245 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
245 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
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Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 8 Num. 07
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======================================
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("Quid coniuratio est?")
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NORIEGA: OUR MAN IN PANAMA
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==========================
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[Following is dated material, from the CN archives]
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+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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Ward Larkin: Noriega & the USA -- 24 Mar 92 05:58
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The following appeared in the Fall, 1991 issue of Convergence,
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published by
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The Christic Institute
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1324 North Capitol Street NW
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Washington, DC 20002
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Voice: (202) 797-8106
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Email: christic@igc.org
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Headline -- Noriega: our man in Panama
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U.S. Administration turned blind eye to Noriega's drug deals
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By PETER DALE SCOTT and JONATHAN MARSHALL
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Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies and the C.I.A. in Central
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America is the title of a new study published by the University
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of California Press. Prof Peter Dale Scott of the University of
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California, Berkeley and Jonathan Marshall economics editor of
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the San Francisco Chronicle, use official documents as well as
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interviews with Government officials, journalists, mercenaries
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and drug traffickers to show that the current response to the
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drug crisis in this country overlooks Washington's own
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contribution to the problem. During the war against the
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Nicaraguan Sandinistas, significant elements within the contras
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trafficked extensively in cocaine supplying much of the North
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American market while the CIA., National Security Council and
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Justice Deparmnent ignored the evidence. In the following
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excerpt Scott and Marshall trace the history of the United
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States' relationship with former Panamanian dictator Manuel
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Noriega. For information on how to purchase this book from the
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Christic Institute please send email to christic@igc.org
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Regional influences, both political and criminal, fueled the
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explosive growth of drug trafficking through Honduras in the
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early 1980s. In 1980 and 1981, for example, the head of military
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intelligence in Panama, Col. Manuel Noriega, teamed up with his
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counterpart at the head of the Honduran G-2, Colonel Tortes, to
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smuggle first arms (on behalf of Marxist rebels in El Salvador)
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and then drugs.
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Noriega's malign influence spread to Costa Rica as well. A Costa
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Rican legislative commission concluded in 1989 that Noriega
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helped install in that country at least seven pilots who ran guns
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to the contras and drugs to North America. "More serious still,"
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it added, "is the obvious infiltration of international gangs
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into Costa Rica that made use of the [contra] organization.
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These requests for contra help were initiated by Colonel [Oliver]
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North to General Noriega. They opened a gate so their henchmen
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utilized the national territory for trafficking in arms and
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drugs."
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As that finding suggests, Noriega's reach extended far beyond
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Central America to Washington. Indeed, his relationship with
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U.S. intelligence helps account both for his own longstanding
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immunity from American law enforcement and for his ability to
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promote corrupt elements of the contra support movement.
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Noriega was first recruited as an agent by the U.S. Defense
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Intelligence Agency in 1959, while still a young military cadet
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studying in Peru. He went on the C.I.A.'s payroll in 1967. The
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next year, a military coup assisted by the U.S. Army's 47Oth
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Military Intelligence Group gave Noriega his opportunity to take
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charge of Panama's own G-2. His new job made him a priceless
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source for the Americas services, which used Panama as a
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listening post for much of Latin America.
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Before long, however, Washington discovered its protege's
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criminal bent. As early as May 1971 the Bureau of Narcotics and
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Dangerous Drugs (B.N.D.D.) heard serious allegations of Noriega's
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involvement in trafficking. A former chief of staff to Gen. Omar
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Torrijos, Panama's military ruler, settled in Miami after
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botching a coup attempt. He revealed to U.S. authorities that
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Noriega had "overall operational control" of the officially
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sanctioned narcotics trade in Panama. The B.N.D.D. actually
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amassed enough evidence to indict him in a major marijuana
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smuggling case, only to run up against practical objections from
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the U.S. Attorney's office in Miami: No one in those days could
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imagine invading Panama to bring a senior officer to justice.
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Intent on negotiating a new Panama Canal treaty, however, the
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State Department put other foreign policy objectives ahead of law
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enforcement and persuaded B.N.D.D. to back off. A long honeymoon
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began and Panama's economy boomed under the stimulus of drug
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dollars attracted to its modern and secretive banking sector.
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By 1976, Noriega was fully forgiven. C.I.A. Director George Bush
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arranged to pay Noriega $110,00 a year for his services, put the
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Panamanian up as a house guest of his deputy C.I.A. director, and
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helped to prevent an embarrassing prosecution of several American
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soldiers who had delivered highly classified U.S. intelligence
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secrets to Noriega's men.
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Noriega earned his pay. He supplied pilots who helped smuggle
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weapons to the contra leader Eden Pastora. In July 1984, he
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contributed $100,000 to contra leaders based in Costa Rica. In
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March 1985, Noriega helped Oliver North plan and carry out a
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major sabotage raid in Managua, using the services of a British
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mercenary. In 1985, responding to pleas from Casey, he promised
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to help train contra units and let them use Panama as a transit
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point. In September 1986, North met Noriega in London; the two
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discussed further sabotage against Nicaraguan economic targets,
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including an oil refinery, an airport, and the electric and
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telephone systems. North's diary indicated that Noriega offered
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the aid of skilled (probably Israeli) commandos, including one
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who "killed head of PLO in Brt [Beirut]." The two men also
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considered setting up a school for commandos that could "train
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experts" in such matters as "booby traps," "night ops" and
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"raids."
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Noriega also allowed members of North's enterprise to set up
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Panamanian corporate fronts to disguise the financing of contra
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supplies. As noted in Chapter 1, one such front, Amalgamated
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Commercial Enterprises, used the services of the drug-linked
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Banco de Iberoamerica. A related dummy company, which did
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business with the same bank, purchased arms for the contra
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through Manzer al-Kassar, the Syrian arms and drug broker, who
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also dealt with leaders of the Medellin cartel. Noriega's
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personal lawyer and business representative in Geneva also set up
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a front to establish an airfield in Costa Rica for supplying the
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contras.
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_Helped obstruct investigation_
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Evidence gathered by Costa Rican authorities suggests that
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Noriega's intelligence operatives also helped the C.I.A. and its
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allies in the Costa Rican security services obstruct the
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investigation of an assassination attempt against Pastora by
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peddling disinformation about the main suspect's background. The
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bombing of Pastora's press conference at La Penca on May 30,
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1984, which killed several journalists and an aide to Pastora but
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missed the rebel leader himself was most likely planned by
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hardliners in the contra movement close to the C.I.A., according
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to an official Costa Rican probe. The Noriega connection to the
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La Penca coverup is significant since, according to Floyd
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Carlton, his former friend and drug partner, "there are some
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officers who are connected to the intelligence services of Costa
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Rica which to a certain extent are the creation of General
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Noriega. They have been trained in Panama... and these people
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keep a certain... loyalty to General Noriega."
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None of these allegations apparently made any impression on Vice
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President George Bush, coordinator of the Reagan administration's
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War on Drugs. Bush claimed during the 1988 presidential campaign
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to have known little or nothing of Noriega's narcotics dealings.
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Perhaps he was kept in the dark by his top drug aide, Adm. Daniel
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Murphy, who declared in September 1988, "I never saw any
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intelligence suggesting 'General Noriega's involvement in the
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drug trade. In fact, we always held up Panama as the model in
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terms of cooperation with the United States in the war on drugs."
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_Never turned over files_
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The political intrigues that first attracted the Administration
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to Noriega and ultimately repelled it will take years to uncover
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fully. The C.I.A. never turned over its files on Noriega to
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Federal prosecutors. The National Security Council ordered
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agencies to refuse congressional requests for information that
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would illuminate the policy debates. However, it seems clear
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that official approval of Noriega's indictment and subsequent
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military capture had as much to do with politics as with law
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enforcement. After June 1986 media revelations about Noriega, an
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interagency meeting of senior Administration policy makers
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decided to "put Noriega on the shelf until Nicaragua was settled.
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After Noriega's indictment in early 1988, one State Department
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official commented: "We don't know anything today about Tony
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Noriega that we didn't know a year ago. What's changed is
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politics and Panama, not Tony Noriega." And as the New York
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Times observed (almost four years to the day after it branded him
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Central America's leading criminal), Noriega's alleged drug
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dealing was relatively small scale by Latin American standards...
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American officials strongly suspect highranking military officers
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in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador of similar, and in some
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cases even greater involvement in drug dealing -- yet have not
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taken harsh action against them."
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Perhaps the most striking evidence of a political double standard
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was the silence of the Bush Administration on the composition of
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the post invasion regime. The U.S. installed president of
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Panama, Guillermo Endara, had been a director and secretary of
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Banco Interoceanico, targeted by the F.B.I. and D.E.A. and named
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by Floyd Carlton as a major front for laundering Colombian drug
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money. The bank reportedly served both the Cali and Medellin
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cartels. Endara's business partner Carlos Eleta, who reportedly
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laundered C.I.A. finds into Endara's presidential campaign in the
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spring of 1989, was arrested in April of that year in Georgia for
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allegedly conspiring to import more than half a ton of cocaine
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into the United States each month. Prosecutors dropped the
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indictment following the invasion, citing lack of evidence.
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Washington issued no public protest when Endara appointed to the
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key posts of attorney general, treasury minister and chief
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justice of the supreme court three former directors of First
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Interamericas Bank, an institution controlled by the Cali cartel
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and used to wash its drug money. Panamanian authorities took
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over the bank in 1985 and liquidated its assets -- an action
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hailed by U.S. authorities as the government's first major action
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against a money -- laundering operation. Noriega's move against
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the bank may have been less then altruistic, however; a lawyer
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for the Cali interest complained that Noriega made a practice of
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turning in rivals of the Medellin cartel.
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--
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-- Ward Larkin
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wlarkin@hounix.org
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Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
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Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et
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pauperem. -- Liber Proverbiorum XXXI: 8-9
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