---
category: "U.S. Government"
tags:
  - Organization
  - Government
  - United_States
  - Contra_War
  - 1980s
summary: U.S. federal law enforcement agency responsible for border protection and customs enforcement that investigated Contra-connected cocaine trafficking through informants including Joseph Kelso.
---
[[U.S. Customs and Border Protection]] (U.S. Customs) is a federal law enforcement agency responsible for protecting the borders of the [[United States]].[^1]

### Contra War Role

[[Joseph Kelso]], a [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and U.S. Customs informant, gathered testimony from six witnesses willing to testify that [[DEA]] agents in [[Costa Rica]] were skimming cocaine from seizures, making counterfeit money, and protecting cocaine labs on Contra bases. When Kelso's investigation was exposed, [[Robert Owen]], serving as a conduit for [[Oliver North]], had Kelso arrested. Evidence tapes from Kelso's investigation were turned over to North via Owen, who threw them away when the [[Iran-Contra Affair]] broke.[^2]

### Flowchart Analysis

The U.S. Customs Service analyzed a flowchart seized from [[Ronald Lister]]'s home during a 1986 raid, which appeared to diagram an illegal weapons diversion scheme matching the methods used to funnel arms to the [[Contras]].[[^3]

### Footnotes

[^1]: 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"
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 17: "We're going to blow your fucking head off"
[^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"