NICARAGUA CRUCIAL TO DRUG PIPELINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504570006-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2012
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: April 2, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504570006-8
WASHINGTON TIMES
2 April 1986
Nicaragua crucial
to drug pipeline
By James Morrison
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Cocaine kingpins working hand-
in-glove with communist rebels in
many parts of South America have
made Nicaragua a conduit for the
multibillion-dollar drug trade, a Ven-
ezuelan congressman said yester-
day.
Vladimir Gessen. chairman of the-
Venez n congress subcommittee
on illegal drugs, said -that although
Nicaragua's ruling Sandinista party
denies any involvement in drugs, a
three-month study by the Caracas
government concluded that drug
trafficking in Nicaragua is "inevi-
table."
"It is inevitable that drugs go
through Nicaragua. It is evident
there must be functionaries of the
Sandinista government involved,"
said Mr. Gessen.
Drug smugglers using a land
route from South America have to
travel through Nicaragua, and those
who smuggle drugs by air probably
refuel there, Mr. Gessen said.
He said he did not know how high
involvement in the drug trade goes
in the Sandinista government but
noted that the powerful Nicaraguan
interior minister, Tbmas Borge, in-
sisted that drugs could not be
transported through Nicaragua
without his knowledge.
Mr. Gessen, who discussed his
committee's study at a Washington
press conference, said he inter-
viewed Mr. Borge about Nicaragua's
involvement with drugs.
"I don't understand the attitude of
the Sandinista Government," he said.
"Wh n th it f m .lionari s are id n
tified [as drug traffickers] by the
United States, they say it is a lie by
the CIA."
The Sandinista link to illegal
drugs has been described in detail
by Alvaro Baldizon, a high-ranking
Sandinista defector who worked for
Mr. Borge. In statements to the U.S.
government, he said the interior
minister was personally directing
cocaine smuggling through Nicara-
gua to obtain U.S. dollars.
U.S. Attorney General Edwin
Meese yesterday also accused the
Sandinista government of in-
volvement in drug smuggling.
Mr. Meese, ending a five-nation
tour of drug-producing countries,
said that "Sandinistas officials are
definitely involved" in drug traffick-
ing. Mr. Meese, interviewed on
morning network news shows, also
accused the Soviet Union of com-
plicity in the drug trade in
Afghanistan, which is under Rus-
sian occupation.
Cuba has long been reported to be
an active partner in the drug traffic
in the United States, skimming prof-
its of tens of millions of dollars a
year. The Cuban secret service has
also been reported to arrange drugs-
for-arms barter trade agreements
between Marxist guerrillas and co-
caine dealers.
Mr. Gessen, who came to Wash-
ington to discuss the Venezuelan
findings with U.S. officials, called on
the United States to help rather than
punish South American countries
that are unable to cope with a mas-
sive drug trade that regularly
amasses more money through co-
caine and marijuana than govern-
ments do through mining and agri-
culture.
Drug traffickers in Bolivia,
Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Venezu-
ela make more money than the $26
billion a year earned by the U.S. steel
industry and a little less than the
$175 billion a year earned by the U.S.
oil industry, he said.
He criticized efforts by Sen. Paula
Hawkins to cut U.S. foreign aid to
countries that fail to meet U.S. stan-
dards in fighting drugs. The Florida
Republican has recently introduced
legislation to cut Bolivia's $96 mil-
lion in U.S. aid.
"To remove Bolivia's U.S. aid
would be to turn the country over to
the drug traffickers," Mr. Gessen
said, explaining that Bolivia's drug
lords rake in up to $2.5 billion a year
while the government earns about
$750 million in mining exports.
The Latin American drug trade is
a multinational operation with co-
caine and marijuana growers oper-
ating in some countries, prods ? rs
operating in others and smugg rs
crossing borders to ship drugs by
land, sea and air, he said.
The drug ' lords cooperate with
guerrilla groups to help finance re-
bel operations to distract govern-
ments from drug enforcement, he
said, citing Colombia's M-19 terror-
ist movement and Peru's Maoist
Shining Path guerrillas as examples.
"Where there is drug trafficking,
automatically guerrilla groups be
come stronger, even in areas where
there was no activity before," Mr.
Gessen said.
Increased guerrilla actions and
new cocaine and marijuana planta-
tions have been identified in the
Amazon River basin of northern Bo-
livia, western Brazil, southern Co-
lombia and eastern Peru.
"I call this the 'Republic of
Drugs,' " Mr. Gessen said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/23: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504570006-8