Contra cocaine trafficking, cia involvement

 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking

Central Intelligence Agency

A number of writers have alleged that the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was involved in the Nicaraguan Contras' cocaine trafficking operations during the 1980s Nicaraguan civil war. These claims have led to investigations by the United States government, including hearings and reports by the United States House of Representatives, Senate, Department of Justice, and the CIA's Office of the Inspector General which ultimately concluded the allegations were unsupported. The subject remains controversial.

A 1986 investigation by a sub-committee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (the Kerry Committee), found that "the Contra drug links included", among other connections, "[...] payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in some cases after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies."[1]  ([ the us state department were paying drug traffickers for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, because they were transporting firearms, ammo, and other things - also known as humanitarian assistance - to the Contras; and ... ])

The charges of CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking were revived in 1996, when a newspaper series by reporter Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News claimed that the trafficking had played an important role in the creation of the crack cocaine drug problem in the United States. Webb's series led to three federal investigations, all of which concluded there was no evidence of a conspiracy by CIA officials or its employees to bring drugs into the United States.[2][3][4]  ([ arms, ammo, equipment, food, supply, and money were being shipped to the Contra; the planes were flying back empty; rather than letting the plane flying back empty, they put cocaine drug in the empty cargo; the CIA handlers turned a blind eye. ]) However, in the CIA report, it was also found that CIA assets had been trafficking narcotics to fund the Contra rebels.[5] The agency was aware of this trafficking, and (in some cases) dissuaded the DEA and other agencies from investigating the Contra supply networks involved.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking
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