From: [C upi] at [clari.net] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.news.alcohol+drugs,clari.usa.gov.misc
Subject: CIA denies Nicaraguan drug links
Keywords: US government, US federal, non-usa government, social issues,
        substance abuse, legal, illegal drugs
Organization: Copyright 1996 by United Press International
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 12:51:40 PDT
Location: Latin America, Nicaragua

                                         
        WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- CIA Director John Deutch denied Friday  
the spy agency had any relationship with two Nicaraguan citizens who 
allegedly helped fund the 1980s Contra war in Nicaragua through drug 
trafficking. 
        ``The review that I ordered of the agency's files sustains the  
conclusion that the agency neither participated in nor condoned drug 
trafficking by the Contras,'' Deutch said. 
        ``In particular, the agency never had any relationship with  
Nicaraguans Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes and Juan Norwin Meneses 
Cantarero,'' he added. 
        According to a series of articles published in August by the San Jose  
Mercury News, Reyes and Cantarero headed a drug trafficking operation to 
fund the Contra war in the 1980s. 
        The U.S. government trained, supported and funded the right-wing  
Contra rebels in their effort to overthrow the Sandinista government in 
Nicaragua from 1982 to 1990, despite a 1984 congressional ban on such 
funding. 
        However, Deutch promised legislators the agency would investigate  
recent press reports claiming the CIA had tolerated or aided the drug 
trafficking. 
        ``The CIA Inspector General will carry out an internal investigation  
concerning the charges that the Nicaraguan Contras financed their 
activities with profits from illegal drug sales in California,'' 
according to a statement by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. 
        Boxer demanded the probe after the San Jose Mercury News reported the  
CIA had tolerated the Nicaraguan drug-running operation, which also 
involved Los Angeles street gangs. 
        The three-article series by Gary Webb said, ``The crack plague's  
roots are in the Nicaraguan war... (and) the 1980s effort to assist 
guerrillas left a legacy of drugs and gangs in black Los Angeles. 
        ``For the better part of a decade, a Bay Area drug ring sold tons of  
cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs of Los Angeles and funneled 
millions in drug profits to a Latin American guerrilla army run by the 
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency,'' the first article said. 
        The Justice Department's criminal division also is reviewing the  
allegations in the newspaper articles, but did not comment publicly on 
the case. 
        The department received copies of the articles from the Los Angeles  
City Council and Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., along with requests that 
the allegations be pursued.