PARAGUAY DRUG TRAFFICKERS NAMED

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CIA-RDP74B00415R000400050069-4
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6
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December 16, 2016
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June 10, 2005
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69
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May 24, 1972
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THE WASHIl '@ d?0elease 2005/06/22 DCJLi~-,RFpF-ifWllof"M000A 06 -4 , The Washington Merry-Go-Round guay s drug trade. We have now supplied Avila with the names. mhha CIA .Memo. for, instance, mentioned a ''secret police o icial'who was "heavily in- volved in the (drug) traffic." ----r,--- 1 ~ n .-~ but Paraguay Drug Traffickers Named -By jack Anderson names of those behind Para- In the impoverished little land of Paraguay, there is an old saying about dictator Al- fredo Stroessner that "never a bird falls without his knowing about it," This reputed omniscience has kept the burly El Presi- dente in full control of Para- guay for 18 years while his op- ponents have died mysteri- ously or fled into exile. Thus, the American embassy in Asuncion was astonished when Stroessner, of all people, confessed to our Ambassador Raymond Ylitalo that he would like more informatio>;, about, the narcotics traffic in Paraguay. Stroessner claimed he wanted to stamp it out. The efficient Ylitalo,fQrwarl- ed the request to the State Department, and UiL-Cmtral Intelligence Agency o igin ly Included it in a e ai e, secret sumniary-oo- The memo e-e Ted that Stroessner was, up to his jack- boots , i s i ggling, though there was, no proof_be,dealt in drugs. His-tighit little dictator- ship, however was descxibe as "the Heroin Crossroads of South America," witil much of the dope going. to the U.S. We published the secret de- tails on April 22. The dictator promptly sent word to us through his Ambassador to Washington, Dr. Roque Avila, that he was surprised at the allegations and asked for the nnnp an oess rusted rhiaf 771VPC i THE `WA81ft GTON POST Wednesday, May 24,1972 B whose names we have also given Avila, include: ? Sabino Augusto - Monta- naro. grey-haired interior sec- retary, and his right-hand man, National Police Chief Gen. Francisco Britez. No large-scale dope trade in land- locked Paraguay would be pos- sible without their acquies- cence. ? Gen. Leodegar Cabello st )r Qoronel ' ismP --- Ea ~----......_, the spiffily-uniformed defense minister, who is aware of the Generals Envolved narcotics dealings of Gens. The IA also alleged-again Rodriguez and Colman and is without names a ... suspected of sharing their Imnorfignt " 3gpre loot. in narcotics. ? Gen. German Martinez, a We iden i ied one as Gen. pale, garrulous artillery corn- Andres Rodriguez, the sternly mander who controls contra- handsome commander of 3,000 band in and around Paraguari. American-equipped t r o o p s With his smuggling proceeds, .based near Asuncion. His he has purchased model farms troops stand guard over con- and raises thoroughbred cat- traband warehouses, and he tle. controls aircraft for smug- ? Vice Adm. Hugo Gonzalez, filing. chief of Paraguay's river gun- The other is Gen. Patricio boat navy, who earned his ex- Colman, a light infantry com- alted rank by babysitting mander, whose troops put Stroessner's -children. His gun- down an armed. liberation boats protect the dope trade movement, }n 1660, slicing off along the Paraguay and Par- tongues, ears, heads and other ana rivers separating Para- parts of prisoners. Colman guay from Brazil and Argen- thereafter gained a smuggling tine. franchise, considerable wealth ? Air Force chief Gen. Vi- and control of cross-country cente Quinonez, who super- buslines. vises Asuncion airport and We have also uncovered the dozens of smaller fields. These identities of other high Para- are also used for drug trans- guayan figures, who are di- shipments. rectly controlled by Stroess- ? Raul Sapena Pastor, the ner and are responslable f ecretary of state, who person- the drug trade,., ThctSe 1yY. approves every official is and diplomatic passport. He has granted passports to known smugglers. Even diplo- matic pouches are used for smuggled goods. '? These are some of the names my associate, Les Whit- ten, provided Ambassador, Avila during an hour-long meeting with him at the mod- est Paraguayan Embassy. The envoy insisted he knew noth- ing about their alleged dope activities. Footnote: On March 20, President Nixon called narcot- ics America's "number one do- mestic problem." Three days later, the U.S. gave 12 helicop- ters to Paraguay. U.S. military aid to the "Heroin Crossroads of South America" runs around $2 million a year. Connally's Mission Sources close to Treasury Secretary John Connally say his secret mission after leav- ing the cabinet will be to rally the Lyndon Johnson wing of the Democratic Party into the Nixon camp in November. Richard Nixon and John Connally have developed a close personal bond. Both are backroom operators and politi- cal infighters. They practioe the same pragmatic politics. During their political, bull sessions, Mr. Nixon and Con- nally foresaw the increasing possibility that George Mc- Govern could win the Demo- cratic presidential nomination. p 1972, United Feanre Syndic5t+h,Jgc. Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000400050069-4 Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : I4 0415R000400050069'4 tK TIMES DATE /_ PACri: _ The Southeast Asian' Connection By HANS 3. SPIELMANN BANGKOK, Thailand-The' world's attention in recent months has been turned toward the Mideast-.=Turkey, principally--as the source of illicit supplies of heroin. But the fact is that the fabled "Fertile Triangle" of South- east Asia - Thailand, Burma and Laos-continues to produce two-thirds of the world's known supply of opium, from which heroin is derived.. The figures alone are eye-catching: in 1970 Thailand's hill tribes con- tributed 185 metric tons of raw' opium to the world's supply, Burma 1,000 tons, Laos 100. It is true that most of the opium, or about 800 tons, is consumed by South- east Asians from Rangoon to song Kong. Nonetheless, about 400 to>1s continue to leave the area, bound for' addicts around the world.. The buyers? not all Americans by any means, range from soldiers in Vietnam. to Junkies along New York's Eighth Avenue. So vast are these supplies (U.S.. addicts, for example, consume annual- ly the heroin derived from "only" 120 metric tons of opium), so limitless the profits,. that governments, armies and revolutionary fronts have played parts in the production and trade through the years. They continue to do so, ancL even the United States Central Intel- ligence Agency has had its days in the poppy fields. ing. The truth was that me U.S. spreading involvement in the war meant that its chief concern was stability in Southeast Asia. And if this meant the continued production of opium in the sensitive areas-say in the fertile fields where Laos, Burma and Thailand come together-that was all right with the U. S. nne U~ me u~ n ttn hprpiin?-the traffic-- Dr_ to be sure political reasons. Green Berets were ordered to buy cbr- tain supplies of opium in order to make and maintain stanch allies among the growers cum guerrillas. Large-scale' traffickers such as the Kuomintang were supported in some cases, only tolerated in others, so Opium traders in northern Thailand head for contact. iuu>; a~ .,.?j munist attitudes and rendered Intel ligence services. 1t0y were even please such impressive forces, and is that it goes on unchecked. riven the uof C.I.A planes. -ven eager to make extra moeey or to ac- The growers are mostly ethnic when the Kuomintang hit upon t_ n quire some unusual luxuries, minorities whose loyalty to Bangkok scheme of on in a its own opium Once they make their contacts- is tenuous. ro its U. S. officials di either with Shan troops or with smug- So If the Government leaves the increase although t the C.I.A. could not glers-the Kuomintang caravan can growers alone, the growers will not iithin, no_ h e C merles in the pack up as much as fifteen tons of complain about the lowland majorite ara ea of the " to fertile o ref triangle , es in the opium for the return trip southward. It whom they dislike; they will instead .which turned out 96 per cent lure is said that these troops and their accept the political status quo and the loin. of "allied contractors" transport between life in the poppy fields, to which they 450 and 500 tons of raw opium south- are accustomed. They will not fuss Last pressures year, as from President mentioned, because of ward each year Their profit mark-up over prices: at harvest time. ck down on erorn w eNio the the is 200 per cent. But, the growers do accumulate od it w~ou_d be 'posse e, some ac- One arrangement that the Kuomin- some surplus cash, as Bangkok knows Linn w'ac 1 e e tang and the Shan have is that each too well, and with it th@y tend to a~ ether agencies ou off Kuomintang convoy that goes into amass arms. The 'growers make it certain dealers (i(including - a general ert al ttempt to certain poppy-growing territory actu- plain that if there is any a was paid retire), who ally controlled by Shan troops must suppress or; hinder opium production .pn their friends and who were deep-i2 t had ?`They have been growing; pay tribute. This amounts to about they will become guerrillas. Jy involved in opium. A few raids poppies for 150 years. $1.50 a kilo, and entitles the caravan . That is what happened in Laos: the were conducted in Thailand. to a transit letter and Shan. escorts Meo rebellion began not as a planned A deal was made in which certain The Vietnam war and ? the complex and confusing movement of "`foreigri~ ers" back and forth through Southeast s created a boom-in the illicit As... h a s, a c re nu w ue I te n _ Kuomintang troops sell off a good deal menu do Vl course p production or raw oprum. Today, -- cannot compare. Thailand, alone, it Is estimated that of the opium . back in Thailand: They tempting to eliminate the trade. But ?, .Thus the richest traffic and culti- half of the 350,000. hill people in the ,.get four to six times what they paid. because of internal difficulties with vation of opium in the world goes on. elevated areas of the north participate But most of It'is"headed for export- roaming armies and guerrillas,, and Not in the Mideast, formerly the big- n officials the the b . - i __ ___ f h e r ow d t corruption o ha with ik dh more b qucases, whose annu sgest supplier al output has per cent of 'these workers to airports and train stations, to sea- d ropped 120 tons and to will decrease are addicts themselves, but they turn ports, to. Bangkok,.. Singapore, Hong further. But in the Far East, and more But st mor further a tiny profit by the standards of the Kong,. Vientiane and. Saigon. And on < in Southeasta'se . million or-billioh-.dollar deals we are and on. , Green Berets were specifically ~~ Tiangle, where U.S. encouragement, ? accustomed to: associating with nar- In the last five years, the Kuomin- cotics. The average worker earns tang, discovering among other things ordere4 to buy supplies. war and muddying of borders by about $100 a year' and has, incidental- that some of the opium it was trans- rampaging easy. troops make the business y, no real knowledge of what he is porting was bringing in 2,500 times It could be stopped and should be, doing. That is to say, the hill people more profit to the ultimate dealer than they have largely kept hands off. Until but only due most determined oulder do not even know that they. are pro- to its. troops, began processing the last year, no serius tempt of any tion Amon nations would do the job, ducing an illicit product for a world opium itself. Kuomintang thereby in kind was made by an of the three. coop emoon at economic, political, market; they. have been growing the creased its own profits, never incon- governments we have talked about and ocial levels. Such coop- poppies and using the opium in lieu siderable, at least threefold. here to curb the traffic, to stop it motion seems unlikely. of pain-killing medicines for about 150 In Thailand at. least, the Govern- where it must be stopped-in 'the hills. years. merit once had a monopoly on opium. At least $85 million is at stake, and The production of opium only. be- . That is no longer true. Poppy-growing, no single government has. seemed Dr. Hans J. Spie mann of the Univer- has lame illegal in Thailand in 1958, as trading and using are illegal. But Thai willing to do other than to participate. sity Qf Heidelberg in Germany did trafficking` and smoking, and the officials have a mixed set of attitudes The governments 'in question knew traveled for many years throughout hill people really could not understand toward the hill people and the pr.'oduc- in any case that United States objec- Southeast Asia and, is an expert on the h tions were in the main window-dress- opium traffic there. hi w f c w the sum o that they were outlaws. Not to orry, . tion of opium today, as things developed: production went - -- --- - on unabated. As it is now, there is. a sort of Com- mon Market in opium operative in Southeast Asia. National boundaries . are crossed by, an assortment of rogues who, while moving tons of the stuff, "lose" only 2 or 3 per cent as bribes and tributes and so forth. The operation begins with the fields in the high country (over 3,000 feet above sea level for the high-quality poppy) of Thailand, Laos and Burma. The hill people themselves have neither the courage, contacts nor funds to enter into the distribution, so they await the sharp lowlanders. These townsmen'" come around at harvest time, looking down their noses at the j hill -people whom they consider to be : inferior, and buy the opium at very low prices. The best buy is in Burma, where a kilo 'of raw opium sells for $15; in Laos it's $30, and in Thailand $40. Opium is gathered in the villages and then in ever-larger towns by smugglers, who may be described in the first dealings as petty, but ''who become rather more than that as the opium changes hands and"the supplies pile up. Then highly disciplined para- military types take over, with tough- ness and sure-handedness. - Among these is an outfit known as the Shan of Northern Burma-rela- tives of the Thais--whose dream, at least back in Burma, was the establish- ment of an, autonomous Shan. State. But its fighting wing, the Shan Libera- tion Army, has, generally abandoned politics as it. observed the fertile fields of Shan asylum in northern Thailand. . Units of the front transport the i opium grown in Burma (and this is the i mother lode-700 metric tons for ex- port) to bases in Thailand. Of course, as units cross the Burmese-Thai. bor- der, back and forth, back and forth, the talk is all politics and the dream of statehood, but it's camouflage for the real aotion, which is the opium. The Shan has somewhat complex, but strict, working arrangements with the notorious Kuomintang (whose par- ent organization is Nationalist' Chi- nese) troops of the Fertile Triangle. Sometimes the Shan and the Kuomin- tang trade arms and ammunition, and medicines-often purchased from U.S. stocks in Laos-for opium. The Kuomintang troops also keep up political appearances, when the real idea is opium. They say that they i carry out pro-US. espionage in Burma, and even claim forays into China for "anti-Communist" activities. But these units are'no'longer used and supplied by the United States or Taiwan, as they once were, although they maintain radio contact with each other. The Kuomintang is said now to have 10,000 men under arms, chiefly in Thailand, but in Burma and Laos as well. Frequently, Kuomintang caravans of between ,300 and 500 men, plus horses and mules carrying contraband for trade, can be seen working toward the north of Thailand and Laos toward Burma. They are supplied along the way with food by villagers eager to Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000400050069-4 back to territory controlled by the "Communist revolt," but out of bitter- in Laos were closed. Kuomintang. (In other areas Shan ness and 'misunderstanding that arose refineries e point is that the installations convoys must pay tribute to Kuomin- when Laotian officials tried to step and there, together moved to Bdurma tang soldiers-the reverse situation.) into the opium trade. moth an aj acent area of Thailand, As noted, there are a great. many Under pressure from the' United we highest concentration of refineries In Southeast Asia and the states and other outsiders, the govern- in the world is now situated. Marseilles ddi t Approved For Release 2005/06/22: 415R00040 00 50 THE WASHINGTON POST DATE ff_ PAGE__________ - --~--, rac ...., sr k Arson Smugglers Using - Thai Connection DESPITE furious denials base, chemists from Taiwan by the Thai government, evi- fly in, the sources say. They dente is mounting that mem- are ceremoniously welcomed bers of Thailand's 16+man rul- by remnants of the old Na- ing council have been cor- tionalist Chinese divisions rupted by international dope driven from Red China and smugglers. now living off the land in As far away as this oriental Thailand. intrigue is, it directly affects No longer under Taiwan's the alarming rise of crime on control, the Nationalist vet- America's streets where ad- erans now support them- diets rob, house-break and . selves in the dope trade. The shoplift to feed their gnaw- Chinese chemists work night ing heroin habits. and day for 30 days, earning Reports from the Central as high as $10,000 for convert- Intelligence Agency, and the ing the morphine base to pure heroin. State, Justice and Defense Then roe Royal Laotian Air more all agree that Force and an occasional Air more and more heroin is America pilot, who pretends >our[ng into the United he is unaware of his cargo, >tates from Thailand, one of ferry out the newly processed kmeirica's closest allies. white powder. This time it "Historically, this area has goes to distribution points in' iot been an important source Bangkok, Vientiane and if opium-based narcotics for other Southeast Asian cities. on U.S. a cas. This is bluntly From there, it is trans- ,tams a classified CIA report tat erce bport shipped to the United States. American intelligence offi- iow in ess hands. cers are even fearful some Buttressing the CIA e may get aboard Air Force iourc U.o allege intelligence that at at KC-135 tanker planes which est. two who fly directly to the United east. tE the Thai States from Thailand. The national Eive Council planes or crews are rarely The protect dope official U.S. sources checked properly by U.S. cus- also also describe in detail heroin toms. In Hong Kong, an impor- Bangkok involvement of a top tent trans -shipment point,' Bangkok police commander, British officials are also a former parltaoltentarian, a seething over the corruption Thai one patrol northern and Thai of the Thai government offi- a colonel l in isiona northhern cials. Some proof of this dis- arTii div. may is contained in a cau- he police official o a say the tious, classified cable from sources; as owner massage par- well- David Osborn, American con-, known Bel where in is s sul in Hong Kong, to Secre- readily y a where of State William Rogers. reavunably from c Dated March 27, the cable friends. Run by a woman urges secrecy, then confides: who himself ain netain ns en sian or- ',Hong Kong narcotics offi- ho ma- cials have long-standing be- called "The d "the bor- lief that Thai officials have delelo in is the Smack been involved in drug traffic Par[or" by its American pa for some years." heroin. "Smack" is slang for Yet, despite all this evi- m. dente of official Thai corrup- h n hale this and other dope tion, the United States con- h pouts have long operated of f tinues to supply Thailand the ses with millions in American The ariland's under curers the noses arms. And the Thai govern- $ Tha,ium lucra- trade 1, 1 u p country op ' meat smugly dismisses this s been cfi'anging dramati- ,~... column's documented reports 1I since of s January. of heroin in high Thai places F rude morphine base from the thai-l#urma-Laos border as ?slanderous accusations." is no longer processed almost FOR A welcome change, exclt3sively in the laborato- the government is going to ries of Bangkok. get some return from one of Instead, Royal Laotian Air its administrative frills. Force fliers and a few pilots White House protographer of the CIA-run Air America Ollie Atkins accompanied now airlift much of the inor- President Nixon to Red China and helped put to- phine to "Golden Triangle's 1 along gether a book called "The Thailand's northern"holder. President's Trip to CAtkins' share, instead of $._- The'lsarhouses are anti--going into his pocket, will go fully protected by corrupt to the federal treasury along senior officials of the Royal with a check from his pub- Thai Army and the Thai bor- lisher for the pictures. An An- des patrol who take a cut of other Atkins book, "Eye on the, profits. Nixon," will provide royalties When the warehouses are to the American Red Cross. bulging with illicit morphine Q 1972, United Feature Syndicate Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000400050069-4 Approved ~For Release 2005/06/22 :CIA-RDP74B 100050069 _. '2HE WA iiNG.l.ON P06'2 iAT.L' PAGE".. The Washin torn Merry-Go-Round in legitimate businesses, are Islands have heroin operations Heroin Traffic Shifts South of Border By Jack Anderson For decades, international heroin gangs have sent their deadly wares from Marseilles'` back-alley laboratories di- rectly to Mafia distributors in New York City. But crackdowns have now made this direct trade danger- ous fo the Corsican criminals in Fralice and their Cosa Nos- tra counterparts in the New York City area. Increasingly, they are ship- ping the addictive white pow- der through Latin America and the Caribbean, where bribery, bootlegging and buc- caneering have been respected pursuits since the days of Blackbeard, Henry Morgan and Captain Kidd. The Central intelligence Agency, which only lately has gotten into dope counterspy- ng, has summarized the prob- lem in a 20-page secret report circulated to a few federal gencies. Area by area, here is the CIA's picture of this new dope circuit: Central America-Mexico said to have gotten their start dealing in narcotics." The home-grown Mexican heroin is sent to San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Hous- ton, Fort Worth and Dallas. Mexican Fixes Our own investigation has turned up a government-pro- tected dope "shooting parlor" in Juarez, Mexico. Young American addicts from El THE WASHINGTON POST Saturday, May 6,1972 C ii run. by "Cuban exiles and Puerto Ricans in the,United States (who) act as middle men . .. while Argentinians, Chileans, Uruguayans, and na- currently involved in ztmug- gling heroin from Marseilles' France, to Valparaiso, Chile,, via Panama," says the CIA without naming the shipping' line. Power ? Plans tionals of other transshipment countries act as couriers." Guadeloupe, Curacao, Aru- ba and Trinidad are also nam- ed by the CIA as "stepping- stones" for shipment of her- oin, cocaine, hashish and mari- juana to the U.S. South America-"Big-time operators with international connections and innumerable small-scale smugglers called `hormigas' (ants) cross the sievelike borders with impun- ity," alleges the CIA. "The busy ports of Barran- quilla, Rio de Janeiro, Monte- video, Buenos Aires, Valpar- aiso, Antofagasta, Callao, Gua- yaquil, and Buenaventura act as funnels. . . . Smuggler planes, ranging from Piper Cubs to DC-3s, and even to The Interior Department; which is supposed to market, low-cost power from federally' owned dams on the Missouri: River, connived with the big private monopolies to drown out small consumer-owned plants. Assistant Interior Secretary`. James Smith, a former privatd utilities man himself, quietly: committed the department to the controversial Mid-Conti nent Area Power Pool,'; (MAPP). This is a scheme for,, pooling electricity cooked up by Northern States Power, one of the fattest of the fat cats in the private power field.. Paso, some on military drug withdrawal programs, simply cross into Mexico to get a "fix." Panama, whose foreign min- ister Juan Tack was recently exposed by us as sanctioning dope traffic, is "one of the great contraband centers of the world," reports the CIA. Heroin pours in from Lima and Santiago, cocaine from Guayaquil and Quito, in Ecua- dor, and from Colombia. Euro- pean and Asian dope export- ers also use Panama as a transshipment point. The Smith plan would put; more than 10 per cent of the federal power plant capacity' in the area into the big compa- nies' power pool, even though; the federal power is supposed to serve consumer-owned sys. tems. Under MAPP, the little con' Sumer systems would be al,% lowed to pay dues and sit in orf meetings, but would be denied the vote on issues vital `to then pool. Smith was so enthusiastic; about MAPP that he accepted: the idea }without detailed anal, yses by Interior's lawyers ands engineers. ?1972, united Feature syndicate four-engined Lockheed Con- stellations ... are used," says the secret CIA report. Costa Rica opium crops Official Corruption have been, discovered recently "in gardens, in a cemetery, ,most of the drug traffic in and on the slopes of Irazu Vol- South America involves mari- cano." There are unconfirmed juana, which is grown exten- reports of clandestine labs. sively in Colombia, Brazil, and The Caribbean - Nicaragua Paraguay and coca leaves and may be a "transit point for cocaine produced in Bolivia, heroin shipped north from Peru, Chile and Ecuador." also some South America via Panama to But ' there is production i Colombia the' United States," saga ?the opium CIA. and Ecuador. Puerto Rico and the Virgin "An Italian shipping line is produces "15 to 20 per cent (perhaps up to 25 per cent) of all heroin used in the United States most notorious of the illicit drug centers in Mex- ico ico is Culiacan, capital of the state of Sinaloa. "It has been called the `Her- oin Capital of Mexico Many .people of the well-to-do towns, including those now engaged Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000400050069-4 A proved For Release 2005/06/22: CIA-RDP74B 1 iE W.Aiii~iG'TUiV' ...,_r+~._~ WASHINGTON POST Fr{day,' kay S', e7i b1_9 Assures Kissinger on dies Brezhnev' ',By Jack Anderson Kremlin czar Leonid Brezh- nev used tough language to impress upon Henry Kissinger In Moscow that Russia will continue to support North Vietnam. i But Brezhnev assured the President's peripatetic foreign policy adviser that the Viet nam war need not stand in the way of better Soviet-American relations. The conversations contin- ued, off and on, for four days. Sources privy to the secret de- tails tell us Brezhnev was fu rious over VI.S. suggestions that the Soviets had equipped Hanoi for an invasion of South Vietnam. President Nixon himself served an oblique warning upon the Kremlin that "great powers cannot avoid the re- sponsibility for the use of arms by those to whom they give them." Brezhnev offered no apolo- gies for furnishing Hanoi with the T-54 tanks, heavy artillery and other sophisticated weap- ons that hays shown'up on the fighting fronts. The :North Vi- etnamese have used these heavy arms to spearhead their new offensive. plain he would risk alienating based upon a thorough field tribes in Thailan ava the. U.S. before abandoning investigation by American been ineffective." North Vietnam. narcotics and intelligence Thai law authorities, whom He suggested that a Viet- agents. entral Intelli- the government claims have nam settlement can still be us- gene Agency has pub ishhed cracked down on the drug gotiated. However, there was ve repo ea ng wholly or traffic, are actually in cahoots no Soviet' offer to soften He. part with the ai o with the smugglers. noi's terms. Brezhnev and Kis- trade These reports, classified Declares the CIA: "Officials singer merely agreed that the Co' nfidential" and "Secret," of the RTA (Royal That two superpowers shouldn't let substantiate our charges. Army), the BPP (Thai border the Vietnam war disrupt their The Thais claim, for exam- police) and, Customs at the efforts to seek a Soviet-Ameri- ple, that they "began an inten- several checkpoints on the route to Bangkok are usually can detente. sive campaign against danger- bribed ..." Back at the White House, ous drugs, more than ten years There are, says the CIA, a Kissinger apparently has per. ago." They say the Bangkok multitude of civilian and mili- suaded the President not to government has taken "effec- tary officials in Burma, Laos and Thailand "who take their r " against d let the Vietnam fighting jeop- tive measures ugs. cut to ensure safe passage of ardize relations with the Rus- A program to get hill tribes- the ium . - ." sians. Nixon's first reaction men to stop growing opium, he CIA operatives, unlike ese offensive was to hit back. He said privately that he wasn't going to permit the U.S. to be pushed around. But the original hard U.S. line, at least so far as Russia is concerned, has now been softened. cess" These carefully pinpointed poppy fields, distribution points, documents dated from Octo- oncludes the CIA: "Opium ber 1970 to October 1971. 2 or morphine base is delivered ar rom snowing progress to laboratories in Bangkok for in the last, ten years, Thailand further refinement into mor- entT. ih9b= i ors11T iha_ phine or heroin ...Most of Answer to Thailand and Laos have "evolved in the the refined produce is then The government of Thailand past ten years from a maMor smuggled aboard Hong Kong- has accuse us dus cen'teT "tCi wtn and bound vessels-either Thai merchant ships at the Cho a o ngow er ' or e i p accusat ons 0 MOM 0 to ius- narcotics ro uc s mom' Phraya River docks in Bang- s heroin o clucing mis kok or That deep sea trawlers. Washington, Thailand angrily "'A'll?M the alleged success in posit the illicit cargo on one or h l d d ll i re e severa hun sma s- charged that our recent col- preventing tribesmen from t umn on the That drug trade growing opium, the CIA lands ringing Hong Kong for b ed "me-1 on hear- states? "Government measures later retrieval by a Hong as Brezhnev not only acknowl- edged that_ Soviet military shipments to He have been increased, but a made it was~~ Kong junk." say. to curtail the growth of the In fact, our report was opium poppy among the hill a Irm, United Posture erndtoats Approved For Release 2005/06/22: CIA-RDP74B00415R000400050069-4 Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP74B 0415R000400050069-4 THE WASHINGTON POST DATE ~ (2,Qi127 PAGE e its .ara -.-ua #i emu ling-- p Q g ~' gg By Jack Anderson A secret CIA report most trusted South American allies, Paraguay, dictator Al- fredo Stroessner, is up to his epaulettes in international smuggling. The hard-eyed general, says a CIA "Intelligence Memoran- dum" parcels put smuggling franchises to his generals to keep them from overturning his 18-year-old regime. But as a moral caveat, Stroessner has tried to draw the line at narcotics trafficking. Stroessner's generals and ci- vilian aides are not so finicky. They have conspired with world dope gangsters to make Paraguay The "heroin cross- roads of South America," al- leges the , CIA document. Classified "Secret. No For- ,eign Dissemination," the CIA report says most heroin enter- ing the 'United States origi- nates in Turkey, is refined in France and is sent to the Western Hemisphere "inside dead bodies being returned to South America for burial, and other methods equally bizarre. "The largest part of this traffic passes through Para- guay with bulk shipments of as much as 100 kilograms (220 pounds)," continues the snpr International Airport in the capital of Asuncion, says the CIA. The dope planes, called "Mau-Maus" by the Paraguayans, change their registration numbers to avoid identification. At Asuncion, airport offi- cials are bribed and the heroin is warehoused "while the `owner' makes arrangements with U.S. gangsters for its eventual sale in the United States," the CIA records. Paraguay was picked by in- ternational narcotics dealers because its borders are easily crossed, it has demonstrated a historic softness for smugglers and "protection from high po- litical figures" is available. "Two of Stroessner's most important generals (who com- mand troops in or near the capital) and the head of the se- cret police are rumored to be heavily involved in the traffic," says the CIA. As for the dictator himself, he "is willing to condone .. . smuggling of everything from watches to whiskey," but "there are strong indications that President Stroessner is opposed to the (narcotics) trade and is willing to take ac- Whatever the reasons, says the CIA, Stroessner "has se- cretly requested the U.S. Em- bassy to supply 'him with hard evidence that (the generals) and others in his government are involved" in dope traffick- ing. Stroessner "promised to take action immediately." The dictator confided to U.S. envoys in Asuncion that the evidence need not stand up in court but must "con- vince him personally." As for foreign dope smugglers, Stroessner said he is willing to bend his country's laws so they can be shanghaied in to the United States for trial. Despite the CIA's optimism over Stroessner, it appears he is really more interested in avoiding a clash with his dope-smuggling generals than in keeping heroin off the streets of U.S. cities. For more than a year, Stroessner, who is bulwarked by millions in U.S. aid, has had famed French narcotics kingpin Auguste Ricord in jail while U.S. authorities have slavered to bring him to jus- tice in the United States. tion." ' After watching the success- To explain why a dedicated ful launch of the Apollo flight smuggler like Stroessner last week-end, King Hussein of would draw the line against Jordan, a pilot himself, got a dope, the CIA points to little careless on an Air Force CIA Buti,., .. -. , airliner '11comsi,7nments oT- other military rulers- in of a commercial while t " ` hiss own-jet et rying to y turn ge t e stroes. - Brazil Ar ntina and Peru c T e i x plane around and prepare foii-t, takeoff. The incident was;=; widely reported in the press.- What was not reported, how-.. ever, was the delay the king; caused some 300 congressmen, relatives and staffers. The plane the king put out`,', of commission was one of two-,? Pan Am jets chartered for a.4: special space junket to Cape:' Kennedy. After the accident, the con -4' gressmen sat on a concrete' air strip beneath the hot Florida;., sun awaiting word about when,- they would leave. Meanwhile,:, space officials huddled, trying: to figure out who should go on-41 the remaining plane. After three hours, the con gressmen were given first,- priority and flew off. Staffers,- who had been partying any-:; way at nearby Patrick Air r, Force base, took off later in a:? third plane brought in to re ;w, place King Hussein's victim. Texas Nepotism Even the do-nothing House Ethics Committee is wringing :4 its hands over the.fact that convicted Rep. John Dowdy ;w! (D-Tex.) is running his wife for his House seat while she R; remains on his office payroll. '-: Mrs. Dowdy has already earned a small fortune from the congressional nepotism. Her salary payments during her 20 years on the House rolls total almost $225,000. 1372Uni1ted Feature Syndicate Approved For Release 2005/06/22 : CIA-RDP74B00415R000400050069-4