The role our Anti-Communist 'allies' played in the War on Drugs

[ck4829]

Here's a little something I found interesting.

Pinochet Regime:
Cocaine was produced by the Pinochet dictatorship, the regime is alleged to have sold it to people in the US and Europe.

The Apartheid Regime:
They were a major purchaser of cocaine and other illegal substances in an attempt to find the perfect crowd control agent as part of Project Coast.

The Contras:
In April of 1986, the Associated Press reported on an FBI probe into contra cocaine trafficking. The report stated, "Twelve American, Nicaraguan and Cuban-American rebel backers interviewed by The Associated Press said they had been questioned over the past several months (about contra cocaine trafficking) by the FBI. The interviews, some covering several days, were conducted in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Colorado and California, the Contra backers said." Several of the backers told AP of firsthand knowledge of cocaine trafficking.

On April 17, 1986, the Reagan Administration put out a report stating that "We have evidence of a limited number of incidents in which known drug traffickers have tried to establish connections with Nicaraguan resistance groups."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/jul/11/chile.drugstrade
http://ccrweb.ccr.uct.ac.za/archive/cbw/50.html
Brian Bargar and Robert Parry, "FBI Reportedly Probes Contras on Drugs, Guns," Associated Press (April 10, 1986).
"U.S. Concedes Contras Linked to Drugs, But Denies Leadership Involved," Associated Press (17 April 1986).

[madokie]

1. I don' t know the connection but as soon as the reagan crew entered the whitehouse

drugs became plentiful on our streets here in ok. During the Carter years and during the winter months you couldn't find weed anywhere around here. Cocaine and heroin, weed, lsd, crank, about any prescription drug you wanted was plentiful after 1 - 20 - '81. I remember it well

[Blue_Tires]

2. k+r

[Echo In Light]

3. K&R Thanks for posting. Unfortunately this type of story won't get many responses here

[Peace Patriot]

4. The Bushites' chief (and virtually only) ally in South America, Colombia's Alvaro Uribe,

was the go-to guy for the Medellin Cartel in his early career (now the go-to guy for the Bush Cartel). His government is rife with narco-traffickers and connections to rightwing death squads.

It's still going on. We wonder why our streets are still filled with cocaine--after we've spent $5.5 BILLION in military aid to Colombia. The aid is protecting the big traffickers--Uribe and his pals.

And the ones who won't go along with it--the new leftist governments in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador--are getting demonized, and subjected to every effort of the Bushites to destabilize and topple them--partly because they won't play this game (getting billions in aid for facilitating the coke traffic); also because they're into social justice and regional self-determination. And they have lots of oil.

[JHB]

5. Meanwhile, they were blaming the Commies for the Coke

This came up today in a different thread too:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3221009&mesg_id=3221070


Check this old Heritage Foundation propaganda item

March 14, 1986
Nicaragua's Terrorist Connection
by Ashby, Timothy
Backgrounder #495

(Archived document, may contain errors)
(Boy howdy, does it contain errors, and I don't even mean the factual ones. Heritage can't be bothered to have an intern proofread OCRs of their old newsletters? -- JHB)


The Narcotics Connection
Sandinista involvement in international narcotics trafficking aims at subverting the U.S. through drug use and destabilizing other Western Hemisphere nations by financing revolution with narcotics profits against the West. Indeed, Fidel Castro has boasted: "We are going to make the eo le up there white, white with cocaine Ips $e Cuban dictator reportedly coordinated this strategy with Tomas Borge and other Sandinistas during a 1982 meeting in Havana The drug trade is part of a Soviet-Cuban-Nicaraguan strategy Sandinista drug trafficking is handled by the Ministry of the Interior under Borge's direct control In 1982, this ministry ruled that all cocaine, precious metals, and U.S. dollars recovered by the Ministry's Department of Criminal Investigations (DIC) must be sent to Borge's office. The proceeds from the sale of this cpptraband is used to help finance international clandestine operations 14 15. Lima El Comericio, January 28, 1986, p. A2 16.


http://www.heritage.org/research/LatinAmerica/bg495.cfm