AfroCubaWeb

Felix Rodriguez links

Rangel calls for an investigation into the CANF - 7/13/98
Luis Posada Carriles and the CANF

Christmas note from President Bush to Felix Rodriguez, in his
handwriting, 12/88

Powderburns; Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War

by Celerino III Castillo

VP George Bush and Felix
Rodriguez

Felix Rodriguez: Coca Contra Airport
Manager

Felix Rodriguez, aka "Max Gomez," is a career CIA employee who
was born in Cuba and became a senior police official under Batista.  His father was
minister of public works.  He fled to the US and went through army officer training
with Luis Posada Carriles, who he later recruited as his number 2 man for the the Contra
resupply operation's major staging area.at Ilopango Air Force Base in El Salvador. This
was a nerve center and transit point for the shipment of large quantities of cocaine to
the US in return for weapons and supplies to the Contras.

Felix Rodriguez had an outstanding career with CIA, including acting as
liaison officer with the Bolivian forces who captured and executed Che Guevera.  From
this he retains Che's Rolex watch and a transcript of his interrogation, which he likes to
read on occasion to assembled friends at his home in Miami.

As Granma aptly puts it, he learned his trade in Laos:

"In 1970, Bush stood
as a Senate candidate. He failed to get elected.

That same year, Félix
Rodríguez joined Air America, another CIA front company, trafficking
heroin from Laos to the U.S. drugs network of former Havana godfather
Santos Traficante. The purpose of the smuggling was to influence the
Laotian conflict by winning the support of isolated communities. The
operation was led by Donald Gregg, who took his orders from Theodore
Shackley.

It was on this job that
George’s buddy learnt the trade he was to practice years later in
Central America."

- George
and Félix: the tale of two old friends, 7/24/02

Links to information on Felix Rodriguez

Contra Resuppliers Who Did Not Testify, Part II,
The Guardian, September 30, 1987

Felix Rodriguez and cocaine smuggling for the Contras, CBS
News, Nov 15, 1996

Claims linking Contras, drugs, El Salvador revived,
Dallas Morning News, 11/30/96

DEA Agent Celerino Castillo testimony, April 27,
1998

The Guardian

Contra Resuppliers Who Did Not Testify

Part II

by Peter Shinkle and Dennis Bernstein

The Guardian, September 30, 1987

U.S. military officials, private businessmen and mercenaries are among those who kept the
contras supplied when support from the U.S. government was forbidden by the Boland
Amendment that halted military assistance to the contras until 1986.  But several key
figures who worked for the contras in El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and the U.S.
during this period did

not testify before the Iran-contra committee.

Florida federal public defender John Mattes, who investigated the resupply network, said
the Iran-contra select committee made a mistake in questioning high officials without
talking to the footsoldiers of the North Network, the men who handled the gritty underside
of the resupply effort.

"(The select committees) went to the ... heads of the conspiracy, to the John
Poindexters and to the Oliver Norths and said, 'Did you do anything wrong, are you guilty
of a crime?'" said Mattes. "Any good criminal investigation starts at the ground
leve and builds the case against the principals by using the footsoldiers. In this
situation they should have interviewed the mercenaries and asked them who they were
working for."

...Col. James Steele, former chief U.S. military adviser in El Salvador and senior officer
in charge of U.S. military operations based at El Salvador's Ilopango airport, could have
revealed significant information about U.S. military involvement in the contra resupply effort. Steele was in regular contact with Felix Rodriguez from September
1985 through summer 1986, according to Rodriguez's testimony before the Congressional
investigating committees last May. Steele made Rodriguez his "deputy," allowed
him to use a military car, and gave him a KL-43, a coding device provided to Steele by
North, according to a memo sent to North released by the committees.

For the rest of the article, see http://www.wbaifree.org/bernstein/guardian/g870930.html

On CBS News

The CIA and Cocaine: Truth and Disinformation

Who has the airplanes?

November 15, 1996--John Deutch, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, went to Watts
to speak to hundreds of

neighborhood residents. The head of the CIA visiting the ghetto!? Now you know they must
be in deep trouble! The CIA and the media tried to suppress the stories of CIA
drug-dealing.

For 10 years, the mainstream media refused to report on it--even when the Senate's own
Kerry Report brought out damning
evidence. They tried to ignore the series by Gary Webb that appeared in the San Jose
Mercury that revealed the names of
Nicaraguan contra operatives who were distributing cocaine in South Central L.A. and
Compton to raise money for the CIA's secret contra war.

In the last month, this country's most prominent newspapers, the Washington Post, the Los
Angeles Times, and the New York Times, all carried stories intended to discredit Webb's
report. This campaign has not worked. On Nightline, November 15, Ted Koppel remarked how
attempts to dis Webb's report had only made the masses of people more suspicious that
crimes were being covered up.

...Who Has the Planes?

Thirty years ago, Malcolm X made a penetrating observation: Oppressed people don't own
airplanes and boats. The media
and the government try to blame oppressed people for drugs--but international drug
trafficking requires fleets of cargo planes,
landing strips in several countries, networks of international contacts, pools of
investment money, networks for money
laundering and the high-level contacts for getting past U.S. Customs and the Drug
Enforcement Agency (DEA).

In 1989, pilot Mike Tolliver told CBS that, after years of smuggling drugs, he was
recruited into the contra supply operation by a "Mr. Hernandez." Tolliver
identified "Hernandez" as Felix Rodríguez, the CIA agent directing contra
supply from El
Salvador's Ilopango Air Base. Tolliver says he flew a DC-6 loaded with guns and ammunition
for "Hernandez" in March 1986, from Butler Aviation at the Miami Airport down to
Aguacate, the U.S.-controlled contra air base in Honduras. Tolliver says the guns were
unloaded by contras and he was paid about $70,000 by "Hernandez." After a
three-day layover, Tolliver said he flew the aircraft, reloaded with over 25,000 pounds of
marijuana, as a "nonscheduled military flight" into Homestead Air Force Base
near Miami.

"We landed about 1:30, 2 o'clock in the morning," said Tolliver, "and a
little blue truck came out and met us. [It] had a little
white sign on it that said `Follow Me' with flashing lights. We followed it." "I
was a little taken aback," Tolliver told the CBS
program West 57th. "I figured it was a DEA bust or a sting or something like
that." It wasn't. Tolliver said he just left the plane and the drugs sitting there at
the airport to be unloaded, and took a taxi from the base.[1]

West 57th traced this DC-6 back to a company called Vortex. Vortex is one of four airlines
hired by the U.S. State
Department to supply the contras--using money designated by Congress as being for
"humanitarian aid" only.

In April 1987, a Customs service official told the Boston Globe, "We think he did
land at Homestead," and acknowledged that there was a system under which contra
supply flights were able to fly in and out of U.S. airports free of Customs inspection.
But that same Customs official claimed that Tolliver was only a "free-lancer"
who "bluffed his way" into Homestead. One researcher writes, "It was not
explained how Tolliver bluffed his way into an Air Force base, leaving behind over 25,000
pounds of marijuana which apparently bluffed their way out."[1]
[1] Washington's
War on Nicaragua, Holly Sklar, South End Press, 1988

This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online

http://www.mcs.net/~rwor

Dallas Morning News

Claims linking Contras, drugs, El Salvador revived

(extracted from: http://cgi.sjmercury.com/drugs/postscript/update1130.htm) [no longer
available due to Agency pressure]

Published: Nov. 30, 1996

BY DAVID LaGESSE AND GEORGE RODRIGUE

Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON -- Ten years ago, El Salvador's Ilopango Air Base served as the major depot for
American aid pouring south into a secret war against Nicaragua's Marxist Sandinista
regime.

A former federal agent charges that Ilopango also served as a key transit point for
smugglers flying narcotics back north, some of whom flew for the U.S.-backed Contras.

Former Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Celerino Castillo III said that while the
White House ran its covert war, he ran his own secret operation -- and that his informants
found a startling mix of arms, narcotics and money at Ilopango.

Castillo, now retired and living in McAllen, Texas, said he found that many pilots flying
for the Contras were listed in DEA records as suspected smugglers.

''I found that other agencies were sleeping with my enemy,'' Castillo said in a recent
interview. ''They knew these guys (pilots) were suspected drug traffickers, and hired them
anyway.''

Former officials at the base deny permitting or condoning smuggling.  ''It is
absolutely false and all ... (expletive),'' said former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, who ran
the Contra resupply effort at Ilopango for the Reagan White House's National Security
Council.

... When Castillo first published his allegations, in a 1994 book titled ''Powderburns,''
they got little attention.

More recent allegations of possible CIA complicity in the cocaine trade, made most
prominently by the Mercury News, have raised new interest in Castillo's account. During a
Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week, members of the audience shouted demands
for an investigation of the Texan's charges.

... Information gathered by the Dallas Morning News in Washington, Texas, Panama and El
Salvador indicates that during his Central American service Castillo was rated as a
dedicated and capable agent and that he had grounds for thinking that the United States
was knowingly working with smugglers.

The Dallas Morning News spoke with Castillo's informants, with some of his supervisors and
with an accused smuggler who flew out of Ilopango. The paper also reviewed previous
congressional hearing records and some still-secret government documents by and about
Castillo.

Castillo's two chief informants had intimate knowledge of Ilopango and its military
overseers. They had access to its records. And they confirmed that they told Castillo that
the airport was often used by drug smugglers and by drug-money couriers.

...''Castillo's stuff about Ilopango fits,'' said John Mattes, a former investigator for
the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics and International Communications. Its
chairman, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., probed Contra smuggling allegations in the late 1980s.

See http://cgi.sjmercury.com/drugs/postscript/update1130.htm for the entire article. [no
longer available due to Agency pressure]

DEA Agent Celerino Castillo testimony

Celerino "Cele" Castillo III

Author: "POWDERBURNS" Cocaine, Contras & The Drug War • 2709 N. 28 1/2
St., McAllen,Texas 78501 •

Tele/Fax: 956-631-3818 Pager: 956-318-4913 • E-Mail: [email-masked]
WRITTEN
STATEMENT OF CELERINO CASTILLO III, (D.E.A., RETIRED) FOR THE HOUSE

PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE

April 27, 1998

For several years, I fought in the trenches of the front lines of Reagan's "Drug
War", trying to stamp out

what I considered American's greatest foreign threat. But, when I was posted, in Central
and South

America from 1984 through 1990, I knew we were playing the "Drug War Follies."
While our government

shouted "Just Say No !", entire Central and South American nations fell into
what are now known as,

"Cocaine democracies."

While with the DEA, I was able to keep journals of my assignments in Central and South
America. These

journals include names, case file numbers and DEA NADDIS (DEA Master Computer) information
to

back up my allegations. I have pictures and original passports of the victims that were
murdered by CIA

assets. These atrocities were done with the approval of the agencies.

We, ordinary Americans, can not trust the C.I.A. Inspector General to conduct a full
investigation into the

CIA or the DEA. Let me tell you why. When President Clinton (June, 1996) ordered The
Intelligence

Oversight Board to conduct an investigation into allegations that US Agents were involved
in atrocities in

Guatemala, it failed to investigate several DEA and CIA operations in which U.S. agents
knew before

hand that individuals (some Americans) were going to be murdered.

I became so frustrated that I forced myself to respond to the I.O.B report citing case
file numbers, dates,

and names of people who were murdered. In one case (DEA file # TG-86-0005) several
Colombians and

Mexicans were raped, tortured and murdered by CIA and DEA assets, with the approval of the
CIA.

Among those victims identified was Jose Ramon Parra-Iniguez, Mexican passport A-GUC-043
and his

two daughters Maria Leticia Olivier-Dominguez, Mexican passport A-GM-8381. Several
Colombian

nationals: Adolfo Leon Morales-Arcilia "a.k.a." Adolfo Morales-Orestes, Carlos
Alberto Ramirez, and Jiro

Gilardo-Ocampo. Both a DEA and a CIA agent were present, when the individuals were being

interrogated (tortured). The main target of that case was a Guatemalan Congressman,
(Carlos Ramiro

Garcia de Paz) who took delivery of 2,404 kilos of cocaine in Guatemala just before the
interrogation.

This case directly implicated the Guatemalan Government in drug trafficking (The
Guatemalan

Congressman still has his US visa and continues to travel at his pleasure into the US). To
add salt to the

wound, in 1989 these murders were investigated by the U.S Department of Justice, Office of

Professional Responsibility. DEA S/I Tony Recevuto determined that the Guatemalan Military

Intelligence, G-2 (worst human rights violators in the Western Hemisphere) was responsible
for these

murders. Yet, the U.S. government continued to order U.S. agents to work hand in hand with
the

Guatemalan Military. This information was never turned over to the I.O.B. investigation.
(see attached

response)

I have obtained a letter, dated May 28, 1996, from the DEA administrator, to U.S.
Congressman Lloyd

Doggett (D), Texas. In this letter, the administrator flatly lies, stating that DEA agents
"have never

engaged in any joint narcotics programs with the Guatemalan Military".

I was there. I was the leading Agent in Guatemala. 99.9% of DEA operations were conducted
with the

Guatemala military. In 1990, the DEA invited a Guatemalan military G-2 officer, Cpt.
Fuentez, to attend

a DEA narcotic school, which is against DEA policy. I know this for a fact because I
worked with this

officer for several years and was in Guatemala when he was getting ready to travel to the
States.

Facts of my investigation on CIA-Contras drug trafficking in El Salvador:

The key to understanding the "crack cocaine" epidemic, which exploded on our
streets in 1984, lies in

understanding the effect of congressional oversight on covert operations. In this case the
Boland

amendment(s) of the era, while intending to restrict covert operations as intended by the
will of the

People, only served to encourage C.I.A., the military and elements of the national
intelligence community

to completely bypass the Congress and the Constitution in an eager and often used covert
policy of

funding prohibited operations with drug money.

As my friend and colleague Michael Ruppert has pointed out through his own experience in
the 1970s,

CIA has often bypassed congressional intent by resorting to the drug trade (Vietnam, Laos,
Iran,

Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc).

When the Boland Amendment(s) cut the Contras off from a continued U.S. government subsidy,
George

Bush, his national security adviser Don Gregg, and Ollie North, turned to certain foreign
governments,

and to private contributions, to replace government dollars. Criminal sources of
contributions were not

excluded. By the end of 1981, through a series of Executive Orders and National Security
Decision

Directives, many of which have been declassified, Vice President Bush was placed in charge
of all Reagan

administration intelligence operations. All of the covert operations carried out by
officers of the CIA, the

Pentagon, and every other federal agency, along with a rogue army of former intelligence
operatives and

foreign agents, were commanded by George Bush. Gary Webb (San Jose Mercury News)
acknowledged,

that he simply had not traced the command structure over the Contras up into the White
House, although

he had gotten some indications that the operation was not just CIA.

On Dec. 01, 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed a secret order authorizing the CIA to
spend $19.9

million for covert military aid to the recently formed Contras--- hardly enough money to
launch a serious

military operation against the Cuban and Soviet-backed Sandinista regime.

In August 1982, George Bush hired Donald P. Gregg as his principal adviser for
national security affairs. In late 1984, Gregg introduced Oliver North to Felix Rodriguez,
(a retired CIA agent) who had already been working in Central America for over a year
under Bush's direction. Gregg personally introduced Rodriguez to Bush on Jan. 22, 1985.
Two days after his January 1985 meeting, Rodriguez went to El Salvador and made
arrangements to set up his base of operations at Ilopango air base. On Nov. 01, 1984, the
FBI arrested Rodriguez's partner, Gerard Latchinian and convicted him of smuggling $10.3
million in cocaine into the U.S.

On Jan. 18, 1985, Rodriguez allegedly met with money-launderer Ramon Milan-Rodriguez, who
had

moved $1.5 billion for the Medellin cartel. Milan testified before a Senate Investigation
on the Contras' drug smuggling, that before this 1985 meeting, he had granted Felix
Rodriguez's request and given $10 million from the cocaine for the Contras.

On September 10, 1985, North wrote in his Notebook:

"Introduced by Wally Grasheim/Litton, Calero/Bermudez visit to Ilopango to estab. log
support./maint.

(...)"

In October of 1985, Upon my arrival in Guatemala, I was forewarned by Guatemala DEA,
County

Attaché, Robert J. Stia, that the DEA had received intelligence that the Contras out of
Salvador, were

involved in drug trafficking. For the first time, I had come face to face with the
contradictions of my

assignment. The reason that I had been forewarned was because I would be the Lead Agent in
El

Salvador.

DEA Guatemalan informant, Ramiro Guerra (STG-81-0013) was in place in Guatemala and El
Salvador

on "Contra" intelligence. At the time (early 80's), he was a DEA fugitive on
"Rico" (Racketeering

Influence and Corrupt Organizations) and "CCE" (Continuing Criminal Enterprise)
charges out of San

Francisco. In 1986, he became an official advisor for the DEA trained El Salvador
Narcotics Task Force.

In 1989, all federal charges were dropped because of his cooperation with the DEA in
Central America.

Guerra is still a DEA informant in Guatemala.

December 1985, CNN reporter Brian Barger broke the story of the Contra's involved in drug
trafficking.

Notes from my Journals & Intelligence Gathering

January 13, 1986, I wrote a report on El Salvador under DEA file (GFTG-86-9145).

January 16, 1986---HK-1217W--Carlos Siva and Tulio Pedras Contra pilots.

January 23, 1986, GFTG-86-9999, Air

Intelligence in "El Salvador" TG-86-0003, Samana and Raul.

In 1986, I placed an informant (Mario Murga) at the Illopango airport in El Salvador. He
was initiated and

wrote the flight plans for most Contra pilots. After their names were submitted into
NADDIS, it was

revealed that most pilots had already been document in DEA files as traffickers. (See DEA
memo by me

date 2-14-89.)

Feb. 05, 1986, I had seized $800,000.00 in cash, 35 kilos of cocaine, and an airplane at
Ilopango. DEA #

TG-86-0001; Gaitan-Gaitan, Leonel

March 24, 1986, I wrote a DEA report on the Contra operation. (GFTG-86-4003, Frigorificos
de

Puntarenas, S.A), US registration aircraft N-68435 (Cessna 402).

April 17, 86, I wrote a Contra report on Arturo Renick; Johnny Ramirez (Costa Rica). Air
craft TI-AQU

& BE-60.. GFTG-86-9999; Air Intelligence.

April 25,26 1986--I met with CIA Felix Vargas in El Salvador (GFTG-86-9145).

April of 1986, The Consul General of the U.S Embassy in El Salvador (Robert J. Chavez),
warned me

that CIA agent George Witters was requesting a U.S visa for a Nicaraguan drug trafficker
and Contra pilot

by the name of Carlos Alberto Amador. (mentioned in 6 DEA files)

May 14, 1986, I spoke to Jack O'Conner DEA HQS Re: Matta-Ballesteros. (NOTE: Juan Ramon

Matta-Ballesteros was perhaps the single largest drug trafficker in the region. Operating
from Honduras he

owned several companies which were openly sponsored and subsidized by C.I.A.)

May 26, 1986, Mario Rodolfo Martinez-Murga became an official DEA informant (STG-86-0006).
Before

that, he had been a sub-source for Ramiro Guerra and Robert Chavez. Under Chavez, Murga's

intelligence resulted in the seizure of several hundred kilos of cocaine, (from Ilopango
to Florida) making

Murga a reliable source of information.

May 27, 1986, I Met U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alberto Adame in El Salvador. Has knowledge of the
Contra

Operation at Ilopango. He was in El Salvador from 1984 thru 1987.

On June 06, 1986, I send a DEA report/telex cable to Washington DEA in regards to Contra
pilots, Carlos

Amador and Carlos Armando Llamos (Honorary Ambassador from El Salvador to Panama)
(N-308P).

Llamos had delivered 4 1/2 million dollars to Panama from Ilopango for the Contras.
Information was

gathered by informant Mario Murga. Leon Portilla-TIANO = Navojo 31 & YS-265-American
Pilot:

Francisco Viaud. Roberto Gutierrez (N-82161) Mexican (X-AB)

June 10, 1998, I spoke to CIA agent Manny Brand Re: Sofi Amoury (Cuban Contra operator and

Guatemalan Galvis-Pena in Guatemala.

June 16, 1986-GFTG-86-9999, Air Intel (DEA-6) El Salvador

Early part of 1986, I received a telex/cable from DEA Costa Rica. SA Sandy
Gonzales requested for me to investigate hangers 4 and 5 at Ilopango. DEA Costa Rica had
received reliable intelligence that the Contras were flying cocaine into the hangers. Both
hangers were owned and operated by the CIA and the National Security Agency. Operators of
those two hangars were, Lt. Col. Oliver North and CIA contract agent, Felix Rodriguez,
"a.k.a." Max Gomez. (See attached letter by Bryan Blaney (O.I.C.), dated March
28, 1991).

June 18, 1986, Salvadoran Contra pilot, Francisco "Chico" Guirrola-Beeche (DEA
NADDIS # 1585334

and 1744448) had been documented as a drug trafficker. On this date, at 7:30a.m, he
departed Ilopango

to the Bahamas to air drop monies. On his return trip (June 21) Guirrola arrived with his
passengers

Alejandro Urbizu & Patricia Bernal. In 1988 Urbizu was arrested in the US in a Cocaine
conspiracy case.

In 1985 Guirrola was arrested in South Texas (Kleberg County) with 5 and 1/2 million
dollars cash, which

he had picked up in Los Angeles, California. (U.S. Customs in Dallas/ Ft. Worth had case
on him.)

June 18, 1986, DEA 6 on Air Intelligence, GFTG- 86-9999; El Salvador.

June 27 & 28, 1986, US Lt. Col. Albert Adame spoke with US Ambassador Edwin Corr re:
Narcotics.

In a July 26, 1986 report to the Congress, on contra-related narcotics allegation, The
State Department

described the Frogman CASE as follows, "this case gets it's nickname from swimmers
who brought

cocaine ashore in San Francisco on a Colombian vessel." It focused on a major
Colombian cocaine

smuggler, ALVARO CARVAJAL-MINOTA, who supplied a number of west coast smugglers. It was

further alleged that Nicaraguan Contra, Horacio Pererita, was subsequently convicted on
drug charges in

Costa Rica and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. Two other member of the organization
were

identified as Nicaraguans Carlos Cabezas & Julio Zavala. They were among the jailed
West Coast

traffickers and convicted of receiving drugs from Carvajal. They claimed long after their
convictions, that

they had delivered sums of monies to Contra resistance groups in Costa Rica.

July 28, 1986, I Met with CIA agents Don Richardson, Janice Elmore and Lt. Col. Adame in
El Salvador.

July 29, 1986, I Met with Don Richardson and Robert Chavez at the US Embassy in El
Salvador.

August 03,1986, Ramiro Guerra, Lt. Col. A. Adame, Dr. Hector Regalado (Dr. Death, who
claimed to

had shot Archbishop Romero) and myself went out on patrol in El Salvador.

In Aug. 1986, The Kerry Committee requested information on the Contra pilots from the DEA.
The

Department Of Justice flatly refused to give up any information.

Aug. 15, 1986, I spoke to CIA (Chief of Station) Jack McCavett and Don Richardson; El
Salvador; Re:

Fernando Canelas Sanez from Florida.

Aug. 18, 1986, I received $45,000.00 in cash from CIA Chief of Station (CIA), Jack
McKavett for the

purchase of vehicles for the DEA El Salvador Narcotic Task Force.

Aug. 28, 1986, I had a meeting with El Salvador US Ambassador, Edwin Corr, in regards to
Wally

Grasheim, Pete's Place and Carlos Amador (3:00 p.m.)

Oscar Alvarado-Lara "a.k.a." El Negro Alvarado

(CIA asset and Contra pilot) was mentioned in 3 DEA files. On June 11, 1986, Alvardo
transported 27

illegal Cubans to El Salvador Ilopango, where they were then smuggled into Guatemala. On
Sept. 28,

1987, Alvarado picked up CIA Randy Capister in Puerto Barrios Guatemala after a joint DEA,
CIA and

Guatemala Military (G-2) operation. Several Mexicans and Colombians were murdered and
raped. This

was supported by the CIA. DEA File TG-86-0005.

1986, DEA El Salvador, initiated a file on Walter L. Grasheim (TG-87-0003). He is
mentioned in several

DEA, FBI and U.S Customs files. This DEA file is at The National Archives in The
Iran-Contra file in

Washington D.C (bulky # 2316). Also see attached Top Secret/Declassified Record of
Interview on Mr.

Grasheim, by the Office of Independent Counsel, dated Jan. 03, 1991.

Sept. 01, 1986, at approximately 5:00pm, I received a phone call in Guatemala from (C.I)
Ramiro Guerra,

Re: Raid at Wally's house in El Salvador Wally's plane (N-246-J).

On September 01, 1986, Walter Grasheim (a civilian) residence in El Salvador was search by
The DEA

Task Force. Found at the residence was an arsenal of US military munitions, (allegedly for
a Contra

military shipment). Found were cases of C-4 explosives, grenades, ammunition, sniper
rifles, M-16's,

helicopter helmets and knives. Also found were files of payment to Salvadoran Military
Officials (trips to

New York City). Found at his residence were radios and license plates belonging to the US
Embassy. We

also found an M16 weapon belonging to the US Mil-Group Commander, Col. Steel. Prior to the
search, I

went to every department of the U.S. Embassy and asked if this individual worked in any
way shape or

form with the embassy. Every head of the departments denied that he worked for them. A
pound of

marijuana and marijuana plants growing in the back yard, were also found.

Sept. 02, 1986, I departed Guatemala on Taca Airlines @ 7:30a.m to El Salvador.

Sept. 26, 1986, Meeting with Col. Steel Re: Mr. Grasheim (Col. Steel admitted that he had
given an M-16

to Grasheim) and CIA George W. Also talked to Don Richardson (CIA) re: Ramiro Guerra.
Talked to

Col. Adame Re: CIA George.

October 03, 1986, Spoke to DEA Panama re: Mr. Grasheim. Was advised to be careful.

October 15, 1986, Asst. Atty. Gen. Mark Richard testified before the Kerry Committee, that
he had

attended a meeting with 20 to 25 officials and that the DEA did not want to provide any of
the

information the committee had requested on the Contra involvement in drug trafficking.

October 21, 1986, I send a Telex/cable to Washington D.C on the Contras.

October 22, 1986 talked to El Salvador Re: Grasheim.

October 23, 1986, HK-1960P Honduras. 1,000 kilos of cocaine. DEA- 6 was written on this
case.

October 29, 1986 Talked to DEA HQS (John Martch) re Contras & Grasheim.

October 30, 1986, Talked to Salvadoran Gen. Blandon re: to Mr. Grasheim.

Nov. 07, 1986, Talked to John Martch 202-786-4356 and Azzam-633-1049; Home: 301-262-1007.

(Contras).

Nov. 13, 1986, I Met with Ambassador Corr @2:00pm re: Mr. Grasheim. (He stated, "let
the chips fall

where they may." Met w/ Lt. Col. Adame.

November 14, 1986, Met with Salvadoran Col. Villa Marona re: Mr. Grasheim. He advised that
the U.S

Embassy had approved for Grasheim to work at Ilopango.

On January 20, 1987, Joel Brinkley (special to the New York Times) reported. "Contra
Arms Crew said

To Smuggle Drugs" The 3rd secret had surfaced. Brinkley wrote: "Fed. Drug
investigators uncovered

evidence last fall that the American flight crews which covertly carried arms to the
Nicaraguan rebels were

smuggling cocaine and other drugs on their return trips back to the US. Administration
Officials said today

that when the crew members, based in El Salvador, learned that DEA agents were
investigating their

activities, one of them warned that they had White House protection. The Times then quoted
an

anonymous US official who said the crew member's warnings which came after DEA searched
his San

Salvador house for drugs, caused 'quite a stir' at Ilopango."

Feb. 09, 1987, I had meeting with Lt. Col. Adame and Elmore re: major argument with DEA
HQS I.A.

Lourdez Border. They had just arrived in Guatemala for a two-day fact finding tour of El
Salvador.

Feb.10, 1987, I met with U.S. Ambassador Corr (Salvador) re DEA HQS Intel. Analyst Lourdez
Border

and Doug (last name unknown) both were rookies). In two days in El Salvador, they
determined that

there was no contra involvement in drug trafficking.

February 27. 1987, I spoke to Mike Alston DEA Miami, RE: Contra pilots John Hall; Bruce
Jones' airstrip

in Costa Rica, Colombian Luis Rodriguez; Mr. Shrimp-Ocean Hunter Costa Rica > to Miami.
Contra

Operation from Central American to U.S.

March 03, 1987, met with Janis Elmore (CIA) from 9:00pm till 12:00

March 30, 1987, I invited U.S. Custom Agent Richard Rivera to El Salvador in an attempt to
trace

ammunitions and weapons found in Mr.Grasheim's residence. It's alleged that The Pentagon
put a stop on

his trace. (They were never able to trace the items).

April 01, 1987, Bob Stia, Walter (pilot) Morales and myself flew to El Salvador. Met with
two CIA agents

who advised us that we could no longer utilize Murga because he was now working with
them).

April 07,08,09, 1987, I met with John Martch in Guatemala Re: Contras and OPR.

Sept. 27, 1987, Central American CIA agent, Randy Capister, the Guatemala military (G-2)
and myself,

seized over 2,404 kilos of cocaine from a Guatemalan Congressman, Carlos Ramiro Garcia de
Paz and

the Medellin cartel (biggest cocaine seizure in Central America and top five ever).
However, several

individuals were murdered and raped on said operation. CIA agent and myself saw the
individual being

interrogated. The Congressman was never arrested or charged.

October 22, 1987, I received a call from DEA HQS Everett Johnson, not to close Contra
files because

some committee was requesting file. If you have an open file, you do not have access to
the files under

Freedom of Information Act.

Aug. 30, 1988, Received intelligence from (Guido Del Prado) at the U.S. Embassy, El
Salvador re: Carlos

Armando Llemus-Herrera (Contra pilot).

Oct. 27, 1988, Received letter from "Bill," Regional Security Officer at the
Embassy in El Salvador re:

Corruption on US ambassador Corr and del Prado.

Dec. 03, 1988, DEA seized 356 kilos of cocaine in Tiquisate, Guatemala (DEA # TG-89-0002;
Hector

Sanchez). Several Colombians were murdered on said operation and condoned by the DEA and
CIA. I

have pictures of individuals that were murdered in said case. The target was on Gregorio
Valdez (CIA

asset) of The Guatemala Piper Co. At that time, all air operations for the CIA and DEA
flew out of Piper.

Aug. 24, 1989, Because of my information, the U.S. Embassy canceled Guatemalan Military,
Lt. Col.

Hugo Francisco Moran-Carranza, (Head of Interpol and Corruption) his U.S. visa. He was
documented

as a drug trafficker and corrupt Guatemalan Official. He was on his way to a U.S. War
College for one

year, invited by the CIA.

Feb. 21, 1990, I send a telex-cable to DEA HQS Re: Moran's plan to assassinate me.

Between Aug. 1989 and March 06, 1990, Col. Moran had initiated the plan to assassinate me
in El

Salvador and blame it on the guerrillas. On March 06, 1990, I traveled to Houston to
deliver an

undercover audio tape on my assassination. The Houston DEA S.A Mark Murtha (DEA File

M3-90-0053) had an informant into Lt. Col. Moran.

Feb. 24, 1990, I moved my family back home because DEA could not make a decision.

March 15, 1990, After 6 months knowing about the assassination plan, DEA transferred me
out to San

Diego, California for 6months.

April 05, 1990, an illegal search was conducted at my residence in Guatemala by Guatemala
DEA agents

Tuffy Von Briensen, Larry Hollifield and Guatemalan Foreign Service National, Marco
Gonzales in

Guatemala (No search warrant). DEA HQS agreed that it had been an illegal search requested
by OPR S/I

Tony Recevuto. (OPR file PR-TG-90-0068) On Sept. 16, 1991, a questionnaire was faxed to me
in

regards to the illegal search. (see attached)

April 11, 1991, in an undercover capacity, Carlos Cabezas's wife sold me 5 kilos of
cocaine in San

Francisco. (DEA # R3-91-0036; Milagro Rodriguez)

On April 16, 1991, I met with Carlos Cabezas at the DEA Office in San Francisco. He stated
to me that

Zavala and himself were informants for the FBI in San Francisco at the time his wife
delivered the

cocaine. Alvaro Carbajal had supplied the 5 kilos of cocaine. (There is undercover audio
tape available as

evidence) Mr. Cabezas gave me his undercover business card. It was identified as "The
California

Company" at 3519-Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94110 REAL ESTATE & INVESTMENTS
Carlos A.

Cabezas, Sales Associate Pager: 371-7108 Fax: (415) 647-0918; Res: (415 991-3104; Bus:
(415)

647-8014.

May 10, 1990, DEA HQS OPR S/I Tony Recevuto returned to Guatemala and requested from the
U.S.

Ambassador, to please grant Lt. Col. Hugo Moran-Carranza a US Visa, so that he could
testify before the

BCCI investigation in Miami. The ambassador could not understand why anyone, for any
reason, request

a US Visa to an individual who had planned the assassination of a US drug agent.

May 27, 1990, I was ordered to returned back to Guatemala to pack my house whole goods.
The threat

was still very real for me. On June 01, 1990, I departed Guatemala for the last time. On
June 05, 1990,

another American was killed by the Guatemalan Military.

Before the Kerry Committee

The CIA acknowledgment by Central American Task Force Chief testified: "with respect
to (drug

trafficking) by the Resistance Forces...It is not a couple of people. It is a lot of
people."

The DEA has always stated that my reports were unfounded, but they later recanted. DEA
Assistant

Administrator, David Westrate stated of the Nicaraguan War: "It is true that people
on both sides of the

equation (in the Nicaraguan War) were drug traffickers, and a couple of them were pretty
significant."

In a Sept. 20-26, 1989, series of debriefings and in subsequent debriefing on Feb. 13,
1990, by DEA

agents in Los Angeles, Lawrence Victor Harrison, an American-born electronics specialist
who had

worked in Mexico and had been involved with the leading figures in the Mexican drug
cartel, was

interviewed. He testified that he had been present when two of the partners of
Matta-Ballesteros and

Rafael Caro-Quintero, met with American pilots working out of Eloping air base in El
Salvador, providing

arms to the Contras. The purpose of the meeting was to work out drug deals.

Several days earlier, on Feb. 09, 1990, Harrison had told DEA interrogators that
Nicaraguan Contras were

being trained at a ranch in Vera Cruz, owned by Rafael Caro Quintero. It was at Quintero's
Guadalajara

ranch that DEA Agent Kiki Camarena, and his pilot were interrogated, tortured and buried
alive.

January 23, 1991, letter to Mr. William M. Baker, Asst. Director of Criminal Investigative
Division, FBI;

from Lawrence E. Walsh and Mike Foster,... requesting several FBI files on Walter L.
Grasheim. (see

attached)

January 30, 1991, letter to DEA Ronald Caffrey, Deputy Asst. Administrator for Operation
at DEA from

Craig A. Guillen, Associate Counsel of the Office of Independent Counsel; requesting
Walter L. Grasheim

reports. (see attached)

In 1991, a DEA General File was opened on an Oliver North in Washington D.C.
(GFGD-91-9139)

"smuggling weapons into the Philippines with known drug traffickers."

In 1991, before I departed the DEA, I met with FBI agent Mike Foster, investigator for The
Office Of

Independent Counsel on Iran-Contra, where I gave him all detail information of the
Contras' involvement

in drugs.

October, 1994, The Washington Post reported that former Government Officials, including
the DEA,

CIA, State Department, US Customs and White House official were quoted as saying that Lt.
Col. Oliver

North did not advise them of his knowledge that the Contras were involved in drug
trafficking.

In 1997, I joined DEA SA Richard Horn in a federal class action suit against the CIA. The
suit is against

the CIA and other federal agencies for spying on several DEA agents and other unnamed DEA
employees

and their families. United States District Court for The District of Columbia; Richard
Horn vs. Warren

Christopher, Civil Action No. 1:96CV02120 (HHG) January 30, 1994.

This is a list of DEA case file and names of individuals that may help support

my allegations.

GFTG-86-9145, GFTG-87-9145 El Salvador

GFTG-86-9999, GFTG-87-9999, Air Intelligence

TG-87-0003, Walter L. Grasheim (Salvador case)

TG-86-0001, Leonel Guitan-Guitan

DEA Informants STG-86-0006 and STG-81-0013

US Ambassador Edwin Corr

Janis Elmore (CIA 1986 through 1989). I reported to her when in El Salvador.

Don Richardson ( CIA & Political Officer in El Salvador 1986,87). I reported to him in
El Salvador.

Felix Vargas (CIA El Salvador 1986, 87)

Col. James Steel ( Mil-Group Commander El Salvador).

U.S. Lt. Col. Alberto Adame (Under Steel)

Lupita Vega (the only Salvadoran which was cleared for "Top Secret") worked in
the Milgroup in El

Salvador.

Felix Rodriguez (CIA at Ilopango hanger 4 & 5)

Jack McCavett (CIA Chief of Station in El Salvador).

CIA George Witter in El Salvador. He asked for US visa on drug trafficker Carlos Alberto
Amador.

CIA Randy Capister (covert operation in Central America 1985 t090). Involved in several
atrocities.

CIA Manuel Brand (retired Cuban-American) Guatemala

State Department (De Luoie) El Salvador.

State Department RSO Bill Rouche El Salvador

State Dept. Official Del Prado (El Salvador)

DEA John Martsh (DEA HQS)

DEA Jack O'Conner (DEA HQS)

DEA HQS Agents AZZAM & Frank Torello (retired) involved in Contra ops in Europe.

Salvadoran General Bustillo (retired in Florida)

US Custom Richard Rivera and Philip Newton

DEA Sandy Gonzales (Costa Rica)

Lincoln Benedicto-Honduras US Embassy-Consul General April 30, 1986. Re: Matta-Ballesteros

Some people have asked, "Why I am doing this? I reply, "That a long time ago I
took an oath to protect

The Constitution of the United States and its citizens". In reality, it has cost me
so much to become a

complete human being, that I've lost my family. In 1995, I made a pilgrimage to the
Vietnam Wall, where

I renounced my Bronze Star in protest of the atrocities my government had committed in
Central

America. I have now become a veteran of my third, and perhaps most dangerous war --- a war
against

the criminals within my own Government. Heads have to roll for those who are responsible
and still

employed by the government. They will be the first targets in an effective drug strategy.
If not, we will

continue to have groups of individuals who will be beyond any investigation, who will
manipulate the

press, judges and members of our Congress, and still be known in our government as those
who are

above the law.

Celerino Castillo III

Call Cele at (956)631-3818 to purchase his book - POWDER BURNS: Cocaine, Contras and
the Drug War .

Model letter to Janet Reno supporting an investigation

Please forward all responses to CAAEF at: [email-masked]
or see P/F info at end of letter.
I hope many of you will agree to have your name
or organization on the letter. Many of us are working hard at keeping this issue alive
inside Washington. This is one step - please stay posted for more to come.

Please pass this to others you think will sign on. Note the deadline to have your
information in is 11 p.m. on Monday, 20th. The letter will be hand-delivered on Tuesday,
21st July.

You are also encouraged to send your own letter, however we would like to get a good
showing of solidarity from our communities.

Thank you all for your support!

Paddy

=====================================================

Send a message: "YES add my name __________ and organization ____________ to the
Janet Reno letter." Call 202-543-6780 or fax your OK to 202-543-6434 or simply
respond by e-mail to [email-masked] NO LATER THAN MONDAY
JUNE 20 at 11 PM!!

--------------------------------------

(LETTER)

July **, 1998

The Honorable Janet Reno

Attorney General of the United States

U.S. Department of Justice

Constitution Avenue and 10th Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Reno:

We are writing as members of the Cuban American Community to express our deep concern
about recent news reports of financial links between people living in the U.S. and Luis
Posada Carriles, the alleged mastermind of a series of bombings targeting Cuban hotels,
restaurants and night clubs last year. In total, 12 bombings occurred in Cuba between
April and September 1997. On September 4, 1997, a bomb exploded at the Copacabana Hotel,
claiming the life of Fabio di Celmo, an Italian citizen. We request a full investigation
of these reports, and if warranted, the prosecution of those involved in violations of
U.S. law.

According to the New York Times, Posada Carriles admitted to receiving financial
support for acts of international terrorism over the course of several years from the late
Jorge Mas Canosa, founder and long-time Chairman of the Cuban American National
Foundation(CANF).  Additionally, the New York Times claims to be in possession of
independent evidence that indicates that financial support for the specific purpose of
planting bombs in Cuba last summer came from a number of other individuals within the
United States.

We are particularly disturbed by reports that the FBI responded indifferently to
credible evidence of the involvement of American citizens when it was presented to them by
a Cuban American businessman based in Guatemala at the time of the bombings. We believe
that had such evidence come to your attention, it may have helped avert the injuries and
loss of life caused by the bombings.

These revelations follow on the heels of an apparent foiled assassination attempt
against Fidel Castro by several Cuban Americans who were arrested by the U.S. Coast Guard
off the coast of Puerto Rico in October of last year. Recent media stories have reported
that one of the rifles found aboard the cabin cruiser La Esperanza, which was owned by a
member of the Executive Board of CANF, was registered to the President of CANF.  As
Cuban Americans, we share a great concern for the situation of our loved ones on the
island. However, we strongly oppose the use of violence as a means of demonstrating
political opposition. Regardless of the nature of the Cuban government, we can not condone
actions that violate international and U.S. law, and most importantly, place our loved
ones in danger.

We have committed ourselves to the humanitarian cause of reconciliation between Cubans
in exile and our brothers and sisters on the island. We disapprove of any person who from
U.S. soil conducts or finances acts of violence against Cubans or Cuban Americans.

We call on you to do all in your power to investigate and prosecute any person under
U.S. jurisdiction that is found to be involved in acts of violence against the Cuban state
and people. Further, we call on you to condemn in the strongest terms the use of terror to
achieve political goals.

We look forward to further contact with you on this issue.

Sincerely,

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*

* CUBAN AMERICAN ALLIANCE EDUCATION FUND, INC.

*

* CAAEF (East Coast) CAAEF (West Coast)

*

* 614 Maryland Ave., NE, #2 3161 Bridle Dr.

*

* Washington, DC 20002 Hayward, CA 94541

*

* Tel(202)543-6780 e-mail: [email-masked] Tel(510)538-9694

*

* Fax(202)543-6434 WebPage: www.cubamer.org Fax(510)538-9614

*

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Christmas note from President Bush to Felix Rodriguez, in
his handwriting, 12/88

http://www.parascope.com/ds/papertrail/felixNote.htm

Powderburns; Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War

by Celerino III Castillo . To purchase ==>

Emminently readable account of the Contra resupply effort run by Felix
Rodriguez

See also http://www.copvcia.com/contra1.htm
for a page on Castillo with photo and a statement

And also http://www.copvcia.com/ for
general info, site recommended by le Monde.

Contacting AfroCubaWeb

Electronic mail

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