	id AA22804; Mon, 31 Oct 94 19:18:46 CST
Subject: Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 2 Num. 63


              Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 2  Num. 63
             ======================================
                    ("Quid coniuratio est?")
 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
THE PHONY WAR
An Interview with DEA Veteran Celerino Castillo
 
The following is an interview with Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) 
veteran agent Celerino Castillo, first published in *The New 
Federalist*, October 24, 1994.
 
Before beginning, by way of a preface, let me state a few things.
 
Officer Jack McLamb (retired) of the Phoenix Police Department, 
in a speech given to his fellow police officers, had this to say:
 
  ...there's been much research, *much* research, and much 
  documentation to the fact -- and I say *fact*, fellow police 
  officers (We've got some female police officers here too. 
  Thank you for coming.), -- but I'm telling you, I want you to 
  hear this, I'm talking about *fact* that we can prove, we've 
  got the evidence -- an evidentiary foundation that would 
  stack as high as *I* am, the evidence, I've seen it -- that 
  the U.S. government, certain factions of the U.S. government, 
  have been involved in importing the majority of drugs in the 
  United States since the '60s. Since 1960....
 
  We have, folks, in the United States, a phony war on drugs.
 
 
Then there's former DEA agent Mike Levine, author of *Deep Cover* 
and *The Big White Lie*, speaking at Northern Illinois University 
in 1991:
 
  The drug war's a sham. I threw my life to the winds believing 
  in the war against drugs. If I died, I believed I was dying 
  for a just cause....
 
  I realized the reality of what I was doing never quite 
  matched what the public was seeing. DEA was designed to put 
  itself out of business but that doesn't happen. The opposite 
  happens. It's always, "We need more."
 
  ...It's all a show... The drug war is the laughing stock of 
  South America.
 
 
My guess is that there is a moment of truth that comes to our 
soldiers in the "War Against Drugs"; a moment when they realize 
it's all a crock. It seems that most choose to lay low and hang 
onto their jobs when that moment of decision arrives. A few, 
though, have got something that you could call "honor". When 
their moment of truth arrives, they are unable to rationalize 
themselves into a "go along to get along" lifestyle.
 
But this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world 
ends, not with a bang but with a whimper. A thousand little 
compromises, a thousand little rationalizations, and we have got 
a world of trouble. Thank God that not all of our soldiers in 
this "War Against Drugs" have turned out to have the souls of 
petty bourgeois shopkeepers. Thank God there have been some great 
souls among them.
 
 +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +
 
[September 27, 1994]
 
WEBSTER TARPLEY:
I'd like to go immediately to the very interesting book that 
you've put together [*Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras & the Drug 
War*]. On page 132 of that book, you describe a kind of cameo 
appearance by Vice President George Bush. I believe this was in 
Guatemala City in January of 1986, and that would have been 
shortly after the inauguration of the new Guatemalan President 
Cerezo. I'd just like to acquaint our viewers with that 
conversation, the events that led up to it, that followed it, and 
revolved around it, because this seems to sum up the heart of the 
matter.
 
 
CELERINO CASTILLO:
Basically, what happened there, was that at that time, Jan. 14, 
1986, to be exact, George Bush was in Guatemala City. At the same 
time that George Bush was there, I also saw Calero, head of the 
Contras, and Oliver North. And I met George Bush at the cocktail 
party at the ambassador's residence, and basically, what he was 
doing, was walking around, shaking hands with everybody. And he 
came up to me, and asked me what my job description was as DEA 
agent. And I told him that I conducted international narcotics 
investigations on traffickers down in Central America. I also 
advised him that I was the agent in charge of reporting for El 
Salvador, and I forewarned him that there were some funny things 
going on at Ilopango Airport, with the Contras. He shook my hand, 
he smiled, and he just walked away from me, without saying 
another word. From that moment, I knew he knew something about 
the Contras.
 
 
TARPLEY:
That's what you write: "He simply smiled and walked away, seeking 
another hand to shake. After that exchange, I knew that he knew."
 
 
CASTILLO:
That's correct.
 
 
TARPLEY:
What did George Bush know, and when did he know it?
 
 
CASTILLO:
Before my arrival in Guatemala, we had received intelligence that 
the Contras were heavily involved in narcotics trafficking. 
Basically, I was forewarned by the country attache' in Guatemala, 
Bob Stia, upon my arrival, that there was a covert operation 
being conducted by the White House, and run by Oliver North at 
Ilopango in El Salvador.
 
 
TARPLEY:
So this was your official superior in the DEA?
 
 
CASTILLO:
That's correct.
 
 
TARPLEY:
And the first thing he did when you arrived in the country was to 
tell you: Look, this is now the scene of a covert operation with 
Oliver North, and they're running drugs. [CN -- See, kiddies? Run 
drugs, and you too can grow up to be a U.S. Senator.]
 
 
CASTILLO:
That's correct, and since we had obtained intelligence already 
about the Contras being heavily involved in narcotics 
trafficking, he advised me to stay away from it and not to get 
involved in the investigation, because that would mean that if I 
started reporting that information to Washington, I would be 
kicked out of El Salvador and Guatemala very quickly.
 
               -+- The Ilopango Connection -+-
 
TARPLEY:
Now, when you say the "Contras," does that mean *all* the 
Contras? Were there groups that were more into it, that were less 
into it? Was there Calero, were there others in that group? Was 
it a universal thing, that all the Contras were into drugs?
 
 
CASTILLO:
It was a universal thing. The DEA refused to accept that answer, 
but we had intelligence gathered from all parts of Central and 
South America in regard to the narcotics trafficking going on. We 
had cables from the country attache', Bobby Nieves in Costa Rica, 
advising us to look into Hangars 4 and 5 at Ilopango. And of 
course, Hangars 4 and 5 were bought and paid for by the U.S. 
government -- the CIA and the National Security Council.
 
 
TARPLEY:
Ilopango Airport: What is that? Is that a large commercial 
airport?
 
 
CASTILLO:
No. Ilopango Airport is the military airport with civilian small 
planes that arrive at Ilopango. And it's a military base, but 
most international pilots who fly small planes get to arrive at 
Ilopango.
 
 
TARPLEY:
Tell us what the atmosphere was at Ilopango in the middle of this 
Contra dirty war, 1985, '86, '87.
 
 
CASTILLO:
We had major narcotics trafficking going through Ilopango from 
Costa Rica, which is further south. We had obtained a lot of 
intelligence. We had an informant placed at Ilopango who actually 
did the flight plans for the Contra pilots, and everybody spoke 
freely about the loads that they carried, the monies that they 
took to the Bahamas and to Panama for laundering.
 
All this was reported to the U.S. Embassy, to the CIA, to 
Washington, DEA headquarters; and nobody wanted to do anything 
about it.
 
                   [...to be continued...]
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
     I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like "Conspiracy Nation" sent to your e-mail 
address, send a message in the form "subscribe conspire My Name" 
to listproc@prairienet.org -- To cancel, send a message in the 
form "unsubscribe conspire" to listproc@prairienet.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et 
  pauperem.                    -- Liber Proverbiorum  XXXI: 8-9 

 Brian Francis Redman    bigxc@prairienet.org    "The Big C"
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Justice" = "Just us" = "History is written by the assassins."
--------------------------------------------------------------

