UNDERCOVER AGENT PLANS TO DETAIL VESCO DRUG TIE TO CUBA, MANAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000706850008-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: April 19, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000706850008-9
AR1 ' i KnWASHINGTON TIMES
Undercover agent plans t_________i
Vesco drug tie to Cuba, Managua
r
By Carlton Sherwood
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
The Nicaraguan and Cuban gov-
ernments have formed an "unholy
alliance" with financier-fugitive
Robert Vesco to bankroll and oper-
ate a massive international drug and
high-technology smuggling ring, a
top federal operative is expected to
testify before a Senate panel today.
James Herring, a Tallahassee
businessman and one-time Vesco
associate-turned-government oper-
ative, will be the principal witness
before the Senate Labor and Human
Resources subcommittee, which has
been probing communist-bloc drug
smuggling operations in the Carib-
bean, The Washington Times has
learned.
Justice Department, U.S. Cus-
toms Service and Senate investiga-
tors have spent the week debriefing
Mr. Herring, who is considered by
'federal law-enforcement officials to
be the most credible eyewitness to
have emerged from the bizarre,
communist-sanctioned drug under-
world to date.
Mr. Herrin said his testimony
will cover a variety o maior crimes
including passport fraud, drug,
iiieh-tech and firearms smuggling,
aircraft theft contract murders,
treason and insurance fraud. Nearly
all those activities, he said. were
financed and backed bN Mr. Vesco
and hi h-rankin Cuban and Nicara-
guan o ficials.
Concerning Mr. Vesco's
involvement with the Nicaraguan
government, Mr. Herring charged
that:
? The Nicaraguan Sandinista
regime "made a deal" with Mr. Vesco
in 1983 to set up a major drug pro-
cessing and shipping operation in
that country.
e by Sandinista officials, includ-
ing Interior Minister Tbmas Borge
and his lieutenant Fredrico Vaughn,
directed the drug smuggling ring.:
? Official Nicaraguan aircraft
and diplomatic couriers who
enjoyed immunity from searches or
prosecution were used to smuggle in
tens of millions of dollars in cocaine
from Bolivia and Columbia.
? The Sandinistas supplied armed
troops, airstrips and secure military
facilities to process the cocaine and
safe ports to ship it to the United
States and Europe.
Mr. Vesco's services for Fidel Cas-
tro involved a variety of smuggling
operations - including drugs, fire-
arms and the importation of sophis-
ticated U.S. computers and radios
into Cuba for use there and in other
communist-bloc countries, he said.
In 1983. Mr. Herring said, the
"Fidel shopping lists" from Mr.
Vesco were limited almost exc u-
sively to high-technology comput-
ers. He acknowledged making tour
trips to Cuba with several million
dollars worth of high-tech computer
equipment which. he said, "could do
everything from spying on U.S. air
and sea operations to launching mis-
siles"
' Most of Mr. Herring's testimony
will be based on his first-hand exper-
iences with Mr. Vesco, who fled the
country in 1972 to avoid prosecution
by the Securities and Exchange
1 Commission on charges he swindled
an estimated $224 million from a
Switzerland-based mutual fund. Mr.
Vesco remains under indictment for
1 his alleged attempt to buy his way
back into the United States with a
$200,000 contribution to former
President Richard Nixon's 1972
campaign committee.
Mr. Herring said he has met with
Mr. Vesco and his Cuban DGI
(Secret Intelligence Police) body-
guards at his avo LarEO mansion on
several occasions.
11 1 always brought gifts;' he said.
"A bottle of Royal Crown and a tin a
caviar for Mr. Vesco and any kind of
nickel-plated pistol I could find for
his bodyguards"
Previously, Mr. Vesco found safe
havens in the Bahamas, Antigua,
Costa Rica and Nicaragua,
managing to stay one step ahead of
federal law-enforcement officials
who have tried repeatedly to capture
1 him.
Mr.* Herring said he became asso-
ciated with Mr. Vesco,in early 1982
1 through a middleman who
requested he secure "hard-to-get"
items - everything from bulldozers
to firearms, illegal passports and
,
eventually drugs. A snort time a e
Mr. Herring said, he made direct
contact with Mr. Vesco, who
informed him of his agreement with
Sandinista officials to use Nicaragua
as a base of operations for what
would be the largest drug operation
in the Caribbean.
Mr. Herring recalled Mr. Vesco's
comments at the time:
"He said, 'Jim, why should we
worry about finding a safe island or
a landing strip, when we can have a
whole country to operate from."'
Subsequently, Mr. Herring said, he
was flown to Managua, where Mr.
Vesco introduced him to Interior
Minister Borge and his top aide,
Fredrico Vaughn.
"I was treated like royalty," Mr.
Herring said. "They rolled out the
red carpet, wined and dined me, put
me up in the best hotel - the Mana-
gua Intercontinental - provided me
with air or ground transportation,
anything I wanted: Borge said he
was grateful to me for helping in
what he called 'our special project."'
For Mr. Herring, the "special
project" involved setting up a
cocaine "cutting" laboratory in the
compound home of a Sandinista gen-
eral. Nicaraguan planes were dis-
patched to Bolivia and later
Colombia, where diplomatic
couriers would pick up 25 to 30 kilos
of pure cocaine.
With. dozens of Nicaraguan sol-
diers standing guard around the
house - sometimes with Mr. Vesco
and top Sandinista officials standing
by Mr. Herring went about the
work of cutting the cocaine with
chemicals, the last process before
exporting the drugs.
"I don't have to tell you how safe I
felt with a hundred armed soldiers
protecting me," Mr. Herring said,
"but it usually only took about six
days to cut and pack 25 kilos of
cocaine for shipment."
The drugs, he said, were shipped
out of Nicaraguan ports under an
ingenious method devised by Mr.
Vesco. The Sandinistas leased large
marine salvage winches from
Europe, which were dismantled and
packed with the one-pound bags of
cocaine before being returned to
Europe or the United States.
G,,1IYIIYLI
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/23: CIA-RDP90-00552R000706850008-9