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60 - PLACES/REGIONS/Cabazon Indian Reservation.md

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+---
+tags:
+  - Organization
+  - Organization/Intelligence
+  - Organization/Military
+  - United_States
+  - California
+  - 1980s
+  - Contra_War
+  - PROMIS
+  - Dark_Alliance_Investigation
+category: "PROMIS Scandal"
+summary: "The Cabazon Indian Reservation is located near Indio, California, and is home to the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians."
+location: "Indio, California"
+---
+
+The [[Cabazon Indian Reservation]] is located near Indio, [[California]], and is home to the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation]]. Its sovereign nation status played a crucial role in a joint venture with [[Wackenhut Corporation]], allowing the parties to operate outside typical federal jurisdiction and congressional prohibitions. During the 1980s, the reservation was used as a site for developing weapons for Third World armies, including the [[Contras]].[^1][^2]
+
+### Joint Venture with Wackenhut Corporation
+
+On April 1, 1981, the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians formalized a joint venture with [[Wackenhut Corporation]], primarily to establish a production facility named "Cabazon Arms" on the reservation. This partnership was designed to manufacture high-tech arms and explosives for export to third-world countries, including the Contras in Nicaragua and nations in the Middle East, effectively circumventing U.S. arms export regulations. The [[San Francisco]] Chronicle described the venture as "a series of international military and security projects that seem to be lifted from the pages of a spy novel."[^1][^2]
+
+[[Dr. John Nichols]], the Cabazon tribal administrator and a former [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] agent who claimed involvement in the agency's Chilean destabilization program in the 1970s, was instrumental in this venture. He obtained a [[Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] secret facility clearance for the reservation to conduct various research projects. Nichols proposed to Wackenhut the production of a range of weapons systems, including 120mm combustible cartridge cases, 9mm machine pistols, laser-sighted assault weapons, sniper rifles, portable rocket systems, night-vision scopes, and battlefield communications systems. The joint venture also explored the development of biological weapons.[^1][^2]
+
+In May 1983, the Cabazons solicited San Diego arms manufacturer [[Tim LaFrance]] to build an arms factory on their reservation. Their letter to LaFrance Specialties stated: "We need the know-how from an organization engaged in the manufacturing of armaments of various types, all consisting of technology not currently found on the marketplace."[^2]
+
+### Contra Connection
+
+Contra leader [[Eden Pastora]] visited a firing range near the reservation for a weapons demonstration in 1981, a claim Pastora has both confirmed and denied on separate occasions. Wackenhut was using the Cabazon reservation's tax-exempt status and its freedom from federal oversight to gain a competitive advantage in soliciting federal weapons projects.[^2]
+
+### PROMIS Software Modification
+
+[[Michael Riconosciuto]] served as the Director of Research for this joint venture. He claimed to have modified the proprietary [[PROMIS]] computer software at the Wackenhut facility on the reservation. This modified software, allegedly made available by [[Earl Brian]] through [[Peter Videnieks]] of the [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]], was intended for worldwide implementation in law enforcement and intelligence agencies, leading to the [[PROMIS Software Scandal]]. Riconosciuto's affidavit detailed specific modifications for the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police|RCMP]] and the [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service|CSIS]] in [[Canada]].[^1]
+
+Frequent visitors to the Wackenhut-Cabazon joint venture included [[Peter Videnieks]] and [[Earl Brian]]. The venture maintained close liaison with elements of the [[United States]], including representatives of intelligence, military, and law enforcement agencies.[^1]
+
+### Danny Casolaro Investigation
+
+Investigative journalist [[Danny Casolaro]] was investigating the Cabazon/Wackenhut projects as part of his "[[The Octopus]]" investigation at the time he was found dead in a West Virginia motel room in 1991. He had told friends he was convinced that "spies, arms merchants and others were using the reservation as a low-profile site on which to develop weapons for Third World armies, including the Nicaraguan Contras." His notes contained cryptic references to slow-acting brain viruses, like Mad Cow Disease, which he believed could be used against targeted individuals, and he was concerned he might have been a target of such a virus. The notebooks Casolaro left behind contained the name of former CIA officer [[John Vandewerker]].[^1][^2]
+
+### Termination and Investigations
+
+The Wackenhut/Cabazon Joint Venture was terminated on October 1, 1984. Following its termination, the activities conducted on the Cabazon Indian Reservation became the subject of numerous investigations by various governmental and law enforcement bodies, including the [[Department of Justice|U.S. Department of Justice]], the [[United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee on Inslaw]], [[U.S. Customs|U.S. Customs]], and the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police|Royal Canadian Mounted Police]], as well as police agencies and media worldwide.[^1]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010.
+[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty."

60 - PLACES/REGIONS/Caribbean.md

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+---
+category: "Country"
+tags:
+  - geography
+  - region
+  - contra-war
+summary: The Caribbean was a key transit zone for cocaine shipments moving from South America through the Bahamas, Panama, and Costa Rica to the United States during the Contra war.
+---
+The Caribbean was a key transit zone for [[cocaine]] shipments moving from [[South America]] through the [[Bahamas]], [[Panama]], and [[Costa Rica]] to the [[United States]] during the Contra war. The region's geography, with its numerous islands and porous coastlines, made it ideal for drug smuggling operations.[^1]
+
+### Trafficking Routes
+
+[[Manuel Noriega|Noriega]]'s pilots flew drugs through two routes north: one through [[Mexico]] for the West Coast market, and the other through the Bahamas for the East Coast's cocaine buyers. [[Pablo Escobar]]'s associate Carlos Lehder set up shop in the Bahamas, buying an island where drug planes from [[Colombia]] could land, refuel, and wait for the right moment to fly into the United States. The Caribbean transit zone was integral to the Contra-connected drug pipeline.[^2]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 5.
+[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 5, Ch. 14.

60 - PLACES/REGIONS/Central America.md

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+---
+category: "Country"
+tags:
+  - Geography
+  - Region
+  - Central_America
+  - Contra_War
+  - 1980s
+summary: Geographic region connecting North and South America that was the primary theater of Contra operations, drug trafficking, and CIA covert activities during the 1980s.
+---
+Central America is the geographic region connecting North and [[South America]] that was the primary theater of operations for the Contra war, [[cocaine]] trafficking, and [[Central Intelligence Agency]] covert activities during the 1980s.[^1]
+
+### Contra War Theater
+
+The Central American nations of [[Nicaragua]], [[Honduras]], [[El Salvador]], [[Costa Rica]], and [[Guatemala]] formed the battleground for the U.S.-backed Contra war against the [[Sandinistas|Sandinista]] government of Nicaragua. The [[FDN]] operated from Honduras, while [[ARDE]] and [[UDN-FARN]] were based in Costa Rica. [[Ilopango Airbase|Ilopango Air Force Base]] in El Salvador served as the hub for [[Oliver North]]'s Contra air force.[^2]
+
+### Drug Trafficking Corridor
+
+Central America was the transit corridor for cocaine flowing from [[Colombia]] and [[Bolivia]] to the [[United States]]. CIA-connected pilots and Contra aircraft moved drugs through airstrips in Costa Rica, Ilopango in El Salvador, and forward operating bases in Honduras. DEA agent [[Celerino Castillo]] documented Contra drug shipments from Ilopango, and [[Enrique Miranda]] testified about cocaine flights from El Salvador to U.S. military airfields in [[Texas]].[^3]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Glossary of Organizations and Locations
+[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"
+[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 13: "The wrong kind of friends"

60 - PLACES/REGIONS/Guanacaste Province.md

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+---
+category: "Country"
+tags:
+  - Geography
+  - Costa_Rica
+  - 1980s
+  - Contra_War
+  - Drug_Trafficking
+summary: Guanacaste Province in northern Costa Rica served as the headquarters for Contra drug and weapons trafficking operations during the 1980s, equipped with rural landing strips and corruptible local officials.
+---
+
+### Contra War Hub
+
+Guanacaste Province was an isolated northern area of [[Costa Rica]] infested with Contra camps, rural landing strips, and easily bribed government and police officials during the 1980s Contra war. According to a special Costa Rican legislative commission, during 1984 and 1985 the area served as headquarters for "an organization made up of Panamanians, Colombians, Costa Ricans and citizens of other nationalities who dedicated themselves to international cocaine trafficking, using Costa Rica as a bridge for the refueling of planes that came from Colombia."[^1]
+
+### Drug and Weapons Operations
+
+The drug ring, run with the help of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, worked closely with the [[Contras]]. "Specifically, use was made of the same landing strips and the collaboration of the same Costa Rican authorities that had aided the Contras," the legislative commission reported. Contra pilots provided "the gasoline that was used for refueling the planes of the organization." Drug planes loaded cocaine in Colombia, refueled at Contra airstrips in Guanacaste, then continued to the United States, dumping loads in Louisiana and Texas.[^1]
+
+The head of the Costa Rican Rural Guard in Guanacaste Province, Colonel Edwin Viales Rodriguez, was convicted in 1988 of providing security for drug and weapons flights. He allegedly told a friend he was doing it for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and was paid between $20,000 and $30,000 per flight.[^1]
+
+### Intelligence Failures
+
+Despite the number of American agents stationed in Costa Rica during the Contra war, and U.S. reconnaissance aircraft and spy satellites making routine overflights photographing the region, a U.S. Senate subcommittee reported in 1988 that "despite obvious and widespread trafficking through the war zones of northern Costa Rica, the Subcommittee was unable to find a single case against a drug trafficker operating in those zones which was made on the basis of a tip or report by an official of a U.S. intelligence agency." Costa Rican prosecutor Jorge Chavarria, who investigated Contra drug cases for the OIJ, said the DEA "knew about the Contras and drugs. All these flights and pilots that were flying in and out with drugs could not have been ignored by the DEA. They were looking in the other direction."[^1]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 11: "They were looking in the other direction"

60 - PLACES/REGIONS/South America.md

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+---
+category: "Country"
+tags:
+  - geography
+  - continent
+  - contra-war
+summary: South America was the source of the cocaine that flowed through Contra-connected trafficking networks, with Colombia and Bolivia serving as the primary production countries.
+---
+South America was the source of the [[cocaine]] that flowed through Contra-connected trafficking networks, with [[Colombia]] and [[Bolivia]] serving as the primary production countries. The continent's drug cartels supplied the commodity that linked the Contra war to the devastation of American inner cities.[^1]
+
+### The Cocaine Supply Chain
+
+A 1990 [[DEA]] report stated that the [[Danilo Blandon|Blandón]]-[[Norwin Meneses|Meneses]] ring was "a criminal organization that operates internationally from Colombia and Bolivia, through the [[Bahamas]], [[Costa Rica]], or [[Nicaragua]] to the [[United States]]." The ring sourced its cocaine from the politically connected Suarez family in Bolivia and the Ochoa family in Colombia, founders of the [[Medellin Cartel|Medellín Cartel]]. Law enforcement investigators hoped to take down the biggest crack operation ever uncovered, "one whose tentacles reached all the way to South America," and cut off the L.A. ghettos' main source of supply. A pilot known as "Oklahoma Dick" regularly flew to South America to obtain cocaine for the Blandón-Meneses network.[^2]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 6.
+[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 6, Ch. 17.

60 - PLACES/REGIONS/South Central Los Angeles.md

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+---
+category: "City"
+tags:
+  - Geography
+  - Region
+  - United_States
+  - California
+  - 1980s
+  - Dark_Alliance_Investigation
+summary: Region of Los Angeles that was the epicenter of the crack cocaine explosion in the early 1980s, where Danilo Blandón's Contra-connected cocaine was converted to crack and distributed by Ricky Ross's network.
+---
+South Central Los Angeles is a region of [[Los Angeles]] that was the epicenter of the [[Crack Cocaine|crack]] cocaine explosion in the early 1980s.[^1] [[Ricky Ross|"Freeway" Ricky Ross]] built his crack distribution empire in South Central, supplied entirely by [[Danilo Blandon|Danilo Blandón]]'s Contra-connected [[cocaine]] network.[^2]
+
+### Crack Market Origins
+
+Blandón was the first major trafficker to establish a direct connection between South Central L.A. street gangs and the [[Colombia|Colombian]] cocaine cartels. Ross's network spread from South Central through the [[Crips]] and Bloods street gangs, converting Blandón's kilos into crack and distributing it throughout the neighborhood.[^2]
+
+### Distribution Network
+
+Ross used South Central apartments as stash houses, cash-counting operations, and distribution centers. At the peak of operations, Ross used a South Central apartment as a countinghouse where drug money was sorted and wrapped using two or three counting machines running day and night. His operation spread from South Central to every major urban market in the [[United States]].[^3]
+
+### Community Impact
+
+The influx of cheap cocaine from Blandón's Contra-connected network into South Central fueled the rise of both the crack epidemic and gang violence. "The fact that a government-connected drug ring was dumping tons of cocaine into the black neighborhoods in L.A. goes a long way towards explaining why crack developed such deep roots in the black community," [[Gary Webb]] wrote. "It's where the seed was planted."[^4]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Prologue: "It was like they didn't want to know"
+[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 8: "A million hits is not enough"
+[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 10: "Teach a man a craft and he's liable to practice it"
+[^4]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 27: "A very difficult decision"