Ethnic groups and radical politicians are coming together in Los Angeles to protest CIA corruption in the crack cocaine trade.
On Feb 22, the Crack the CIA coalition is planning a major march, hoping to force the truth into the open, end the phony drugs war - and disband the CIA.
The San Jose Mercury is a respected Silicon Valley newspaper. When it revealed links between the Nicaraguans supplying tonnes of cocaine to Los Angeles and the CIA, it created outrage in the communities hit hardest by crack and by police repression.
These revelations are only a fraction of the widescale drugs corruption within the CIA (and other agencies -the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the FBI, the military, and state police in Arkansas and Montana at least. And that's not mentioning politicians).
There are quite a few credible whistleblowers: successful, long standing DEA agents resigning in disgust at drugs corruption and publicly accusing the state. One ex DEA agent estimates that most drugs come into the US courtesy of high level government corruption.
State police officers testify about obstruction on certain drugs cases, Inland Revenue Service offices are warned to stay away from drugs cases connected to politicians for the good of their careers.
Many CIA agents and employees have testified to flying CIA planes: flying arms (illegally) to the Contras, and on the return voyage, picking up cocaine, or occasionally, marijuana. Oliver North, who recently spoke at Trinity College in Dublin, is named as one of the key organisers of the arms for drugs scam. He and a number of other CIA people are wanted for cocaine trafficking in Costa Rica. The US has not yet extradited them.
A Florida policeman became suspicious of the activities of Southern Air Transport, a CIA owned airline. So he secretly inspected the planes and found traces of cocaine numerous times. The investigation was blocked.
A Venezualan general, former head of the anti-drugs squad, and a CIA employee, is wanted on charges of bringing millions of dollars into the US. He says he didn't profit from the dugs and that the CIA and DEA knew exactly what was going on. This is been given very little publicity.
Several eyewitnesses have embarassing stories about senior politicians. Clinton was repeatedly told about drug smuggling - and even murder - in Mena Airport in Arkansas, when he was Governor. Nothing was done to stop the drugs. Two boys were murdered close to the drop zone, allegedly for stumbling into the operation. Then six witnesses to the trial were brutally killed or had sudden accidents. All these deaths - and a chain of others - are still unsolved.
But in the 1980s Bill Clinton received a lot of financial and personal support from Dan Lasater, a wealthy businessman and convicted cocaine dealer.
When one DEA agent approached then Vice President George Bush at an Embassy cocktail party and told of CIA drug smuggling, Bush simply grinned at him and walked away. Bush has been photographed several times and is openly friendly with Felix Rodriguez, the killer of Che Guevara and heavily implicated in transporting cocaine into the United States.
In Montana, there is local outcry over mysterious deaths, possibly connected to top level political corruption and drug smuggling.
The whole story goes back to when the French abolished the opium trade in Indochina after WWII. The French secret service took over the trade to help finance the war against the independence movements. They kept the opium producing tribes happy by buying their opium and they kept the city criminals happy by letting them sell it. In one area, they bought through middlemen, who were ripping off the local farmers, creating anti-French sentiment. The locals were only too happy to oblige the Viet Cong when they needed their artillery hauled over the mountains ringing Dien Bien Phu.
When the Americans moved in, they saw the logic of keeping the hill tribes sweet and they continued to allow the trade to flourish, sometimes even moving the opium around. By refining it into heroin, even more profit could be made, and soon heroin was everywhere in Vietnam, creating a whole generation of addicts who brought the habit back to the States with them.
The CIA was also involved with opium producers in Burma.These links were evident to anybody who visited the areas: the local warlord was supported by the US, and the local warlord was also heavily dependent on opium as his cash crop. In the teeth of all the evidence the CIA blitely denied any connections to the drugs trade.
South East Asia is heavily corrupted by drugs - politicains and police at all levels are actively involved in the trade, while hypocritically hanging a few unfortunate "mules" who carry the drugs.
Afghanistan and Pakistan were not major heroin producing countries until after the Russian invasion, and the need for the mujaheddin to make money to fight the war. Within a few years, they were producing vast amounts of heroin.
Latin America shows some of the most blantant links between the military and drugs. Fujimori's coup in Peru may have been hastened by his desire to avoid embarsssing drugs court cases. Cocaine production has shot up since Fujimori took over. Fujimori's right hand man, Valdimiro Montesinos, worked as defence lawyer for major narco traffickers.
In Columbia, the President received millions from the cartels, but says he didn't notice. In Mexico, corruption is endemic and top politicians are constantly being linked to drugs scandals.
In Turkey, a bizarre car accident revealed links between right wing politicians, anti terrorism and the heroin smuggling underworld.
All these governments have strong close links with the US and other western states, who are aware that they tolerate and participate in widescale drug smuggling.
We urge to make up your own mind on this issue - to use the resources of the internet to find out what is really going on.
Village VoiceA cartoon guide illustrating Reagan's links to gangsters
The Train deaths A horrific story of murder, cover up and more murder in Bill Clinton's Arkansas
Big Sky Patriot Very interesting stories on high level political corruption in the state of Montana
Cocaine Importing Agencies Extremly comprehensive site of articles documenting the CIA drug smuggling
The Consortium Investigative weekly by Robert Parry, an experienced and honest journalist.
San Jose Mercury The story that kicked off these protests. Excellent site with masses of information and reader interaction. Great example of how the Internet can work.