Coo-coo Cocaine Corruption
Throughout the Americas and around the world, coca-bucks have become an
important part of any politician's warchest.
Pressured in Panama
On June 19, Panama's President Ernesto Perez Balladares admitted
having financed his 1994 electoral campaign with money donated by a company
related to Jose Castrillo Heano, one of the leaders of the Colombian Cali
Cocaine Cartel.
Lest we forget, George Bush invaded Panama to kidnap Manuel Noriega,
Balladares' predecessor, who's still lounging somewhere in an American prison.
Supposedly that had something to do with rooting out drug corruption,
but was really about maintaining Yankee influence over the lucrative and
strategic Panama Canal.
The famed naval shortcut will slip out of American grasp and into the eager
hands of the Panamanian government on January 1, 2000, according to a treaty
signed by US Prez Carter back in the good old days. Whether the
4,000 troops that the US keeps in Panama to coordinate regional
anti-drug efforts have a broader agenda than just slaughtering native coca
farmers remains to be seen, but you don't believe that the US will really just
give it back, do you?
Conflict in Columbia
On August 3, Colombian President Ernesto Samper was acquitted by the
Columbian Congress of having received coca-campaign financing from the
same sources as his Panamanian neighbour. No-one believes that Samper didn't
actually take the cash, and his vice-president resigned after accusing
Samper's Liberal party of drug corruption.
In an effort to reassure the US government that he is more interested in
promoting their prohibitionist foreign policy than he is in the welfare
of his own people, Samper launched a campaign of complete eradication
against all coca farms in Columbia.
Tens of thousands of coca farmers left their fields to gather in the
big cities and protest this policy of destruction. Some of these
confrontations became violent, and on August 1 in Puerto Asis, about
340 miles southwest of Bogota, soldiers opened fire upon protesting
coca farmers, killing two and injuring over twenty others with gunfire
and beatings. Eleven more farmers were killed by police on August 30, when
thousands of farmers poured into Florencia, capital of the Province of
Caqueta.
Finally, on September 14, after forty days of protests and violence,
the Columbian government met with the representatives of about 60,000
farmers and agreed to pay compensation of about $3 for every hectare of coca
destroyed.
Despite this show of loyalty to their prohibitionist regime, the US
government considers him unfit to enter their drug-free paradise, and only
reluctantly granted him a visa to speak before the UN General Assembly
in New York. The fact that 8 pounds of heroin was found stashed on
Samper's Presidential Jet in Bogata before it took him to the conference
probably didn't do much to bolster anyone's confidence.
Corruption in Guatemala
Guatemala's Chief Prosecutor for drug crimes is deciding whether or not to
launch an investigation of accusations by former DEA agent Celerino
Castillo who claims that senior members of the government, military and
business community were heavily involved with cocaine trafficking and murder.
Castillo outlined CIA and DEA corruption and complicity in Guatemala's
cocaine trade in his 1994 book Powder Burns. In July of this year Guatemalan
daily newspaper Siglo Veintinuno published a list of prominent businessmen
and past members of the government whom Castillo had fingered as
corrupt.
Castillo has also expressed disdain for any government investigation.
"They're going to put on a show," he said, "and the judge is
going to either quit or get killed."
CIA: Cocaine in America
Never a nation to be outdone when it comes to government corruption, the
downtrodden citizens of the Excited States recently saw their national spy
service stripped naked in their daily papers. The San Jose Mercury News
ran a series called "Dark Alliance" in August, which detailed
how, during the Reagan years, the CIA shoveled tons of cheap
cocaine into the heart of Los Angeles ghettos, and used the many millions
derived thereby to fund their guerrilla terrorists in Nicaragua.
The San Jose Mercury described the situation as "one of the most
bizarre alliances in modern history: the union of a US-backed army
attempting to overthrow a revolutionary socialist government, and the
Uzi-toting 'gangstas' of Compton and South-Central Los
Angeles."
CIA Director John Deutch called the claims "ludicrous" but,
under pressure from Congressmen, President Clinton, Drug Czar Barry
Mcaffrey and pretty well everyone else who reads the paper, reluctantly
ordered CIA Inspector General Frederick Hitz to launch an internal
probe on the subject, which is to be released in late November.
An internal probe? That sounds serious. This could all lead to an official
letter of reprimand, or maybe someone will even get a two-week suspension,
with pay of course. Stay tuned.
Clinton, Ronnie and Ollie
CIA Inspector Hitz is a busy guy these days, as he's also got to deal
with stories that US President Bill Clinton is implicated in the CIA
cocaine scandal as well. Attentive readers will remember that we already heard
about all these federally sanctioned shenanigans during the Ronnie &
Ollie Show, which played to packed houses of questioning congressmen and
special senate committees during the late 80's. In his supporting role as
Governor of Arkansas, Bill supposedly allowed an isolated Arkansas airstrip
in the city of Mena to be used by CIA pilots as a base to send
out the weapons and bring back the coke.
Not to worry, as Inspector Hitz has this one covered as well, and is
investigating allegations that the CIA influenced and curtailed law
enforcement investigations of the airstrip.
Here at CC we're confident that all CIA investigation into
illegal CIA activities will be totally impartial, and that all the evidence
will be carefully filed and documented, then completely destroyed
before anyone else can prove what they've been up to.
Clinton's Cocaine Connection
Clinton's surely grateful that no-one's mentioned his half-brother Roger
, who's 1985 conviction for possession of the perfidious powder got him
fifteen months in the slammer. The FBI played the media tapes of Roger
bragging that he took cocaine 12 times a day and routinely brought
impressionable women back to the Governor's Mansion to play romper-room
.
Roger Clinton received a reduced sentence for testifying against his employer,
Arkansas investment banker Dan Lasater, who was convicted in '86 of
distributing cocaine to friends on over 200 "special occasions."
Bill Clinton pardoned Lasater in 1990, one week after winning a fifth
term as Governor.
Coincidentally, Lasater handled about $664 million in Arkansas bond
contracts while Clinton was Governor. Could it be that President Bill is just
as familiar with the joys of coca-cash as was Ronnie Raygun? Maybe it's
not just the politicians, but the actual institutions which have become
addicted to the big time coca-bucks.
What's a loyal yank to do? Support your government of course. Roll up some
twenties and start snorting, it's more fun than paying taxes!
~ Bianca Sind
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