ATF supplying guns to Mexican drug cartels.

uprising2

Documents point to ATF "gun running" since 2008

Undercover ATF photo shows display of high-powered weapons put out for suspected Mexican drug cartel gun buyers.



(CBS News)
A controversial operation in which U.S. agents were allegedly ordered not to intervene as American guns flowed to Mexican gangs may have been going on for many years, reports CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

Gunrunning scandal at the ATF

A photograph obtained by CBS News shows an astonishing display of high-powered weapons put up for suspected Mexican drug cartel gun buyers. It's a rare glimpse into ATF's controversial undercover operations.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allegedly let gun runners walk off with weapons - thousands of them - to see if they'd end up in the hands of the cartels. The Justice Department and ATF have denied it ever happened.

Special Agent John Dodson works in ATF's Phoenix office and has blown the whistle on the controversial strategy, known as letting guns "walk."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/08/eveningnews/main20040803.shtml


Obama Admin: No comment on CBS News investigation into ATF gun running in Mexico

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JocsdQ5w4_g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntp4iv_s0dY

Monty Burnz

What is the conspiracy theory?

Brown Bomber

Monty Burnz wrote: »

What is the conspiracy theory?

You taking the piss?

Monty Burnz

This just looks like a law-enforcement strategy. Not unlike - say - infiltrating one group, allowing them to become the strongest, and then taking them down. You can argue about the ethics of it, but I don't see any shadowy intent or anything there. If this counts as a conspiracy theory, does every undercover opertation by a state agency also count?

iPlop

This is nothing new the mexican authorities over saw drug smuggling themselves and provided trade routes for the cartels ,don't forget most of the cartels are made up of ex-military and ex-police officers.The Zeta cartel was formed by over 100 ex special force soldiers that deserted the military back in 1996.These cartels have links to the highest level of authority in mexico.There needs to be co-operation on both sides for it to work

Originally posted by Boarderland Beat
In a conference with students held on Wednesday, February 23, at the Law School of the Autonomous University of Coauhuila in Saltillo, Socrates Rizzo delivered a bombshell that has rocked Mexico as the campaign for the 2012 presidential election approaches.

During an interview session the former PRI Governor admitted that previous PRI presidents held strong control over drug trafficking routes that prevented the attacks on civilians and the violence that Mexico is undergoing today.

Although an open secret in Mexican society and a charge occasionally leveled publicly by the country’s two other major political parties, the National Action Party (PAN) and the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), this is the first time in recent history that a former or current PRI politician has admitted publicly that this arrangement existed.

"Somehow the problems with drug trafficking were avoided, there was a strong State control and a strong President and a strong Attorney General and a tight control of the Army.”

"Somehow they (drug traffickers) were told: 'You go through here, you here, you there', but do not touch these other places," he said in his speech.

The former Governor added that this strategy allowed the State to ensure the social peace that has been lost in the war on drugs launched by the PAN administration of Felipe Calderon.

"What the old guard says is that we had control by the Government and the Army. The big problem is consumption, and while consumption exists in the U.S. there will be drug trafficking in that direction.”

"What control by the PRI governments guaranteed was that drug trafficking did not disturb the social peace."

Socrates Rizzo, who was the PRI Governor of Nuevo Leon between 1991 and 1996, said the government control ended with the PAN administrations of Presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderón, who failed to listen to advice on how things were done in previous years, thus sparking the current violence.

"This dilemma was lost due to problems of professionalism, it is natural that new officials come without experience, they wanted to do things differently and they did not take advice because the last thing they wanted to hear was anything from the PRI, they said that the PRI were the 'snake in the grass’ and with that they refused counsel.”

"Although there was a change of party, you should have had continuity with what the past government was doing, I think not taking advice on past arrangements relaxed discipline and mechanisms of control and now we see the results."

Rizzo denied that the governors were involved in the agreements between the federal government and the drug trade because those were times when the President had broad powers to the extent that the state executives had to obey.

However, the growth that has occurred with drug consumption in Mexico makes it impossible to resume the negotiation schemes between the government and the drug traffickers, said the former governor.

"These are new times, we are in another world. We now have a drug consumption problem and the problem of ‘disorganized’ crime of robberies and extortions.”

"We didn’t have those problems in the past. At that time there was a strong President with an iron grip on the Army that could maintain social peace and with drug trafficking, that demand determined supply."

(It is believed that the formalized arrangements with drug traffickers began during the PRI administration of Miguel de la Madrid Hurtado from 1982 to 1988 under the direction of his Interior Minister Gobernacion), Manuel Bartlett Diaz, who used the Interior Ministry police force, the Federal Security Directorate (DFS), to coordinate and control the drug trade, which became a protected activity.

Monty Burnz

The Incredible Fridge wrote: »

These cartels have links to the highest level of authority in mexico.There needs to be co-operation on both sides for it to work

This is one of those problems that I just can't see going away.

iPlop

Monty Burnz wrote: »

This is one of those problems that I just can't see going away.

Not if the police ,politicians ,army ,government and the US is involved.And that's what appears to be the case.

Theres a blog I read which is an eyeopener ,the journalists that write it tell about all the shady goings on and it's quite shocking to see how far it goes.


So there is a conspiracy ,the drug war is not what it appears to be.

Monty Burnz

The Incredible Fridge wrote: »

So there is a conspiracy ,the drug war is not what it appears to be.

This is how it looks to me:

There is rampant corruption on the Mexican side, with the police, military and politicians compromised. A criminal conspiracy, for sure.

Then on the US side, you have a branch of government pursuing a risky and what some might call unethical methods of tracing who is connected to who (by giving them guns in the US and seeing whose hands they turn up in in Mexico). There are undoubtedly loads of other tactics being pursued by the US, and you have to wonder whether one arm of the government is talking to the other. While there is definitely some degree of corruption in the US agencies that are supposed to be pursuing the 'war on drugs', I don't think that the US institutions are as compromised as the Mexican ones are, not by a long way.

Now, whether the whole 'war on drugs' malarkey is what it says on the tin is a whole other story - having been around for the birth of the 'war on terror' is enough to make anyone suspicious. :eek:

iPlop

Monty Burnz wrote: »

This is how it looks to me:

There is rampant corruption on the Mexican side, with the police, military and politicians compromised. A criminal conspiracy, for sure.

Then on the US side, you have a branch of government pursuing a risky and what some might call unethical methods of tracing who is connected to who (by giving them guns in the US and seeing whose hands they turn up in in Mexico). There are undoubtedly loads of other tactics being pursued by the US, and you have to wonder whether one arm of the government is talking to the other. While there is definitely some degree of corruption in the US agencies that are supposed to be pursuing the 'war on drugs', I don't think that the US institutions are as compromised as the Mexican ones are, not by a long way.

Now, whether the whole 'war on drugs' malarkey is what it says on the tin is a whole other story - having been around for the birth of the 'war on terror' is enough to make anyone suspicious. :eek:

Couldn't have said it better Monty.Some of the interviews that are in the blog I read tell of entire units of military ,special forces ,and police men and sometimes women that go and work for the cartels because the pay in mexico is complete rubbish.


They organise :Kidnappings, beheadings, massacres whilst appearing as everyday cops and army personel.They always say corruption has always been the way in mexican society and that Filipe Calderon should but out because the "old" system worked and things were "relatively" safe because the cartels had their trade routes and officials let them do it to keep the peace.

Now he's trying to stamp that out and their having none of it.In 2010, 15,000 people were murdered in drug violence and now the cartels have decided to bring it to the tourist areas so there will be nowhere safe left.

uprising2

Monty Burnz wrote: »

What is the conspiracy theory?

I couldn't reply to this before now because I got a 1 Day ban for posting your PM to me :rolleyes:, one of these days I'm gonna do a demonspawn;).

Anyway back to the conspiracy, ok the USA govt and ATF are allowing high powered, high calibre guns to reach the "warring" mexican drug cartels, 1000's of them, have you heard anything on the news or elsewhere about any shootings in Mexico in the past couple of years between drug gangs?, maybe not, but google it, it happens.

The hope of allowing these guns walk is to see "if" they end up in the hands of cartels, and they do, in fact cartel members killed a US border patrol guard (who had a beanbag gun) with AK-47 type weapons that were bought in USA under the watchful eye of the ATF, and were traced back to a US gun dealer, some of the US gun dealers tried to tell the authorities thet they thought the guns were being taken to Mexico but were told to let them go, sell them to them, anything they want give it, and it seems this practice has been going on for years.

The obomber admin has no comment on it, Mexico has become a hotspot for shoot-outs in recent years, the cartels having greater firepower than the mexican security forces, and most of these guns coming not only from the USA, but also with their blessing and safe passage into mexico, to be used to kill, just to "see if they fall into cartel hands".


Now go back to the OP with this extra knowledge, actually I'll throw in a youtube video for good measure, than go back and read it again, and click the links if your PHD deadline can possibly fit them in, and then try your best to see the conspiracy.

If you read the definition I added below you will see that it is in fact a conspiracy, not so much theory, it seems to be true and real and actually occured, maybe still is, so it's probably better to call it conspiracy fact.
con·spir·a·cy (kn-spîr-s)
n. pl. con·spir·a·cies 1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.
2. A group of conspirators.
3. Law An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.
4. A joining or acting together, as if by sinister design: a conspiracy of wind and tide that devastated coastal areas.


http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conspiracy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyDHNeJxazU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ccivo_Sy98

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS1eOaLi0_o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWP1WlpNQqg

Now if you still can't see the conspiracy maybe you should reconsider doing your PHD.

Monty Burnz

If you read the definition I added below you will see that it is in fact a conspiracy, not so much theory, it seems to be true and real and actually occured, maybe still is, so it's probably better to call it conspiracy fact

This is exactly my point - it is broadly accepted that there are actual criminal conspiracies going on in Mexico and the US with regard to the drug cartels, and we know that the ATF and the DEA are using some 'unorthodox' methods to combat them, but where is the conspiracy theory angle? In the sense described by Wikipedia:

However, it has become largely pejorative and used almost exclusively to refer to any fringe theory which explains a historical or current event as the result of a secret plot by conspirators...

Yitzhak Rabin

Supposing the CT is true, and the US are deliberately supplying the cartel with weapons.

What do you reckon the main motivation is?

-Simply the cash for selling them?

-Cause chaos and disorder in Mexico for the government?

-Because they are essentially partners in the cartel and helping them with the trafficking?

-Something else?

Yitzhak Rabin

Monty Burnz wrote: »

This is exactly my point - it is broadly accepted that there are actual criminal conspiracies going on in Mexico and the US with regard to the drug cartels, and we know that the ATF and the DEA are using some 'unorthodox' methods to combat them, but where is the conspiracy theory angle? In the sense described by Wikipedia:

This is one of those cases where you agree with the conspiracy. The conspiracy is that the US are supplying the cartels with weapons. You accept that. The difference between your opinion and the OP is the motivations behind it. You think the motivation is to try and trace the supply of weapons. The OP thinks its something more sinister.... thats the CT angle.... I think

iPlop

Monty Burnz wrote: »

This is exactly my point - it is broadly accepted that there are actual criminal conspiracies going on in Mexico and the US with regard to the drug cartels, and we know that the ATF and the DEA are using some 'unorthodox' methods to combat them, but where is the conspiracy theory angle? In the sense described by Wikipedia:

The problem is that you have a mexican president that want's to eradicate drugs and violence ,and everyone under him is corrupt ,and now it's got to the stage that people are not visiting the country anymore.The beheadings after the big tennis tournament were the last straw for a lot of people.

Imagine 2 tourists and a cab driver were beheaded for the craic :eek: who the fcuk would want to go there? (And it wasn't reported in mainstream news)

This is what the cartels are at ,they want a PRD/PRI party back in to quell the violence and get things back to normal..in the mexican sense ,keep the peace so to speak.

uprising2

yekahS wrote: »

Supposing the CT is true, and the US are deliberately supplying the cartel with weapons.

What do you reckon the main motivation is?

-Simply the cash for selling them?

-Cause chaos and disorder in Mexico for the government? +1

-Because they are essentially partners in the cartel and helping them with the trafficking? +0.5

-Something else?

Maybe they want and need motivation and a reason to cross the border, they've crossed borders in much further lands for much less.
Maybe they'll fly in by night in apache and black hawk's to save the day and destroy the heavily armed cartels and keep the eye's off their own mules.
Allow the cartels to destroy each other, like how many times has the USA armed both sides in an armed conflict?, war and death, attrocities and outrage are great for public support for otherwise unthinkable solutions.
Everybody looking over there at the big shoot out while over here a white rabbit pulled from a hat.
Reasons for cia operatives to cross into mexico a little, to have a closer look and pick up a parcel or 2 along the way, then re-enter usa under cloak a secrecy.
The possible reasons are many, but who knows for sure?

uprising2

This was sent to me earlier, it has to be read to be believed.
In mountjoy they use shivs, in this place they use AK47's and grenades,
Don't think the freeman bit will get you far here.

Quote:
" Federal Police officers found grenades, assault rifles, pistols, ammunition and marijuana during a search conducted Wednesday after order was restored at the prison.

Officers were sent to penitentiary No. 1 in Durango city, the state capital, to stop a gunfight between rival inmates.

The officers seized 14 handguns, three rifles, including two AK-47s, four fragmentation grenades, 28 ammunition clips, 510 rounds of ammunition, eight cell phones, a laptop computer, 135 doses of marijuana and 13,000 pesos (about $1,000) in cash.

Rodolfo Rodriguez Carranza, the prison’s chief guard, was arrested for allowing arms and drugs to enter the facility."
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/


Maybe a reason for the arms walking, from above link:

That cooperation is currently being tested in another high-profile investigation: American and Mexican authorities are pursuing the killers of a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Jaime J. Zapata, and the wounding of a second agent last month in a shooting outside Mexico City.But the emphasis on tight links in law enforcement also appears against a backdrop of tensions between the two countries. The recent shooting has led some members of Congress to question Mexico’s standard policy of refusing to allow American agents to be armed, while Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, has responded bitterly to leaked diplomatic cables in which American officials criticized the competence of Mexican authorities in the fight against cartels.

iPlop

I sent the link to uprising2 earlier.I just want to point out that the link http://www.borderlandbeat.com/ contains very graphic images and videos of killings by the cartels and is NSFW.I have been looking at this site since early 2009 after stumbling across it by accident while looking for a holiday to cancun.

Some of the stuff in there is straight out of a horror movie ,but the 11 journalists that write for it feel the need to show the world what the mainstream news will not.They're very brave men.

iPlop

Senior captured Sinaloa cartel member claims he smuggled tonnes of drugs into the US with the help of the FBI and the DEA.

Link to Boarderlandbeat.com

Mexican Narco-Trafficker’s Revelation Exposes Drug War’s Duplicity
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 | Borderland Beat Reporter Ovemex
Trail of Government Intrigue Leads Back to Cocaine Jet That Crashed in Mexico’s Yucatan



by Bill Conroy
Narcosphere

A high-level player with one of the most notorious narco-trafficking organizations in Mexico, the Sinaloa “cartel,” claims that he has been working with the U.S. government for years, according to pleadings filed recently in federal court in Chicago.

That player, Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, is the son of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia — one of the purported top leaders of the Sinaloa drug-trafficking organization. Zambada Niebla was arrested in Mexico in March 2009 and last February extradited to the United States to stand trial on narco-trafficking-related charges.

The indictment pending against Zambada Niebla claims he served as the “logistical coordinator” for the “cartel,” helping to oversee an operation that imported into the U.S. “multi-ton quantities of cocaine … using various means, including but not limited to, Boeing 747 cargo aircraft, private aircraft … buses, rail cars, tractor trailers, and automobiles.”

The revelation that Zambada Niebla claims to have been a U.S. government asset, working with its sanction, is a shocking development in the so-called drug war and has gone largely un-reported by the U.S. media. The claim, if true, adds credence to theories long in play that the Mexican and U.S. governments are essentially showing favor toward the Sinaloa drug organization and its leadership, including El Mayo and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Lorea, as part of a broader strategy to weaken and ultimately eliminate rival narco organizations.

U.S. and Mexican government officials, of course, have consistently denied that any such arrangement is in place.

Zambada Niebla’s allegation of U.S. government complicity in his narco-trafficking activities is laid out in a two-page court pleading filed in late March with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago. The pleading asserts that Zambada Niebla was working with “public authority” “on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”); and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”); and the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”).

“Public authority for the defendant’s [Zambada Niebla’s] acts began from at least on or about January 1, 2004 and continued to and included on or about March 19, 2009,” the court pleading alleges.

In addition to the narco-trafficking charges pending against him in Chicago, Zambada Niebla also stands accused of serving as an enforcer for the Sinaloa organization.

“Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla sought to obtain weapons from the United States … and discussed the use of violence in ‘the Smoke,’ a coded term for Mexico City, Mexico, an area of Mexico in which narcotics trafficking was controlled by the Beltran-Leyva Cartel, so that public and governmental blame for such an act of violence would fall on Arturo Beltran-Leyva and the Beltran Leyva Cartel, and not the … Sinaloa Cartel,” U.S. government court pleadings in Zambada Niebla’s case state.

Arturo Beltran-Leyva was killed in late 2009 by elite Mexican Navy forces, assisted by the U.S. government, in a bloody shootout near Cuernavaca, in the Mexican state of Morelos.

Coincidentally, in late March of this year, seven young men, including the 20-year-old son of Mexican poet and journalist Javier Sicilia, were murdered in the state of Morelos in a senseless and vicious attack by suspected narco-thugs. The murders of these innocent young men, amplified by the anguish of a beloved public figure and father of one of the victims, has sparked a rapidly expanding nonviolent, civil-resistance movement in Mexico that, as one of its major goals, seeks to put an end to the tragic drug-war carnage enabled by the failed bellicose policies of Mexican President Felipe Calderon — policies that have cost the lives of some 40,000 Mexicans since late 2006.

Finances

Zambada Niebla’s contention that he is essentially a U.S. government informant also takes on added intrigue with respect to another series of legal cases now pending in the U.S. and Panama.

To understand the threads that connect those cases, it is necessary to revisit the mysterious crash of a Gulfstream II corporate jet on Sept. 24, 2007, in Mexico’s Yucatan region. Onboard that jet was an estimated four tons of cocaine, which appears to have been loaded onto the jet in Colombia.



The Gulfstream II sported a tail number, N987SA, linked by European investigators to past CIA rendition operations.

Narco News has previously reported that the bill of sale for the Gulfstream jet — which was sold only weeks before its crash landing — lists an individual named Greg Smith, whose name also shows up in public documents that indicate he worked as a pilot in the past for an operation involving the FBI, DEA and CIA that targeted narco-traffickers in Colombia.

A CIA asset named Baruch Vega, who was a key player in those undercover operations, also confirmed the information related to Smith. Narco News has not been able to track down Smith, or his partner in the jet-acquisition deal, Clyde O’Connor, for comment.

Vega also claims that the cocaine load on the jet was purchased through a syndicate of Colombian narco-traffickers that included a professed CIA asset named Nelson Urrego, who was was arrested by Panamanian authorities in 2007 a little more than a week prior to the crash of the Gulfstream II jet. Urrego is only now being brought to trial in Panama on money laundering and drug-trafficking charges.

The Gulfstream II jet, according to Mexican authorities, was among a number of aircraft acquired by the Sinaloa drug organization via an elaborate money laundering scheme involving a chain of Mexican casa de cambios (currency exchange houses) overseen by alleged Sinaloa organization operative Pedro Alfonso Alatorre Damy, according to Mexican government and U.S. media reports.

Damy was arrested in Mexico in November 2007. He has been indicted on a series of charges in the U.S., including conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money, but as of this week, despite a request by the U.S. government for his extradition, Damy remains in custody in Mexico, according to Alicia Valle, special counsel to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

Damy’s case also is tied intricately to another U.S. govermment legal action against banking giant Wachovia (now a subsidiary of Wells Fargo), which was implicated in the Damy money-laundering operation. The Sinaloa organization operative allegedly used the bank as part of his scheme.

Wachovia inked a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in March 2010 in exchange for paying a monetary penalty of some $160 million and providing a promise of cooperation with the U.S. government.

From Wachovia’s deferred prosecution agreement:


… Using false identities, the CDC [wired money] through its Wachovia correspondent bank accounts for the purchase of airplanes for drug trafficking organizations. On various dates between 2004 and 2007, at least four of those airplanes [including, according to Mexican officials, the Gulfstream II cocaine jet with CIA ties] were seized by foreign law enforcement agencies cooperating with the United States and were found to contain large quantities of cocaine.

… In total, nearly $13 million dollars went through correspondent bank accounts at Wachovia for the purchase of aircraft to be used in the illegal narcotics trade. From these aircraft, more than 20,000 kilograms of cocaine were seized.

... From September 2005 to December 2007, Wachovia provided correspondent banking services to 22 CDCs [casa de cambios], including Casa de Cambio Puebla [which was overseen by Damy].

… For the time period of May 1, 2004, through May 31, 2007, Wachovia processed at least $373 billion in wire activity on behalf of the CDCs.

… The investigation has identified $110 million in drug proceeds that were funneled through the CDC accounts held at Wachovia. [That represents only the money in the larger pool of $373 billion that could be proven to be drug proceeds.]

… The suspicious activity went effectively unmonitored. The $373 billion in CDC wire transfers were monitored in this inadequate manner.


Logistics

So, the criminal cases pending against alleged Colombian narco-trafficker Urrego, accused money-launderer Damy and Sinaloa organization logistics chief Zambada Niebla all appear to connect through the Gulfstream II cocaine jet at some level.

That aircraft was allegedly purchased with Sinaloa organization drug money laundered through Damy’s casa de cambio business and a U.S. bank. And that same aircraft was reportedly suspected of being used previously as part of the CIA’s “terrorist” rendition program, according to media reports and an investigation spearheaded by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

In addition, the Gulfstream II was purchased less than two weeks before it crashed in Mexico by a duo that included a U.S. government operative who allegedly had done past contract work for a variety of US law enforcement and intelligence agencies, according to a known CIA asset (Vega) who is identified as such in public court records. The four tons of cocaine onboard of the Gulfstream II at the time of its crash landing, according Vega, were purchased in Colombia via a syndicate that included Urrego, who, according to Panamanian press reports and Vega, is a U.S. government (CIA) asset.

And now, one of the top players in the Sinaloa drug organization, who, according to the U.S. government, oversaw logistics for the criminal organization, a job that entailed overseeing the purchase of aircraft for drug smuggling activities, now claims to have been actively cooperating with several U.S. law enforcement agencies since at least 2004.

Assuming that rendition of the facts is accurate, it sure makes it hard to tell the crooks from the cops in this drug war.

Narco News previously reported a series of stories following the trail of the Gulfstream II jet, which can be found at this link.

In one of those stories, DEA sources told Narco News that the Gulfstream II jet was part of an undercover law enforcement operation being carried out by a Department of Homeland Security agency — specifically, ICE. The operation was codenamed “Mayan Express,” the sources claimed.

The sources requested anonymity out of fear that they would be retaliated against by the government for revealing the information.

The operation also appeared to be badly flawed, the sources said, because it was being carried out unilaterally, (Rambo-style), by ICE and without the knowledge of the Mexican government.

“This is a case of ICE running amok,” one DEA source told Narco News. “If this [operation] was being run by the book, they would not be doing it unilaterally” – without the participation of DEA – “and without the knowledge of the Mexican government.”

However, Vega told Narco News that the DEA was fully aware of the ICE operation, Mayan Express. He claimed further that it was a legitimate law enforcement operation designed to gather evidence against narco-traffickers shipping contraband into the U.S.

Another scenario advanced by some law enforcement sources with respect to the CIA-linked Gulfstream II jet and the purported Mayan Express operation is that it was all part of an elaborate CIA covert operation, possibly run under ICE cover.

In fact, law enforcers and intelligence assets who spoke with Narco News all agree that even a legitimate law enforcement operation cannot be carried out overseas without the CIA lurking in the background — given the CIA’s broad mission as the primary foreign intelligence agency charged with protecting interests deemed vital to the U.S.

Attorney Mark Conrad, a former high-level supervisory Customs agent who has an extensive background in the intelligence world, previously told Narco News that he has no problem entertaining a CIA scenario in the Gulfstream II narco-world saga. Though he stressed that he has no knowledge of the so-called Mayan Express operation, Conrad says if it was being operated in the unilateral manner described, then the CIA could well be running the show.

Former deep undercover DEA agent Mike Levine, who was part of a number of missions in Latin America, questions the legitimacy of any law enforcement operation that would plant an aircraft, such as the Gulfstream II, and undercover operatives inside Mexico to fly several tons of cocaine from Columbia to Mexico.

From Levine:

Would there be a sane reason [for such an operation] is the … question. For example, CIA flew many tons of cocaine into the U.S. in the Guillen Episode with no legitimate reason, but it was done anyway.

Consider Operation Fast and Furious [in which the ATF is accused of letting thousands of illegally purchased guns cross the border into Mexico to be used by narco-trafficking groups]. With our covert agencies currently so out of control [lacking] any oversight or accountability … whatsoever, the “Letters” no longer need legitimate reasons for their actions.


In the early 1990s, the CIA ran a spook mission (the Guillen Episode referred to by Levine) allegedly designed to infiltrate Colombian narco-trafficking groups. The operation resulted in at least a ton of cocaine — some estimates put the figure much higher — entering the United States unchecked. The head of the DEA at the time, Robert Bonner, incensed at the CIA’s actions, which were carried out over DEA’s objections, went on national TV and essentially accused the CIA of engaging in drug trafficking.

The CIA operation, which was carried out with the assistance of the Venezuelan National Guard under the direction of CIA asset General Ramon Guillen Davila, unraveled after U.S. Customs seized a load of the dope in Miami.

So, one way to avoid a repeat of that mistake in an operation like the alleged Mayan Express, assuming it is a CIA-run effort, is to use Customs (ICE) as a cover for the operation, one law enforcer suggests.

But the truth is, as of now, we simply don’t know the real story behind the Gulfstream II — whether it was part of a legitimate law enforcement sting, or part of a CIA covert op that subsequently, and unwittingly, became the focus of a law-enforcement money laundering investigation, or if it was simply a narco plane connected to shadowy figures who had a lot of bad luck. But there sure seems to be a lot of smoke beyond the 2007 crash of that cocaine-laden corporate jet, even until this day.

What we do know is that on April 6 of this year — some three weeks after Zambada Niebla filed his motion in federal court in Chicago claiming to be a U.S. government asset — the federal judge in the Wachovia case signed an order dismissing the “criminal information” charges filed against the lender, including charges related to the bank’s role in facilitating the casa-de-cambio money-laundering schemes allegedly employed by Damy and the Sinaloa “cartel” to finance the purchase of the Gulfstream II jet, among other drug-smuggling aircraft.

From the judge’s order, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida:

The DPA [deferred prosecution agreement] required, among other things, that Wachovia Bank, N.A. (a) acknowledge responsibility for its conduct …; (b) continue its cooperation with the United States; and (c) demonstrate its future good conduct and compliance in all material aspects with the Bank Secrecy Act…. Given that Wachovia … has fully complied with its obligations under the DPA and has not otherwise breached the DPA, and pursuant to the terms of the DPA, the United States believes that dismissal is appropriate under the circumstances.


Zambada’s claim of being a collaborator with the U.S. government will likely disappear from public view in time, under the cloak of national security, if that cooperation involved any U.S. intelligence agencies, according to one law enforcement source.

And that is not the least likely outcome, according to one former U.S. intelligent analyst who follows the drug war closely.

“I’ve thought for some time that ‘El Mayo’ [Zambada Niebla’s father] and his people work with the U.S. and Mexican governments on some level,” the individual opines. “It would be best [from a perceived national security standpoint] if the Sinaloa cartel achieved hegemony; it would reduce all the fighting, and I think the U.S. and Mexican governments buy into that line of thought.”
As for Wachovia, it has already been disappeared, in a sense, having been absorbed in an acquisition in early 2009 by one of its major rivals, Wells Fargo, as part of a $12.7 billion deal.

But unlike corporations and legal processes that can be deep sixed by business interests or national security, the trail of tears connecting the victims of the drug war, and the rising tide of indignation that tragic bond has produced, cannot be so easily disappeared