[24], The New York Times published two articles on the series in mid-October, both written by reporter Tim Golden. U.S. officials involved in Central America failed to address the drug issue for fear of jeopardizing the war efforts against Nicaragua. 
UNODC is continuously monitoring and researching global illicit drug markets in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their dynamics. It was accompanied by a heavy-handed picture of a man smoking crack under the CIA seal. WebThe first book to prove CIA and U.S. government complicity in global drug trafficking, The Politics of Heroin includes meticulous documentation of dishonesty and dirty dealings at And I know so because I was told by some of these pilots that in fact they had done that."[54]. [This drug ring] opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles [and, as a result,] the cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America.[17]. The article also discussed Webb's contacts with Ross's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross's defense had used Webb's series. (See Christopher Robbins, Air America, Avon Books, 1985, chapter 9). Between 1982 and 1989, during which time the CIA ships billions of dollars in weapons and other aid to guerrilla forces, annual opium production in Afghanistan increases to about 800 tons from 250 tons. The Nationalist Chinese army, organized by the CIA to wage war against Communist China, became the opium baron of The Golden Triangle (parts of Burma, Thailand, and Laos), the worlds largest source of opium and heroin. by LostKingOfPortugal. The CIAs history began in the 1980s. "[52], The report also stated that former DEA agent Celerino Castillo alleged that during the 1980s, Ilopango Airport in El Salvador was used by Contras for drug smuggling flights, and "his attempts to investigate Contra drug smuggling were stymied by DEA management, the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, and the CIA". When Senate investigators later asked the Justice Department to explain this unusual turn of events, they ran into a wall of secrecy. And major mediathe New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Posthave run long pieces refuting the Mercury News series. New Marxist regime undertakes vigorous anti-narcotics campaign aimed at suppressing poppy production, triggering a revolt by semi-autonomous tribal groups that traditionally raised opium for export. [46], The report covered actions by Department of Justice employees in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the DEA, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and U.S. In 1989, the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations (the Kerry committee) concluded a three-year investigation by stating: There was substantial evidence of drug smuggling through the war zones on the part of individual Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots mercenaries who worked with the Contras, and Contra supporters throughout the region. Thai national Puttapron Khramkhruan is arrested in connection with the seizure of 59 pounds of opium in Chicago. They also note that neither Ross nor the gangs were the first or sole distributors of crack in L.A. Webb, however, did not claim this. . The CIAs drug network, wrote Webb, opened the first pipeline between Colombias cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles, a city now known as the crack capital of the world. Black gangs used their profits to buy automatic weapons, sometimes from one of the CIA-linked drug dealers. Another Costa Rican-based drug ring involved a group of Cuban Americans whom the CIA had hired as military trainers for the contras. Notre site en Franais: mondialisation.ca. Police ruled it a suicide. Former head of the Venezuelan National Guard and CIA operative Gen. Ramon Gullien Davila is indicted in Miami on charges of smuggling as much as 22 tons of cocaine into the United States. Deciding that he has outlived his usefulness to the Contra cause, the Reagan Administration approves an indictment of Noriega on drug charges. According to the report, "Twelve American, Nicaraguan and Cuban-American rebel backers interviewed by The Associated Press said they had been questioned over the past several months [about contra cocaine trafficking] by the FBI. Despite the CIA suppression of investigative reporting on the matter, many of the US government's own reports have confirmed significant involvement of the CIA with cocaine trafficking during the war. In 1986, the In August 1996, the San Jose Mercury News initiated an extended series of articles linking the CIAs contra army to the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles. One of the Americans said "that in one ongoing operation, the cocaine is unloaded from planes at rebel airstrips and taken to an Atlantic coast port where it is concealed on shrimp boats that are later unloaded in the Miami area. (In 1982, the DEA learned that Felix Gallardo was moving $20 million a month through a single Bank of America account, but it could not get the CIA to cooperate with its investigation.) WebNoriega became involved in drug trafficking and in 1977 was removed from the CIA payroll. He concluded: "How did these shortcomings occur? Among its officers were a network of US generals, admirals and CIA men, including fommer CIA Director William Colby, who was also one of its lawyers. 
In 1986, the Agency added some more names to its payroll by creating a new Haitian organization, the National Intelligence Service (SIN). Although Norwin Meneses is listed in DEA computers as a major international drug smuggler implicated in 45 separate federal investigations since 1974, he lived conspicuously in California until 1989 and was never arrested in the U.S. Senate investigators and agents from four organizations all complained that their contra-drug investigations were hampered, Webb wrote, by the CIA or unnamed national security interests. In the 1984 Frogman Case, for instance, the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco returned $36,800 seized from a Nicaraguan drug dealer after two contra leaders sent letters to the court arguing that the cash was intended for the contras. The Corsicans gained political influence and control over the docksideal conditions for cementing a long-term partnership with mafia drug distributors, which turned Marseille into the postwar heroin capital of the Western world. U.S. officials, including then-ClA Director William Webster and several DEA officers, sent Noriega letters of praise for efforts to thwart drug trafficking (albeit only against competitors of his Medellin Cartel patrons). . 2021 Institute for Policy Studies1301 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 | 202-234-9382. The millions of dollars made from those sales were later used to fund a secret war against the leftist Sandinista regime. WebIn the 1980s, the CIA was involved in supporting the Contras, a rebel group fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. 
It started when Webb wrote a series of three articles for the San Jose Mercury News in 1996 dubbed Dark Alliance. In his report, Webb who had won a Pulitzer in 1989 for a different story claimed that the CIA was partly responsible for bringing crack cocaine to the United States in the 1980s. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the of his actions. Ricky Ross claims to this day to have been provided with cocaine by the CIA, but is this true? WebAt least four transport companies under investigation for drug trafficking received U.S. government contracts to carry nonlethal supplies to the contras. An editorial in the Times, while criticizing the series for making "unsubstantiated charges," conceded that it did find "drug-smuggling and dealing by Nicaraguans with at least tentative connections to the Contras" and called for further investigation. [51], It found no information to support the claim that the agency interfered with law enforcement actions against Ross, Blandn or Meneses. "[10], On December 20, 1985, these and other additional charges were laid out in an Associated Press article after an extensive investigation, which included interviews with "officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Customs Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Costa Rica's Public Security Ministry, as well as rebels and Americans who work with them". We believe that Cuban involvement in drug trafficking may help to promote Cuban political objec- tives in the Western Hemisphere. They deny that Bay Area-based Nicaraguan drug dealers, Juan Norwin Meneses and Oscar Danilo Blandon, worked for the CIA or contributed millions in drug profits to the contras, as Webb contended. The US Trafficking in illicit drugs at the wholesale and retail level-which involves processing, smug- gling, and distribution-continues to be largely con- trolled by criminal organizations with international connections. [25], The Los Angeles Times devoted the most space to the story, developing its own three-part series called The Cocaine Trail. 
He also defended the series in interviews with all three papers. Read more Print length 734 pages Language English Publisher Lawrence Hill Books Publication date May With branches in Saudi Arabia, Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, and the U.S., Nugan Hand Bank financed drug trafficking, money laundering, and international arms dealing. 
In 1986, the Agency added some more names to its payroll by creating a new Haitian organization, the National Intelligence Service (SIN). Some insurgent groups, a few terrorist organizations, and a number of sovereign states also play a role in drug trafficking. In 1985, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Celerino Castillo reported to his superiors that cocaine was being stored at the CIAs contra-supply warehouse at Ilopango Air Force Base in El Salvador for shipment to the U.S. www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. [31], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. WebIn 1976, CIA Director George Bush pays Noriega $110,000 for his services, even though as early as 1971 U.S. officials agents had evidence that he was deeply involved in drug US officials admitted in 1990 that they had failed to investigate or take action against the drug operabon because of a desire not to offend their Pakistani and Afghan allies. 
As I said earlier, we have found no evidence in the course of this lengthy investigation of any conspiracy by CIA or its employees to bring drugs into the United States. PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was for years a useful tool of the United States, until President George H.W. 
Even sources who are routinely skeptical of the official line on the contras agree that the idea that the agency was behind drug smuggling by the contras is fantasy, journalist Eliane Shannon, who covered the war on drugs, told TIME shortly after the Mercury New ran the articles. ), For more than a decade, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was a highly paid CIA asset and collaborator, despite knowledge by U.S. drug authorities as early as 1971 that the general was heavily involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. The charges linked the Contra trafficking to Sebastin Gonzlez Mendiola, who was charged with cocaine trafficking on November 26, 1984, in Costa Rica. Ceppos said that the paper did not have proof that top CIA officials knew about the connection between the L.A. drug trade and the contras. WebThis work is incredibly comprehensive, such as by including a description of the OSS-CIA's first-ever coup, to seize control over Thailand so as to supply the CIA the dark money Among the top Mexican politicians, law enforcement and intelligence officials from whom Sicilia enjoyed support was Miguel Nazar Haro, head of the Direccion Federal de Seguridad (DFS), who the CIA admits was its `most important source in Mexico and Central America.' Marseilles first heroin laboratones were opened in 1951, only months after the Corsicans took over the waterfront. Although it did find that both men were major drug dealers, "guilty of enriching themselves at the expense of countless drug users", and that they had contributed money to the Contra cause, "we did not find that their activities were responsible for the crack cocaine epidemic in South Central Los Angeles, much less the rise of crack throughout the nation, or that they were a significant source of support for the Contras. They used contra planes and a Costa Rican-based shrimp company, which laundered money for the CIA, to channel cocaine to the U.S. Costa Rica was not the only route. Guatemala, whose military intelligence serviceclosely associated with the CIAharbored many drug traffickers, according to the DEA, was another way station along the cocaine highway. [43] In the column Ceppos continued to defend parts of the article, writing that the series had "solidly documented" that the drug ring described in the series did have connections with the Contras and did sell large quantities of cocaine in inner-city Los Angeles. It concluded, however, that these problems were "a far cry from the type of broad manipulation and corruption of the federal criminal justice system suggested by the original allegations. `I guess we're all aware that they [the CIA] do business in a different way than everybody else,' the judge notes. document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); He does, however, believe in real conspiracies: If I believe it, theres nothing theory about it. The true story on which the movie is based, however, makes it clear that its not always obvious whats a theory and whats the truth. The paper also gave Webb permission to visit Central America again to get more evidence supporting the story. The third article, by Mitchell and Fulwood, covered the effects of crack on African Americans and how it affected their reaction to some of the rumors that arose after the Dark Alliance series. Global Research The lieutenant trafficker was also a Contra, and the CIA knew that there was an arms-for-drugs shuttle and did nothing to stop it. The inspector general is clear that in some cases CIA knowledge of allegations or information indicating that organizations or individuals had been involved in drug trafficking did not deter their use by CIA. In other cases, CIA did not act to verify drug trafficking allegations or information even when it had the opportunity to do so. 
urchinTracker(). [33] He did this in a column that appeared on November 3, defending the series, but also committing the paper to a review of major criticisms. 
[27] McManus found Blandn and Meneses's financial contributions to Contra organizations to be significantly less than the "millions" claimed in Webb's series, and no evidence that the CIA had tried to protect them. 
During U.S. military involvement in Laos and other parts of Indochina, Air America flew opium and heroin throughout the area. [49], According to the report, the Inspector-General's office (OIG) examined all information the agency had "relating to CIA knowledge of drug trafficking allegations in regard to any person directly or indirectly involved in Contra activities." How Ross 's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross 's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross 's had!, when the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote defend! Of sovereign states also play a role in drug trafficking and in 1977 was removed the. Over the waterfront of sovereign states also play a role in drug trafficking Department to explain this unusual of. Senate investigators later asked the Justice Department to explain this unusual turn of events they... For drug trafficking may help to promote Cuban political objec- tives in the Western Hemisphere, they into... 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UNODC is continuously monitoring and researching global illicit drug markets in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of their dynamics. It was accompanied by a heavy-handed picture of a man smoking crack under the CIA seal. WebThe first book to prove CIA and U.S. government complicity in global drug trafficking, The Politics of Heroin includes meticulous documentation of dishonesty and dirty dealings at And I know so because I was told by some of these pilots that in fact they had done that."[54]. [This drug ring] opened the first pipeline between Colombia's cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles [and, as a result,] the cocaine that flooded in helped spark a crack explosion in urban America.[17]. The article also discussed Webb's contacts with Ross's attorney and prosecution complaints of how Ross's defense had used Webb's series. (See Christopher Robbins, Air America, Avon Books, 1985, chapter 9). Between 1982 and 1989, during which time the CIA ships billions of dollars in weapons and other aid to guerrilla forces, annual opium production in Afghanistan increases to about 800 tons from 250 tons. The Nationalist Chinese army, organized by the CIA to wage war against Communist China, became the opium baron of The Golden Triangle (parts of Burma, Thailand, and Laos), the worlds largest source of opium and heroin. by LostKingOfPortugal. The CIAs history began in the 1980s. "[52], The report also stated that former DEA agent Celerino Castillo alleged that during the 1980s, Ilopango Airport in El Salvador was used by Contras for drug smuggling flights, and "his attempts to investigate Contra drug smuggling were stymied by DEA management, the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, and the CIA". When Senate investigators later asked the Justice Department to explain this unusual turn of events, they ran into a wall of secrecy. And major mediathe New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Posthave run long pieces refuting the Mercury News series. New Marxist regime undertakes vigorous anti-narcotics campaign aimed at suppressing poppy production, triggering a revolt by semi-autonomous tribal groups that traditionally raised opium for export. [46], The report covered actions by Department of Justice employees in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the DEA, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and U.S. In 1989, the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations (the Kerry committee) concluded a three-year investigation by stating: There was substantial evidence of drug smuggling through the war zones on the part of individual Contras, Contra suppliers, Contra pilots mercenaries who worked with the Contras, and Contra supporters throughout the region. Thai national Puttapron Khramkhruan is arrested in connection with the seizure of 59 pounds of opium in Chicago. They also note that neither Ross nor the gangs were the first or sole distributors of crack in L.A. Webb, however, did not claim this. . The CIAs drug network, wrote Webb, opened the first pipeline between Colombias cocaine cartels and the black neighborhoods of Los Angeles, a city now known as the crack capital of the world. Black gangs used their profits to buy automatic weapons, sometimes from one of the CIA-linked drug dealers. Another Costa Rican-based drug ring involved a group of Cuban Americans whom the CIA had hired as military trainers for the contras. Notre site en Franais: mondialisation.ca. Police ruled it a suicide. Former head of the Venezuelan National Guard and CIA operative Gen. Ramon Gullien Davila is indicted in Miami on charges of smuggling as much as 22 tons of cocaine into the United States. Deciding that he has outlived his usefulness to the Contra cause, the Reagan Administration approves an indictment of Noriega on drug charges. According to the report, "Twelve American, Nicaraguan and Cuban-American rebel backers interviewed by The Associated Press said they had been questioned over the past several months [about contra cocaine trafficking] by the FBI. Despite the CIA suppression of investigative reporting on the matter, many of the US government's own reports have confirmed significant involvement of the CIA with cocaine trafficking during the war. In 1986, the In August 1996, the San Jose Mercury News initiated an extended series of articles linking the CIAs contra army to the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles. One of the Americans said "that in one ongoing operation, the cocaine is unloaded from planes at rebel airstrips and taken to an Atlantic coast port where it is concealed on shrimp boats that are later unloaded in the Miami area. (In 1982, the DEA learned that Felix Gallardo was moving $20 million a month through a single Bank of America account, but it could not get the CIA to cooperate with its investigation.) WebNoriega became involved in drug trafficking and in 1977 was removed from the CIA payroll. He concluded: "How did these shortcomings occur? Among its officers were a network of US generals, admirals and CIA men, including fommer CIA Director William Colby, who was also one of its lawyers. In 1986, the Agency added some more names to its payroll by creating a new Haitian organization, the National Intelligence Service (SIN). Although Norwin Meneses is listed in DEA computers as a major international drug smuggler implicated in 45 separate federal investigations since 1974, he lived conspicuously in California until 1989 and was never arrested in the U.S. Senate investigators and agents from four organizations all complained that their contra-drug investigations were hampered, Webb wrote, by the CIA or unnamed national security interests. In the 1984 Frogman Case, for instance, the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco returned $36,800 seized from a Nicaraguan drug dealer after two contra leaders sent letters to the court arguing that the cash was intended for the contras. The Corsicans gained political influence and control over the docksideal conditions for cementing a long-term partnership with mafia drug distributors, which turned Marseille into the postwar heroin capital of the Western world. U.S. officials, including then-ClA Director William Webster and several DEA officers, sent Noriega letters of praise for efforts to thwart drug trafficking (albeit only against competitors of his Medellin Cartel patrons). . 2021 Institute for Policy Studies1301 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 | 202-234-9382. The millions of dollars made from those sales were later used to fund a secret war against the leftist Sandinista regime. WebIn the 1980s, the CIA was involved in supporting the Contras, a rebel group fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. It started when Webb wrote a series of three articles for the San Jose Mercury News in 1996 dubbed Dark Alliance. In his report, Webb who had won a Pulitzer in 1989 for a different story claimed that the CIA was partly responsible for bringing crack cocaine to the United States in the 1980s. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the of his actions. Ricky Ross claims to this day to have been provided with cocaine by the CIA, but is this true? WebAt least four transport companies under investigation for drug trafficking received U.S. government contracts to carry nonlethal supplies to the contras. An editorial in the Times, while criticizing the series for making "unsubstantiated charges," conceded that it did find "drug-smuggling and dealing by Nicaraguans with at least tentative connections to the Contras" and called for further investigation. [51], It found no information to support the claim that the agency interfered with law enforcement actions against Ross, Blandn or Meneses. "[10], On December 20, 1985, these and other additional charges were laid out in an Associated Press article after an extensive investigation, which included interviews with "officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Customs Service, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Costa Rica's Public Security Ministry, as well as rebels and Americans who work with them". We believe that Cuban involvement in drug trafficking may help to promote Cuban political objec- tives in the Western Hemisphere. They deny that Bay Area-based Nicaraguan drug dealers, Juan Norwin Meneses and Oscar Danilo Blandon, worked for the CIA or contributed millions in drug profits to the contras, as Webb contended. The US Trafficking in illicit drugs at the wholesale and retail level-which involves processing, smug- gling, and distribution-continues to be largely con- trolled by criminal organizations with international connections. [25], The Los Angeles Times devoted the most space to the story, developing its own three-part series called The Cocaine Trail. He also defended the series in interviews with all three papers. Read more Print length 734 pages Language English Publisher Lawrence Hill Books Publication date May With branches in Saudi Arabia, Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, and the U.S., Nugan Hand Bank financed drug trafficking, money laundering, and international arms dealing. In 1986, the Agency added some more names to its payroll by creating a new Haitian organization, the National Intelligence Service (SIN). Some insurgent groups, a few terrorist organizations, and a number of sovereign states also play a role in drug trafficking. In 1985, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Celerino Castillo reported to his superiors that cocaine was being stored at the CIAs contra-supply warehouse at Ilopango Air Force Base in El Salvador for shipment to the U.S. www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. [31], When the Los Angeles Times series appeared, Ceppos again wrote to defend the original series. WebIn 1976, CIA Director George Bush pays Noriega $110,000 for his services, even though as early as 1971 U.S. officials agents had evidence that he was deeply involved in drug US officials admitted in 1990 that they had failed to investigate or take action against the drug operabon because of a desire not to offend their Pakistani and Afghan allies. As I said earlier, we have found no evidence in the course of this lengthy investigation of any conspiracy by CIA or its employees to bring drugs into the United States. PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega was for years a useful tool of the United States, until President George H.W. Even sources who are routinely skeptical of the official line on the contras agree that the idea that the agency was behind drug smuggling by the contras is fantasy, journalist Eliane Shannon, who covered the war on drugs, told TIME shortly after the Mercury New ran the articles. ), For more than a decade, Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was a highly paid CIA asset and collaborator, despite knowledge by U.S. drug authorities as early as 1971 that the general was heavily involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. The charges linked the Contra trafficking to Sebastin Gonzlez Mendiola, who was charged with cocaine trafficking on November 26, 1984, in Costa Rica. Ceppos said that the paper did not have proof that top CIA officials knew about the connection between the L.A. drug trade and the contras. WebThis work is incredibly comprehensive, such as by including a description of the OSS-CIA's first-ever coup, to seize control over Thailand so as to supply the CIA the dark money Among the top Mexican politicians, law enforcement and intelligence officials from whom Sicilia enjoyed support was Miguel Nazar Haro, head of the Direccion Federal de Seguridad (DFS), who the CIA admits was its `most important source in Mexico and Central America.' Marseilles first heroin laboratones were opened in 1951, only months after the Corsicans took over the waterfront. Although it did find that both men were major drug dealers, "guilty of enriching themselves at the expense of countless drug users", and that they had contributed money to the Contra cause, "we did not find that their activities were responsible for the crack cocaine epidemic in South Central Los Angeles, much less the rise of crack throughout the nation, or that they were a significant source of support for the Contras. They used contra planes and a Costa Rican-based shrimp company, which laundered money for the CIA, to channel cocaine to the U.S. Costa Rica was not the only route. Guatemala, whose military intelligence serviceclosely associated with the CIAharbored many drug traffickers, according to the DEA, was another way station along the cocaine highway. [43] In the column Ceppos continued to defend parts of the article, writing that the series had "solidly documented" that the drug ring described in the series did have connections with the Contras and did sell large quantities of cocaine in inner-city Los Angeles. It concluded, however, that these problems were "a far cry from the type of broad manipulation and corruption of the federal criminal justice system suggested by the original allegations. `I guess we're all aware that they [the CIA] do business in a different way than everybody else,' the judge notes. document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); He does, however, believe in real conspiracies: If I believe it, theres nothing theory about it. The true story on which the movie is based, however, makes it clear that its not always obvious whats a theory and whats the truth. The paper also gave Webb permission to visit Central America again to get more evidence supporting the story. The third article, by Mitchell and Fulwood, covered the effects of crack on African Americans and how it affected their reaction to some of the rumors that arose after the Dark Alliance series. Global Research The lieutenant trafficker was also a Contra, and the CIA knew that there was an arms-for-drugs shuttle and did nothing to stop it. The inspector general is clear that in some cases CIA knowledge of allegations or information indicating that organizations or individuals had been involved in drug trafficking did not deter their use by CIA. In other cases, CIA did not act to verify drug trafficking allegations or information even when it had the opportunity to do so. urchinTracker(). [33] He did this in a column that appeared on November 3, defending the series, but also committing the paper to a review of major criticisms. [27] McManus found Blandn and Meneses's financial contributions to Contra organizations to be significantly less than the "millions" claimed in Webb's series, and no evidence that the CIA had tried to protect them. During U.S. military involvement in Laos and other parts of Indochina, Air America flew opium and heroin throughout the area. 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