The Royal Laotian Air Force had almost no light planes that could land on the dirt runways near the mountaintop poppy fields. A 1986 investigation by a sub-committee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (the Kerry Committee), found that "the Contra drug links included", among other connections, "[] payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies. The San Jose Mercury News series documents just one thread of the interwoven operations linking the CIA, the contras and the cocaine cartels. Sent Ton of Cocaine to U.S. in 1990", "Die fatalen Irrtmer der US-Drogenpolitik", "Drugs and War: What Is the Relationship? Opioid medications are normally used as painkillers for broken bones, lacerations or post-surgery pain. Some sources say that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been involved in several drug trafficking operations. [40] By January, Webb filed drafts of four more articles based on his trip, but his editors concluded that the new articles would not help shore up the original series' claims. CIA ties to international drug trafficking date to the Korean War. Drug trafficking is the process by which individuals manufacture and distribute illegal drugs throughout the country. in Central America", "Smuggler's End: The Life and Death of Barry Seal", "Clandestination: Arkansas; Mena Is a Quiet Little Place. Cultivation in the two main production provinces, Helmand in the southwest and Oruzgan in central Afghanistan, was up by 132 percent. When Ross discovered the market for crack in Los Angeles, he began buying cocaine from Blandn. Season 5 of the Archer series (Archer Vice) depicts Archer trying to sell cocaine in America which they later discover is a part of a drugs for arms deal between the CIA and the dictator of the fictional Country of San Marcos. From August 1820, 1996, the San Jose Mercury News published the Dark Alliance series by Gary Webb,[15][16] which claimed: For the better part of a decade, a San Francisco Bay Area drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. After Ceppos' column, The Mercury News spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the story. Cocaine-laden planes flew to Florida, Texas, Louisiana and other locations, including several military bases Designated as Contra Craft, these shipments were not to be inspected. California senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein also took note and wrote to CIA director John Deutch and Attorney General Janet Reno, asking for investigations into the articles. (See Jonathan Kwitny, The Crimes of Patriots: A True Tale of Dope, Dirty Money and the CIA, W.W. Norton & Co., 1 987. [45] They raised allegations about his brother Ahmed Wali's involvement in the drug trade, hoping that the President would agree to move his brother out of Afghanistan. The death rate could go much higher considering the increasing level of poverty in the U.S. especially in the inner cities where the highest unemployment rates is among the 18-34 year olds. Senior U S policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras funding problems. (Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy, a Report of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and Intemational Operations, 1989). In 1984, U.S. officials began receiving reports of Contra cocaine trafficking. [59], For the related broader allegations of drug trafficking by the CIA, see, Alleged CIA support for cocaine smuggling and other related crimes, CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking, Early reports of Contra cocaine trafficking. Several also said they supplied information about the smuggling to U.S. They were hauling down weapons and drugs back. The CIA, DEA, State Department, and several other U.S. government agencies have been alleged to have relations with various groups which are involved in drug trafficking. He was murdered in 1986 after he started openly bragging about being a C.I.A operative. It is very clear that the CIA has been very much involved with drug dealings, Paul said. According to the report's "Epilogue", the report was completed in December 1997 but was not released because the DEA was still attempting to use Danilo Blandn in an investigation of international drug dealers and was concerned that the report would affect the viability of the investigation. When the failed plan came to light, the CIA officer in charge of the operation resigned, and his supervisor was transferred. [31], The 2014 movie Kill the Messenger depicted actor Jeremy Renner as Gary Webb. Surname1 CIA involvement in Drug Trafficking Name Professor Course Date The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Operation Eagle was the flashpoint. It noted that Blandn and Meneses claimed to have donated money to Contra sympathizers in Los Angeles, but found no information to confirm that it was true or that the agency had heard of it. Apparently it worked so well, that they did it in a big way at least twice. ClA-supported Moujahedeen rebels engaged heavily in drug trafficking while fighting against the Soviet-supported govemment and its plans to reform the very backward Afghan society. ", "I know specifically that some of the CIA contract workers, meaning some of the pilots, in fact were bringing drugs into the U.S. and landing some of these drugs in government military air bases. ", In contrast, the series received support from Steve Weinberg, a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors. With branches in Saudi Arabia, Europe, Southeast Asia, South America and the U.S., Nugan Hand Bank financed drug trafficking, money laundering and international arms dealings. Scheme", Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities 1976, Central Intelligence Agency, Office of Inspector General, Investigations Staff, "Suit Alleging Plot by Contras, CIA Dismissed: Arms-Drug Smuggling, Conspiracy Charges Unproven, Judge Says", "Christic Institute Ordered to Pay $1 Million", "Court lets stand $1 million award against Christic Institute", "The CIA Drug Connection Is as Old as the Agency", The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, "Frontline: Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories & the C.I.A. The Central Intelligence Agency has involved itself in drug trafficking since the spy agency was formed in 1947, journalist and political analyst Stephen Lendman claims. CIA and Drug Trafficking Drug Trafficking in Recent Years Drug trafficking in the United States dates back to the 19th century. After the publication of a 1996 news article in The San Jose Mercury written by Webb, who exposed the complicity of the CIA in the L.A. crack epidemic of the 1980s, Waters called for an investigation. New York: Lawrence Hill Books, 2003. In exchange, the CIA allowed Trafficante to import tons of narcotics into America. "[44], Ceppos noted that Webb did not agree with these conclusions. Blandn and Meneses were Nicaraguans who smuggled drugs into the U.S. and supplied dealers like Ross. The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been accused of involvement in drug trafficking. The CIA's history began in the 1980s. Before the creation of the CIA in 1947, Allen Dulles assembled the Flying Tigers, an inner clique within the Office of Strategic Services . Im not making up the stories; we saw it on television. Another example of drug trafficking is that person then going out and selling his homemade meth to the public. The show explores long-simmering accusations of the CIA's involvement in drug trafficking, including that the agency may have sponsored Rick Ross and scar Danilo Blandn, the Los Angeles wholesaler and his Nicaraguan supplier who helped spark the crack epidemic in the 1980s. The heroin epidemic is now affecting cities and towns across the U.S. Edstrom estimates that 165,000 Americans will die from the heroin epidemic in the next 10 years: The War in Afghanistan began as an opium war against Iran, Russia and China, the tables are turning into an opium war against Americans on track to kill 165,000 Americans (2016-2026). A number of writers have alleged that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in cocaine trafficking during the 1980s. Clinton brought in C.I.A front companies by awarding them state-backed low interest loans to relocate to Arkansas. BNDD agents immediately felt the impact of the CIA's involvement in drug law enforcement operations within the United States. The agency has been linked to illicit Nazi gold to fund its early operations. This is really what has always been behind the War on Drugs; the problem that is being addressed is not drug use, but the existence of drug cartels, narco-terrorism, and political groups that use drug money to fund private wars. In 1979 the Sandanistas overthrew Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Debayle. Despite the numerous, documented and fully admitted examples of CIA involvement in drug dealing in the past, the idea that the agency is still tied in with . [50], The first volume of the report found no evidence that "any past or present employee of CIA, or anyone acting on behalf of CIA, had any direct or indirect dealing" with Ross, Blandn, or Meneses or that any of the other figures mentioned in "Dark Alliance" were ever employed by or associated with or contacted by the agency. [24], The New York Times published two articles on the series in mid-October, both written by reporter Tim Golden. Three officials told journalists that they considered these reports "reliable." "[47], It also concluded that "the claims that Blandn and Meneses were responsible for introducing crack cocaine into South Central Los Angeles and spreading the crack epidemic throughout the country were unsupported." in Central America", United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, "Key Figures In CIA-Crack Cocaine Scandal Begin To Come Forward", The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Report of Investigation Concerning Allegations of Connections Between CIA and The Contras in Cocaine Trafficking to the United States, Central Intelligence Agency Office of the Inspector General, Dark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras, And The Crack Cocaine Explosion, "PBS Frontline: Cocaine, Conspiracy Theories & the C.I.A. In sum, the CIA's role in the Southeast Asian heroin trade involved indirect complicity rather than direct culpability. During U.S. military involvement in Laos and other parts of Indochina, Air America flew opium and heroin throughout the area. "[49][non-primary source needed] The two main Contra groups, US arms dealers, and a lieutenant of a drug ring which imported drugs from Latin America to the US west coast were set to attend the Costa Rica meeting. One described the series' evidence as "thin";[19] the second, citing interviews with current and former intelligence and law-enforcement officials, questioned the importance of the drug dealers discussed in the series, both in the crack cocaine trade and in supporting the Nicaraguan Contras' fight against the Sandinista government. Barry Seal was indicted several times in 3 different states and protected from prosecution by the U.S Attorney Generals office and the D.E.A. [22], In early October, 1996, a front-page article in The Washington Post [23] by reporters Roberto Suro and Walter Pincus, argued that "available information" did not support the series's claims, and that "the rise of crack" was "a broad-based phenomenon" driven in numerous places by diverse players. Snowfall (2017- ) [26][27], The CIA's self-investigation, overseen by the CIA's inspector general, stated that the CIA had no involvement in or knowledge of any illegal activities that may have occurred in Mena. US officials admitted in 1990 that they had failed to investigate or take action against the drug operation because of a desire not to offend their Pakistani and Afghan allies. Many young adults will unfortunately turn to the drug trade whether they sell or use as hope fades for the lack of jobs or opportunities. SIN was purportedly created to fight the cocaine trade, though SIN officers themselves engaged in the trafficking, a trade aided and abetted by some of the Haitian military and political leaders. But, Ceppos wrote, the series "did not meet our standards" in four areas. They were operated by narcotics traffickers who provided weapons for the Contras. It is portrayed in the movie Air America. From its very inception, the CIA has been embroiled in the murky underworld of drug trafficking. [34] Writers such as Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall have suggested that the U.S. government's desire to conceal or protect these clandestine shipments led it to close the DEA office in Honduras when an investigation began into SETCO, allowing Matta-Ballesteros to continue and expand his trafficking. The third article discussed the social effects of the crack trade, noting that it had a disparate effect on African-Americans. So How Did It Become the Cloak-and-Dagger Capital of America? [8] The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the ruling, and the Supreme Court of the United States let the judgment stand by refusing to hear an additional appeal.[10][11]. The series examined the origins of the crack cocaine trade in Los Angeles and claimed that members of the anti-communist Contra rebels in Nicaragua had played a major role in creating the trade, using cocaine profits to support their struggle. The Corsicans gained political influence and control over the docks ideal conditions for cementing a long-term partnership with mafia drug distributors, which turned Marseille into the postwar heroin capital of the Western world. These labs were run by Corsican gang leader Paul Carbone. [36] Operation Just Cause, whose ostensible purpose was to capture Noriega, pushed the former Panamanian leader into the Papal Nuncio where he surrendered to U.S. authorities. The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, chaired at the time by Senator John Kerry, held a series of hearings from 1987 to 1988 on drug cartels and drug money laundering in South and Central America and the Caribbean. Inception, the Mercury News series documents just one thread of the CIA & # x27 ; history. Flew opium and heroin throughout the country up the stories ; we saw it on television these labs were by! Spent the next several months conducting an internal review of the crack trade, that! Process by which individuals manufacture and distribute illegal drugs throughout the area, and his supervisor transferred. To Arkansas plan came to light, the CIA, the series received support from Steve Weinberg a., a former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors operation Eagle was the flashpoint idea drug. 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