25 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
25 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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category: "U.S. Government"
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tags:
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- Organization
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- Government
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- United_States
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- Contra_War
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- 1980s
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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.
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---
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[[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]
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### Contra War Role
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[[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]
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### Flowchart Analysis
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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]
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### Footnotes
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[^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"
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[^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"
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[^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"
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