UNITED STATES SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE FINDINGS.
That investigation, directed by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., established that the administration gave contra-supply contracts to four companies that were either under indictment for drug trafficking or listed as suspected smugglers in law enforcement computers. Kerry's probe also confirmed that pilots used for contra arms flights carried cocaine into the United States as well as guns to Central America. And Kerry found that drug kingpins had contributed heavily to the contra cause, in hopes of gaining favor with Washington.
IRAN CONTRA SWORN TESTIMONY
The Iran-contra testimony of CIA officer Alan Fiers, "with respect to [drug trafficking by] the Resistance Forces [the contras] it is not a couple of people. It is a lot of people." Friers was the CIA's Central-American Station Chief and contra coordinator.
OFFICIAL FINDINGS OF COSTA RICA CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION
In July 1989, North and other major contragate figures were barred from Costa Rica. The order was issued by none other than Costa Rican President Oscar Arias acting on recommendations from a Costa Rican congressional commission investigating drug trafficking. The commission concluded that the contra resupply network in Costa Rica that North coordinated from the White House doubled as a drug smuggling operation.
The narcotics commission started probing the contra network centered around the northern Costa Rican ranch of U.S.-born rancher John Hull because of the "quantity and frequency of the shipment of drugs that passed through the zone." North's personal notebook mentioned "the necessity of giving Mr. Hull protection."
Investigators held North responsible for Gen. Manuel Noriega's participation in the contra supply network, which opened the door to at least seven pilots who trafficked in drugs while supplying arms to the contras. "These requests for contra help were initiated by Colonel North to General Noriega," the commission reported. "They opened a gate so their henchmen could utilize [Costa Rican] territory for trafficking in arms and drugs." (Costa Rican Tico Times, 7/28/89)
KERRY COMMITTEE FINDINGS ON JOHN HULL
John Hull was a central figure in Contra operations on the Southern Front when they were managed by Oliver North, from 1984 through late 1986. Before that, according to former CostaRican CIA station chief Thomas Castillo's public testimony, Hull had helped the CIA with military supply and other operations on behalf of the Contras. In addition, during the same period, Hull received $10,000 a month from Adolfo Calero of the FDN--at North's direction.
Five witnesses testified that Hull was involved in cocaine trafficking: Floyd Carlton, Werner Lotz, Jose Blandon, George Morales, and Gary Betzner. According to Betzner, the next Contra weapons and drugs flight took place in July 1984. Morales asked him to fly a load of weapons to Hull's ranch and to pick up a load of drugs. Betzner flew a Cessna 402-B to John Hull's ranch.
According to Betzner, he was met at the airstrip by Hull and they watched the cargo of weapons being unloaded, and cocaine, packed in 17 duffel bags, and five or six two-foot square boxes being loaded into the now-empty Cessna. Betzner then flew the plane to a field at Lakeland, Florida.
OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE
In late March 1985, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Feldman and two FBI agents went to Costa Rica to investigate Neutrality Act violations by participants in the Contra resupply network that were also under investigation at the time by Senator Kerry. Both the Feldman and Kerry inquiries had been prompted in part by statements made to reporters by soldiers of fortune imprisoned in Costa Rica who alleged John Hull was providing support for the Contras with the help of the National Security Council.
Feldman and the FBI agents met with U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, Lewis Tambs, and the CIA Chief of Station, Thomas Castillo, who told him John Hull knew Rob Owen and Oliver North and gave the impression that Hull had been working for U.S. interests prior to March of 1984. In addition, one of the embassy security officers, Jim Nagel, told one of the FBI agents accompanying Feldman, that regarding Feldman's inquiries, "... these were agencies with other operational requirements and we shouldn't interfere with the work of these agencies." When Feldman attempted to interview Hull, Feldman learned that Hull was told by the embassy staff not to talk to him without an attorney present.
Feldman concluded that U.S. Embassy officials in Costa Rica were taking active measures to protect Hull. After Feldman interviewed two of the mercenaries, Peter Glibbery and Steven Carr, regarding their allegations of Hull's involvement in criminal activity, Feldman learned that Kirk Kotula, Consul in San Jose, was "trying to get Carr and the rest of these people to recant their statements regarding Hull's involvement with the CIA and with any other American agency.
Feldman added "... it was apparent we were stirring up some problem with our inquiries concerning John Hull." Feldman concluded that because Hull was receiving protection from some US officials, that it would not be possible to interview him. Feldman therefore took no further steps to do so.
In 1991 Costa Rica asked the United States to extradite John Hull, alleging that he aided in a 1984 bombing in Nicaragua that killed five persons, and trafficking in narcotics. The United States Justice Department is still considering the request.
THE CASE OF THE GENERAL
There is little question that the United States, as far back as the Nixon administration, had information tying Noriega to drug traffickers. According to one administration source who has had access to the government's files, the CIA began to receive "hard intelligence" in the early 1970s that Noriega was being bribed by drug traffickers for permission to use Panama for money laundering and drug trafficking. The DEA received independent information on Noriega's involvement a short time later, said the source, who declined to be identified.
Even a November 1985 report of the US Southern Command, the US military's largest contingent in Latin America, noted the links between drugs and the Panamanian military. The report stated that the "leadership" of the military "is involved in illegal activities (e.g., drugs)" and that the US government was "aware of this situation."
Such Reagan confidants as the CIA director, William J. Casey; the national security adviser, Adm. John M. Poindexter; and Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, a key Poindexter aide; discussed a deal with Noriega. This would involve his gaining credibility with the administration in exchange for his helping Nicaraguan contras in their fight against the Sandinistas.
The Reagan administration did not want to proceed against him because of the intelligence and services he was secretly providing the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Department and the White House, including support for the Nicaraguan contras.
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT WITNESS IN NORIEGA TRIAL
In Noriega's 1991 trial, the government called one drug kingpin, Carlos Lehder, who confirmed that the Medellin cartel had given $10 million to the Nicaraguan contras, a claim that one of Kerry's witnesses had made years earlier.
DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENT'S OBSERVATIONS
While stationed in Guatemala, Cellerino Castillo was the DEA agent in charge of anti-drug operations in El Salvador from 1985-1987. This is when he discovered that Oliver North's contras were running cocaine from the Ilopango airport.
Celerino Castillo, posing as a cocaine cartel member, had infiltrated El Salvador's Illopnaga military airport beginning in l985 and observed cocaine being shipped to the U.S. Castillo's investigation, including surveillance photos of the drug transactions, focused on hangars 4 and 5 which he discovered were "owned and operated" by the CIA. Castillo's inquiry uncovered more than 24 known drug smugglers, listed in DEA files as Class l cocaine violators (kingpins), frequenting hangar 4 and or employed as CIA contract pilots bringing weapons in for the proxy army.
In January l987 the New York Times reported that the DEA had "compiled convincing evidence that the contra military supply operation was smuggling cocaine and marijuana". The report continued that planes delivering weapons to El Salvador (Ilopango) would, on occasion, fly into Panama "a major drug transhipment center" to pick up the drugs. A DEA official told the reporter that the case was not being "actively pursued" and that "it was not one of the big smuggling rings anyway".
The connections piled up quickly. Contra planes flew north to the U.S., loaded with cocaine, then returned laden with cash. All under the protective umbrella of the United States Government. My informants were perfectly placed: one worked with the Contra pilots at their base, while another moved easily among the Salvadoran military officials who protected the resupply operation. They fed me the names of Contra pilots. Again and again, those names showed up in the DEA database as documented drug traffickers.
THE NORTH NOTE BOOKS AND 1,500 KILOS
On many of the pages, the material adjacent to the drug references was blacked out before the pages reached the subcommittee. A few cryptic references remained, scrawled in North's shorthand:
July 9, 1984. Call from Clarridge -- Call Michel re Narco Issue -- RIG
at 1000 tomorrow
(QO384) -- DEA Miami -- Pilot went talked to Vaughn -- wanted A/C to go
to Bolivia to
p/u paste -- want A/C to p/u 1500 kilos -- Bud to meet w/Group (QO385)
Ollie North's notebooks contain numerous references to contra-related
drug trafficking, including a July 12, 1985 entry: "$14 million to
finance [arms] came from drugs."