about a person with a history of crimes against humanity or fear of prosecution and persecution (in Haiti).... We have a person who has information that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration wants," Mamann told Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada adjudicator Ilze De Carlo. Meanwhile, Aristide returned to the Caribbean yesterday for the first time since being ousted as Haiti's president, enraging the new government with a visit to Jamaica. Haiti recalled its ambassador in protest amid fears that Aristide is plotting a return to power… "Those who are loyal to Aristide are being harassed and it has become a witch hunt. It's not just," Jean's close friend from Montreal, Serge Bouchereau, said after the hearing at the Immigration and Refugee Board's Toronto headquarters."

Canadian authorities arrest, detain Aristide's former security chief  3/12/2004 Miami Herald: "With U.S. assistance, the notorious security chief of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was detained in Canada on Friday as U.S. Marines again came under fire on the streets of the Haitian capital… Aristide kept on Jean as chief of security at the National Palace even after Washington yanked his U.S. visa in 2002, over reports by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that that he was involved in the drug trade."

U.S. Hand In Aristide Ouster America's Shameful Treatment of Haiti  3/10/2004 Northstar Network: by Ron Daniels - "In the end, the violent insurrection that erupted in Gonaive by gangs formerly allied with Aristide provided the perfect opening for the U.S. to oust someone for whom the right wing ideologues had a deep dislike and distrust. As the rebellion spread and heavily armed former death squad leaders, drug dealers and human rights abusers crossed the border from the Dominican Republic, Washington and the international community watched as they captured town after town. Presented with a formula for power sharing and a government of national unity based on a proposal originally crafted by CARICOM, to his credit, Aristide quickly accepted. Even though he would have largely been reduced to a figurehead, he correctly argued that it was time that Haitians learned to move from “elected President to elected President instead of coup d’etat to coup d’etat.” "

Aristide’s Lawyer: Bush is getting even in Haiti  3/9/2004 NNPA: "An attorney for former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, now in exile, says he believes President George W. Bush sought to finish the agenda of his father by removing rather than protecting the embattled president last week. “Dick Cheney was the secretary of defense, Colin Powell was the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and George Bush, the father, was president at the time of the first military coup against President Aristide,” recalls the attorney, Ira Kurzban of Miami. “Is there a settling of scores in some sense? They thought they got rid of him the first time, but Clinton brought him back. And now they want to make sure, before the November election, that they get rid of him a second time.” ...“There is one issue that is at the core of the problems in Haiti that few people are talking about,” says retired Congressman Walter Fauntroy (D-D.C.), who served for 15 years as chairman of a Bi-partisan, Bicameral Congressional Task Force on Haiti. “In the last 10 years, Haiti has become a major illegal drug transshipment for the Cali, Medellin and Baranquilla drug cartels in South America.” "

Time For Haiti To Move On - Roger F. Noriega  3/7/2004 Barbados Daily Nation: Noriega is a member of the Miami narcoterrorist Mafia who, like others such as Reich and Negroponte, serve in Bush's administration and help define US policy in the Americas. Here he could be describing Miami - "Regrettably, our efforts in Haiti during Mr Aristide’s tenure proved fruitless. He was simply unwilling or incapable of building a political consensus, maintaining a professional non-politicised police force, reining in the rampant corruption and drug trafficking among his cronies, or promoting an atmosphere of security in which his political opponents did not fear for their lives."

Drug allegation gave US leverage on Aristide  3/1/2004 Boston Globe: "The most serious charges of drug-trafficking in Haiti have been leveled not at Aristide but at some of the leaders of the insurgency that had battled to unseat him in a revolt that began Feb. 5 in northern Haiti. Many analysts and diplomats remain nervous of a future Haiti government that includes these powerful rebels, many of them associated with previous, brutal Haitian regimes."

Bush accused of supporting Haitian rebels  2/27/2004 UPI: "Activists at a Friday press briefing outlined what they believe to be a well-crafted plan by the Bush administration to overthrow Aristide. Former Haitian military members, drug dealers and militants were armed and trained in the Dominican Republic thanks to military support from the United States. They have now crossed the border into Haiti, activists said. The rebel insurrection that erupted three weeks ago has left roughly 80 people dead, nearly half of whom were police officers. U.S.-supported coups in Latin America and Africa during the Cold War were referenced by many as models for what they perceive to be the Bush administration's current strategy in Haiti."

The Oliver North File: His Diaries, E-Mail, and Memos on the Kerry Report, Contras and Drugs  2/26/2004 National Security Archive: "Diaries, e-mail, and memos of Iran-contra figure Oliver North, posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive, directly contradict his criticisms yesterday of Sen. John Kerry's 1988 Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee report on the ways that covert support for the Nicaraguan contras in the 1980s undermined the U.S. war on drugs."

Claims of drug ties in envoy's expulsion rejected  1/9/2004 Miami Herald: "The State Department officially would only repeat the standard language whenever a diplomat is expelled: ''activities incompatible with his status as a diplomat.'' But knowledgeable officials said the drug allegation was untrue. Socorro was known to be one of several Cuban diplomats who regularly visited five convicted Cuban spies jailed around the United States, under international agreements that guarantee diplomats access to their citizens jailed abroad."

Pesquera had to “persuade” Janet Reno to arrest the Five  1/9/2004 Granma: "In July 1996, The Washington Times (property of the Moon sect) revealed how an FBI team “led by agent Héctor Pesquera” had arrested an “well-known drug trafficker” holding 323 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $4.2 million. He arrived in Puerto Rico in 1992 and in 1995 occupied the leading post on the island, “specializing” in the drug trafficking gangs active in the region. Pesquera’s expert narcotics investigations and his friendships with Miami mafia leaders are, of course, not at all suspicious. Just as it is pure chance that the majority of Miami terrorists of Cuban origin have a history of links with drug trafficking. Having recently celebrated his 57th birthday and 27 years of service, Pesquera announced his retirement. News of the decision was followed by a farewell dinner attended by more than 200 people, according to the Miami press. They did not, however, publish a list of those particular friends. To the journalists who revealed his suspicious relationship with controversial businessman and convicted drug trafficker Camilo Padreda, Pesquera flatly denied that he had committed any errors during his time with the FBI."

Bolivia's drug crisis worsening  1/5/2004 Chicago Sun Times: "The problem with the program, begun by the Clinton administration, is focusing South America entirely on counter-drug objectives rather than counter-insurgency concerns. The result in Bolivia has been deepening political turmoil after pro-coca forces helped oust a pro-American president."

Drug money sustains al Qaeda  12/29/2003 Washington Times: as it does the Company…

4,000 Detained, Weapons Seized  12/28/2003 Arab News: "Saudi Arabia has arrested over 4,000 infiltrators and seized vast quantities of weapons and drugs in the south of the country, it was announced yesterday. But the Saudi Press Agency, which carried the announcement, did not say over what period the arrests and seizures, near the porous border with Yemen, were made."

In Caracas, Getting to the Heart of a Nation's Bitter Divide  12/22/2003 Pacific News: anti-Chavez and pro-Chavez - "Dr. Condado, 51, is white. President of the Venezuelan Society of Cardiology, he lives in the clean, tree-lined Sebucan district. Its intersections have stop signs though there is little traffic. Houses have gated driveways. Mr. Dominguez, 25, is black. Abandoned by his father, he lives in a crime-ridden, drug-infested neighborhood in central Caracas. The streets are filthy, the congestion insufferable. The informal economy thrives on the sidewalks, which, as a result, have little space for pedestrians."

PRESS CONFERENCE - Washington State Electronic Voting  12/16/2003 Black Box Voting: "What we have, in Washington State, is this: We’ve got the state election director misstating when versions were certified, somebody at the secretary of state’s office signing off on software with no NASED number, and when we try to find out what software is actually authorized, we get the buffalo shuffle. We’ve got a convicted drug dealer printing our ballots, a 23-count embezzler programming our voting system, and our absentee ballots are being funneled through a private company that hires mainly immigrants but also people straight out of prison. We’ve now documented 10 states that are using unauthorized software, and internal memos that indicate that five Diebold programmers uploaded these unauthorized programs, knowing that this was not allowed."

Russian Deputy Drug Czar: US soldiers becoming drug addicts in Afghanistan  12/5/2003 Pravda 

Call to double troop numbers in Afghanistan  12/1/2003 Financial Times: "Nato's credibility in Afghanistan could be jeopardised if it fails to provide more troops and military capabilities, Lord Robertson, the secretary general, will today tell the alliance's defence ministers… The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said last week the area of poppy cultivation jumped this year to 61,000 hectares, compared with 30,700 hectares last year and 1,685 hectares in 2001. Mr Vendrell said laboratories for producing heroin shut by the Taliban were being set up again in northern Afghanistan, providing the war lords with cash and weapons."

Istanbul: The enemy within  11/22/2003 Asia Times 

Bolivian Leader's Ouster Seen as Warning on U.S. Drug Policy  10/23/2003 NYT 

THE OCTOPUS  10/16/2003 Deep Black Lies: "The Criminal Cabal of Guns & Drugs"

Interpol chief concerned about abuses in war on terror  10/3/2003 The News, Pakistan: "The black American who heads Interpol said on Thursday he was concerned about the over-zealous use of anti-terrorism laws and that he had himself been singled out because of his looks. Ronald K. Noble, secretary general of the 181-nation police organisation, told Reuters in an exclusive interview that people subjected to abuse often had no chance of redress from anonymous officials. "I know that I’ve been searched because I look like a person who could be Arabic, if I’m travelling from an Arab country, or I could be a drug-trafficker if I’m coming from a drug-trafficking country," Noble, 47, said. He acknowledged: "There has been an overuse of terrorism laws to the disadvantage of ordinary citizens and travellers"."

The Assassination Geezers Guillermo Novo and Me  9/20/2003 CounterPunch: "Looking at me murderously, he hissed and then, as if continuing his conversation with Ignacio, said in Spanish "Now we can finish off the rest of these communist pigs." I responded maturely by sticking out my tongue and blowing a loud raspberry. Guillermo's eyes narrowed, his mouth opened a fraction of an inch as if fangs might come out and then he took a few belligerent steps toward me. I instantly wished I could take back my gesture. Luckily for me, FBI Special Agent Robert Scherrer stepped between us and opened his jacket, showing Guillermo his holstered gun. Novo backed away. Scherrer said some nasty-toned things I couldn't decipher and Guillermo and company made for the elevators. "That was stupid," Scherrer told me, shaking his head in disbelief. "That man is a murderer." Scherrer then provided me with what he knew of Novo's life, starting with his 1964 arrest for firing a bazooka at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, through a variety of drug arrests--no convictions -- and finally his role as organizer of the gang that helped DINA, the Chilean secret police, to assassinate Letelier."

Victory in Tulia, But Not in Drug War  6/20/2003 Altnet: "Texas authorities claimed that the release of the 12 blacks jailed on trumped up drug charges was proof that justice can and will prevail even in the most blatant racial-tinged drug cases. But don't uncork the champagne yet. The Tulia case was unique in two appalling ways. With one exception, all those swept up in the drug busts were black. They were arrested solely on the dubious, and unsupported word of a tainted white undercover cop. Authorities cavalierly ignored testimony and evidence that could have proved the innocence of many of the black defendants. Even though the case drew national attention and outrage, it still took nearly four years before a retired Texas judge recommended that their convictions be tossed out and that the 12 be released."

Texas Drug Defendants Anticipate Release  6/16/2003 ABC: "No drugs were ever found during a total of 46 arrests and little or no corroborating evidence was introduced at trial. Some suggested discrimination was behind the arrests. Coleman is white; of the 46 people arrested, 39 are black. A total of 38 of the group arrested were convicted or accepted plea agreements out of fear of lengthy prison terms. Of the 38, 14 defendants remain in jail. Last month, Chapman recommended throwing out the convictions. Coleman was indicted in April on three counts of aggravated perjury for allegedly lying during evidentiary hearings involving the case; he has maintained his innocence."

Brazil: Lula's Anti-Crime Secretary Calls for Decriminalization  4/9/2003 NarcoNews: " In the interests of the global public's right and desire to know the authentic news in our América, we have translated Wednesday's report by the daily O Estado of São Paulo in which a top anti-crime official in the government of Brazilian President Lula da Silva has publicly called for the decriminalization of drugs."

Colombia Plane Crash Kills One American  4/7/2003 AP: "A U.S. State Department plane used to fumigate drug crops crashed Monday and its American pilot was killed, the U.S. Embassy said. It was not immediately clear if the crash was caused by an accident or if it had been shot down, the embassy said. The American, whose name was not released pending notification of relatives, was the fourth to die in three crashes of U.S. government planes in Colombia this year." On a recent visit to Bogota, an African American delegation was exposed to the woman running the fumigation reparations program. She boasted how only 3 of 400 cases where Colombians claimed fumigation damages had proved legitimate in her yes. She travels with her personal goon squad to "verify" claims.

From Drugs, Oil, and War, Chapter Two  4/6/2003 Peter Dale Scott: "The US handled the quadrupling of oil prices in the 1970s by arranging, by means of secret agreements with the Saudis, for the recycling of petrodollars back into the US economy. The first of these deals assured a special and on-going Saudi stake in the health of the US dollar; the second secured continuing Saudi support for the pricing of all OPEC oil in dollars. These two deals assured that the US economy would not be impoverished by OPEC oil price hikes. The heaviest burdens would be borne instead by the economies of less developed countries. …Some had expected that the successful OPEC revolt in the 1970s against Washington's and London's economic policies would presage a "new economic order" that would strengthen the South vis-à-vis the North. The secret Saudi-US deals led to a different outcome: a "new world order" that saw increasing US military dominance combined with increasing economic instability and occasional crises elsewhere. Statistics reveal the change in direction. Between 1960 and 1980 per capita income grew 73 percent in Latin America and 34 percent in Africa. Between 1980 and 2000 income grew less than 6 percent in Latin America, and declined by 23 percent in Africa. "

Sharpton takes aim at Bush  3/24/2003 BlackAmericaWeb: ""Don't be too cowardly to speak out now," he said in a speech that repeatedly brought the packed audience of low-income voters to its feet. "If you can't open your mouth now, you don't deserve to run for president." Sharpton said instead of spending billions on the war, the Bush administration should focus on funding education, housing and prescription drugs for military families and other low-income Americans."

Analysis Of Situation In Guatemala  3/18/2003 Znet: "The balance of the past three years of FRG (Guatemalan Republican Front) party control over the government is negative. Headed by President Alfonso Portillo and President of Congress Efraín Ríos Montt, the deterioration is due to Guatemala's economic, political, moral and social crises; government corruption; the ongoing confrontation between the government and CACIF (the Coordinating Committee of Commercial, Agricultural, Industrial, and Financial Associations); the failure to fulfill the Peace Accords; the government's support of the reorganization of counterinsurgency structures such as the former PACs (Civil Defense Patrols); and the resurgence of political violence carried out by clandestine groups. The climate throughout the country is polarized, confrontational, violent, and full of despair. This environment has invaded most sectors of the population, which has been struck by hunger and an unjust system characterized by the privileges of a minority oligarchy that resists change. Added to all of that, there has been a shocking increase in drug trafficking, while the quantity of drugs confiscated has decreased and the anti-narcotics police have stolen two-thirds of the cocaine that was seized."

LUNCH WITH THE CHAIRMAN - Why was Richard Perle meeting with Adnan Khashoggi?  3/17/2003 New Yorker: "During the Reagan Administration, Khashoggi was one of the middlemen between Oliver North, in the White House, and the mullahs in Iran in what became known as the Iran-Contra scandal." [As Ollie ran the Contra narcotraffickers in South and Central America.]

Drug Warriors Shoot Children in Bolivia  3/13/2003 NarcoNews: "Three children from the Bolivian coca-growing region of Chapare were rushed urgently to medical centers in the city of Cochabamba. All three suffered bullet wounds from shots fired by officers of the Combined Task Force (FTC in its Spanish acronym), in the town of San Isidro, 175 kilometers from the city. “A soldier was hitting a woman on the ground and I called him a faggot; for that, he shot me,” Miguel Medrano Moya, 16, said between sobs. Medrano had been hit by a bullet in the stomach, and was fighting for his life in Viedma Hospital."

Guatemala a key drug route  3/5/2003 Miami Herald: "In the three years since President Alfonso Portillo assumed office, Guatemala has emerged as one of the principal corridors in the hemisphere for U.S.-destined drugs -- a new battleground in the war on drugs where the traffickers are winning."

Guatemala a key drug route  3/5/2003 Miami Herald: "In the three years since President Alfonso Portillo assumed office, Guatemala has emerged as one of the principal corridors in the hemisphere for U.S.-destined drugs -- a new battleground in the war on drugs where the traffickers are winning."

Rio de Janeiro Erupts - The Drug War Turns Rio into a Scene from Film Noir  3/5/2003 NarcoNews: "We pass by looted supermarkets, closed stores, burned buses, where grenades exploded in front of luxurious buildings, police cruisers scraping the streets of the city, traffic has crawled to a stop, the population is in a state of alert… Rio de Janeiro, in recent days, has become a true-life scene out of Film Noir."

Al policía lo defienden su arsenal moral y legal  3/3/2003 Granma: "Sin embargo, contra el sentir mayoritario del pueblo que defiende sus conquistas más sagradas y un mañana sin violencia, con orden y seguridad, y desafiando las facultades y confianza depositadas por nuestros compatriotas en los agentes del orden interior, subsisten actitudes agresivas e irrespetuosas por parte de delincuentes y cómplices que se resisten a la acción de la autoridad y atentan contra sus representantes." There have been very few drug arrests, but many for economic crimes such as running a small business.

BUSH'S DEEP REASONS FOR WAR ON IRAQ: OIL, PETRODOLLARS, AND THE OPEC EURO QUESTION  2/21/2003 Peter Dale Scott: most interesting article - "Dominance of Middle Eastern oil will mean in effect maintaining dollar hegemony over the world oil economy. Given its present strategies, the US is constrained to demand no less. As I explain in this extract from my book, Drugs, Oil, and War, the present value of the US dollar, unjustified on purely economic grounds, is maintained by political arrangements, one of the chief of which is to ensure that all OPEC oil purchases will continue to be denominated in US dollars. (This commitment of OPEC to dollar oil sales was secured in the 1970s by a secret agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia, before the two countries began to drift apart over Israel and other issues.) The chief reason why dollars are more than pieces of green paper is that countries all over the world need them for purchases, principally of oil. This requires them in addition to maintain dollar reserves to protect their own currency; and these reserves, when invested, help maintain the current high levels of the US securities markets."

Buendía Calls for “Exorcism” of Drug War - Advisor to Ecuador's President Blazes New Trail in Mérida Summit  2/20/2003 NarcoNews: "But leading members of the Pachakutik Movement, the political branch of the nation’s largest indigenous organization, CONAIE, and the driving force behind Gutierrez’s electoral victory, continue to criticize U.S. drug policy openly in the region."

Buendía Calls for “Exorcism” of Drug War - Advisor to Ecuador's President Blazes New Trail in Mérida Summit  2/20/2003 NarcoNews: "But leading members of the Pachakutik Movement, the political branch of the nation’s largest indigenous organization, CONAIE, and the driving force behind Gutierrez’s electoral victory, continue to criticize U.S. drug policy openly in the region."

Drugs Shatter the Crystal Urn  2/17/2003 Radio Progresso: "The praise is well deserved, yet the Bush administration has twice rejected Cuban proposals to establish a broad accord that would substitute the current case-by-case cooperation. Meanwhile, drug distribution increases in South Florida. (Read “Cocaine deliveries to Miami triple,” El Nuevo Herald, Aug. 28, 2002.)" Given that Miami is ruled by Jeb Bush's narcotrafficking pals, this makes good sense.

Otto, The Fourth Reich  2/16/2003 Trinicenter, Trinidad: great article on Otto von Reich - "Reich's job was simple: churn out propaganda, the more outrageous, the better. His biggest-or most memorable-blooper was on the night Reagan was re-elected to power in 1984. "Intelligence sources", later identified as Reich's propaganda unit, caused NBC to break its elections coverage to announce that Soviet MIG fighter-aircraft were arriving in Nicaragua! He also charged that the Soviet Union had given Nicaragua chemical weapons (sounds familiar?) and the Sandinistas were involved in drug trafficking. It would be later revealed that Manuel Noriega of Panama was the man used by the CIA to buy and distribute cocaine in the US, the backbone of the Iran-Contra affair… But even that pales when one compares it with Reich's influence, when he served as Ambassador to Venezuela (his only diplomatic posting), in securing the release from prison of Orlando Bosch. This Cuban-American did not manufacture Bosch appliances. He was one of two men who had planted a bomb on a Cubana Airlines aircraft right here in Piarco back in 1976. That aircraft exploded shortly after taking off from Barbados, killing all aboard, including several Guyanese passengers. Bosch was later pardoned by-guess who? One President George Bush… So this modern-day Goebbels, a notorious purveyor of lies and half-truths, was the man selected by Bush to go through the Caribbean to try to convince the region's leaders to plough their support behind the US-UK axis against Iraq. I don't know what fanciful lies he offloaded on Manning. I think, though, that Ambassador Austin should get on that high-speed, secure telex machine on Marli Street and tell his boss that the Caribbean might be littered with poor countries that depend on the US for their existence. But Caricom is no "Ship of Fools". No "Fourth Reich" for us, Sir." Amen.

The Never-Ending Story  2/14/2003 ANNCOL: "On 22 January 2003, the Colombian government of Alvaro Uribe Velez commenced negotiations with the AUC paramilitaries of Carlos Castaño and Salvatore Mancuso, whose record of atrocities against the Colombian people would make your blood run cold... Shortly before these talks started, Uribe Velez evoked a decree which is going to be used to give this 14,000-strong band of killers, extortionists, torturers and major drugs traffickers immunity for their innumerable crimes against humanity. A necessary step from the government’s perspective perhaps – not one designed to bring peace and reconciliation to the country – but one to avoid criminal prosecutions which could open up a seething bag of worms about integral state involvement in Colombia’s paramilitary strategy."

Cuba: Drugs Shatter the Crystal Urn  2/14/2003 Radio Progresso, Miami 

Anti-drug raids snare self-employed tradesmen  2/10/2003 Cubanet: "Inevitably, the thorough searches police have been conducting have exposed people like Oscar Font, who had set up a small carpentry and upholstery shop at his home in the Playa municipality of Havana and made a living repairing furniture. Since any such independent activity is illegal in Cuba, Font's tools and materials were confiscated. Similarly, police have confiscated merchandise from street vendors, and videotapes from the homes of people who rent them to their neighbors for a fee. The tapes are typically recorded off satellite signals, intercepted by home-made antennas, which are themselves also illegal."

DRUGS, OIL, AND WAR: PREFACE  2/7/2003 Peter Dale Scott: "With respect to drugs, I will only say that the United States must end those repressive policies whose result (and often intention) is to maintain the high drug prices that strengthen and enrich the international drug traffic. With respect to oil, we must intensify the search for technological ways to reduce consumption at home and move toward a more multilateral and equitable oil system abroad. Above all, the United States must return to the multilateral system of global regulation that it helped establish after World War II and renounce the fatal temptation to become a hegemon. We must not repeat the follies of Napoleon and Hitler in the heartlands of Eurasia. This shift will require a different strategy to deal with the dollar and with petrodollars, particularly those from Saudi Arabia and its neighbors in the Persian Gulf. At present the United States balances its payments by secret agreements with Saudi Arabia to recycle petrodollars to the United States and to ensure that OPEC sales all over the world are denominated in U.S. dollars. These arrangements to ease pressure on the U.S. currency have helped, as an inevitable consequence, to create debt crises all over the Third World. The same secret agreements, discussed in chapter 1 of this volume, are perhaps the prime example of how secret U.S. policies, barely documented, can give rise to global conditions of misery and unrest. People’s strategies of public opposition to official policies, such as the rallies that activists like Noam Chomsky indefatigably address, are in my opinion unlikely to succeed until they expose the unjust secret arrangements and deals on which these official policies are based. The U.S. political establishment, seemingly unassailable on its surface, becomes more vulnerable when the private, covert, and sometimes conspiratorial origins of what passes for public policy are exposed. This book is dedicated to examining war policies at this deeper level."

Denuncian vínculos de sobrino de Rafael Poleo con el narcotráfico  2/4/2003 Aporrea: "Estimados compatriotas, recurrimos a ustedes para efectuar esta denuncia de suma gravedad, conscientes de que los medios de “información” nacionales harán hasta lo imposible por evitar su publicación, ya que las PRUEBAS aquí contenidas involucran a uno de los grupos económico-mediáticos mas poderosos e influyentes dentro de la Coordinadora Democrática: El Grupo Poleo, dueños de El Nuevo País." Old patterns repeating themselves…

Denuncian vínculos de sobrino de Rafael Poleo con el narcotráfico  2/4/2003 Aporrea: "Estimados compatriotas, recurrimos a ustedes para efectuar esta denuncia de suma gravedad, conscientes de que los medios de “información” nacionales harán hasta lo imposible por evitar su publicación, ya que las PRUEBAS aquí contenidas involucran a uno de los grupos económico-mediáticos mas poderosos e influyentes dentro de la Coordinadora Democrática: El Grupo Poleo, dueños de El Nuevo País." Old patterns repeating themselves…

US Operation In Afghanistan Ineffective: Russian Official  2/1/2003 Jihad Unspun: "Manilov said Russia had provided the US and its allies with data on drug storage and production sites in Afghanistan, but without result. "Russia gave its Western partners, including the United States, information on bases where drugs are stored and places where they are produced. But the fact that the drug flows are not subsiding shows that many of the production facilities have not been destroyed," he said." Off the shelf financing, comrade.

U.S. Declares Guatemala Not Cooperating on Drugs  1/31/2003 Reuters: "The United States has decided Guatemala is not doing enough to fight the illegal drugs trade but will waive penalties against it for national security reasons, a U.S. official said on Friday."

Pharmacist and radio personality accused of Medicaid fraud is released from jail  1/28/2003 Miami Herald: La Mas Fea kicks in to save one of their own - "Antonio ''Tony'' Calatayud, a pharmacist, radio personality and prominent Cuban exile arrested last week for Medicaid fraud, was released from jail Tuesday after he posted a $50,000 bond -- one quarter of the original bond amount. Miami-Dade County Judge José Rodriguez lowered the bond from $200,000 based on his ties to the community, said Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office. ''He has been here for many years. He has a business. He's not a runner,'' Griffith said. Calatayud, 63 and the owner of Primera Farmacia Latina in Sweetwater, is charged with organized fraud and grand theft. He is accused of filing more than 1,300 false Medicaid claims for prescriptions drugs he never filled and bilking the state out of $290,000."

Washington escalates military buildup in Latin America  1/23/2003 World Socialist: "Citing terrorism, drug and arms trafficking, organized crime and other “new transnational threats,” Rumsfeld told the Latin American defence ministers that it was necessary to “strengthen the operational and planning capabilities of partner nations, upgrade national command-and-control systems, and improve regional information-sharing.” He proposed cooperation in naval operations and the creation of an integrated military force that could “participate as a region in peacekeeping and stability operations.” In the lead-up to the conference, the US floated stories that Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and other Islamic fundamentalist groups had developed “sleeper cells” in the tri-border area between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, a claim discounted by all three countries… The type of information that is to be shared was made clear several years ago, when Paraguayan attorney and human rights advocate Martin Almada made public a secret memo sent by a Paraguayan colonel to the Conference of American Armies then being held in Quito, Ecuador. Entitled “subversion in the first semester of 1997 in Paraguay,” this document provided a list of alleged “subversives” that included the country’s trade union leaders, opposition politicians and students, as well as social and peasant organizations. Presumably, similar lists are being prepared by military intelligence throughout the hemisphere."

Ecuador's Lucio Era Begins  1/21/2003 NarcoNews: "Drug War, Plan Colombia, and US Air Base at Manta, Test the New President"

The Mexican Legalization Movement - Drug Policy Reform Goes Mainstream South of the Border  1/20/2003 NarcoNews: taking away a pilar of CIA financing - "Urias is not the first political leader to openly challenge the US-imposed policy of prohibition. In 1998, then-Senator Maria del Carmen Bolado del Real, of the competing PAN (National Action Party) proposed a bill to legalize and regulate all drugs in Mexico. In fact, leaders from almost every one of Mexico’s political parties have advocated this solution at one time or another – including President Vicente Fox, who, in 2001, predicted that decriminalization of drugs would be inevitable as a global solution – but the commercial media never picks up on the debate and it has been difficult for reform advocates to gain traction. But suddenly, discussion of drug legalization has grown from a whisper to an active discourse in many parts of Mexico. A growing circle of young activists, organizers, and journalists, working outside the traditional political system and the commercial media grids, has become a nascent grassroots legalization movement."

Cuba regrets that United States will not sign anti-drugs agreement  1/17/2003 AP: "The most significant presence of drug traffickers is in the territorial waters between the island and the United States. “For some years now, Cuba has been preparing to fight and win the battle against drugs and those promoting them,” explained Díaz, who also informed that in the last three years, 30,000 specialists have received training on narcotics control and prevention."

Cuba regrets that United States will not sign anti-drugs agreement  1/17/2003 AP: "The most significant presence of drug traffickers is in the territorial waters between the island and the United States. “For some years now, Cuba has been preparing to fight and win the battle against drugs and those promoting them,” explained Díaz, who also informed that in the last three years, 30,000 specialists have received training on narcotics control and prevention."

Caribbean nations meet in Cuba on drug trafficking  1/16/2003 Reuters: "Fifteen Caribbean-sea countries began a United Nations-sponsored meeting in Havana on Thursday to fight drug abuse and the use of the area to ship 40 percent of the narcotics entering the United States and 65 percent entering Europe."

US Secret Service interrogates Venezuelan in alleged Chavez Frias assassination plot!  1/16/2003 Vheadlines: "VHeadline.com reports from New York that 18 Secret Service agents have raided the Queens home of Venezuelan opposition activist Miguel Hernandez following the discovery of a plot to assassinate President Hugo Chavez Frias when he visits UN General Secretary Kofi Annan today. Details of the early-morning raid are sparse but it is believed that the Hernandez premises were searched for drugs and weapons. Agents are said to have taken away evidence for forensic tests. A Secret Service special agent is quoted as saying that the department has evidence that Hernandez is one of the leaders of the anti-government Venezuelan opposition in New York and further investigations may lead to classification as a terrorist."

Caribbean nations meet in Cuba on drug trafficking  1/16/2003 Reuters: "Fifteen Caribbean-sea countries began a United Nations-sponsored meeting in Havana on Thursday to fight drug abuse and the use of the area to ship 40 percent of the narcotics entering the United States and 65 percent entering Europe."

Servicio secreto interroga a opositor venezolano en Nueva York  1/16/2003 Aporrea: "El opositor venezolano Miguel Hernández dijo que el Servicio Secreto de EEUU lo interrogó en su casa en la madrugada de hoy en relación con un supuesto plan para asesinar al presidente Hugo Chávez durante su visita a Nueva York. En un comunicado, Hernández relata que "18 agentes del Servicio Secreto de EEUU allanaron" su residencia, ubicada en el condado de Queens (Nueva York), "ante acusaciones del Gobierno de Venezuela de un supuesto plan para matar a Chávez el próximo 16 de enero".

Miami saves Otto Reich  1/14/2003 Granma, Cuba: "Once the State Department’s Number One in Latin American affairs, Reich has been assigned by the president to a made-to-measure position as “Special Envoy for Western Hemispheric Initiatives,” with an office in the neighboring Executive Building next to the White House. And what might that position be? Well, according to White House Spokesperson Ari Fleischer, Reich is to coordinate relations between the United States and Mexico (wasn’t that Jorge Castañeda’s job?), the Andes Anti-Drug Initiative, “aspects of Cuba policy,” and “Homeland security issues in the Caribbean.” He now finds himself under the authority of National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice. Reich was under-secretary of state until November 22, but declined to solicit the Senate’s blessing due to his embarrassing role in the Iran-Contra Scandal and¼ his scandalous collaboration with coup plotters in Venezuela in April last year."

COLOMBIAN REPORTER TELLS ALL - TO U.S. PRESS  1/12/2003 American Reporter: "Colombian journalist Ignacio Gomez told a roomful of America's most influential journalists Tuesday how Washington-supported Colombian president Alvaro Uribe is connected to drug traffickers and how U.S. military trainers helped organize a massacre in his country. Among the 1,000 guests at the Committee to Protect Journalists' annual dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria grand ballroom were NBC's Tom Brokaw, CBS's Dan Rather, Time-Warner's Walter Isaacson, Reuters CEO Thomas Glocer and executives and reporters from the nation's major TV networks, newspapers and newsmagazines. Gomez, 40, has twice gone into exile after death threats. The media "stars" applauded him for his courage. But did they put his revelations into print or on air? If you didn't see the stories he recounted in the American press, don't be surprised. As they do every year at the CPJ event, "leading" U.S. journalists lauded the courage of people chancing death for telling the truth, but continue to pull punches in their own news organizations for fear of endangering their multi-million-dollar salaries. Here's more of what Gomez unveiled for colleagues. After he investigated a 1997 massacre in Mapiripan, in which 67 people were decapitated, Gomez reported in 2000 that the Colombian military officer accused of masterminding the crime had been accompanied "at all times" by a dozen U.S. military trainers. He also linked the massacre to paramilitary leader Carlos Castano."

Cuba Promises to Crack Down on Drugs  1/10/2003 AP: "It said that Castro himself had spoken of "sectors inside that neighboring country who are interested in tripping up and sabotaging any gesture or action aimed at reaching a bilateral accord" on fighting drug smuggling. In the meantime, Cuba has toughened its laws and sentencing guidelines "to ensure that the full weight of the law falls on the transgressors," the editorial added."

Guatemala Falling Out of Favor  1/3/2003 Washington Post: "In October, Guatemalan officials finally disbanded the country’s long-corrupt anti-drug agency. Then last week, newly appointed Foreign Minister Edgar Gutierrez came to Washington bearing data reporting recent increases in the seizures of money and illicit drugs, as well as arrests of alleged drug traffickers. And in just a few days, Guatemala is expected to begin historic reforms in its military, whose links to organized crime are particularly disconcerting to the United States."

Guatemala scrambles to keep U.S. aid  1/2/2003 Quad City Time, Iowa: "Significant political ramifications are also at play as Guatemala heads toward presidential elections in November. Washington's decision could be seen as favoring the opposition over Portillo's Guatemalan Republican Front, the party led by the ruthless former dictator, Gen. Efrain Rios Montt. As the hour of decision nears, there is room for grace on President Bush's part. A national interest waiver that questions Guatemala's performance but frees it from any sanctions might do the job. Besides, it would demonstrate Washington's further recognition that sanctions, especially in the anti-drug crusade, have become a counterproductive foreign policy tool in the hemisphere."

Colombian rebel attack kills 60  12/29/2002 BBC: "Colombian Marxist rebels have attacked their right-wing paramilitary enemies of the United Self-defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) in the northern province of Bolivar. At least 60 people were killed in the fighting, the majority paramilitaries, which were driven from the area. The right-wing paramilitaries of the AUC have called a ceasefire and are looking to start a peace process with the government… The paramilitaries are seeking to demobilise after their organisations fragmented over the issue of drugs. The largest group in the AUC, led by feared warlord Carlos Castanao, wanted to sever links with the drugs trade which provides most of the group's income. Other elements were not so enthusiastic." Do a search on Google for "AUC massacre" and you will get 2,120 results.

The Drug War According to Dr. Mengele - Agent Green Over the Andes  12/24/2002 CounterPunch: "Hostile intentions toward the people of another country. Deployment of chemical weapons and biological agents. Pursuit of a scorched earth policy. Sound like Saddam's Iraq? Think again. This neatly capsulizes the Bush administration's ongoing depredations in Colombia, all under the shady banner of the war on drugs."

The Drug War According to Dr. Mengele - Agent Green Over the Andes  12/24/2002 CounterPunch: "Hostile intentions toward the people of another country. Deployment of chemical weapons and biological agents. Pursuit of a scorched earth policy. Sound like Saddam's Iraq? Think again. This neatly capsulizes the Bush administration's ongoing depredations in Colombia, all under the shady banner of the war on drugs."

US pilots in friendly fire were on drugs, says lawyer  12/22/2002 Scotsman, UK: "TWO US fighter pilots charged with accidentally killing four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan had been given amphetamines to keep them awake, their lawyer claimed. Charles Gittens is representing the pilots, who face prison for 64 years if found guilty in a court martial next month. In an interview with a US television station yesterday Mr Gittens claimed Major Bill Umbach and Major Harry Schmidt were ordered to take six amphetamines each to ward off fatigue during their mission." High as a kite.

Details of U.S. victory are a little premature  12/22/2002 Toronto Sun: "In fact, America's Afghan adventure has gotten off to as poor a start as that of the Soviet Union. The U.S.-installed ruler of Kabul, veteran CIA asset Hamid Karzai, must be protected from his own people by up to 200 U.S. bodyguards. Much of Afghanistan is in chaos, fought over by feuding warlords and drug barons. There are almost daily attacks on U.S. occupation forces. My old mujahedin sources say U.S. casualties and equipment losses in Afghanistan are far higher than Washington is reporting - and are rising. American troops are operating from the old Soviet bases at Bagram and Shindand, retaliating, like the Soviets, against mujahedin attacks on U.S. forces by heavily bombing nearby villages. The CIA is trying to assassinate Afghan nationalist leaders opposed to the Karzai regime in Kabul, in particular my old acquaintance Gulbadin Hekmatyar… Since the U.S. overthrew the Taliban, opium cultivation has soared from 185 tons a year to 2,700. The Northern Alliance, which dominates the Kabul regime, finances its arms-buying and field operations with drug money. President George Bush's war on drugs collided with his war on terrorism - and lost. The U.S. is now, in effect, colluding in the heroin trade." Repeating the pattern established in Laos, Viet Nam, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Colombia, Lebanon, and many other places.

Colombian drug production soars despite ‘Plan Colombia’  12/21/2002 ANNCOL: or because of it? "Information taken from testimony given before the House Committee on Government Reform in Washington on December 12th, show that whilst nearly a million acres of Colombian soil have been fumigated in the past 5 years, cocaine production in Colombia has tripled in the same period… Representative Bob Barr (Republican-Georgia) also alleged during the hearings that at least 22 US helicopters have crashed or been shot down by rebels in Colombia in recent years although the Pentagon and US Embassy in Bogotá have refused to confirm or deny this." More denials, as in Kuwait and Afghanistan, maintaining the superman image.

Coca in the Cola - The soft drink of Atlanta and the coca leaf of the Andes  12/20/2002 NarcoNews: "This week, Bolivia’s undersecretary of Social Defense, Ernesto Justiniano, reported that his office had authorized the exportation of 350,000 bricks (about 159 tons) of coca leaf to the United States “for the manufacturing of the soft drink, Coca-Cola.”

Coca in the Cola - The soft drink of Atlanta and the coca leaf of the Andes  12/20/2002 NarcoNews: "This week, Bolivia’s undersecretary of Social Defense, Ernesto Justiniano, reported that his office had authorized the exportation of 350,000 bricks (about 159 tons) of coca leaf to the United States “for the manufacturing of the soft drink, Coca-Cola.”

Has the mafia infiltrated Israel's political system?  12/15/2002 Mena Report: The Israeli Mafia controls world wide distribution of the club drug, extasy.

5 dead in US military helicopter crash in Honduras  12/13/2002 Agence France Press: A few more details than in the AP story - "The Blackhawk belongs to a US Air Force regiment that is part of Joint Task Force Bravo, based at the Enrique Soto Cano Air Force base, located near the city of Comayagua, some 70 kilometers (44 miles) north-west of Tegucigalpa. The base is home to some 550 US military -- mainly army and air force -- personnel and more than 650 US and Honduran civilians. US forces at the base carry out anti-drug operations, training missions, and support for humanitarian relief assistance, according to the base website."

Web of deceit lies behind death of a traitor to many masters  12/11/2002 Independent, UK: by Robert Fisk - "To the rest of the world, the bomb that wounded two Israeli soldiers on the Lebanese-Israeli border was just another example of Hizbollah "terrorism", a provocation that showed Hizbollah had – in Israel's words – "crossed a red line". Israel warned of retaliation. But the truth was quite different, and infinitely more sensational. For the bomb was connected to the murder last Friday of a notorious Lebanese drug smuggler who had not only captured an Israeli collaborator accused of murdering one of the most militant Shias in Beirut but was involved in the capture of three Israeli soldiers. Even more dramatic – for the Israelis – is that the murdered man, Ramzi Nohra, used to work for Israeli intelligence."

The lost illusions of Posada and his accomplices  12/10/2002 Granma: "Traumatized. There aren’t many other words to describe Posada Carriles and his three henchmen on leaving the court on Thursday, December 5 after discovering the extent of the deceit practiced on them over the months by their defense attorney drugs lawyer Rogelio Cruz… Cruz, a former state attorney and millionaire who lost his position some years ago due to his links with Colombian drug cartels and a series of financial maneuvers that could have sent him to jail, is confronting a team of top-level lawyers in this country, doctors and university professors who are exercising their skills on behalf of various popular groups. And without charge, out of solidarity with trade union, student and indigenous organizations and the Cuban Revolution."

Powell Says U.S. Will Increase Military Aid for Colombia  12/5/2002 NYT: which will have as consequence furhter arming the paramilitaries - "The new aid will put Colombia roughly on a par with Afghanistan and Pakistan as a recipient of American military and antidrug assistance, administration officials said."

Behind Posada: Drug Trafficking  12/4/2002 Granma: Coca Contra, again - "Panamanian sources confirm links between José Valladares Acosta, accomplice of terrorist gang leader Luis Posada Carriles and Orestes Cosío, recently deported from the United States for drug trafficking and involvement in three murders • The extremely dangerous terrorist has always maintained links with drug trafficking circles in Miami - the U.S. drugs capital."

Colombia Naval Admiral Resigns  11/26/2002 AP: "Rear Adm. Rodrigo Quinones, Colombia's military attache to Israel, resigned Tuesday after U.S. officials accused him of drug trafficking, the defense minister said. Quinones is the highest-ranking military official in recent memory to be implicated in drug trafficking in Colombia, which produces most of the world's cocaine and most of the heroin used in the United States. Quinones has also been accused of failing to protect villagers who were massacred in northern Colombia last year by right-wing paramilitary gunmen, when Quinones was stationed in the region."

Drug Trafficking by the US National Security Council  11/19/2002 Orlin Grabbe: from Costa Rican Comision Especial's report - "Recommendation number 13 reads: 13. Que el señor Lewis Tambs, Joe Fernández, Oliver North, John M. Poindexter, Richard V. Secord, no se les permita la entrada al pais. [p. 74] Here we have three individuals associated with the US National Security Council—John M. Poindexter, Oliver North, Richard V. Secord—as well as the local CIA Chief of Station, Joe Fernández, and the US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Lewis Tambs, all barred from the country. Fifty members of the legislative assembly voted to approve the report with its recommendations. Two members did not. One of these two—Leonel Salazar Villalobos—is now himself in prison for narcotrafficking." Poindexter is now head of the Pentagon's Office of Information Awareness at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is planning massive surveillance of US citizens.

Drug Trafficking by the US National Security Council  11/19/2002 Orlin Grabbe: from Costa Rican Comision Especial's report - "Recommendation number 13 reads: 13. Que el señor Lewis Tambs, Joe Fernández, Oliver North, John M. Poindexter, Richard V. Secord, no se les permita la entrada al pais. [p. 74] Here we have three individuals associated with the US National Security Council—John M. Poindexter, Oliver North, Richard V. Secord—as well as the local CIA Chief of Station, Joe Fernández, and the US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Lewis Tambs, all barred from the country. Fifty members of the legislative assembly voted to approve the report with its recommendations. Two members did not. One of these two—Leonel Salazar Villalobos—is now himself in prison for narcotrafficking." Poindexter is now head of the Pentagon's Office of Information Awareness at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is planning massive surveillance of US citizens.

U.S. Strategy in Colombia Connects Drugs and Terror  11/14/2002 NYT: "The indictment unsealed today accuses three FARC military leaders, including Jorge Briceño Suárez, widely considered the second most powerful man in the rebel organization, of kidnapping and drug trafficking. Eight other, lower-ranking FARC members were charged with the same offenses." Most observers agree that what the FARC does pales next to the activities of the right wing paramilitaries and their government allies, including a certain advisor to the president.

Hellzapoppin' at the Pentagon - Rumsfeld's Defense Science Board proposes 'prodding' terrorists to terrorism  11/13/2002 Working for Change: "How will the terrorists be "sparked… into action?" asks reporter Chris Floyd. Will it be done "by killing their family members? Luring them with loot? Fueling them with drugs? Plying them with jihad propaganda? Messing with their mamas? Or with agents provocateurs, perhaps, who infiltrate groups then plan and direct the attacks themselves?" This part of P2OG's strategy seems eerily reminiscent of the FBI's COINTEL program of the sixties and seventies, when often the people advocating the most violent acts were the FBI's agents."

COVERT, ARMED INTERVENTION IN LATIN AMERICA  11/11/2002 Radio Progresso: "Meanwhile, the Center for High Military Studies in Chile has drawn up plans that, once the guerrillas are exhausted, would allow forces from several countries in the region to finish the task and eliminate the guerrillas entirely. I already touched on this subject in a previous article. It would be the embryo of a regional, multinational army, able to intervene in any country. The U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), based in Miami, is in charge of coordinating, planning and directing the United States’ military activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. It controls an area measuring about 19 million square kilometers with more than 400 million inhabitants. In addition to the aforementioned Base of Manta in Ecuador, the Southern Command has built installations and airports in Aruba-Curacao, the Dutch Antilles, and Comalapa in El Salvador. It also maintains operational facilities in Hilopango and Soto Cono in Honduras. There are also operational bases on several South American rivers, including the Amazon, and it plans to build another base in Peru. Under the war on drugs pretext, the Southern Command dominates practically all the skies over Latin America and the Caribbean. In other words, the presence of U.S. military forces is expanding."

Pentagon sends combat troops to Colombia  10/31/2002 ANNCOL: "The U.S. administration has dropped any pretense of fighting a "drug war" in Colombia. Now the U.S. troops are on the battlefield fighting the Marxist insurgencies."

The Secret War  10/27/2002 LA Times: "Known as the Intelligence Support Activity, or ISA, when it was established in 1981, this unit fought in drug wars and counter-terror operations from the Middle East to South America. It built a reputation for daring, flexibility and a degree of lawlessness. In May 1982, Deputy Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci called the ISA "uncoordinated and uncontrolled." Though its freelance tendencies were curbed, the ISA continued to operate under different guises through the ill-starred U.S. involvement in Somalia in 1992 and was reportedly active in the hunt for Bosnian Serbs suspected of war crimes. Today, the ISA operates under the code name Gray Fox. In addition to covert operations, it provides the war on terrorism with the kind of so-called "close-in" signals monitoring -- including the interception of cell phone conversations -- that helped bring down Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar."

Taliban gone, opium returns  10/27/2002 Sydney Morning Herald: "An attempt to curb heroin production in Afghanistan has been overwhelmed by the country's largest-ever opium poppy harvest, according to a UN crop survey published yesterday. It said 3,400 metric tonnes of opium would be produced in Afghanistan this year - higher than the 2,700 tonnes estimated earlier this year, and considerably higher than the 2,000-tonne harvest before the Taliban banned production. The survey shows Afghanistan is set to resume its place as the source of 75per cent of the world's heroin. Opium production under the Taliban fell to only 185 tonnes during 2001. In January the interim Afghan Government announced a ban on opium poppy cultivation, trafficking and abuse." Making the world safe for heroin.

Taliban gone, opium returns  10/27/2002 Sydney Morning Herald: "An attempt to curb heroin production in Afghanistan has been overwhelmed by the country's largest-ever opium poppy harvest, according to a UN crop survey published yesterday. It said 3,400 metric tonnes of opium would be produced in Afghanistan this year - higher than the 2,700 tonnes estimated earlier this year, and considerably higher than the 2,000-tonne harvest before the Taliban banned production. The survey shows Afghanistan is set to resume its place as the source of 75per cent of the world's heroin. Opium production under the Taliban fell to only 185 tonnes during 2001. In January the interim Afghan Government announced a ban on opium poppy cultivation, trafficking and abuse." Making the world safe for heroin.

Military Is Easing Its War on Drugs  10/20/2002 LA Times: "The Pentagon wants to scale back the $1-billion program and focus more on combating terrorism. Such a move could meet strong opposition in Congress."

Presidente Chávez Frías: “Hemos abortado un magnicidio”  10/20/2002 VenPres: "Hemos abortado un magnicidio", anunció el presidente de la República, Hugo Chávez Frías, al referirse al intento frustrado de asesinato en contra de su persona, en la madrugada de este sábado, en ocasión de su regreso de la gira que hizo por varios países de Europa y que gracias al trabajo de inteligencia de los organismos de seguridad del Estado, ese suceso fue impedido. La denuncia la formuló en el programa dominical “Aló Presidente” número 123, transmitido desde el Palacio de Miraflores, donde el Primer Mandatario venezolano explicó en detalle, salvo los elementos que debe reservarse para no contaminar las investigaciones, esa develada acción contra su vida."

Military Is Easing Its War on Drugs  10/20/2002 LA Times: "The Pentagon wants to scale back the $1-billion program and focus more on combating terrorism. Such a move could meet strong opposition in Congress."

Jeb Bush in struggle for survival  10/17/2002 Scotsman: "George Bush will today fly to Florida for one last campaign push on behalf of his brother Jeb, after a poll showed the state’s governor locked in a struggle for political survival. Figures released by the public opinion pollster Zogby show Jeb Bush capturing 48 per cent of the vote, while Democrat Bill McBride, a millionaire lawyer who has never held political office, trails by just three points. It is a statistical dead heat that has alarmed the Bush camp and caused near-panic in the White House, only three weeks away from the US mid-term congressional elections, "Democrats and the media will show no mercy if the president’s brother is defeated," a top White House insider told reporters in Washington. "A win by McBride would be viewed as symbolic." Often short on charisma, the governor has earned extra points by finally opening up about his daughter Noelle’s drug problems. The 25-year-old, who is in a rehabilitation clinic in Orlando after posing as a doctor and forging a prescription to obtain drugs, was last month found with crack cocaine hidden in her shoe."

No easy sentence: Peace protesters do time with hardened cons  10/14/2002 AP: "For years, peace protesters arrested for trespassing at Fort Benning were allowed to serve their sentences at minimum-security federal institutions closer to their homes, where they could kiss relatives and hold babies in visiting rooms. Not anymore. Some protesters -- including a priest and a grandmother-to-be -- were sentenced earlier this year to serve their six-month sentences alongside thieves and drug addicts behind razor wire in a rural Georgia jail. "The only thing I can come up with is that they are getting mean," the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, founder of the protest group School of the Americas Watch, said of Bureau of Prison officials." Mean and surly.

THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF A NARCO-TERROR STATE  10/2/2002 ANNCOL: "The most censored and ignored story of the last - and the next - five years must be: "Global Economy Caters to US Addictions." Half of the world's problems are caused by the US addictions to oil and all kinds of drugs. The illegal drug trade is the second largest sector of the global economy. Include all of the legal drugs that US citizens are addicted to and "Drugs" would be the largest sector by far."

Afghan opium production soaring again  9/27/2002 AFP: "DrugScope says poppy cultivation, banned by the ousted government, has leapt from about 185 tonnes a year to up to 2,700 tonnes, and is approaching pre-Taleban levels of over 4,000 tonnes." Now we know why the US got rid of the Taliban!

Massive post-war rise in production of Afghan opium  9/26/2002 Independent, UK: "Britain is expected to be hit by a flood of heroin after a gigantic increase in the production of opium in Afghanistan, the United Nations will warn today. A UN survey estimates the farmers will grow 2,700 tons of opium this year compared with 185 tons in 2001, a 1,400 per cent jump."

Massive post-war rise in production of Afghan opium  9/26/2002 Independent, UK: "Britain is expected to be hit by a flood of heroin after a gigantic increase in the production of opium in Afghanistan, the United Nations will warn today. A UN survey estimates the farmers will grow 2,700 tons of opium this year compared with 185 tons in 2001, a 1,400 per cent jump."

Dark Alliance, the Director's Cut  9/6/2002 CounterPunch: by Gay Webb - "I wanted to let every one know that the original Dark Alliance website the Mercury News quietly took down in 1998 is back in all of its flaming glory. I reconstructed it from a CDROM that Jerry Ceppos ordered destroyed after the rest of the press began whining that using the CIA seal in our website logo was just a little too too. So thousands of CDs and paper reprints were burned."

Dark Alliance, the Director's Cut  9/6/2002 CounterPunch: by Gay Webb - "I wanted to let every one know that the original Dark Alliance website the Mercury News quietly took down in 1998 is back in all of its flaming glory. I reconstructed it from a CDROM that Jerry Ceppos ordered destroyed after the rest of the press began whining that using the CIA seal in our website logo was just a little too too. So thousands of CDs and paper reprints were burned."

Bulgaria’s élite forces arrested in drugs raids  9/4/2002 Sctosman, UK: "BULGARIA has been stunned by news that a gang of mafia hitmen arrested in a police dragnet have turned out to be from the country’s élite anti-terrorist commando force. The six-strong team were former Barrets - Bulgaria’s equivalent of the SAS - who had quit the service then hired themselves out as killers to the nation’s drug mafia… Most of the heroin bought by Western Europeans arrives from Asia through Bulgaria: last year police made a record haul, seizing 2,000kg of high-grade heroin. Just as significantly, 140 police and customs officers suspected of collusion with the drugs gangs were arrested." From Asia means from Afghanistan.

US links drug money to terrorists  9/2/2002 AP: the mote in your neighbor's eye is always bigger than the beam in yours - "Evidence gathered by the Drug Enforcement Administration since a series of raids in January indicates that a methamphetamine drug operation in the Midwest involving men of Middle Eastern descent has been shipping money back to terrorist groups, officials said."

US links drug money to terrorists  9/2/2002 AP: the mote in your neighbor's eye is always bigger than the beam in yours - "Evidence gathered by the Drug Enforcement Administration since a series of raids in January indicates that a methamphetamine drug operation in the Midwest involving men of Middle Eastern descent has been shipping money back to terrorist groups, officials said."

Cuban Political Prisoners...in the US  9/1/2002 CounterPunch: "The arrested Cubans were involved in anti-terrorist activities -- so cherished by the government of the United States in word -- but were acting against the wrong kind of terrorists. Some of what they uncovered about possible terrorist and drug activities of Cuban exiles -- including information concerning the 1997 hotel bombings -- they actually passed to the FBI, usually delivered via diplomats in Havana. This presumably is what lay behind the statement in the Criminal Complaint that the defendants "attempted manipulation of United States political institutions and government entities through disinformation and pretended cooperation"{9} -- i.e., putting every action of the Cuban defendants in the worst possible light…. The United States is currently engaged in a world-wide, open-ended, supra-legal campaign to destroy the rights of any individuals who -- on the most questionable of evidence or literally none at all -- might conceivably represent any kind of terrorist threat. But if the Cubans -- with a much longer history of serious terrorist attacks against them by well known perpetrators -- take the most reasonable steps to protect themselves from further attacks, they find that Washington has forbidden them from taking part in the War Against Terrorism. This is particularly ironic given that the same anti-Castro exiles have committed numerous terrorist acts in the United States itself."

American travesty  8/26/2002 Independent, UK: "When 46 people were arrested for drug offences in the sleepy Texas town of Tulia, the local lawman was hailed as a hero. But there was a problem – almost all of the defendants were black, and there wasn't a shred of evidence. Andrew Gumbel reports on an extraordinary story of racism and police corruption."

GOP can't win many friends with this man  8/21/2002 Orlando Sentinel: by María T. Padilla - "Florida Republican leaders could have done much better than Edison Misla Aldarondo when choosing a poster child for their campaign to lure Hispanic voters. Manuel Noriega, perhaps? Misla Aldarondo, former speaker of Puerto Rico's House of Representatives, was charged last week with drugging and raping a 17-year-old girl in his home."

Poppy Paradox - U.S. War in Afghanistan Boosts Terror Funds  8/21/2002 Pacific News: by Peter Dale Scott, from 8/1 - "Sources in Washington have suggested that behind the Bush decision to tolerate the return of the Afghan drug traffic was the fear that eliminating it might destabilize the Musharraf government and further encourage ISI-linked extremists to overthrow him. A simpler explanation is U.S. reluctance to take on further responsibility for restoring the Afghan economy, and instead let drugs do the job. A still more cynical possibility is that the Bush administration wants in the short run to limit the embarrassing stories of chaos and rebellion in Afghanistan, which could hurt the Republicans in the November elections."

Poppy Paradox - U.S. War in Afghanistan Boosts Terror Funds  8/21/2002 Pacific News: by Peter Dale Scott, from 8/1 - "Sources in Washington have suggested that behind the Bush decision to tolerate the return of the Afghan drug traffic was the fear that eliminating it might destabilize the Musharraf government and further encourage ISI-linked extremists to overthrow him. A simpler explanation is U.S. reluctance to take on further responsibility for restoring the Afghan economy, and instead let drugs do the job. A still more cynical possibility is that the Bush administration wants in the short run to limit the embarrassing stories of chaos and rebellion in Afghanistan, which could hurt the Republicans in the November elections."

Colombia's Drug War Attracts Dubious Ally  8/19/2002 LA Times: "A fledgling U.S. program to eradicate cocaine in central Colombia has gained a notorious ally: a right-wing paramilitary army that the State Department has labeled a terrorist organization. The so-called self-defense forces, responsible for the majority of massacres in Colombia's bloody internal conflict, have thrown their support behind a U.S. alternative development program that seeks to persuade farmers to give up their profitable coca crops for legal products such as beans, chocolate and cattle."

Afghan opium crop back to record levels  8/19/2002 Scotsman, UK: "THE new Afghan government has "largely failed" in its effort to eradicate the opium poppy crop in Afghanistan, which in recent years became the world’s biggest producer of the raw material for heroin, United Nations crop experts reported yesterday. The 2002 crop was close to the record levels of the late 1990s and could be worth more than $1 billion (£650 million) at the farm level in Afghanistan. The nation’s GDP for 1999 was put at $21 billion"

Afghan opium crop back to record levels  8/19/2002 Scotsman, UK: "THE new Afghan government has "largely failed" in its effort to eradicate the opium poppy crop in Afghanistan, which in recent years became the world’s biggest producer of the raw material for heroin, United Nations crop experts reported yesterday. The 2002 crop was close to the record levels of the late 1990s and could be worth more than $1 billion (£650 million) at the farm level in Afghanistan. The nation’s GDP for 1999 was put at $21 billion"

Claim of FARC-Al Qaida link rescinded  8/9/2002 UPI: narcowars forever: "A top State Department official has rescinded a statement made under oath before a federal court that claimed Colombian rebels and narco-traffickers had trained at al Qaida camps in Afghanistan, after top intelligence and law enforcement officials disputed the claim. Assistant Secretary of State R. Rand Beers -- who heads the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement -- signed a declaration last November that said members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were thought to have received training at Al Qaida camps located in Afghanistan… The two declarations were filed in support of a motion to dismiss a civil suit against DynCorp, the largest State Department contractor, which performs a host of military, interdiction and support functions for the U.S. and Colombia governments in the fight against Colombia's drug cartels and insurgents." Dyncorp has interesting involvments around the world.

Military looks to drugs for battle readiness  8/9/2002 Christian Science Monitor: "The capability to resist the mental and physiological effects of sleep deprivation will fundamentally change current military concepts of 'operational tempo' and contemporary orders of battle for the military services," states a document from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). "In short, the capability to operate effectively, without sleep, is no less than a 21st Century revolution in military affairs that results in operational dominance across the whole range of potential U.S. military employments."

Military looks to drugs for battle readiness  8/9/2002 Christian Science Monitor: "The capability to resist the mental and physiological effects of sleep deprivation will fundamentally change current military concepts of 'operational tempo' and contemporary orders of battle for the military services," states a document from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). "In short, the capability to operate effectively, without sleep, is no less than a 21st Century revolution in military affairs that results in operational dominance across the whole range of potential U.S. military employments."

"Another one of ours!"  8/6/2002 Granma: "Thanks to Codina and the Miami-Cuban cabal, he got to know Leonel Martínez, another ultra-right businessman whose known specialty was drug trafficking. Between 1985-6, Martínez brought more than 1,500 kilograms of cocaine into Miami. He was arrested in 1989 and later sent to prison. The federal prosecutors were in possession of a telling photo of Jeb Bush offering Leonel Martínez his hand, but they refused to pass it on to the press. Meanwhile, Martínez had contributed various checks to the Fund for the Future of America, headed by Vice president Bush, and later donated money to his presidential campaign."

Directing the drug war  8/5/2002 Washington Times: "The congressmen were concerned, Mr. Novak wrote, that Mr. Uribe would "appoint to high office Pedro Juan Moreno, a shadowy figure who had run-ins with U.S. and Colombian authorities over importing precursor chemicals of a kind that produce illegal narcotics."

Reasons for Cuban's Ouster Revealed  8/5/2002 Newsday: "According to those who have seen it, Castro's younger brother and designated successor, Defense Minister Raul Castro, takes Robaina to task for unauthorized contacts with former Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes at a time of prickly relations between the two countries. Raul Castro mentions one telephone conversation between the two men -- evidently taped by Cuban state security -- in which Matutes tells Robaina he considers him "my candidate" -- an apparent reference to Cuba's future leadership. As for the favors, Robaina reportedly accepted dining-room and bedroom furniture for his home from an Italian businessman, according those who have seen the video. Robaina also reportedly received $25,000 for the running of the foreign ministry from Mario Villanueva, the jailed former governor of the southern Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Villanueva was arrested for allegedly using his office to protect a drug cartel that smuggled cocaine into the United States from Mexico's Caribbean coast."

IS COLOMBIA THE NEXT VIETNAM?  7/30/2002 ANNCOL: "Our treasury also supported drug traffickers. The Central Intelligence Agency trained, equipped and financed the opium empires of the Golden Triangle, the narcotics-financed Chinese Nationalists, the Corsican Mafia, the Sicilian Mafia, the U.S. Mafia, Afghani-Pakistani heroin traders, the drug kings of the bloodthirsty Guatemalan G-2, key members of Mexico's Guadalajara Cartel, the cocaine-financed Contras of Nicaragua, drug traffickers with the Peruvian National Intelligence Service (SIN), the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army--a Balkan criminal network responsible for over 20 percent of Europe's heroin imports--and the Cali drug cartel in Colombia."

Israeli intelligence: Narco-terror profits funded Sept. 11 attack  7/26/2002 World Tribune: "Profits from drugs shipped by Afghanistan were used by Al Qaida in carrying out the September 11 attacks, according to a classified report by Israel's police intelligence service.' And what were Israel's spies doing dogging the DEA?

Colombia death squads 'disbanded'  7/20/2002 Telegraph, UK: "But observers said the move was part of the death squads' plan to reinvent themselves as the government, backed by America, plans to take action against them. They also hope it will give them a seat at peace talks. The announcement by the feared paramilitary warlords Carlos Castano and Salvatore Mancuso that the 12,000-strong United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) were being disbanded took the country by surprise. Insisting that "anarchy and drugs trafficking" had penetrated parts of the organisation, the warlords said they had no choice but to break up the federation of death squads."

Bolivia's leftwing upstart alarms US  7/15/2002 Guardian, UK: as in Venezuela and Palestine, the US seeks to promote democracy, aided by noble men such as Otto, who helped get terrorist Orlando Bosch out of jail - "Otto Reich, the Cuban-American appointed by President George Bush as his assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs, warned that American aid to the country would be in danger if Mr Morales was chosen on August.Mr Morales is leader of the country's coca-growers and is opposed to the coca eradication programme sponsored by the US as part of the "war on drugs" on the continent." Could it be that Reich is against removing price support for his narcoterrorist friends?

Girls go to war as Colombia's frontline killers  7/14/2002 Guardian, UK: "At least one third of Farc's 18,000 soldiers are now women. Hundreds more are being recruited as it gears up for a greater challenge from an expanding army expecting to receive more military aid and training from the United States as part of Washington's wars against drugs and terrorism… Defectors, however, say around half of their former comrades would desert the Farc if they thought they could escape safely. One reason for deserting, say the critics, is the guerrillas' double standards. Footsoldiers must lead blameless, disciplined lives, while their leaders get drunk, gamble and kill indiscriminately. And the Farc has largely lost not just its way, but the support of the people. Although the Farc was founded to fight for social justice, in the last decade it has been corrupted by its involvement in the drugs trade. Many of those it kills now are innocent peasants, the very people it set out to liberate."

The Other Harken Energy Scandal - Oil, Death Squads and Corruption in Colombia  7/12/2002 CounterPunch: "The bulk of the oil contracts were in the Magdalena Valley where military officers, drug traffickers, and cattle ranchers had come together to form right wing paramilitary groups that fought guerillas, assassinated union leaders and human rights activists, and terrorized peasants in order to force them off coveted land. Most of the oil companies doing business in the region either tacitly accepted or actively sought out the protection of these death squads. A 1996 Human Rights Watch report documents the fact that the Colombian military armed and assisted these groups and, under the guidance of the CIA, integrated them into its intelligence networks. The close cooperation between the military and the paramilitaries continues today - and tends to be most rampant in areas where there is a lot of oil production."

Arms (Still) for Sale How the Market Has Changed for Dealers of Death Since 9/11  7/10/2002 ABC News: "In the room was Ukrainian-born Israeli Leonid Minin… In addition, police found $150,000 in cash and the equivalent of a half-million dollars in diamonds — as well as nearly 1,500 pages of documents detailing the activities that allowed Minin to enjoy this good life. Today, Minin is in jail in northern Italy on charges of drug possession. In October, he is expected to stand trial for arms trafficking. He faces up to 12 years in prison."

BULLETS AND BOMBS: DAILY LOT FOR UNIONISTS  7/8/2002 ANNCOL: the US persues its "war on drugs" by supporting a government in bed with the paramilitaries who kill trade unionist - "Terrifying record figure of assassinations of trade unionists in Colombia. Most murders take place in Antioquia department and unionists from the public services have been the hardest hit by the paramilitary death squads."

Anti-coca programs shelved to placate farmers  7/4/2002 Washington Times: "Peru, a nation hailed by the United States as an Andean success story in the war on drugs, has suspended its participation in U.S.-funded coca-eradication programs. Also halted in the process was the related crop-substitution program, under which Peruvian farmers are paid to grow crops other than coca. The programs were suspended after Peruvian officials met with farm representatives Friday and agreed to immediately end eradication of the coca plant - from which cocaine is made - in the Upper Huallaga Valley."

U.S. Set to Resume Its Role in Halting Latin Drug Planes  7/4/2002 NYT: "President Bush is expected to approve the resumption of a program to force down or shoot down airplanes suspected of ferrying drugs in Latin America, a year after the program was halted by the mistaken downing of a plane carrying American missionaries in Peru, American officials say."

Aids legacy of the Russian dolls  6/30/2002 Sunday Herald: "But the trap is about to be sprung. Until 1996, the rate of contamination by HIV was very low. In 1994 just 158 cases were recorded, but now the federal Aids centre estimates that there are more than one million infected people. Critically, the rate of infection in Russia and neighbouring Ukraine is higher than anywhere in the world. Because HIV only began its march through Russia in the mid-1990s, the full implications of its threat are still dimly perceived across the country. It takes anywhere from 10 to 12 years for HIV to develop into full-blown Aids and for people to start dying from the disease, so it could be at least another five years or so before the full horror of what is happening is fully understood. Most Russians write it off as a marginal problem. They still tell you it's not a big issue -- and that, in any case, most of those affected are drug addicts and social outcasts. This is partly because the full consequences of the spread of HIV infection have yet to be felt but perhaps also because Russians are already overwhelmed by other apparently more urgent problems."

US SPECIAL FORCES TRAINER: WHY I SUPPORT THE GUERRILLAS  6/28/2002 ANNCOL: "The problem with that story in Colombia is that guerrilla revenues from taxing coca were miniscule compared to the revenues from actual trafficking by army officers and paramilitaries. Not only did the US government not put any pressure on this aspect of the drug trade, the Department of Defense and the CIA assisted the army and paramilitaries in integrating their staffs in 1991, which effectively means that the paramilitaries are an actual, if unacknowledged, component of the Colombian armed forces. Where is the logic in attacking the guerrillas, whose hypothetical subtraction from the drug production and trafficking would not change the volume of production or trafficking one iota? They simply levied a tax between production and process. And the peasants who produce the leaf, well they are making a little money, but the profit hikes from processing to distribution go up exponentially, especially when they get to the United States. Unfortunately, Americans are not trained to ask these simple kinds of questions, and they are not trained to employ logic in their thought processes, and so they never ask these questions. Our society is arguably the most indoctrinated in the world, and the most attached to official pronouncements that amount to denial of reality."

Global Eye -- Jungle Fever  6/28/2002 Moscow Times: article is followed by a good set of links on Bolivia's perilous situation at the hands of the Yanqui mercenaries - "And now the "war on drugs" is merging with the "war on terror," with a corresponding growth in scale and firepower, offering excellent potential for long-term profits for the "defense"-related industries that hold such a disproportionate sway in international \politics. This merging also accelerates the moral corrosion that flourishes under the acidic metaphor of "war" -- as we can see in Bolivia."

Colombian Rebels Tell Mayors to Resign Now, or Face Death  6/27/2002 NYT: "Colombia's largest rebel army is threatening to kill or kidnap the country's mayors and municipal judges if they do not resign, in its biggest offensive against civilian authorities in 38 years of guerrilla war. In an interview atop a mountain outside the capital, Bogotá, late Tuesday, a commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said the rebels aimed to destroy the state from the bottom up. He said the elimination of mayors and all municipal authorities was the first step, and he demanded that the mayors resign by midnight tonight… The American ambassador to Colombia, Anne Patterson, said Washington would give mayors financial support under a protection program already earmarked under the Plan Colombia antidrug offensive." The American "drug war" pretext for Plan Colombia finally dropped.

Anti-Castro Activist Gunned Down in Miami  6/12/2002 CNS News: "Villaverde and his brother once ran the "Little Havana Activities Center." They were also indicted in the 1980s for allegedly running a multi-million dollar cocaine smuggling operation. But the charges were dropped because Miami Police had used illegal means to gather evidence in the case. Federal agents raided Jorge Villaverde's home in 1995 but instead of drugs, they found guns." The article blames "Castro" but does not look at possible gang rivalries nor at the history of Miami Mafia squabbles.

Crack the CIA  6/12/2002 Guerrilla News: "Tracking the covert history of CIA drug smuggling from Nicaragua to Arkansas and South Central Los Angeles, GNN sheds light on the darkest secret of the Agency's operational directorate. Cut to the ambient Hip Hop loops of DJ Trek-e, Crack The CIA features explosive footage of Mike Ruppert's historical televised confrontation with CIA Director John Deutch."

Perception management of the US's terror war  6/7/2002 Narco News: "The US has instructed the Colombian military to concentrate its war against the leftist FARC rebel insurgents in the South of Colombia (what the US has termed a Southern Push). These "narco-guerrillas" and "narco-terrorists" are to be targeted, presumably because these are the primary "terrorists" and drug-traffickers. In 1997, James Milford, the former Deputy Administrator with the U.S.'s central drug eradication body the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), stated that Carlos Castaño, the chief of the paramilitary AUC is a "major cocaine trafficker in his own right" and has close links to the North Valle drug syndicate which is "among the most powerful drug trafficking groups in Colombia". Milford went on that to say "there is little to indicate the insurgent groups are trafficking in cocaine themselves, either by producing cocaine…and selling it to Mexican syndicates, or by establishing their own distribution networks in the United States".

THE COLOMBIAN STATE HAS TURNED TO TERROR  6/7/2002 ANNCOL: "Chomsky: Colombia has had the worst human rights record in the hemisphere in the last decade while it has been the leading recipient of US arms and training for the Western Hemisphere and now ranks behind only Israel and Egypt worldwide. There exists a very close correlation that holds over a long period of time between human rights violations and US military aid and training. It's not that the US likes to torture people; it's that it basically doesn't care. For the US government, human rights violations are a secondary consequence. In Colombia, as elsewhere, human rights violations tend to increase as the state tries to violently repress opposition to inequality, oppression, corruption, and other state crimes for which there is no political outlet. The state turns to terror-that's what's been happening in Colombia for a long time, since before there was a Colombian drug trade. Counterinsurgency has been going on there for 40 years; President Kennedy sent a Special Forces mission to Colombia in the early 1960s. Their proposal to the Colombian government was recently declassified, and it called for "paramilitary terror" - those are their words-against what it called 'known communist proponents.' In Colombia, that meant labor leaders, priests, human rights activists, and so on. Colombian military manuals in the 1960s began to reflect this advice. In the last 15 years, as the US has become more deeply involved, human rights violations are up considerably."

One Thousand Coalition Troops Deployed Near Pak-Afghan Border  6/6/2002 Azzam: "Consequently, it is believed that a 16- year-old youth was arrested by U.S. troops on Tuesday, apparently due to intelligence received by their 'reliable' drug addict source. This has resulted in increased anger amongst local tribal leaders and it is unclear as to their expected reaction in what seems to be a new phase of operations in the region."

Women In Prison: Casualties Of The War On The Poor  6/3/2002 Black World Today: "Women in prisons and girls in juvenile detention centers are the fastest growing population in the entire prison system of the United States. And not only are women in prison separated from their own children, but once released, many women face poverty, as the Drug and Felony Disenfranchisement Laws make these women ineligible for welfare or even "workfare." These laws have left 100,000 women without the safety net of such programs and, as a result, 135,000 children have also fallen through the social-safety net."

US pupils face random drug testing  6/2/2002 Guardian: "Twenty-seven million schoolchildren are facing the prospect of random drug testing after a landmark court case described by self-styled religious fundamentalist 'drug warriors' in the United States as their greatest victory. It is a startling example of the ideological shift in American politics since George W. Bush moved into the White House. The Supreme Court is expected within the next few days to rule against a teenager from the Midwest who was forced to undergo a drug test when she signed up to sing in the school choir. Lindsay Earls, a former pupil at Tecumseh High, Oklahoma, had to urinate into a cup while a teacher listened outside the lavatory cubicle."

Miami is not dangerous for the judge who tried the Five  5/31/2002 Granma: "WHEN lawyers for the five Cuban patriots asked for a change of trial venue because of the dangers they faced in the city of Miami and the anti-Cuba mafia’s fanaticism, the court immediately rejected the request. But when it suited Prosecutor Guy Lewis to decree that Miami is too dangerous a place to try a drug baron, the judge immediately complied with Lewis’ wishes."

US plan to strike enemy with Valium  5/26/2002 Guardian, UK: doing what they accuse Cuba of doing: "Most of the research was funded by Washington's joint non-lethal weapons programme, in which Britain plays an active part. But further US documents, also seen by The Observer, reveal how a split has developed between the two nations, with British officials backing campaigners' claims that using drugs such as Valium or other calmatives would be outlawed under the 1991 Chemical Weapons Convention. This protocol prohibits 'any chemical which... can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm'. "

War in Colombia  5/23/2002 National Security Archives: "Guerrillas, Drugs and Human Rights in U.S.-Colombia Policy, 1988-2002"

PARDONGATE AND BUSHFRAUD  5/16/2002 Sherman Skolnick: readable article from 3/18/01 - "An aircraft departs Colombia, flies to the Bahamas to rest and refuel, and then, when a weather window opens, continues the flight to Nova Scotia or Quebec. Again, rest and refuel. Then continue to a US-Canadian border landing strip." The former operative goes on to detail the acts and doings of FBI Senior Agent Terry Nelson, of southern Florida FBI office, who has business and relatives near the U.S., Montana-Canada border "Nelson not only recruits the law enforcement officials and politicians he needs, he can also supply data from the law enforcement arena such as the DEA NADDIS computer, Customs TECS II, EPIC, FBI, and others involved in ongoing investigations. Nelson then provides this intelligence to his drug contacts. This helps obstruct any investigation and diffuse potential problems. Terry Nelson, a senior agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, continues to provide his valuable services to drug cartels and others who will pay his fee, out of his FBI office in southern Florida."

War in Colombia: Guerrillas, Drugs and Human Rights in U.S.-Colombia Policy, 1988-2002  5/16/2002 National Security Archive: ". But recently declassified U.S. documents show that despite the legal limits and repeated public assurances by government officials, U.S. aid has blurred the lines between counterdrug and counterinsurgency to the point that the U.S. is on the brink of direct confrontation with the guerrillas and ever deeper involvement in Colombia’s seemingly intractable civil conflict. The Bush administration’s proposed aid figure for Colombia in fiscal year 2003 includes nearly $500 million in military and police aid alone." And some of that will wind up in the hands of paramilitary organizations engaged in drug trafficking and terrorism.

Mystery of ‘Israeli spies’ in America: the ecstasy factor  5/14/2002 Daily Star, Lebanon: "US authorities believe Tuito has been seeking to form alliances with US crime families, but in an equally sinister development the United Nations Narcotics Control Board reported in February that Colombian drug cartels were now shipping cocaine to Europe to exchange it for ecstasy which was smuggled into the US through Latin America. Israel has a long history of involvement with the Colombian and other cartels in Latin America. Former Israeli Army and intelligence officers supplied the drug barons with weapons and trained their private armies, including special assassination squads, throughout the 1980s. One of the more notorious of these Israelis, a lieutenant colonel in the army reserve named Yair Klein, was convicted by an Israeli court in 1991 for illegally exporting arms to the Colombian cartels. He was fined $40,000. In 1998, Klein, a balding ex-paratrooper, was indicted in Bogota on charges of training Colombian paramilitaries in terrorist tactics in the 1987-89. He was allegedly one of four Israelis hired by Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, one of the Medellin cartel’s most violent bosses, who was later assassinated…. His current whereabouts are unknown, but Israeli arms dealers are still working with Colombian paramilitaries. On May 7, Nicaraguan and Panamanian authorities launched an investigation into how 3,000 AK-47 assault rifles and 5 million rounds of ammunition shipped from Nicaragua by two Israeli-owned arms companies to Colombia on Nov. 10, 2001, and wound up in the hands of the United Defense Forces of Colombia, a group the US government has branded as terrorist… In the 1980s, with Israelis deeply involved in Latin America’s political turmoil, US and British investigations found that New York’s Hassidic community was being used to launder as much as $200 million a year in drug cartel profits. One such operation was linked to David Marcus Katz, who controlled much of Israel’s arms dealings in Central America from his base in Mexico City throughout the 1970s and 1980s. A 1992 report by Yediot Ahronot, based in part on FBI documentation, said Israeli intelligence organizations were directing a US-based money laundering network, including those run by Hassidic Jews, and using some of the profits to finance clandestine operations." And today in Venezuela, we have a similar tale with another dealer in Israeli arms, Isaac Perez Recao, who was implicated in supporting the recent coup for which he supplied arms.

FORMER US ANTI-DRUG CZAR SAYS WASHINGTON STUCK IN 1960s COLD WAR MENTALITY  5/10/2002 Radio Havana: "Retired US General Barry McCaffrey who was Bill Clinton's anti-drug tzar and a commander in the Gulf War, criticized President George Bush's policy on Cuba in an interview with National Public Radio today."

CIA Missile Misses Ex-Afghan Warlord  5/9/2002 AP: Hekmatyar joins a long line of other CIA agents whose agency turned on them: he was once the CIA's top man in Afghanistan, and held the largest drug networks which he passed on to bin Laden.

The Israeli "art student" mystery  5/7/2002 Salon: "Yet for the most part the targeted agents weren’t spooks in the strictest sense: They were DEA -- cops who bust drug dealers. And that leads us into Theory No. 1, also known as the Art Student/Drug Dealer Conspiracy. This theory has a piece of evidence to support it: the link, mentioned in the leaked DEA memo, between an Ecstasy investigation and the telephone numbers provided by an Israeli detained in Orlando. There are "problems" with Israeli nationals involved in the Ecstasy business, according to Israeli Embassy spokesman Reguev. "Israeli authorities and the DEA are working together on that issue," he said. In a statement before Congress in 2000, officials with the U.S. Customs Service, which intercepted some 7 million Ecstasy tablets last year, noted that "Israeli organized-crime elements appear to be in control" of the multibillion-dollar U.S. Ecstasy trade, "from production through the international smuggling phase. Couriers associated with Israeli organized crime have been arrested around the world, including ... locations in the U.S. such as Florida, New Jersey, New York and California." Miami was cited as one of the main entry points of Ecstasy into the United States and was specified as one of the central "headquarters for the criminal organizations that smuggle Ecstasy"; Houston was also cited for large Ecstasy seizures -- an interesting nexus, given the large number of "art students" who congregated both in the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale area and in Houston. "Israeli nationals in the Ecstasy trade have been very sophisticated in their operations," says a U.S. Customs officer who has investigated the groups. "Some of these individuals have been skilled at counterintelligence and in concealing their communications and movements from law enforcement." It would thus seem that Israeli organized crime has at least the capacity to pull off a widespread surveillance and intelligence operation. The drug connection would also explain the sizable reserves of cash one Tampa student was handling. One DEA agent named in the "art student" report told Salon that the best possible explanation for the affair –- and he admitted to being utterly baffled by it -- was that drug dealers were involved. "Why us if not because of the DEA's mission?" the agent asked. "I mean, what would Israeli intel want with us? Here's another avenue of inquiry to take: Israeli organized crime is the now the biggest dealer of Ecstasy in the United States." The author then goes on to poopoo the theory in what some would call a "blow smoke in their faces" routine, since this seems to be getting a little too close to the truth…

Hugo Banzer Was Narco-Connected  5/5/2002 Narco News: "The Narco News Andean Bureau recently interviewed Catholic Priest Gregorio Iriarte in Cochabamba, Bolivia during the discussions by representatives of Civil Society to forge a new path in the war on drugs. Iriarte is the man the bishop put in charge of studying narco-trafficking issues years ago and one of the most informed experts on the theme…"

Be With Them: Bolivian Civil Society Resists the War on Drugs  5/3/2002 Narco News: "during the last five years at least 200 farmers have lost their lives in conflicts with the different repressive corps of State. Last November, soldiers armed by Washington moved to close the coca markets. And the farmers, supported passionately by the rest of the people, resisted in the Sacaba War. They were shot and gassed, they were jailed, but they could not be defeated."

What are these 'other threats' to Colombia's Security?  4/27/2002 Z Mag: "In April 10, 2000 the US senator Coverdell said that it would be necessary to intervene militarily in Colombia-- to control Venezuela! It's highly likely that this 'mico' added on to the law was added in order to prepare a military aggression against the Chavez government. If the war against drugs was a pretext for a war against the insurgency, now the armed conflict in Colombia has become a pretext for an attack on Venezuela and against the Chavez government."

‘Spy scandal’ to save the CANF  4/26/2002 Granma: for more on this extended tale about La Mas Fea, see The CANF, drugs, and the October 1997 plot to kill Castro.

Israeli Spies Exposed  4/22/2002 Weekly Planet, Tampa, FL: Now we know why the DEA was a primary target: "The document also links the Israelis to possible drug investigations. The report states: "DEA Orlando has developed the first drug nexus to this group. Telephone numbers obtained from an Israeli Art Student encountered at the Orlando (district office) have been linked to several ongoing DEA MDMA (Ecstasy) investigations in Florida, California, Texas, and New York." It is well known that Israeli gangsters control worldwide Ecstasy distribution. This raises the spectre of situations similar to Coca Contra and the numerous documented CIA collaborations with narcoterrorists.

U.S. Fears Afghan Farmers Can't End Cash Crop: Opium  4/1/2002 NYT 

U.S. Fears Afghan Farmers Can't End Cash Crop: Opium  4/1/2002 NYT 

US DRUGGED POLICY  3/28/2002 Boston Phoenix 

STATEMENT FROM THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA - PROMINENT DRUG TRAFFICKER ARRESTED IN OUR COUNTRY  3/18/2002 Radio Havana 

The War on Dissent Widens  3/12/2002 Alternet: "Who exactly is behind AVOT's efforts? The newly-formed organization is headed by a formidable array of right-wing luminaries. At the top of the list is former Secretary of Education and drug czar William Bennett, AVOT's chairman. The group's Senior Advisors include former CIA director R. James Woolsey; former Reagan Pentagon official Frank Gaffney; William P. Barr, attorney general under George Bush, Sr; and mega-political donor Lawrence Kadish. AVOT is a project of Empower America -- also co-chaired by Bennett -- whose principal members include conservative political operatives Jeane Kirkpatrick, Jack Kemp, Vin Weber and William Cohen."

EMBASSY CRASHERS FIT PROFILE OF THOSE USED BY MIAMI MAFIA, US GOVT  3/1/2002 Radio Havana: "According to reports, those who responded to the invitation to attack the Mexican embassy -- repeatedly broadcast on Radio Marti, an official radio station of the U.S. government -- were criminal and anti-social elements who had been convicted of serious crimes. Among the long list of convictions: armed robbery, carrying a concealed weapon, drug trafficking and possession, assault and battery."

CIA & Cocaine: Agency Assets Cross the Line  2/28/2002 The Consortium: by Jerry Meldon, 1997

Our Man in Morocco  2/28/2002 Third World Traveler: by Jerry Meldon, 1999, who details an earlier "War on Terrorism" waged in the 60's - "There was reason, however, to suspect an American hand in Ben Barka's disappearance. Besides Washington's sensitivity about Castro and the Non-Aligned Movement, the Johnson administration at the time was moving aggressively around the world to thwart perceived Third World adversaries. Most notably, President Johnson was escalating U.S. involvement in Indochina. But he also dispatched Marines to the Dominican Republic, sent experts to improve the efficiency of Guatemalan security forces and allowed U.S. officials to hand over names of suspected communists to Indonesian generals engaged in exterminating hundreds of thousands of Indonesians."

POSADA CARRILES - Four bloody decades  2/28/2002 Granma: "...a professor at Tufts University, also an investigative reporter, who exposed himself to the worst reprisals by revealing previously unpublished information about the "private lives" of the CIA and the Miami mafia. In two alternative Internet publications, Professor Jerry Meldon released a "biography" of the best known Cuban exile drug traffickers, especially the central figure: arch-terrorist Luis Posada Carriles. Basing himself on a series of declassified secret documents, Meldon bravely describes Posada Carriles’ relationship with the late Jorge Mas Canosa, founder and leader of the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF) and frequent guest at the White House under Reagan, Bush Sr. and Clinton."

Our Man in Morocco  2/28/2002 Third World Traveler: by Jerry Meldon, 1999, who details an earlier "War on Terrorism" waged in the 60's - "There was reason, however, to suspect an American hand in Ben Barka's disappearance. Besides Washington's sensitivity about Castro and the Non-Aligned Movement, the Johnson administration at the time was moving aggressively around the world to thwart perceived Third World adversaries. Most notably, President Johnson was escalating U.S. involvement in Indochina. But he also dispatched Marines to the Dominican Republic, sent experts to improve the efficiency of Guatemalan security forces and allowed U.S. officials to hand over names of suspected communists to Indonesian generals engaged in exterminating hundreds of thousands of Indonesians."

Drugs and intelligence agencies  2/28/2002 Bilderberg.org: by Jerry Meldon, 1998

Drugs and intelligence agencies  2/28/2002 Bilderberg.org: by Jerry Meldon, 1998

CIA & Cocaine: Agency Assets Cross the Line  2/28/2002 The Consortium: by Jerry Meldon, 1997

Return of Bolivia's Drug-Stained Dictator  2/28/2002 Consortium News: by Jerry Meldon, 1997

US Congress questions efficiency of Colombian anti-drug program  2/26/2002 Yahoo 

MI5 fears flood of Afghan heroin  2/21/2002 Guardian, UK 

Drug War Goes Boom in Colombia  2/21/2002 NarcoNews 

MI5 fears flood of Afghan heroin  2/21/2002 Guardian, UK 

Cheney Led Halliburton To Feast at Federal Trough  2/20/2002 The Public I 

A Tangled Web: A History of CIA Complicity in Drug International Trafficking  2/20/2002 Federation of American Scientists 

Cheney Led Halliburton To Feast at Federal Trough  2/20/2002 The Public I 

A Tangled Web: A History of CIA Complicity in Drug International Trafficking  2/20/2002 Federation of American Scientists 

Europe Upset by US Inaction Over Resumed Afghan Opium Production  2/19/2002 Peter Dale Scott: by the respected co-author of Cocaine Politics.

Europe Upset by US Inaction Over Resumed Afghan Opium Production  2/19/2002 Peter Dale Scott: by the respected co-author of Cocaine Politics.

Washington reconstructed  2/17/2002 Boston Globe: "The excavators are uncovering the foundation of what once was the nation's biggest whiskey distillery, a slave-operated enterprise that helped make Washington one of the nation's wealthiest men. Washington, whiskey king? Yes, and a major slave profiteer, too. " Drugs and economic oppression have remained mainstays of US dominance.

Rebels spend drug millions on guns  2/16/2002 Telegraph, UK: "Extremist Albanian rebels seeking to start a new round of conflict in the southern Balkans have been buying millions of pounds worth of weapons with the proceeds of heroin smuggling from Afghanistan to the streets of a dozen European capitals." Just like the cocacontra gangs in Miami.

Corridos y Narcocorridos  2/16/2002 Miami New Times: "In contrast to her hard-bitten "jackal woman" image, Angeleno singer Rivera comes across as a devoted mother and consummate pop professional in Elijah Wald's superb book Narcocorrido: A Journey into the Music of Drugs, Guns, and Guerrillas. Wald travels deep into Mexico and the American Southwest in search of the performers that have made the narcocorrido the hottest trend in Mexican pop. Despite its immense popularity in that country, the genre is effectively banned on Mexican radio. And despite its popularity among the Mexican and Chicano population in our own country, narcocorridos remain invisible to mainstream America and shunned by events like the Grammy Awards that usually reward commercial success."

Noam Chomsky on the Drug-Terror Link  2/14/2002 Alternet: "The state turns to terror -- that's what's been happening in Colombia for a long time, since before there was a Colombian drug trade. Counterinsurgency has been going on there for 40 years; President Kennedy sent a special forces mission to Colombia in the early 1960s. Their proposal to the Colombian government was recently declassified, and it called for "paramilitary terror" -- those are their words -- against what it called known communist proponents. In Colombia, that meant labor leaders, priests, human rights activists, and so on. Colombian military manuals in the 1960s began to reflect this advice. In the last 15 years, as the US has become more deeply involved, human rights violations are up considerably."

Iran acts against Kabul opponent  2/10/2002 BBC: "All the offices in Iran of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami faction have been closed down." Hekmatyar, once the darling of the CIA and the largest drug trafficker in Afghanistan, of course. He handed his networks over to bin Laden, according to Le Monde.

Main drug control agency in Kabul is evicted  1/25/2002 Independent, UK: remind you of the Cocaine Coup in Bolivia, right after Reagan came to power?

Main drug control agency in Kabul is evicted  1/25/2002 Independent, UK: remind you of the Cocaine Coup in Bolivia, right after Reagan came to power?

Hispanics Targeted in Fake Drug Cases  1/20/2002 AP 

Taliban planned to supplant the Cali Cartel  1/7/2002 Online Journal 

Taliban planned to supplant the Cali Cartel  1/7/2002 Online Journal 

Brazil's drug users will get help, instead of jail  1/4/2002 Christian Science Monitor: but the US continues its price support policies to maintain the viability of off the books funding.

Brazil's drug users will get help, instead of jail  1/4/2002 Christian Science Monitor: but the US continues its price support policies to maintain the viability of off the books funding.

‘Silent Thunder’  1/1/2002 Southern Poverty Law Center: "A massive California police raid reveals how white supremacists are making a bid to control methamphetamine distribution."

Onions out, poppies in and let the good times roll  12/31/2001 Sydney Morning Herald: Looks only at the small scale farmer and not at the massive resurgence of major traffickers in the new regime, following the time honored tradition of American clients in Laos, Viet Nam, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and so many other places around the world. Drug war = price support.

Onions out, poppies in and let the good times roll  12/31/2001 Sydney Morning Herald: Looks only at the small scale farmer and not at the massive resurgence of major traffickers in the new regime, following the time honored tradition of American clients in Laos, Viet Nam, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and so many other places around the world. Drug war = price support.

Israeli-based drug gang nabbed near WTC  12/20/2001 Jerusalem Post 

Trade Center Attack Reveals Drug Ring  12/20/2001 ABC News: A glimpse into Israeli gangsters in the shadow of 9-11. The details - ecstasy worth $1.25 MM, guns - remind you of the Comverse linked Israeli gang in LA. Scroll down to get to the story.

Heroin, Drug Warlords Reappear on Afghan Scene  12/17/2001 Pacific News: by Peter Dale Scott, co-author of Cocaine Politics and author of Deep Politics and the Death of JFK - "Another dark indicator of a coming boom is the recent and unexpected release from a Pakistani jail of Ayub Afridi, once the Khyber Pass kingpin for a network of Pashtun drug warlords in Nangarhar Province. Some have interpreted his release as a boost to his former contacts such as Haji Abdul Qadir, Haji Mohammed Zaman and Hazrat Ali, who, according to the Asia Times Daily in Hong Kong, used to be the biggest heroin and opium mafia in Afghanistan's Pashtun belt. Haji Abdul Qadir is now the political leader in Nangarhar Province, west of Khyber Pass, while Hazrat Ali and Haji Mohammed Zaman are leading the Afghan ground attack against the al Qaeda holdouts in the nearby Tora Bora caves."

Part 4: Carl Cameron Investigates  12/17/2001 Fox News: This story was pulled by Fox News from www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40981,00.html on around 12/21! Does Israeli intelligence have similar relationships with its narcoterrorists as the CIA does with its crews? "Los Angeles, 1997, a major local, state and federal drug investigating sours. The suspects: Israeli organized crime with operations in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Canada, Israel and Egypt. The allegations: cocaine and ecstasy trafficking, and sophisticated white-collar credit card and computer fraud. The problem: according to classified law enforcement documents obtained by Fox News, the bad guys had the cops’ beepers, cell phones, even home phones under surveillance. Some who did get caught admitted to having hundreds of numbers and using them to avoid arrest."

Heroin, Drug Warlords Reappear on Afghan Scene  12/17/2001 Pacific News: by Peter Dale Scott, co-author of Cocaine Politics and author of Deep Politics and the Death of JFK - "Another dark indicator of a coming boom is the recent and unexpected release from a Pakistani jail of Ayub Afridi, once the Khyber Pass kingpin for a network of Pashtun drug warlords in Nangarhar Province. Some have interpreted his release as a boost to his former contacts such as Haji Abdul Qadir, Haji Mohammed Zaman and Hazrat Ali, who, according to the Asia Times Daily in Hong Kong, used to be the biggest heroin and opium mafia in Afghanistan's Pashtun belt. Haji Abdul Qadir is now the political leader in Nangarhar Province, west of Khyber Pass, while Hazrat Ali and Haji Mohammed Zaman are leading the Afghan ground attack against the al Qaeda holdouts in the nearby Tora Bora caves."

Victorious warlords set to open the opium floodgates  11/25/2001 Guardian, UK 

Victorious warlords set to open the opium floodgates  11/25/2001 Guardian, UK 

Opium farmers rejoice at defeat of the Taliban  11/21/2001 Independent, UK 

Opium farmers rejoice at defeat of the Taliban  11/21/2001 Independent, UK 

10 kg of opium, 10 rifles seized, four arrested in Fars prov.  10/25/2001 IRNA, Iran 

16 kg of morphine seized in Torbat-e Jaam  10/25/2001 IRNA 

Rebels double opium output  10/22/2001 The Guardian, UK: "Opium cultivation in territory controlled by the opposition Northern Alliance in north-eastern Afghanistan doubled last year, the UN said last night. After the Taliban issued a successful edict banning farmers from growing poppies drug barons pushed their business into Badakshan, the mountainous province under opposition control. Now more than 80% of poppy fields in Afghanistan are in Badakshan, the UN drug control programme said in a report."

Rebels double opium output  10/22/2001 The Guardian, UK: "Opium cultivation in territory controlled by the opposition Northern Alliance in north-eastern Afghanistan doubled last year, the UN said last night. After the Taliban issued a successful edict banning farmers from growing poppies drug barons pushed their business into Badakshan, the mountainous province under opposition control. Now more than 80% of poppy fields in Afghanistan are in Badakshan, the UN drug control programme said in a report."

Bin Laden linked to Albanian drug gangs  10/21/2001 Independent, UK 

Bin Laden linked to Albanian drug gangs  10/21/2001 Independent, UK 

AFGHANISTAN, COLOMBIA, VIETNAM: THE DEEP POLITICS OF DRUGS AND OIL  10/20/2001 Peter Dale Scott: this page will be updated and bears watching

AFGHANISTAN, COLOMBIA, VIETNAM: THE DEEP POLITICS OF DRUGS AND OIL  10/20/2001 Peter Dale Scott: this page will be updated and bears watching

Hostilites at the High Court - In rare act, 4 justices publicly oppose decision  10/16/2001 Newsday: "In an unusual display of disharmony, four Supreme Court justices joined yesterday in a public statement heatedly disagreeing with their colleagues' rejection of an appeal challenging police tactics in an Ohio drug case."

More Collateral Damage In The Terrorism War  10/15/2001 TBWT 

More Collateral Damage In The Terrorism War  10/15/2001 TBWT 

War Views: Afghan heroin trade will live on  10/14/2001 BBC 

War Views: Afghan heroin trade will live on  10/14/2001 BBC 

Interview: Saad Al Fagih  10/14/2001 Front Line: [Front Line]: You're saying that, under the surface, there's a lot of jubilation that there was a successful attack on the United States. [Saad Al Fagih]:The first thing that happened after the incident, people received a message in their mobile phones, "Congratulations." And then the next message in the mobile phone was, "Our prayers to bin Laden." That was very natural. Not in the religious circles, in the zealot circles or the Islamically devoted circles, [but] very much in the liberal and corrupt circles, people who do not observe Islam, who do not [go] to mosque or [are] maybe involved in drinking or women or even drugs. They were very jubilant and happy and looking at bin Laden as a hero. People started killing sheep and killing camels and making big feasts and inviting their relatives and friends to celebrate the big event in America. You cannot see those things. There's no freedom of expression. There's no freedom of assembly. There's no way to expose those feelings. ...

The Lies About Taliban Heroin  10/14/2001 From the Wilderness 

Bin Laden May Have Acquired Small Nuclear Weapons  10/13/2001 Debka.com, Israel: "In a special investigation,DEBKA-Net-Weekly learned from well-placed intelligence sources that the millionaire terror master did procure a supply of uranium-235 six months before his Al Qaeda suicides carried out their September 11 strikes in America. The uranium was delivered following an extraordinary deal between the most wanted terrorist in the world and one of the world’s most dangerous mobsters, a shadowy Ukrainian-born Jew called Semion Mogilevich, who rules over an arms-trafficking, money-laundering, drug-running, prostitution and graft empire. Sources who spoke to DEBKA-Net-Weekly on condition of anonymity report that for a princely sum estimated at US$40 - 75 million, Bin Laden bought between 12 and 15 kilos of uranium-235, all of which came from Russia or some Central Asian Muslim republic. If this is true, the master terrorist has enough fissionable material to build between 3 and 5 nuclear devices."

Semion Mogilevich  10/10/2001 Gangsters Inc: Hunted for selling nukes to Al Qaeda - "Allegations of Mogilevich's devilish array of criminal activities are extensively detailed in the reports: The FBI and Israeli intelligence assert that he traffics in nuclear materials, drugs, prostitutes, precious gems, and stolen art. His contract hit squads operate in the U.S. and Europe. He controls everything that goes in and out of Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, a "smugglers' paradise, " says Elson. Mogilevich bought a bankrupt airline in a former Central Asian Soviet republic for millions of dollars in cash so he could haul heroin out of the Golden Triangle. Most worrisome to U.S. authorities is Mogilevich's apparently legal purchase of virtually the entire Hungarian armaments industry, jeopardizing regional security, NATO, and the war against terrorism. In one typical criminal deal, Mogilevich and two Moscow-based gangsters sold $20 million worth of pilfered Warsaw Pact weapons from East Germany, including ground-to-air missiles and 12 armored troop carriers, according to the classified Israeli and FBI documents. The buyer was Iran, says a top-level U.S. Customs official ho requested anonymity…. Like mob bosses everywhere, Mogilevich couldn't sustain his empire without the help of corrupt police and politicians. There is one documented example of a criminal associate of Mogilevich mingling with American politicians. In March 1994, Vahtang Ubiriya, one of Mogilevich's top lieutenants, was photographed by the FBI at a tony Republican Party fundraiser in Dallas, says an FBI report."

Osamagate  10/9/2001 Centre for Research on Globalisation: "The 'blowback' thesis is a fabrication. The evidence amply confirms that the CIA never severed its ties to the "Islamic Militant Network". Since the end of the Cold War, these covert intelligence links have not only been maintained, they have in become increasingly sophisticated. New undercover initiatives financed by the Golden Crescent drug trade were set in motion in Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Balkans. Pakistan's military and intelligence apparatus (controlled by the CIA) essentially "served as a catalyst for the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the emergence of six new Muslim republics in Central Asia….A major war supposedly "against international terrorism" has been launched by a government which is harboring international terrorism as part of its foreign policy agenda. "

Opium den: In the Afghan badlands, add drugs to a devil’s brew  10/8/2001 US News 

Opium den: In the Afghan badlands, add drugs to a devil’s brew  10/8/2001 US News 

No peaceful way to resolve crisis: Hikmetyar  10/6/2001 The News. Pakistan: Hekmetyar passed his CIA related drug net on to his friend bin Laden

US and Britain accused of creating heroin trail  10/6/2001 Independent, Uk: "Evidence even exists that the CIA encouraged the spread of hard drugs to demoralise Russian troops."

US and Britain accused of creating heroin trail  10/6/2001 Independent, Uk: "Evidence even exists that the CIA encouraged the spread of hard drugs to demoralise Russian troops."

Afghan Rebels Dominate Opium Growing  10/5/2001 AP 

Afghanistan's Northern Alliance A Major Producer Of Opium - Un Drug Expert  10/5/2001 Radio Havana, Cuba 

East Africa: Terrorism's Ties to Drugs  10/5/2001 Statfor 

Afghan Rebels Dominate Opium Growing  10/5/2001 AP 

Pakistan warned against backing US  10/5/2001 Dawn, Pakistan: warning issued by Gulbadin Hekmatyar, CIA related narcoterrorist who turned his drug networks over to Bin Laden

East Africa: Terrorism's Ties to Drugs  10/5/2001 Statfor 

Afghanistan's Northern Alliance A Major Producer Of Opium - Un Drug Expert  10/5/2001 Radio Havana, Cuba 

Taliban Turns to Drugs  10/4/2001 FEER 

Taliban Turns to Drugs  10/4/2001 FEER 

US Official: Taliban in Opium Trade  10/3/2001 AP 

US Official: Taliban in Opium Trade  10/3/2001 AP 

Police seize 1.2 tons of narcotics in Golestan province  9/30/2001 IRNA 

Troops will target drugs stockpile  9/30/2001 Observer, UK 

Police seize 1.2 tons of narcotics in Golestan province  9/30/2001 IRNA 

Troops will target drugs stockpile  9/30/2001 Observer, UK 

Stockpiles of opium being moved out of Afghanistan  9/29/2001 Ananova 

Stockpiles of opium being moved out of Afghanistan  9/29/2001 Ananova 

Flood of cheap Afghan heroin  9/25/2001 The Times of London 

Flood of cheap Afghan heroin  9/25/2001 The Times of London 

Feds: Drug seizures down following attacks  9/23/2001 CNN 

Feds: Drug seizures down following attacks  9/23/2001 CNN 

TAJIKISTAN CAPITAL’S MAYOR INVOLVED IN DRUG BUSINESS  7/30/2001 Pravda: "In the beginning of summer the Moscow Office of Public Prosecutor received a claim from the citizen of Tajikistan with a request to call several Russian citizens in account. The peculiar feature of this fact is that Tajikistan’s citizen was Dushanbe mayor (the capital of the republic), speaker of the upper chamber of the republican parliament M.Ubaidulloyev. His claim was against Russia’s active member of the opposition, supervisor of the Duma committee for industry, Anton Surikov. Ubaidulloyev’s claim was about the article published in The Moscow News paper - “The Military Men Control Tajikistan’s Drug Business”. Anton Surikov said in that article that not only Afghan militants controlled the drug business in the republic but also the local criminal and ruling clans. Surikov also said that activity was thoroughly controlled - mayor and speaker Ubaidulloyev did not only join that criminal conspiracy with some Russian military men, the mayor was ready to assist in giving total control over Afghanistan to the Taliban movement. Ubaidulloyev has the only goal – to increase the income from the drug business, this business could be taken on the state level if the situation in Afghanistan becomes stable. No need to mention Ubaidulloyev did not agree with the role of the recognized “godfather” of the Tajik mafia and started sending letters to different departments. The mayor of the Tajikistan capital wrote to Gennady Seleznyov – the speaker of the Russian parliament. Seleznyov started the investigation against Surikov."

Turkey and the Chechens  3/16/2001 BBC: "But Chechen fighters have been treated in Turkish hospitals, and the ruthlessness of the Russian military has generated considerable sympathy among ordinary Turks for their Chechen brethren."

Increase in Use of "Club Drug" Ecstasy Poses Growing Risk  7/27/2000 US State Department: "Most MDMA is manufactured in small, clandestine "kitchen labs" in the Netherlands or Belgium, and is then shipped to various U.S. ports of entry via couriers and mail carriers like DHL, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service. Despite its European manufacture, Israeli organized crime syndicates ship most of the MDMA available in the US, according to the DEA."

Who Is Israel’s Yair Klein and What Was He Doing in Colombia and Sierra Leone?  6/1/2000 Democracy Now: "Klein is a former lieutenant colonel in the Israeli Army. In the 1980s he established a paramilitary mercenary company called Spearhead Ltd. Through this company, Klein began providing arms and training to forces in South America. In 1989, Klein, along with several other former Israeli officers, was charged by authorities in Colombia of providing paramilitary training and arms to drug lords running international cocaine cartels. He is also accused of training Mafia assassins whose targets have included Colombian politicians. Klein is also suspected of involvement in the explosion of a Colombian airliner in November 1989."

CIA And Mossad Drug Involvement  5/28/2000 Spotlight 

Re-open the Buendía Case  5/3/2000 Narco News: "The Narco News Bulletin, on the 16th memorial of the assassination of Mexican journalist Manuel Buendía, publishes an English translation of today's column by Carlos Ramírez, Mexico's most widely-read newspaper columnist, that calls to re-open the investigation of the 1984 narco-assassination. Ramírez explores the allegations that a key member of Mexico's ruling party, Manuel Bartlett, was responsible for the crime and its cover-up."

Heroin Heroes  1/15/2000 Mother Jones: "The United States propped up the KLA in the Kosovo conflict. With Milosevic gone, and no one in control, the former freedom fighters are now transforming the province into a major conduit for global drug trafficking."

Total Coverage: The CIA, Contras, and Drugs  8/25/1998 Mother Jones: "You may have seen the headline last month on the front page of the NEW YORK TIMES. (Then again, you may not have, since it ran in a small box on the bottom-left corner.) It announced, “CIA Says It Used Nicaraguan Rebels Accused of Drug Tie.”"

ALLEGATIONS OF CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CIA AND THE CONTRAS IN COCAINE TRAFFICKING TO THE UNITED STATES  6/1/1998 CIA 

WRITTEN STATEMENT OF CELERINO CASTILLO III, (D.E.A., RETIRED) FOR THE HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE  4/27/1998 Powderburns: From Oliver North Diary, with Note by Cele Castillo - "May 14, 1986, I spoke to Jack O'Conner DEA HQS Re: Matta-Ballesteros. (NOTE: Juan Ramon Matta-Ballesteros was perhaps the single largest drug trafficker in the region. Operating from Honduras he owned several companies which were openly sponsored and subsidized by C.I.A.)"

THE CIA-CONTRA-CRACK COCAINE CONTROVERSY: A REVIEW OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S INVESTIGATIONS AND PROSECUTIONS  12/15/1997 DOJ 

Chapter VII: Enrique Miranda-Jaime  12/1/1997 US DOJ: "OIG investigators interviewed Miranda in the presence of his attorney, in a Granada, Nicaragua, prison where Miranda was serving his prison sentence. He stated that in 1981 his Sandinista superior, Bayardo Arce Castana (Arce), whose lover, Blanca Castana (a niece of Meneses) had given Meneses' name and telephone number in San Francisco to Miranda. Arce told Miranda to see if Meneses would use his drug network in the United States to sell drugs for the Sandinista government. According to Miranda, when he proposed this plan to Meneses in San Francisco, however, Meneses had refused, explaining that he was already selling drugs for the Contras, with the support of the CIA. Meneses said he was working with Oliver North, that Adolfo Calero and Enrique Bermudez were aware of this arrangement, and that some of the drug profits were going to buy weapons and supplies for the Contras on the United States black market."

OPENING REMARKS OF MICHAEL C. RUPPERT for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence  10/1/1997 From the Wilderness 

The CIA, Contras, Gangs, and Crack  11/1/1996 IPS: "Many in the media have also postulated that any drug-trafficking contras involved were “rogue” elements, not supported by the CIA. But these denials overlook much of the Mercury News‘ evidence of CIA complicity. For example…"

The Coke Was Stored in Hangars 4 and 5  10/2/1996 J. Orlin Grabbe 

The Crimes of Mena  1/29/1995 What Really Happened: originally slated to appear in the Washington Post, then killed by a Bonesman managing editor.

The Mena Coverup  10/18/1994 Wall Street Journal: "According to Mr. Duncan and others, Mr. Clinton's allies in state government worked to suppress Mena investigations. In 1990, for example, when Mr. Bryant made Mena an issue in the race for attorney general, Clinton aide Betsey Wright warned the candidate "to stay away" from the issue, according to a CBS Evening News investigative report. Ms. Wright denies the report. Yet once in office, and after a few feints in the direction of an investigation, Mr. Bryant stopped looking into Mena."

Section of Pamphlet released as part of Nancy Spannaus' campaign for U. S. Senate, Virginia  8/1/1994 American Almanac: "The people Ollie North worked with in the Contra operation could make up an international police lineup of drug traffickers and terrorists. Here are some of his most notable associates: {{Juan Ramo@aan Matta Ballesteros:}} This Honduran cocaine kingpin was convicted in July 1990 of conspiracy to kidnap, torture, and murder DEA agent Enrique Camarena. {The Los Angeles Times} (July 7, 1990) said that Ballesteros ``is reputed to be one of the world's biggest drug kingpins.'' At the time of the Camarena affair, Matta Ballesteros was the owner of a Honduran charter airline, SETCO Air, that was paid over half-a-million dollars by the U.S. State Department to airlift ``humanitarian aid'' to the Contras in a program run by Ollie North from the White House. Other funds, drawn directly from secret North-Secord bank accounts in Switzerland, were also funneled into SETCO Air. The Kerry Report states: ``SETCO was the recipient in 1986 of $185,924, in State Department NHAO office funds for the transportation of humanitarian assistance to the FDN [Contras] based in Honduras. A 1983 U.S. Customs Service report stated that `SETCO aviation is a corporation formed by American businessmen who are dealing with Matta and are smuggling narcotics into the United States.' The Matta referred to in the report is Juan Matta Ballesteros, a major cocaine trafficker in the region, and wanted by U.S. law enforcement agencies for the brutal murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena in Mexico.'' An Aug. 9, 1985 entry by Oliver North into his notebook removes any shadow of a doubt that North was fully aware of the Contra-cocaine connection: ``Honduran DC-6 which is being used for runs out of New Orleans is probably being used for drug runs into U.S.'' The Honduran plane referenced by North was owned by Matta Ballesteros."

Haiti’s Nightmare: The Cocaine Coup and the CIA Connection  4/1/1994 The Shadow 

The Jewish Laundry of Drug Money  2/9/1994 Maariv 

Camarena Figure Gets 3 Life Terms : Drugs: Honduran Juan Matta Ballesteros has received two other lengthy sentences for his role in the DEA agent’s murder.  5/9/1991 LA Times: "Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros, 46, a Honduran national, will serve the concurrent triple life terms in addition to 150-year and 75-year consecutive sentences handed down by Los Angeles federal court judges during the last 17 months. “The sentences are a joke--a political joke,” Matta’s attorney, Martin A. Stolar said. Stolar said Matta’s conviction in the Camarena case will be appealed. Appeals in the two earlier convictions are also pending. During the trial, prosecutors charged that Matta attended meetings to plan the abduction of Camarena in retaliation for U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency campaigns to deter cocaine trafficking in Mexico. Prosecutors described the affluent Honduran businessman as one of the most influential drug smugglers ever jailed in the United States."

Honduran Guilty of Kidnapping, Not Murder, of U.S. Drug Agent  7/27/1990 NYT: "Mr. Matta was convicted in the ninth day of jury deliberations on charges of racketeering in the kidnapping and slaying of Mr. Camarena, of conspiring to kidnap Mr. Camarena and of kidnapping the agent and holding him for interrogation. But jurors found Mr. Matta not guilty of a count that charged Mr. Matta with murdering Mr. Camarena, a 31-year-old agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration."

Cocaine and Cutouts: Israel's Unseen Diplomacy  1/1/1989 AMEU: "In April, Blandon testified before a Senate subcommittee, telling how Noriega made millions selling protection to Colombian drug traffickers. Through a translator he talked about the Harari Network, a group of Israeli, U.S. and Panamanian citizens assembled in 1982 by Mike Harari, a top aide to Noriega. The group’s purpose, said Blandon, was to provide arms to the contras, a force assembled by the CIA to overthrow the Nicaraguan Government. In addition to bringing East Bloc weapons to Central America, Blandon testified, the Harari Network also moved narcotics from Colombia to the thriving U.S. market, using the same Costa Rican airstrips and aircraft it employed to deliver arms."

Honduras: Judge Dismissed For Overly Zealous Investigations Of Drug Trafficking; Debate Continues  7/6/1988 University of New Mexico: "On June 1, the Honduran Supreme Court of Justice dismissed Miguel Izaguirre Fiallos, judge of the city of Tela, Atlantida department. The judge had gained notoriety for investigations into drug trafficking activities. In response to his dismissal, Izaguirre said that Honduras "is gradually becoming a narco-state." He accused several government officials, magistrates, and members of the national congress of involvement in the drug trade. Honduran Supreme Court president Salomon Jimenez Castro declared that Izaguirre had taken on "illegal powers" during his investigations in violation of the constitution and the penal code. "He thought of himself as a super-judge who rose up to fight against deeds committed in places outside of his jurisdiction. He was a judge for the city of Tela, not for the Republic of Honduras. At a June 1 press conference, Izaguirre said that he had relied on the support of the armed forces to denounce the extent of the drug trade as well as participation by prominent government figures. The former judge named Attorney General Ruben Zepeda Gutierrez, Supreme Court justices Roberto Perdomo Paredes and Jose Elias Calix, president of the Congress and Liberal Party presidential aspirant Carlos Orbin Montoya, and Rodolfo Irias Navas, a member of congress for the "Rafael Leonardo Callejas" Movement (a Liberal Party splinter group)."

KEY SUSPECT ARRESTED IN U.S. AGENT`S DEATH  4/6/1988 Chicago Tribune: "Juan Ramon Matta Ballesteros was being flown to the U.S. early Wednesday, where he is to face four drug-related indictments, according to sources here. They said Matta also will be questioned about the 1985 murder in Mexico of Enrique Camarena, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration."

Air America's Civilian Facade Gives It Latitude in East Asia  4/5/1970 NYT: "In addition, the Pacific Corporation 'owns 40 per cent of Civil Air Transport, incorporated under Chinese Nationalist law on Taiwan. It was founded in 1946 by General Chennault, the United States air commander in China during World War II 'who tied in 1958, and is manned by many of the pilots who flew with the Flying Tigers against Japan during the war."

Links/Enlaces

www.insightcrime.org  tends to be biased in favor of the US government. Funded by Open Societies Foundation (George Soros), Germany, Sweden, the UK, and American University. Hides US lead in drug trade.

idpc.net/profile/gdpo

isgp-studies.com/index

www.occrp.org/en/  Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP)

TrAnsnATIOnAl OrgAnIzed CrIme In CenTrAl AmerICA And The CArIBBeAn, 2017

From Oliver North Diaries with Note by Cele Castillo, DEA

The CIA & Drugs - Narco-colonialism in the 20th Century

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking  this account is biased in favor of CIA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Alliance   this account is biased in favor of CIA

Felix Rodriguez: the Cuban CIA agent who killed Che and went on to found the modern Colombia - Central America - Mexico drug trafficking network

Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia, Alfred McCoy www.akha.org/content/drugwar/mccoy/politicsofheroin1.htm

archive.org/stream/CIADrugWarsTheDeathTradersOfTheGoldenCrescentByFarzanaShah15/96899151-La-CIA-y-su-complicidad-en-el-trafico-de-drogas-Internacional-Alfred-W-McCoy_djvu.txt

Southeast Asia

www.akha.org/content/drugwar/  The Akha, a hill people in Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, China have long suffered under the Drug Wars.

indochine.uqam.ca/en/historical-dictionary/1108-opium.html

www.genocidearchiverwanda.org.rw/images/c/c5/Trinquier_La_guerre_moderne-new.pdf by Col Roger Trinquier, organizer of opium financing for French commandos

www.mariemoniquerobin.com/wa_files/2003_2009_20Le_20R_C3_A9publicain.pdf  Trinquier

Great Heroin Coup: Drugs, Intelligence & International Fascism
books.google.com/books?id=v9tZCwAAQBAJ

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