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Justice Department probes new report of Contra cocaine trade
September 23, 1996Web posted at: 7:00 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Official attention is being paid to once- dismissed allegations that CIA-backed Contras helped flood U.S. inner cities with cocaine to fund their cause.
A former Drug Enforcement Agency agent who claimed to witness Contra drug trafficking may become a key witness in the case. Celerino Castillo III, at a Washington press conference Monday, alleged that he witnessed contra drug trafficking while he was stationed in El Salvador from 1985 to 1990.
He also claimed that his reports to superiors at the DEA went into a "black hole." He gave the numbers of reports at the DEA that he says document the Contra drug flights, but did not have any of the actual DEA documentation.
Later, activists protesting on Castillo's behalf demonstrated outside the DEA in Arlington, Virginia. Dick Gregory, Joe Madison, and Rev. Joseph Lowery and others were arrested shortly after they unfurled yellow crime scene tape in front of the agency.
The Justice Department is launching an independent investigation, and Congress is also looking into what, if anything, the CIA may have known.
"We are going to make sure that no stone is left unturned, working with the CIA and within the Department of Justice, to see that all the facts as to what exactly the situation is are brought to light," said Attorney General Janet Reno.
The CIA heavily funded the largest Contra group against the leftist Sandinistas in Nicaragua's civil war in the 1980s. The San Jose Mercury News reported last month that two Contra leaders also financed their fight by selling tons of cocaine to Los Angeles street gangs.
The newspaper report sparked outrage in the African-American community. Calls for investigations by both of California's senators and one of its representatives prompted a Justice Department probe.
The CIA and the House Intelligence Committee will also look into the charges.
Investigators want to know if anyone in the CIA knew about or supported the civilian Contra leaders' alleged drug dealing. The San Jose report found no evidence it did, but others are skeptical.
"It is absolutely impossible for me to conclude that anybody working for the CIA could be involved in that level of criminal activity and the government, the CIA, not know it," Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California said. "Give me a break!"
Talk show host Oliver North tells his listeners that during his years of funneling aid to the Nicaraguan Contras, he saw no evidence that millions in drug money was flowing in.
"I didn't see any of the consequences of their efforts," North said. "If indeed they were helping, there ought to be something to show for it."
The nation's drug czar said whether there is anything to the new reports, the matter must be addressed.
"I don't think there is anything to it," said Barry McCaffrey, Drug Policy Director. "It's been looked at in the past, but clearly we have to satisfy the legitimate concerns of particularly the African-American community."
But it may take more than official investigations to erase the anger that the allegations have generated among those concerned about drug-ridden inner cities.
Correspondents Jeanne Meserve and Kathleen Koch contributed to this report.
Related story:
- Justice Department probes new report of Contra cocaine trade - September 23, 1996
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