3.8 KiB
| category | tags | summary | born | died | location | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence & Government |
|
Edwin Corr was the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador who received Celerino Castillo's reports about Contra drug trafficking at Ilopango and sent a secret cable to Washington. | 1934-08-06 | 2026-02-11 | Edmond, Oklahoma |
Edwin Corr was the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador who received Celerino Castillo's reports about Contra drug trafficking at Ilopango Air Base and sent a secret "back channel" message to Washington, D.C.. Corr occupied a key position in the chain of information about the Contra-drug connection.1
Shutting Down the Investigation
Corr sent a secret back-channel cable asking the State Department to have the DEA review Castillo's allegations. Corr told the Justice Department Inspector General that DEA headquarters replied that the Walter Grasheim case would be closed for lack of evidence. The Inspector General could not find that cable or the reply in DEA files, and the State Department could not find the back-channel cable.2 On April 25, 1986 the Central Intelligence Agency station in El Salvador asked the Costa Rica station to advise the DEA not to make any inquiries to anyone about Hangar No. 4 at Ilopango.3
Corr told the Inspector General that he had canceled U.S. government night vision contracts with Grasheim after the Salvadoran police search of Grasheim's residence, and that he thought it best to sever all ties with him. He said that after the search Castillo continued to make allegations about Grasheim's possible involvement with Salvadoran officials and Contra rebels. He said that after his back-channel cable Castillo's supervisors told Castillo to close the Grasheim investigation, and that Castillo continued "to snoop around the airport and make allegations." Corr said he told Castillo that if Castillo had evidence on Grasheim or anyone at Ilopango he would support the investigation, but that if he had none Castillo would have to stop the "witch hunt." Corr told the Inspector General that he did not recall the CIA ever asking him to pressure the DEA to back away from an investigation, and that Castillo never suggested to him that the CIA was conspiring with the Contras to traffic drugs.2
Gary Webb wrote that Corr told Castillo to stop the "witch hunt" and that the DEA told Corr Castillo's information was "totally inaccurate." Webb attributes to Corr, in his interview with Justice Department investigators, the statements that Castillo "Was a very professional and a good agent" and that the investigation had the potential to "destroy relationships with Salvadoran officials that had taken so long to build."1
Castillo told the 1991 FBI interviewer, Special Agent Michael Foster, that Grasheim had told Corr "If I go down, half your Mil Group will go down with me," and that Corr had responded "Let the chips fall where they may." Castillo's account is recorded in the Inspector General's summary of Foster's report.4
Footnotes
-
Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15. ↩︎
-
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Chapter X, part 2, section C.1.b(2) (interview of Edwin Corr) and section C.1.a (Castillo's November 5, 1986 status report). https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/ch10p2.htm ↩︎
-
Webb, Gary. Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion. Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 15. ↩︎
-
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Chapter X, part 4, section K (summary of the FBI report of the 1991 interview of Castillo for the Office of Independent Counsel). https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/ch10p4.htm ↩︎