The Colonels Corner Dark Alliance Part 6

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Transcript

0:00 Good afternoon, everyone. I am going to go live over here on Rumble, and then we're going to get started. There is SR. He can keep a lookout for Bridget, who should be joining us momentarily. I had given her a task. She's probably working diligently on that and should be with us shortly. So, okay.

0:29 We're going to pick up where we left off yesterday. It's incredibly frustrating for me. I'm just going to start off with this. You guys will hear that probably in my voice. You probably will hear it in the conversation afterwards. To be reading about all of the stuff for the last almost three years that we've been doing this, of what we do know unequivocally.

1:01 about the CIA. And it's all been obviously exposed and maybe not in a condensed version like what we do, but this information has been out there. It's been printed in mainstream media. It's been on shows. There's been documentaries about it. There's been movies about it.

1:30 It's all Bridget's fault, by the way. Bridget sent me because she subscribes to the Tucker Carlson network. I knew it would piss you off. I'm sorry about that. No, you're not. So I watched episode five and I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say that Kira Cowell, the CIA whistleblower that they sent to prison.

2:00 for espionage, for telling the truth, portrays the CIA torture program implemented after 9-11 as if there's this big gap between the torture that was done during World War II and in the immediate aftermath was prohibited from being done.

2:33 Jumping all the way to these black sites used after 9-11. And I'm sorry, but I literally was jaw dropped. I'm like, excuse my language. I should have sent a precursor to tell you that. I literally said out loud, are you fucking kidding me? Because we have went through country.

3:04 after country after country we went through every single entity almost all of them that was set up and in most cases that we've uncovered 50 that would be a good approximate number

3:26 50% of the Office of Public Safety that taught national police forces in over 50 countries how to torture dissidents. And there's no better example than the Phoenix program, which we went over extensively, of the CIA participating in torture programs, training them, setting them up.

3:54 After decade after decade of the historical precedence of the CIA being involved in torture programs. And for you to jump from 1945 to post 9-11, I'm sorry. That was like the biggest bullshit. So just so that you guys know, and I will keep you informed, I did DM him on X.

4:23 that Kira Cow guy that was the CIA agent. And I told him, I said, I don't mean any disrespect. I applaud you for being honest. And I'm sorry for the fact that it cost you time in prison for your honesty. But I have to ask you a question.

4:46 Are you aware of Operation Gladio, Operation Condor, the Phoenix program? Are you aware of decade after decade? I named examples. I named the exact same torture that he describes in episode five of them doing it under the Office of Public Safety and that at least 50% of the Office of Public Safety was actually CIA agents. And Mr. Allen.

5:16 Dan Mitrione alone. Huh? Dan Mitrione. I know. Alone. I know. And I pointed that out, that they had recruited prior police chiefs and police officers that had went through a screening process at the FBI. This is a historical fact. How can you not put that in context when you're trying to explain how.

5:45 evil the CIA is and that nothing they did after 9-11 was unprecedented. And that's the point that I beat home here every day and why we spend all of this time going over all of these books. Nothing that is being done to us today is unprecedented. And I think it puts into context everything that we're going through today.

6:14 Because we've done this all around the world. So I just had to get that off my chest. I would say I apologize for that blind thing. I almost sent like a disclaimer ahead of time. And I thought, nah, I'll just let her walk through it like I did. Because it almost killed me. I just, I was flabbergasted. And it takes a lot to get me really shocked anymore.

6:41 It is very well done. I highly recommend watching the series, but I'm just going to warn you ahead of time. Those of us who know will be frustrated listening to episode five from that perspective. I just a heads up, but okay. So we're going to start off where we left off. We are in 1982. We are.

7:11 Gary Webb is describing information that informants was relaying to the CIA sometime after this all happened. So again, all of this is in CIA records where they claim that they don't know anything about their own drug trafficking. These are the people telling them that the CIA was involved in drug trafficking. So on one of his trips to Costa Rica,

7:40 Cabrese told CIA investigators that in April or May of 1982, he had a meeting at the San Jose Hotel. Well, where Perina and Sanchez introduced him to a man he had never seen before. The man called himself Ivan Gomez and told Cabrese that he was with the CIA.

8:10 So this is actually a CIA agent, Ivan Gomez, the agency's man in Costa Rica. Gomez said that he was there to, quote, to ensure that the profits from the cocaine went to the Contras and not into someone's pocket, unquote. Caprese saw the CIA agent only one other time. That was in the late summer.

8:34 When he met at the San Jose airport with Perina and the CIA man, but Gomez did not speak at the second meeting. In an interview with a British television crew in 1996, former CIA official Dwayne Dewey Claridge, who we've talked about before, said he'd never heard of Ivan Gomez.

9:02 Claridge was the CIA officer who headed the Contra program from 1981 to 84 and was later indicted for lying to Congress about the Iran Contra scandal. He was pardoned by President George Bush Jr. Oh, excuse me, George Bush Sr., the former CIA director. So you have.

9:33 the CIA director pardoning a CIA guy who's involved in drug trafficking. In 1998, a CIA inspector general report strongly suggested that Dewey Claridge was lying once again, and it largely corroborates Cabrese's story. The CIA report confirms that an agent using the name Ivan Gomez was assigned to Costa Rica in 1982.

10:02 As Cabrese claimed, he was the CIA's liaison for the Contra armies in Costa Rica. More importantly, was laundering drug money during the period in which Cabrese said he was delivering the cocaine profits to the agent. So in other words, Ivan Gomez was the code name for Claridge, who was pardoned by the CIA director, George Bush, while he was president.

10:32 Gomez had been a former Venezuelan military officer, admitted during CIA polygraph tests in 1987 that in March or April of 1982, he had been involved in laundering funds for drug dealers, but he claimed the dopers were relatives. Since Cabrese did not disclose his contact with Agent Gomez until 1996,

11:01 The polygraph examiner apparently did not ask the CIA director about laundering cash for the Contras. Despite Gomez's admissions, the CIA inspector general dismissed Cabrese's story as an invention, suggesting that the trafficker could not have met Gomez because the agent hadn't yet arrived in Costa Rica when Cabrese recalls meeting him. But the CIA report fails to explain how a San Francisco drug dealer could so accurately

11:31 Dream Up, the alias actually used by a CIA agent stationed in Costa Rica, describing his role with exact precision and pinpointing to within 30 days of the time that the agent admits laundering the drug money. A former CIA asset who had infiltrated the drug ring corroborated key elements of Cabrese's story.

12:00 in interviews with the Justice Department in 1997. Gomez was fired by the CIA in 1989 because of his repeated inability to pass polygraph tests concerning his drug dealing. The CIA toyed with the idea of reporting him to the Justice Department, but they decided not to and just let him go, probably letting him go outside of the CIA to

12:31 a front company still working for the CIA. That's how they let people go. Because they're not going to let go someone disgruntled at being let go who's got the dirt on them. That does not happen. It is a striking commentary on Webb and everyone that this guy's involvement in narcotics didn't weigh more heavily.

13:01 Gomez's former supervisor at the CIA told CIA inspectors in 1997 that he has no idea why the CIA didn't prosecute him. His only interest in Gomez, the supervisor said, was to help salvage a good agent, which suggests that involvement in drug money and laundering wasn't viewed as a bad thing, you know, because after all, he was a good agent.

13:28 Gomez told the CIA inspectors he'd never met Caprese or other traffickers. He's involved in drug trafficking. He just didn't meet any traffickers. Based on Caprese's statement and historical record from the early days of the Contra conflict, it appears that most of the cocaine profits Caprese was delivering to Costa Rica in 82 went to the Contras. The F-A-R-N, the foreign element of it.

13:58 which was at the time under the control of the CIA. A 1984 DEA report described Farn's deputy commander, Edmundo Chamorro, well known to the CIA. That's actually a quote. His brother, Farn Commander Fernando Chamorro,

14:26 whom the CIA describes as playing a major role in the Contra movement. The CIA contact with the Chamarros began in 1982. Most of 82, Farns served as the southern branch of the CIA's Contra force. The FDN, the other element of it, ran by the Meneses' friend Bermudez and his Honduran-based former National Guard men.

14:55 was also involved. But in September of that year, when the former Sandinista commander Petora announced that he was taking up arms against his old Sandinista colleagues, Farn jumped ship, leaving the FDN and officially uniting with Pastora's group to form a new brand of Contra Army in Costa Rica that would be called the ARDN, or excuse me, ARDE, ARD.

15:25 At that point, it was likely that the cocaine profits from Menendez's San Francisco operations began being used to benefit ARDE. Even then, however, the CIA retained oversight. When the Chamarros switched from the FDN to the ARDE, they simply changed their line of command. Instead of reporting to Bermudez, as they had been doing, they now reported to Pastora.

15:54 Both Pastora and Bermudez were still reporting to the CIA. When Bermudez, like Bermudez, Pastora was put on the CIA's payroll, and he remained on the payroll to at least 1984. The merger between the Chamorro brothers and Pastora's group made sense politically. They had one trait in common. Aside from the preference for fighting from Costa Rica,

16:24 As former Sandinistas, they hated the National Guard that made up the FDN. Pastora frequently outraged his CIA handlers by making public complaints about his allies to the North, once referring to them as criminal mummies and guerrillas. Bermudez and the FDN considered Pastora a closet communist and suspected him.

16:54 as being a Sandinista mole. Okay, Caprese and his contra-money flights to Costa Rica continued throughout 1982. They were interrupted near the end of that year when Pereira was arrested in Florida. Caprese said that the FBI informant Donald Peralta

17:25 A man who had accompanied him to Costa Rica on several cash drops tipped off the FBI that Pereira was heading south with a wad of money. The FBI records show that on December 1st, 1982, a confidential source told FBI agent David Alba that Pereira and a guy by the name of Monkle would be traveling from San Francisco to Miami to Costa Rica.

17:52 and would have anywhere between $80,000 and $100,000 in cash to deliver to the Contras. Alba called U.S. Customs the next day. Pereira was arrested in Miami, boarding an Air Florida flight to Costa Rica. The agents found $70,000 cash, which he had not declared. FBI wiretaps show that Cabraza was in contact with his cousin, Rosita.

18:21 Soon afterwards, this is quote, Horatio is going to court tomorrow. Carlos has some money to help Horatio. The money taken by customs will be kept. Carlos asked why Trulio had not called. Horatio was interviewed but did not mention Carlos's name. Carlos wants Horatio to call tomorrow, unquote. On Christmas Eve, he was bailed out.

18:51 Perea called Caprese and told him that he had been set up and needed money. Caprese replied about that. Herrera, his nephew, is giving him money. Actually, that's one of the Menendez crew out in San Francisco. Then something happened. Perea, who the FBI knew was a major international cocaine trafficker, was turned loose after paying a small fine for not declaring the money.

19:27 He returned to Costa Rica and immediately resumed drug trafficking, which the FBI learned while monitoring a call from Pereira to Cabrera. Cabrera, sorry. Here's what the phone call said. Fine was completed. No probation, no prison. Horatio wants to get ready to send Carlos some material, unquote. So by then, the FBI were crawling all over the drug ring.

19:58 All of the traffickers' phone calls were being taped and transcribed. Eventually, the FBI would monitor more than 13,000 conversations. Camaras and Cavalla were being shadowed everywhere. Their dealers, their customers, all phone tapped. The wiretaps revealed that the Colombian side of Cavalla's drug operations was using freighters registered to Grand...

20:28 Colombian ship line to bring cocaine into the U.S. Agents began following the ships as they pulled in off the coast of California and watched the kilos of cocaine being unloaded by the associates in San Francisco and north up to Seattle. Right before Christmas, the FBI started taking the operation apart. In December,

21:00 1982, they intercepted two men coming off of a freighter in Los Angeles carrying 39 pounds of cocaine. Another Grand Columbiana ship pulled into Pier 96 in San Francisco shortly after the first of the year. The FBI set a stakeout up. It was the vessel that had already been staked out.

21:30 With another load, they just kept coming, using the same ships. Nearly two weeks went by without anything happening on the ship. Then, just before 2 a.m. on January 17th, during the heaviest fog of the winter, a Chevy van and a Toyota Celica pulled up to a hole near the fence. It was a swampy marsh leading to Pier 96. Seven men got out.

21:58 and began wading through the swamp towards the docked freighter. Disappearing into the darkness, two hours later, the Celica and the men returned. They were all carrying heavy duffel bags. Two of them were wearing wetsuits. The stakeout agents moved in, and one of the suspects unleashed an Uzi submachine gun. No one was injured, and they quickly surrendered. The agents found that all men were heavily armed.

22:30 They had 430 pounds of cocaine. Five other men were rounded up as accomplices, most of them Colombian who had been seen in Los Angeles and Seattle during earlier stakeouts. It was the biggest cocaine bust in the history of the West Coast. The next day, the San Francisco Chronicle reported the news of the drug bust on the front page.

23:01 This was the, quote, cocaine seized from frogmen at San Francisco Pier. The story went on, quote, a fog shrouded scene right out of a B movie, unquote. It was the first case made by President Ronald Reagan's new drug task force in San Francisco. U.S. Attorney Joseph Rosanello, a Republican close to the.

23:34 Reagan administration made sure media understood what a momentous seizure the new president's war on drugs had made. Rosanello told reporters that the street value of the cocaine was $750 million, three quarters of a billion dollars. Even the agents working the case knew that was bullshit. Rosanello's quote,

24:01 was followed by one of the DEA saying the load was actually worth about 100 million on the street and maybe 11 million at wholesale. Two weeks later, agents in LA raided another Grand Columbiana freighter and arrested 15 people, again, mostly Colombians, in the act of unloading 150 pounds of cocaine. A UPI story noted that the arrests were made.

24:31 as the suspects tried to transfer the drugs ashore by way of couriers and a scuba diver. They called this the frogman operation for that reason. Amazingly, cocaine continued arriving in the U.S. aboard Grand Columbiana freighters all the way to 1986. Not one effort was made to confiscate those ships, deal with anything about where they were coming from, like in Columbia, nothing.

25:05 The freighters were found in Houston the following year, busted with $18 million worth of cocaine behind a steel wall. The shipping line was partly owned by the Colombian government. They are a narco state and still are today. The hammer fell next on Carlos Caprese and Zavala.

25:31 At 7 a.m. on February 15th, federal agents and local police raided 14 locations in San Francisco, including Cabraza's house and Zavala's apartment, scooping up everyone. The haul included the Colombian supplier of Alvaro Carvajal Minota, Cabraza's mother, Zavala's low-level dealers.

26:02 and some of their customers. In a bookcase in San Francisco apartment, records show police found five flyers for the Nicaraguan Contras. Once again, U.S. Attorney Rosa Nalo hosted a media event telling reporters, quote, before we got the mules, there are the higher-ups in the operation, unquote. But the real higher-ups evaded capture.

26:30 as neither Norwin Menendez nor any of the family was charged. Former Menendez aide, Rinaldo Pina, told the Justice Department in 1997 that Norwin had a DEA agent on his payroll, and he had called Norwin a few weeks before the raid.

26:53 and warn Menendez of the pending arrest. The DEA agent, who admitted knowing Menendez, disputed the allegations during a Justice Department interview. Curiously, the agent recalled having the impression that Menendez was working with the CIA to drug traffic to the Contras. While Ruzanello and the federal agents who accompanied him were more than happy to give out the details concerning the Colombians.

27:24 such as the fact that there had been box loads of cash and jewelry each month sent to Cali, Colombia, to one of the Colombians' mother, that they had nothing at all to say about the cocaine and the cash the Nicaraguans were hauling back and forth to Costa Rica. They knew it. They just never disclosed it.

27:52 The involvement of Pereira and the Sanchez brothers was never disclosed, nor were they ever charged with anything. For some reason, the fact that the former Nicaraguan ambassador to Guatemala was bringing cocaine into the United States was not deemed newsworthy or even worth mentioning. The Menendez family's involvement in the drug ring was also suppressed.

28:19 Defense lawyers had to get a court order to force the Justice Department to reveal that the 1981 searches targeting Herrero Menendez and Julio Bermudez had even occurred. After the lawyers got the files, they accused the FBI of serious misrepresentation for concealing the identities of the individuals who are clearly

28:48 From the government's point of view, either distributing cocaine obtained from some of the principals in this case or supplying it to them. The records, they argued, revealed that there was a direct and ongoing connection between Menendez's organization and Capriza. The government replied that the searches had been of little importance. When news of the arrest reached Central America, reporters there saw an angle that their American counterparts had missed.

29:19 The Somoza Patriots traffic in drugs. That's how the Pro Sandinista Daily newspaper headlined the story that appeared in February 20th, 1983. Quote, narcotics police of San Francisco, California carried out a haul last Wednesday of 20 cocaine traffickers. Among them are several Nicaraguans who supported through this criminal activity.

29:48 the economic needs of the Contra Group, unquote. The paper quoted unnamed Nicaraguan diplomat sources asserting that, quote, one could not establish how many of those captured are of Nicaraguan origin, but there are several, and they were tied to groups of former Samosan National Guard in San Francisco, and that through the crime of trafficking in cocaine,

30:16 They are contributing economically to the Contras, unquote. It would take another three years before an American journalist made the connection. Zavala complained to the court that similar stories had appeared in Spanish-language press in Costa Rica, making it impossible for him to return to Central America. Both Zavala and Caprese was held in prison on a $1 million bill,

30:46 was unable to raise after getting a look at the evidence the FBI had compiled against him. His attorney advised him to cut a deal with the government and testify against Savala, which he did. A year later, shortly before his trial was to begin, Savala's attorney, Judd Iverson, walked into U.S. District Court Judge Robert Peckham's office and dropped a bombshell on his desk. Iverson handed Peckham

31:15 Two letters addressed to the court written by Nicaraguan exiles in Costa Rica regarding Zavala's activity on behalf of the Contras. One was written by Pereira's brother-in-law, the exiled attorney, which identified himself as an international relations secretary for the FARN, the Contras. A published account said,

31:43 had also helped set up the Committee of Defense of Democracy in Nicaragua, a CIA front in San Jose, Costa Rica, with money from Venezuelan sources. The other letter was also written by Avelas, together with businessman Rapacoli, on behalf of a group called the Conservative Party of Nicaragua in Exile.

32:11 In early 1980, he was part of the FARN, according to the commander. The contra letter said Zavala, who stood accused by the Justice Department of being a cocaine kingpin, was actually a contra official who had been working for the resistance forces at the time of his arrest. Zavala was the assistant treasurer of the

32:38 P-C-N-F, a longtime member of the F-A-R-N, which fights for the restoration of democracy, that's a laugh, in the Republic of Nicaragua under the slogan God, Fatherland, and Freedom. The reason they were writing Peckham, the Contra stated, was because the FBI had something that belonged to them and they wanted it back. When Zavala's apartment was searched the morning of his arrest, the police,

33:06 In addition to finding guns, practice grenades, multiple passports, and silencers, other machine guns, found $36,000 in his nightstand, which was confiscated as illegal drug proceeds. These guys are writing a letter to the judge saying that $36,000 is contra money. According to the letter,

33:35 Zavala had made several trips between California and Costa Rica on their behalf. And during his last visit, he was given $45,000 from Farn in order to buy stuff for them. And this letter is basically saying they want their money back. So defense attorney Iverson told Judge Peckham that he wanted to go down to Costa Rica and take depositions.

34:09 to actually make them put that on record. If what they were saying was true, he argued, Zavala was going to defend himself on the grounds that the agents of the U.S. government was intricately involved in alleged conspiracy and either sanctioned the use of cocaine trafficking to raise funds for the contra activities or had entrapped the defendant into participating in the belief that it was government sanctioned. Peckham.

34:41 quickly scrawled his signature on the order, sealing the Contra letters and the other papers Iverson had submitted. Iverson had requested secrecy order to keep the U.S. government from discovering the documents, which he felt would expose Aveles and Rapacioli and their family to harm from the U.S. government.

35:08 In court a few weeks later, Iverson again raised the issue of the depositions, a request Peckham was still considering. U.S. Attorney Mark Zanide, Z-A-N-I-D-E, scoffed at the motion saying that Iverson didn't come close to showing a need to go to Costa Rica and they didn't want to fund it. Judge Peckham disagreed. It would be very important testimony.

35:37 to corroborate what they're apparently claiming. It has to do with the source of the money. My understanding is the government will assert the money came from narcotics transactions. Zaid conceded, yes, that's very likely. Well, he claims it came from another source and had another purpose. And this evidence would corroborate that. It is very important evidence. Zaid then says, I don't know.

36:05 I have not seen any reason why the government isn't entitled to know the identity of the witnesses because he's probably there on behalf of the CIA. I want to know the source of the information. Iverson then says there were letters from the people involved that were filed under seal with the court.

36:27 But Zaid says, I don't know who they are. These letters could come from anybody. I don't know if Iverson has ever spoken with them personally. I don't know how he can vouch for him. It's just a letter. The prosecutor told Peckham that it wasn't a situation where we are talking about a threat to the lives of the witnesses. Peckham replied, the judge, they think so. Iverson, the defense attorney says, and I think so.

36:55 After holding two hearings in secrecy in his chamber, Peckham had the lawyers come to his courtroom on July 16, 1984, to hear his decision. Prosecutor Zinaides again complained that he was being kept in the dark about the identity of the officials. You are talking about some unknown people in a foreign country with alleged revolutionary affiliations, he argued.

37:27 The concern, I suppose, is that these people will be intimidated, the judge said, not necessarily expressly. They are revolutionaries in Nicaragua. They want to overturn the Nicaraguan government, as I understand it, the Contras. They are based in Costa Rica, and they have money. Where those monies come from, nobody knows. There is speculation about that, but there's no evidence.

37:57 We want to show that this money was found and his possession came from the Contras. Zinaid said, I appreciate all that. That's been apparent. Let's assume for a moment, and I don't believe these people, that I think they're lying. I mean, I have to be able to make an inquiry about the information they're provided. Judge, these people probably have very close contact with the CIA.

38:28 referencing Zabala's cocaine charges. We don't want the CIA knowing who they are. Zaid said, oh, that's ridiculous. One of the defense attorneys says, I don't see anything ridiculous about it. Then the judge says, would you look to the CIA? And the defense attorney says, I look anywhere. I think there might be some information. The judge then says, that's troublesome.

39:01 Absolutely. I might look to the CIA, he responds. Is that troublesome? Zaid then says, not to me. I need to know. I need to know. It may turn out that they may be telling the truth. So the defense attorney then says, it is very troublesome to us to have the CIA involved because I think our witnesses won't be there if that happens. It seems our witnesses should be afforded the same degree of protection as a government informant.

39:32 Zaid says that just doesn't add up. The defense responds, there is a far more dangerous situation in Costa Rica than an informant in the U.S. Peckham intervened. Quote, they fear, you see, that there will be disclosures made, the judge explained. And again, I don't accept this because I have no evidence. So by my saying it, I don't want it to be understood that I'm finding.

40:03 That to be a fact. They are afraid, just like you are afraid about the safety of informants. They are afraid that if the CIA is in fact financing these people, that they will not want it disclosed and that they will take measures to make certain people not get funding or be advised strongly not to cooperate. I don't know if you have control over that.

40:27 The prosecutor then says, so the fear is that the CIA is going to bring some pressure on these people not to testify. Is that it? The defense says, that's very much the fear. And I think it's realistic fear in this case. So the prosecutor says, I don't see any evidence. I can't even respond to that. What evidence is there that the CIA? And then Iverson interrupts and says.

40:56 That is fairly well documented. I don't think there's any question that they are down there and intimately involved in the group that is trying to overthrow the Sandinista government. So apparently everybody knew, even the judge. Judge Peckham says, all we are saying is that nobody should discourage them from testifying in the proceedings by way of a deposition. I don't know what is so horrendous about that.

41:24 Peckham granted the defense motion to fly to Costa Rica for the purpose of taking depositions of the two people that signed the letter. Six days later, the Costa Rican CIA station fired off a cable to Langley to warn that a federal prosecutor and an FBI agent were planning a trip to San Jose to question two anti-Santinista

41:50 in connection with the prosecution of the cocaine trafficking case. So, how did the CIA know what was going on inside that courtroom? The station chief told Langley that, let's see, both men were also, the two men involved, were CIA assets. The station said,

42:22 So the two guys that are wanting their money back is actually working for the CIA. Langley was advised to search its files for anything they had on them and their connection to the cocaine traffickers. So they're admitting that they're involved in the cocaine trafficking. And the cable ended by saying that the CIA station was concerned that this kind of uncoordinated activity, that's their exact words.

42:51 could have serious implications on the anti-Sandinista activities in Costa Rica and elsewhere, unquote. The CIA headquarters discovered that Avelas was indeed a contra official and had attended the August 1982 conference in Miami, where he was elected to the board, which was receiving CIA money. Various branches of the CIA was alerted, and the agency sprang into action.

43:20 The Justice Department and a federal prosecutor handling the Zavala case, CIA officials decided needed to be discreetly approached. So in other words, they're going to get involved in a law case. On August 3rd, 1984, CIA headquarters instructed the Costa Rica station to keep away from the two to avoid giving Zavala's defense attorneys a possible issue.

43:48 Langley reassured the nervous Costa Rican station that there is no reason to believe that Zavala's attorneys knew that there was any association between them and the CIA. The whole thing could just blow over if their planned legal action succeeded. CIA lawyer Lee Strickland flew into San Francisco from Washington on August 7th, 1984.

44:21 the prosecutor, Mark Zinides, and had what Zinides recalled, an OPEC conversation with him. The CIA, Strickland told him, would be immensely grateful if these depositions did not go forward. But Strickland provided little to no explanation regarding what the CIA's interest was in the case.

44:45 Strickland appeared very concerned about the public identification of the individuals who were being deposed. There was one problem. Neither the CIA nor the prosecutor knew what was in the letters the Contras sent the judge. He technically didn't even know who they were from, but somehow knew who they were from. Before they could do anything, they needed to see the letters. That afternoon, Zainid

45:11 filed a motion asking Peckham to unseal the Contra letters so government lawyers could read them. This is a quote. Keeping it under seal at this point could result only in preventing the counsel for the United States from preparing properly for the disposition. At present, the government is undertaking an inquiry with respect to the identities of the persons in counsel for the government.

45:38 is attempting to ascertain precisely what the facts are. At the hearing set the next day, Zinaids wanted to clarify the government's position. When he asked for the records to be unsealed, he told Peckham he hadn't meant for the general public. He just wanted to know. All he was asking for was that the documents be shown to the government under a protective order. That pissed off.

46:09 Judge Peckham. I think it ought to be made public, he said. Why should we not make it public? What is there left to keep? Your Honor, if I could comment on that, the judge abruptly cut off the prosecutor and he said, I'm going to make it public. If it is unsealed, it's going to be unsealed to the public. Well, as Your Honor knows, I can't comment since I haven't really seen the material.

46:37 The judge then said, I'm ordering it made public. It's unsealed, the judge said. I don't have to put it that way. I will just order it unsealed. Very well. May I obtain a copy from the clerk? Certainly. So I will sign this. There's no restriction on public disclosure. When Strickland and Zinides saw the letters, the two CIA operatives had sent to Peckham, their face

47:07 They had put the Contras right in the middle of the biggest cocaine bust in California's history. Zinaides went running back to Judge Peckham with a request that he make them secret again until the government could have a private presentation to the court why the record about Costa Rica's deposition should not be made public. Whatever the Justice Department told Peckham during the private meeting in his chambers, it worked.

47:38 Peckham issued an order that afternoon resealing the records he'd made public only that morning. Five days later, Zinaids filed a three-paragraph agreement that said simply that the United States will not introduce the $36,000 in their case as the seized property and agrees to return said currency to Zavala. In exchange, the statement said, Zavala

48:06 would not press the issue of the Costa Rican deposition. As the matter stands now, a CIA cable said, CIA equities are fully protected. That was actually the quote. CIA equities are fully protected. So the CIA intervened in a legal proceeding, got the record sealed, made a deal, returned the drug money.

48:36 to fund the Contras, all on public record. That's crazy. Okay, the U.S. embassy officials in Costa Rica, after hearing that the depositions had been called off, said, quote, they had been canceled by the funny farm, unquote, basically meaning the CIA. His remark quickly got back to Langley, which instructed its Costa Rica agents to tell the diplomat,

49:15 that CIA had no hand in canceling the trip. Everybody knew. Years later, when questioned about the case by Gary Webb, the former U.S. attorney, Rosanello, said the only reason he agreed to return the drug dealer's cash was because it would have cost the government too much money to go to Costa Rica and take two depositions, which is a bold-faced lie.

49:42 There never was any evidence suggest that the Contras were involved with the drug ring, he insisted. Another bold-faced lie. But even the Justice Department Inspector General didn't buy that. After questioning Rosanello, the IG concluded that the CIA had intervened with the prosecution because of a desire to protect the public image of the Contras and the CIA.

50:06 The CIA considered the potential press coverage of a Contra drug link to be sufficient reason to attempt to influence the decision to return the money to Zavala. CIA cables further described Rosanello as most deferential to our interest. That's actually in a CIA cable. In addition, there's a stack of telephone records linking the Contras directly to the drug ring.

50:35 which Rosanello never released or publicly admitted. A defendant in the Frogman case had made 51 phone calls to the FDN office in San Francisco. A secret 1987 DEA report states, noting that one of the confidential informants had met with the traffickers at the FDN's office, which is the office in San Francisco for the Contras.

51:04 The FBI agent who investigated the case, David Alba, had little doubt the CIA was behind the decision to give back the drug money. Quote, Zavala or someone he was working with was involved with the CIA, unquote. That was told to the Justice Department inspectors in 1997. Even after the depositions were canceled, the agency continued to fret.

51:31 that its dirty secrets would somehow leak out. CIA officials were instructed to monitor the prosecution closely so that any disclosures or allegations by defendants or their competence can be deflected. CIA lawyer Strickland argued in a memo that the Costa Rica station must be made aware of the potential for disaster.

51:59 While the allegations may be entirely false, there are sufficient factual details which could cause certain damage to our image and program in Central America. A memo from the CIA General Counsel Stanley Sporkin said this, quote, this matter raises obvious questions concerning the people we are supporting in Central America, unquote. Well, duh, they're drug traffickers.

52:29 In a lengthy cable to the Costa Rican station dated August 24th, 1984, Strickland detailed his concern. Quote, while this particular aspect was successfully resolved, the possibility of potential damage to CIA interest was not lost on the U.S. attorney or headquarters, meaning they're all working together. By virtue of Rapicoli's relationship as a former covert action asset,

53:00 and a member of the board of directors of the Contra organization, Avella's role as director of the Contra's support group office in San Jose, and their formal claim of drug-tainted money. Case could be made that the CIA funds are being diverted by CIA assets to the drug trade, he wrote. Indeed, close relationships between Zavala, a convicted drug dealer,

53:25 And Capicoli and Avelas could prove most damaging, especially if any relationship, no matter how induced, were to continue. As long as Capicoli and Avelas continue to play any role in the anti-Sandinista movement, any public disclosure of the foregoing would have a certain element of fact that they were linked to being assets of the CIA, unquote.

53:54 Strickland told the Costa Rican station to look into whether the Contras were dealing drugs, but warned no action other than discreet inquiries should be undertaken without headquarters approval. What the CIA found was censored from the report, but the agency clearly didn't cut its ties with the two Nicaraguans. Avelas, in 1985, was appointed to the general staff of the FARN.

54:24 In 1988, State Department biography of Vincente Rapicoli identified him as the secretary of the Contra's political division. Incredibly, the 1998 CIA IG's report that contained all of the cables claimed Aviles and Rapicoli really hadn't worked for the CIA at all. The repeated references to them

54:53 as CIA assets were mistake, the IG complaint claimed. So in other words, it didn't happen at all. We flew a CIA agent out to a court proceeding. We intervened in the court proceeding to cover our tracks. We have all of these cables back and forth about how sensitive this is, but it was all a mistake. Don't look over there.

55:20 In October 1984, the federal government returned the $36,000 to Avelas and Zavala. And not a moment too soon, eight days after the check was issued, the U.S. Congress, outraged by the disclosure that the CIA and the Contras

55:38 had dropped anti-ship mines in the Nicaraguan harbor, cut off all CIA funding for the Contras. Despite the CIA's effort to keep Contra involvement in the so-called Frogman case from becoming public, some of the truth got out when Carlos Cabezay took the witness stand in late 1984 against his ex-brother-in-law. Under oath as a U.S. government witness, Cabezay submitted

56:07 that some of the cocaine money was going to the Contras. He told the jury of his meeting with Horacio Pereira and that Pereira's nervousness over the Contras' profits being misspent by hard-drinking Zavala. Pages from the ledger book in which Cabrese kept track of the Contra cocaine money was introduced into evidence and made public, showing cocaine transactions with the Contra official, Sanchez.

56:37 Zavala was convicted of trafficking and sentenced to prison. Caprese's testimony went unchallenged. It also went unreported, though the San Francisco news media had fairly swooned when Caprese and Zavala were arrested. Not a single reporter attended the trial. The evidence of contra-involvement in cocaine trafficking in San Francisco laid undisturbed in a federal court file for two more years.

57:09 That's what happens when you have a mockingbird press, because that should not have ever happened. That's crazy. OK, that's it for today. Any comments? Where'd Bridget go? Oh, she's down there. They dropped her again. Let's see. Go ahead, Illini. Go ahead, Illini. Hey, Colonel. Interesting stuff.

58:02 I think at this point, you know, we've gotten through, you know, six chapters of it. And what I'm struck by is, you know, when I heard about Dark Alliance, you know, I remembered that, you know, the, you know, the CIA defender side of it, you know, was citing this as, you know, three isolated incidences or something like that.

58:23 And that was by David Korn, too, who's done investigative journalism on the CIA that didn't give them a lot of cover. But what's becoming clear is it's more than just three isolated incidences. It's a number of different things here. They can't really downplay it. And this goes a whole lot further than just...

58:53 Terry Reed. And I mean, we haven't even gotten to Mina yet, which I think. Correct. I think it's in the book. But I mean, we discussed Mina before a number of spaces. Yeah, we'll wait for that. Yeah, I won't give that part away yet. But, you know, we've already covered, you know, more than just a few isolated instances. It's a pattern at the very least of the CIA going to great lengths.

59:22 to run cover for the Contras drug trafficking, if not being outright involved. Oh, I think they're outright involved. If they are actually managing the FARN and the other element and demanding they work together to supply the Contras, and they're intervening in a drug trafficking case that is known to be using the profits of the drug trafficking to...

59:52 I mean, they know. They know what the context of the court case is. So much so that they intervene in it to lessen what could be a disclosure of their operation. Well, you've got them on business records, contemporary documentation, admissions against interests, showing that they're intervening.

1:00:18 to give cover to the Contras. After the fact, they say, oh, none of that existed. What? Now, if I'm in an argument with Malcolm Nance, I'm not, he might be able to browbeat and bully his way into convincing me that the CIA operatives weren't directly involved and it wasn't the CIA's intent to do all this.

1:00:41 But there's no way – he's forced to admit. He's forced to admit that the CIA gave them cover. He's forced to admit that the CIA knew this was going on and kept doing it and that the CIA's priorities were the contrast, not the rule of law in the United States. Not protecting Americans from drugs. They were voluntarily exploiting Americans being –

1:01:10 To me, one of the biggest tells is not one fucking time did they intercept one of those boats at sea. All they had to do, what in a foreign port? That's the whole point of the CIA. They have surveillance. They know when those ships leave. They can watch those ships being loaded. And I would be of the mind to think that they were doing exactly that.

1:01:37 And so at no time in any of the foreign countries, we've now involved Costa Rica, where we had a station. We've involved Colombia, where we had a station. And at no time are they doing anything to prevent the drugs from ever leaving the country. One other link analysis thing.

1:02:03 And like Stanley Sporkin, you know, doesn't strike me as necessarily a bad guy or complicit in like that. But you mentioned his name as the CIA's general counsel. He worked at the Securities and Exchange Commission as the director of enforcement for a number of years. And then he'd later go on after 1986 to be a D.C. district judge. You know, interesting reference there. Well, yeah, it's a really interesting reference when you consider how corrupt the D.C. circuit is.

1:02:33 So we'll leave that there. SR-71, go ahead. Then we'll go to Mega. Thank you, Colonel. And thank you, everyone, for attending Spaces today and those people on Rumble as well. It is telling when the CIA sends counsel out there to protect these people. I don't care what you say. And I don't care. Their intent was to bring drugs. Their intent was to use the money for the contracts, period.

1:03:02 And their intent was to have those drugs sold. When you get these people caught and you convince a judge, oh, yeah, I'm going to make it public. And then he turns around and says, oops, we got this bit out. But too late. I sealed it again. Only after this definitely is going on. Only after the CIA intervened. Exactly, Colonel. Exactly. Which tells me.

1:03:30 The CIA is not only needy in it, they're doing this shit. They're directing the entire play with strings on the puppets attached in the performance. They have strings to all of the players. At any time with those strings, they could have stopped any of it.

1:03:59 These people were literally on their payroll doing this. I don't know how you could make an argument that they're tacitly involved. No, these people were on their payroll. They were paying people to traffic drugs to America and using the proceeds to fund covert operations, which, again, this is not the first time they've done this.

1:04:27 This is Operation Gladio. This is 1948 and on. We know they do this. In Paul Williams' book, we outline the entire pipeline of them doing this. Megha, go ahead. Not only that, Colonel, but you have one lone DEA agent by the name of Sandra Smith who decides to talk about this stuff and bring it to public view. And the first thing they do...

1:04:58 is shut that woman up. Reassign her. Give her another job. She's too smart for this. Go ahead, Mega. Colonel, I have got to say, listening to your X-Spaces and your Rumbles and your Operation Gladio that you've been running with Alpha is like grabbing a big, old, humongous, freaking...

1:05:29 rosebush with a bear hug thank you and now i got two questions the first one is there any upside to the cia whatsoever okay and it's becoming very apparent to at least this listener that the only way that we can rid the world of the cia

1:05:58 Is to get an executive order claiming them as a terrorist organization and letting them just eat each other alive. What are your thoughts on that? A part of an international terrorist organization ran out of NATO. They are but one element of it. You have to get rid of NATO. NATO runs the basic overall Gladio program because the CIA.

1:06:26 in the actions that they perpetrate is oftentimes done in conjunction with other intelligence. For example, when they went in in our last book, when we were talking about Columbia, when they went in and set that whole program up in Columbia to turn Columbia into a narco state, they did it in conjunction with MI6 and Mossad. The three of them were all in there together.

1:06:53 Other operations show that they use other NATO and NATO-aligned. But, you know, we've done it with the KCIA in Korea. We had Korea involved in several of these operations. Their Gladio operators, for a large part of their operational, was the Moonies. That Reverend Moon actually ran, he had weapon.

1:07:21 He had armament manufacturing plants that he owned. So it is an extensive network that they had set up. But as far as we're concerned as Americans, we have to get out of NATO. We have to dismantle the CIA. And the reason why I say that is not, I didn't mean to say it as flippant as it sounded, but the CIA has two elements.

1:07:46 And I am not condemning every single CIA analyst or operator because, again, they're stovepiped. I've lived inside of TSSCI facilities and do not pretend that the stuff that I knew was everything that was happening in that operation because it's not. You have read-in only programs and the people that are sitting at desk A doesn't know what people are doing sitting at desk B. So I'm not even saying that.

1:08:15 I'm saying system systematically, though, the organization was set up to do two things. Create intelligence estimates on what's going on around the world and to have covert operations that fed information to the analyst. That was basically what it was set up to do.

1:08:40 That's not what it does. That's not what it's ever done. Now, do they do that at some level? Yes, the lower level. But here's what happens. Like what we saw in Guatemala with declassified State Department cables. You had analysts, some of which were on the ground in Guatemala, saying, no, these guys aren't communists. These guys just want their government back from being exploited from United Fruit. And I'm talking about back in 1954.

1:09:08 No, no, they just, they want their land back. It's all corrupt down here. United Fruit has bought all of the politicians. They put the politicians in power. They give them land deals. They funnel money to the elite to protect them. They set up this military apparatus that beats all the peasants and moves them off the land. They steal the land, blah, blah, blah. You had honest analysts actually sending cables back to the CIA saying that's what's on the ground.

1:09:38 The intelligent estimates that were being fed to the National Security Council to get the findings to go in and overthrow the government actually took that information and said it was because they were all communist. They want a communist government and they don't like free trade, free trade meaning that the U.S. oligarchs own everything.

1:10:06 And so these people are communists and we have to send the CIA in to overthrow the government, a duly elected government, a democratically elected government. And so I don't care that some analysts in the CIA may be doing good work. I don't give a shit. The entire system of the CIA is corrupted and you can't weed out all of the corrupted people in the CIA. There's no.

1:10:37 line them all up and say, you're the good guy, you're the bad guy. The entire institution has been corrupted. And so then what they do is they pass off this estimate, which is totally fake, to the covert side, and they gin up a team to send into Guatemala to overthrow the government. So that entire side is corrupt. And does some of the operators think that they're legitimate communists? Yes.

1:11:06 But the leadership knows they're not. So again, you cannot line them up and say one guy's a good guy, one guy's a bad guy. He knew, he didn't know. I don't care. The entire premise of the CIA is evil because we know for a fact, if you look at who they hire from the OSS days into the CIA days, they hire Wall Street bankers, they hire Foundation.

1:11:37 Rockefeller, Carnegie, Mellon, Stripe, whatever the name of the foundation. You know, currently, obviously, it's Soros. But this goes back a long time, 80 years. So they hire these secret society guys from all of the institutions. They recruit them off of college campuses. And their first job is working for these oligarchs. So they come into the CIA.

1:12:06 predisposed to do whatever the oligarchs want them to do. The oligarchs want these countries overthrown so they can exploit the resources in them. And so it's been a perpetual machine to allow the exploitation of labor and resources in countries to benefit them, even though

1:12:29 On the appropriated side, you and I are paying for it. We benefit nothing from it, except for everybody around the world hating us because we're overthrowing their governments. So it has to go away. 100% it has to go away, and so does NATO. NATO is the largest terrorist organization in the world. Illini, go ahead. Colonel, I think I agree with a lot of what you said. I wanted to kind of propose an alternative game theoretic, though, to Megha's idea of

1:12:59 of declaring them a terrorist organization. I think the way to do it is, you know, we've heard a lot about, you know, Omerta and how everybody just kind of stays quiet about what's going on and how, you know, sometimes people who speak out, you know, sometimes stuff happens to them, including like, you know, Dorothy Kilgallen. There were like another 30 or 40, you know, people connected to the, you know, kind of the assassination who, you know, stuff happened to them.

1:13:29 I think the way to play it, there's a perfectly moral and ethical way to do it, which is to run false flags on Omerta. That way, you know, it's not on our consciences and we have the resources to do it because they've been self-recording everything. I mean, the NSA has access to every single conversation that's ever happened. We probably know.

1:13:59 you know, almost as much about what's going on as many of the witnesses would. So you can imagine a scenario, basically, where somebody, you know, gets detained for three or four hours, has, you know, a conversation with, you know, the FBI, the state police, whoever, and then they come out of it basically knowing everything that the NSA knows.

1:14:25 about that witness and we have no idea about whether that witness actually flipped or or didn't and the situation just sort of you know i mean there's ways to basically let the situation sort of take care of itself you know without us needing to get involved or do anything you know um that and there'll be information that the network will use on its own

1:14:55 against itself um that we might not have that might be another way to bring it down mega go ahead yeah you brought up a really interesting point about all the people that the cia uh brings into the fold you get a whole bunch of young people right out of college big business people and whatnot i can't think of a better cover for an organization that wants to be completely secret

1:15:29 than to have their own analysis or own analyst going through all this information and then turning around and using that to help create the cover again. I mean, it's a circle jerk from hell. Holy crap. It's the most perfect organization for secrecy on the planet, if you ask me. It is. And it was designed that way. And they got that model.

1:16:01 from doing that before the CIA was set up. The beauty of having it in the CIA, though, is that you have the full backing of the government behind you. The problem is if you try to do this, let's just say there wasn't a CIA, and let's just say, because this happened before World War II, if a company

1:16:27 is going around the world overthrowing governments, and they did. But if there's an international court or if they're caught doing it, and some were, they're hung. The problem now is because they work for the government and they have diplomatic immunity, they're not hung. And if they were hung, there's a downside to doing it. So you're never going to completely eliminate corporate.

1:16:57 piracy, which is what it is. But there's the long arm of the law in other countries when you do that to exploit other countries that don't have the full strength and backing of the United States government and our military for doing that. So you can imagine if a few countries today found CIA operators in their country doing that.

1:17:26 Even if they had diplomatic immunity, if they just took the punishment and administered the punishment, irregardless of diplomatic immunity, what would happen? And so, of course, the mainstream media is going to lie, just like they say Adon Shikogi was, or whatever his name was, not Adon, his nephew, was a reporter.

1:17:54 That guy was not a reporter. He's no more a reporter than I am. He was a spy and he was doing bad shit. His uncle was like the world's biggest illicit arms dealer. He was totally corrupt. But the story was planted that because he was using the cover of being a reporter. And so Saudi Arabia didn't give a shit. They just killed him anyway.

1:18:23 That was a clear sign that there was a new sheriff in town in Saudi Arabia with MBS that that shit wasn't going to fly anymore. And you risk diplomatic chaos if you make it the responsibility of the nation that you're doing this to, to mete out that punishment.

1:18:49 We in America should not be doing that to other people. If you cannot make a diplomatic deal with a country to buy their resources, then that sucks for you. But that's not what we have done in the past, that the international oligarchs around the world have exploited the use of their intelligence services to exploit entire countries.

1:19:18 Under the guise that if you don't play along and allow us to coup your government and install a dictatorship that slaughters your people, we're going to do an all-out embargo on you. We're going to cut you off from the IMF. It's like guerrilla warfare with all tenets of power backed up by the United States. And that, to me, is just ridiculous. It's crazy.

1:19:47 It puts the American citizens in a no-win situation. If you want to understand why Americans traveling abroad are at risk, you come across one of the families that was disappeared in Chile and they know that the United States government was behind it. What's going to happen to that American tourist? Chances are, because we've been lied to our entire life, they don't even know what the U.S. government did.

1:20:17 They have no idea that we overthrew their government. So it puts all of us that travel internationally at risk because they lie to us here. So anybody else got anything? That's it for today. Well, it's a little off topic, Colonel, if I may. Sure. But if anybody had the chance to watch Donald Trump address the United Nations.

1:20:59 I have to say he really lowered the boom, and it's about time. What we do to act on it, or what others do to act on it, he made it very clear, in my opinion, to every nation that was there, exactly where the United States stands at this point. There's no more of this, well, the EU said that, this, and then trying to figure it out anymore. It's like, nope, you heard it from the horse's mouth today.

1:21:31 That's all I got to say, Colonel. Thank you. Sure. He definitely likes to speak his mind. Bridget, you got any closing remarks? Sure. It's interesting times we're living in. And it's so amazing to have my Gladio prescription firmly affixed. And sorry for pissing you off this morning. But I knew you would enjoy. We'll have a lot of commentary when that one goes public. Yes. Yeah.

1:22:06 You certainly will see the Gladio aspects come shining through. That's for certain. But at the same time, those of us who have all of this information, it will be extremely frustrating to watch a CIA guy pretend like the first exposure since World War II to torture was after 9-11. Yeah, I'd like to spit out my drink when he...

1:22:36 Oh, yeah. Since 1945. There's, you know, and how these black sites just spontaneously popped up. Yeah. In just the last few years. It was pretty nauseating. But, again, I'm glad that, you know, we've gone there. No, I've enjoyed it. Yeah, and there's a lot of good, there are a lot of good points if you've gotten to watch all five of them. They really are good. They're very good.

1:23:07 And well done. Yeah. Yeah. Very well done, actually. I know Renee was trying to come up, but for some reason, even though we throw her the mic, it won't bring her up. SR, go ahead. Thank you, Colonel. Just just a little bit on on the deal of black sites. They weren't officially called back until after 9-11. Right. So unless you ask Brock the right questions as to whether or not.

1:23:38 The CIA has operated under this auspicious of torture and black sites or as we call them today. We'll give you a complete detail of what's going on. Sorry, I was in a vortex, kept going in a vortex. But I just wanted to add to this chapter and what we were all, you were discussing about the exploiting of people, this whole.

1:24:07 One plan for one world control and everything. Tons of exploitation by these evil ones. But also, it's like a multi-prong killing birds with one stone where, you know, with the drugs and the war, it just eliminates the population in the meantime while they grift off of all the natural resources. So it's like they get a lot of bang for their buck in...

1:24:36 this whole evil plan and through pharmaceutical industry and through, uh, street drugs and through, uh, terrorist organizations, it like not only destabilizes, but it ends lives everywhere. So it's really super sad. I keep thinking of that when we read, go over all these chapters. Yes. Good point. Um, SR 71, did you want to say anything else? No, Colonel. I think that,

1:25:12 That's all I got for today, and I thank everybody for listening to my rant. What else can I say? Thank you, Colonel. Sure. All right, guys. I'm going to call it a day, and we'll be back tomorrow. Everybody take care.

Entities here

CIA51 Contras25 Costa Rica25 Julio Zavala20 Carlos Cabraza17 San Francisco15 U.S. Department of Justice14 Mark Zinides12 Ivan Gomez11 Nicaragua11 Colombia10 Judge William Peckham10 Horatio Pereira9 United States8 Judd Iverson8 Avelas8 FARN8 Lee Strickland8 Robert Peckham6 José Daniel Contreras5 Zavala trial5 Operation Gladio5 Norwin Menendez5 Joseph Rosonello4 Grand Colombiana4 Sandinistas4 Eden Pastora4 North Atlantic Treaty Organization4 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état4 Dewey Claridge4 Vincente Rapicoli4 Miami3 Frogman Case3 Guatemala3 Joe Rosanello3 ARDE3 David Alba3 National Guard (El Salvador)3 Los Angeles3 Gary Webb3

Claims made here

CIA trained Office of Policy Coordination host_asserted ▶ 3:26

“50% of the Office of Public Safety that taught national police forces in over 50 countries how to torture dissidents. And there's no better example than the Phoenix program, which we went over extensi…”

CIA funded Office of Policy Coordination host_asserted ▶ 3:26

CIA carried_out_attack Phoenix Program host_asserted ▶ 3:26

CIA recruited Dan Mitrione host_asserted ▶ 5:16

“Dan Mitrione alone. Huh? Dan Mitrione. I know. Alone. I know. And I pointed that out, that they had recruited prior police chiefs and police officers that had went through a screening process at the F…”

Ivan Gomez member_of CIA documented ▶ 7:40

“Cabrese told CIA investigators that in April or May of 1982, he had a meeting at the San Jose Hotel. Well, where Perina and Sanchez introduced him to a man he had never seen before. The man called him…”

Ivan Gomez laundered_money_for Contras documented ▶ 8:10

“So this is actually a CIA agent, Ivan Gomez, the agency's man in Costa Rica. Gomez said that he was there to, quote, to ensure that the profits from the cocaine went to the Contras and not into someon…”

Dewey Claridge headed Contras documented ▶ 9:02

“Claridge was the CIA officer who headed the Contra program from 1981 to 84 and was later indicted for lying to Congress about the Iran Contra scandal. He was pardoned by President George Bush Jr. Oh, …”

George H.W. Bush pardoned Dewey Claridge documented ▶ 9:02

CIA covered_up Ivan Gomez documented ▶ 11:01

“The polygraph examiner apparently did not ask the CIA director about laundering cash for the Contras. Despite Gomez's admissions, the CIA inspector general dismissed Cabrese's story as an invention, s…”

CIA removed_from_power Ivan Gomez documented ▶ 12:00

“in interviews with the Justice Department in 1997. Gomez was fired by the CIA in 1989 because of his repeated inability to pass polygraph tests concerning his drug dealing. The CIA toyed with the idea…”

CIA funded Contras documented ▶ 13:28

“Gomez told the CIA inspectors he'd never met Caprese or other traffickers. He's involved in drug trafficking. He just didn't meet any traffickers. Based on Caprese's statement and historical record fr…”

CIA funded FARN documented ▶ 13:58

“which was at the time under the control of the CIA. A 1984 DEA report described Farn's deputy commander, Edmundo Chamorro, well known to the CIA. That's actually a quote. His brother, Farn Commander F…”

FARN member_of ARDE documented ▶ 14:55

“was also involved. But in September of that year, when the former Sandinista commander Petora announced that he was taking up arms against his old Sandinista colleagues, Farn jumped ship, leaving the …”

Eden Pastora overthrew Sandinistas documented ▶ 14:55

CIA funded ARDE documented ▶ 15:25

“At that point, it was likely that the cocaine profits from Menendez's San Francisco operations began being used to benefit ARDE. Even then, however, the CIA retained oversight. When the Chamarros swit…”

CIA funded Eden Pastora documented ▶ 15:54

“Both Pastora and Bermudez were still reporting to the CIA. When Bermudez, like Bermudez, Pastora was put on the CIA's payroll, and he remained on the payroll to at least 1984. The merger between the C…”

Donald Peralta spied_on Horatio Pereira documented ▶ 17:25

“A man who had accompanied him to Costa Rica on several cash drops tipped off the FBI that Pereira was heading south with a wad of money. The FBI records show that on December 1st, 1982, a confidential…”

Rinaldo Pina spied_on Norwin Menendez documented ▶ 26:30

“as neither Norwin Menendez nor any of the family was charged. Former Menendez aide, Rinaldo Pina, told the Justice Department in 1997 that Norwin had a DEA agent on his payroll, and he had called Norw…”

CIA covered_up Norwin Menendez documented ▶ 27:52

“The involvement of Pereira and the Sanchez brothers was never disclosed, nor were they ever charged with anything. For some reason, the fact that the former Nicaraguan ambassador to Guatemala was brin…”

CIA funded Committee of Defense of Democracy in Nicaragua documented ▶ 31:43

“had also helped set up the Committee of Defense of Democracy in Nicaragua, a CIA front in San Jose, Costa Rica, with money from Venezuelan sources. The other letter was also written by Avelas, togethe…”

Julio Zavala member_of PCNF documented ▶ 32:11

“In early 1980, he was part of the FARN, according to the commander. The contra letter said Zavala, who stood accused by the Justice Department of being a cocaine kingpin, was actually a contra officia…”

Julio Zavala member_of FARN documented ▶ 32:11

FARN funded Julio Zavala documented ▶ 33:35

“Zavala had made several trips between California and Costa Rica on their behalf. And during his last visit, he was given $45,000 from Farn in order to buy stuff for them. And this letter is basically …”

CIA recruited Avelas documented ▶ 41:50

“in connection with the prosecution of the cocaine trafficking case. So, how did the CIA know what was going on inside that courtroom? The station chief told Langley that, let's see, both men were also…”

CIA recruited Vincente Rapicoli documented ▶ 41:50

Avelas member_of Contras documented ▶ 42:51

“could have serious implications on the anti-Sandinista activities in Costa Rica and elsewhere, unquote. The CIA headquarters discovered that Avelas was indeed a contra official and had attended the Au…”

Lee Strickland member_of CIA documented ▶ 43:48

“Langley reassured the nervous Costa Rican station that there is no reason to believe that Zavala's attorneys knew that there was any association between them and the CIA. The whole thing could just bl…”

CIA covered_up Vincente Rapicoli documented ▶ 48:06

“would not press the issue of the Costa Rican deposition. As the matter stands now, a CIA cable said, CIA equities are fully protected. That was actually the quote. CIA equities are fully protected. So…”

CIA covered_up Frogman Case documented ▶ 48:06

CIA covered_up Avelas documented ▶ 48:06

CIA covered_up Julio Zavala documented ▶ 48:06

CIA covered_up Contras documented ▶ 49:42

“There never was any evidence suggest that the Contras were involved with the drug ring, he insisted. Another bold-faced lie. But even the Justice Department Inspector General didn't buy that. After qu…”

Stanley Sporkin member_of CIA documented ▶ 51:59

“While the allegations may be entirely false, there are sufficient factual details which could cause certain damage to our image and program in Central America. A memo from the CIA General Counsel Stan…”

Avelas member_of Contras documented ▶ 53:00

“and a member of the board of directors of the Contra organization, Avella's role as director of the Contra's support group office in San Jose, and their formal claim of drug-tainted money. Case could …”

Contras trafficked Julio Zavala documented ▶ 53:00

Avelas member_of Forces Armadas Nacionales de Resistencia Nicaragüense documented ▶ 53:54

“Strickland told the Costa Rican station to look into whether the Contras were dealing drugs, but warned no action other than discreet inquiries should be undertaken without headquarters approval. What…”

Vincente Rapicoli member_of Contras documented ▶ 54:24

“In 1988, State Department biography of Vincente Rapicoli identified him as the secretary of the Contra's political division. Incredibly, the 1998 CIA IG's report that contained all of the cables claim…”

CIA funded Contras documented ▶ 55:38

“had dropped anti-ship mines in the Nicaraguan harbor, cut off all CIA funding for the Contras. Despite the CIA's effort to keep Contra involvement in the so-called Frogman case from becoming public, s…”

CIA carried_out_attack Nicaragua documented ▶ 55:38

CIA covered_up Frogman Case documented ▶ 55:38

Julio Zavala trafficked Contras documented ▶ 56:07

“that some of the cocaine money was going to the Contras. He told the jury of his meeting with Horacio Pereira and that Pereira's nervousness over the Contras' profits being misspent by hard-drinking Z…”

Contras trafficked CIA documented ▶ 56:07

Contras trafficked Nestor Sanchez documented ▶ 56:07

CIA supplied_arms_to Contras host_asserted ▶ 59:22

“to run cover for the Contras drug trafficking, if not being outright involved. Oh, I think they're outright involved. If they are actually managing the FARN and the other element and demanding they wo…”

Stanley Sporkin member_of Securities and Exchange Commission documented ▶ 1:02:03

“And like Stanley Sporkin, you know, doesn't strike me as necessarily a bad guy or complicit in like that. But you mentioned his name as the CIA's general counsel. He worked at the Securities and Excha…”

CIA financed_via Contras host_asserted ▶ 1:03:59

“These people were literally on their payroll doing this. I don't know how you could make an argument that they're tacitly involved. No, these people were on their payroll. They were paying people to t…”

Sandra Smith member_of Drug Enforcement Administration host_asserted ▶ 1:04:27

“This is Operation Gladio. This is 1948 and on. We know they do this. In Paul Williams' book, we outline the entire pipeline of them doing this. Megha, go ahead. Not only that, Colonel, but you have on…”

CIA covered_up Sandra Smith host_asserted ▶ 1:04:58

“is shut that woman up. Reassign her. Give her another job. She's too smart for this. Go ahead, Mega. Colonel, I have got to say, listening to your X-Spaces and your Rumbles and your Operation Gladio t…”

Drug Enforcement Administration reassigned Sandra Smith host_asserted ▶ 1:04:58

CIA member_of Operation Gladio host_asserted ▶ 1:05:58

“Is to get an executive order claiming them as a terrorist organization and letting them just eat each other alive. What are your thoughts on that? A part of an international terrorist organization ran…”

CIA carried_out_attack Colombia host_asserted ▶ 1:06:26

“in the actions that they perpetrate is oftentimes done in conjunction with other intelligence. For example, when they went in in our last book, when we were talking about Columbia, when they went in a…”

Sun Myung Moon member_of Unification Church host_asserted ▶ 1:06:53

“Other operations show that they use other NATO and NATO-aligned. But, you know, we've done it with the KCIA in Korea. We had Korea involved in several of these operations. Their Gladio operators, for …”

CIA carried_out_attack Korea host_asserted ▶ 1:06:53

Sun Myung Moon secretly_owned Unification Church host_asserted ▶ 1:07:21

“He had armament manufacturing plants that he owned. So it is an extensive network that they had set up. But as far as we're concerned as Americans, we have to get out of NATO. We have to dismantle the…”

United Fruit Company funded 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état host_asserted ▶ 1:08:40

“That's not what it does. That's not what it's ever done. Now, do they do that at some level? Yes, the lower level. But here's what happens. Like what we saw in Guatemala with declassified State Depart…”

National Security Council ordered_assassination_of 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état host_asserted ▶ 1:09:38

“The intelligent estimates that were being fed to the National Security Council to get the findings to go in and overthrow the government actually took that information and said it was because they wer…”

CIA carried_out_attack 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état host_asserted ▶ 1:10:06

“And so these people are communists and we have to send the CIA in to overthrow the government, a duly elected government, a democratically elected government. And so I don't care that some analysts in…”

CIA recruited Rockefeller Foundation host_asserted ▶ 1:11:37

“Rockefeller, Carnegie, Mellon, Stripe, whatever the name of the foundation. You know, currently, obviously, it's Soros. But this goes back a long time, 80 years. So they hire these secret society guys…”

CIA recruited Merrill Foundation host_asserted ▶ 1:11:37

CIA recruited Carnegie Endowment for International Peace host_asserted ▶ 1:11:37

Adnan Khashoggi trafficked James Foley host_asserted ▶ 1:17:54

“That guy was not a reporter. He's no more a reporter than I am. He was a spy and he was doing bad shit. His uncle was like the world's biggest illicit arms dealer. He was totally corrupt. But the stor…”

Saudi Arabia assassinated James Foley host_asserted ▶ 1:17:54