-Caveat Lector-
http://freedom.orlingrabbe.com/lfetimes/cr_drugs1.htm
Costa Rica, Past & Present
Part 1: Drug Trafficking by the US National Security Council
by Zola
We call it the Ollie North International Airport. I have flown in and out of it many
times. It
lies out on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, near Nosara. It is a tiny airstrip for
small planes,
originally constructed for training (touch-and-go exercises) and for refueling.
It is one of about eight airstrips built by Oliver North in Costa Rica for support of
the
Contras. And, as it turns out, it is one of the reasons that three individuals working
for the
US National Security Council, along with the US ambassador and the local CIA Chief of
Station, were barred from Costa Rica for narcotrafficking.
I had heard rumors about this on the Internet. One hears many things on the
Internet—some of them true, some of them not. It is not always easy to get the facts.
This
has been the case especially since a "CIA-drugs" research industry emerged. Some of the
kingpins of this research group are into exposure for the same reason that Elmer Gantry
was into religion, or that Christine Keeler was into politicians: namely, it's way to
make a
buck. So they deliver fire and brimstone, and then pass the collection plate. They
aren't
very concerned whether their information is accurate— only that it supports their
thesis.
So I went digging for verification, and found it in the archives of the Costa Rican
legislative
assembly (Asamblea Legislativa). A special commission had been appointed to investigate
the facts concerning narcotrafficking in Costa Rica (Comision Especial Nombrada para
Investigar los Hechos Denunciados Sobre Narcotrafico), and it issued its final report
on July
20, 1989 in San Jose (Expediente 10.684, Informe Final, San Jose, 20 de Julio de
1989). It
wasn't easy to find: they had buried the report down here also.
Recommendation number 13 reads:
13. Que el señor Lewis Tambs, Joe Fernández, Oliver North, John M. Poindexter, Richard
V.
Secord, no se les permita la entrada al pais. [p. 74]
Here we have three individuals associated with the US National Security Council—John M.
Poindexter, Oliver North, Richard V. Secord—as well as the local CIA Chief of Station,
Joe
Fernández, and the US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Lewis Tambs, all barred from the
country. Fifty members of the legislative assembly voted to approve the report with its
recommendations. Two members did not. One of these two—Leonel Salazar Villalobos—is
now himself in prison for narcotrafficking.
General Manuel Noriega of Panama is important to the story. Noriega was the key to drug
transport through Central America during the early to mid- 1980s. My story, however,
will
not stop with the Costa Rican legislative report of July 1989. Rather, it will be
brought
forward to the present day, to the year 2001. For there is a new drug kingpin in town,
a
new "General Noriega," a new man who is key to the Central American transport and
distribution zone. In due course in this series I will name him, and I will back up my
assertions with documented facts.
But first things first. Let's begin in the 1980s when Oliver North opened up a
narcotrafficking
pipeline through Costa Rica. The pipeline is still here, and Ollie North is still
persona non
grata.
The Southern Front, Noriega, and North
It is a simple fact of geography that Costa Rica lies between Panama, to the south, and
Nicaragua, to the north. The "Southern Front" were the Contras under Eden Pastora on
the
southern border of Nicaragua—in the northern frontier of Costa Rica. North's objective
was
to supply them with arms, food, fuel, and whatever else was needed to fight the
Sandinistas. In this respect, there were already remnants of a network in place—one
that
had been used previously to supply the Sandinistas themselves against the Nicaraguan
government of Somoza. This group was already experienced in dealing with the logistic
problems.
A key person used by North in organizing the Southern Front was John Floyd Hull Clark
("John Hull"), who had lived in Costa Rica for about 20 years at the time he applied
for
Costa Rican citizenship in 1983. Sometime in the early 1980s he became a CIA
asset—convenient, since he owned a lot of property in the north of Costa Rica. Since
CIA
funds for the Contras had been largely cut off, CIA Director Bill Casey had given North
access to many of the CIA's Central American assets.
Now, the legislative report and the accompanying documents are specific in many
details,
but are weak in others. I have supplemented them with various firsthand sources—Costa
Rican and others. These sources generally express respect for Richard Secord, contempt
for Oliver North, and say Hull "was not a bad guy." For whatever reason, Hull had
become a
tool of the CIA and did what he was told. For this, he suffered. Drug flights (by
contrast to
others involving munitions and supplies) were generally supposed to avoid the landing
strips
on Hull's property. But when one of Noriega's pilots (Teofilo Watson) mistakenly
landed on
one of Hull's runways, and lost 1200 pounds of cocaine, the Medellin cartel came to
believe
Hull had stolen the shipment, and so kidnapped Hull's daughter. They only released her
once it became clear Hull was not involved.
Down south in Panama, North appealed to Noriega for assistance to the Contras. Noriega
was an ideal ally. He could help by providing planes and pilots. And, due to his close
relationship with the Medellin cartel, he could arrange for financing.
Noriega could also help in other way. Shipments of lethal munitions were sometimes
organized by Richard Secord. On at least two occasions Secord sent a C-123 loaded with
munitions through Costa Rica's main airport—the Juan Santamaria Airport in San Jose.
The
C-123 was marked as belonging to the Panamanian Air Force. Secord's legislative allies
in
the Costa Rican legislative assembly included Luis Manuel Chacon Jimenez, Luis Fishman
Zonzinski, and the aforementioned Leonel Villalobos Salazar.
Weapons shipments (and weapons purchases) were financed, in various forms, by drug
shipments. Noreiga provided his stable of drug pilots to do double duty. Weapons
shipments
ended up in northern Costa Rica. For drug shipments from Colombia, Costa Rica was only
a
refueling stop. The planes would then fly over or around Nicaragua, the drugs
ultimately
destined for Mexico and the United States.
Noriega's drug pilots were overseen by the Panamanian pilot Floyd Carlton Caceres. The
other pilots in the network included two Panamanians (Teofilo Watson and Anibal Antonio
Aizpruna), two Mexicans (Alejandro Benitez and Cecilio Saenz), one Colombian (Rodrigo
Ortiz), and one Spaniard (Miguel Alemany Soto).
The planes would refuel at the Costa Rican landing strips in Tamarindo, Sardinal, Las
Loras, Llano Grande, Ciruelas, and Coyolar. Security at these sites was provided by the
Costa Rican Colonel Edwin Viales Rodriquez, the former Department Chief of the Rural
Assistance Guard in Guanacaste. (Costa Rica has no actual military.) Meanwhile, the US
had
secured Costa Rica's cooperation in allowing flights "to aid the Contras" with
promises of
economic aid and of military protection in case of invasion of Costa Rica by the
Sandinistas.
So, under the aegis of Contra support, Oliver North helped turn Costa Rica into an
international drug pipeline.
(to be continued)
-30-
from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 5, No 28, July 9, 2001
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