'INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL: A HIGH-PRIORITY PROGRAM ADDRESS BY SHELDON B. VANCE. DEPARTMENT OF STATE BULLETIN, JANUARY 27, 1975.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-01194A000100400001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 18
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 4, 1998
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 1, 1975
• Content Type: REPORT

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International Narcotics Control: A High-Priority Program
Address by Sheldon B. Vance'
Alcohol and drug problems are genuine
concerns of anyone with management re-
sponsibilities, and in this sense my personal
involvement is not new. However, my inter-
est has been more immediate and full time
since early this year when Secretary Kissin-
ger named me his Senior Adviser on Nar-
cotics Matters.
The Federal international narcotics con-
trol program is a combined effort of several
U.S. agencies, operating within the frame-
work of the Cabinet Committee on Interna-
tional Narcotics Control, which is chaired by
Secretary of State Kissinger. I also serve as
the Executive Director of the Cabinet Com-
mittee and therefore direct or coordinate, un-
der the President's and Secretary's control,
what our Federal Government is attempting
to do abroad in this field, whether in the en-
forcement, treatment, or prevention areas.
illy remarks today will not address alcohol
abuse, not because we believe alcohol a lesser
or insignificant problem-we definitely do
not-hut because our international narcotics
control program does not extend to alcohol.
The Cabinet Committee was, in fact, formed
largely in response to the tragic victimization
of American youth by heroin traflickers in
the late 1960's and early 1970's. As you know,
the same period also saw a sharp rise in the
abuse of other drugs over which we seek
tighter controls, including marihuana, hash-
ish, cocaine, amphetamines, barbiturates,
' Made before the North American Congress on Al-
cohol and Drug Problems at San Francisco, Calif.,
on Dec. 17. Ambassador Vance is Senior Adviser to
the Secretary of State and Coordinator for Interna-
tional Narcotics Matters.
tranquilizers, and LSD and other hallucino-
gens. Poly-drug abuse, the mixing or alter-
nating consumption of different drugs, also
emerged as a problem requiring special at-
tention.
The American drug scene is not confined
to our borders. It extends to our military
forces and other Americans residing abroad,
as well as to tourists. As of September 30 of
this year, 1,289 U.S. citizens were languish-
ing in foreign prisons on narcotics charges,
principally in Mexico, Germany, Spain, and
Canada. The 1,289 compares with the figure
of 2.12 in September of 1969.
However hard we fight the problem of
drug abuse at home, we cannot move signifi-
cantly to solve it unless we succeed in win-
ning and maintaining comprehensive and ef-
fective cooperation of foreign governments.
Some of the key drugs of abuse originate in
foreign countries. There is a legitimate need
for opium as a source for codeine and other
medicinal compounds, but illicit opium-
from which heroin can be processed-has
been produced in such countries as Turkey
(prior to its ban), Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Burma, Thailand, Laos, and neighboring
Mexico. Opium is also being produced legally
in India and Turkey for export and in Iran
and a number of other countries for domestic
medical and research utilization.
Some idea of the dimensions of our prob-
lem can be gained when we consider that the
world's annual legal production of opium is
close to 1,500 tons and illegal production is
estimated at 1,200 tons. Similarly, the co-
caine used in the United States is of foreign
origin, produced as the coca plant princi-
Department of Stag Bulletin
January 27, 1975
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pally in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador. Colom-
bia transforms more coca paste into cocaine
than other countries. Cannabis, from which
we get marihuana and hashish, is both im-
ported and grown in the United States; the
biggest supplier of the U.S. market is Mex-
ico, followed by Jamaica.
We have had our problems with U.S.-man-
ufactured amphetamines, barbiturates, and
other mind-bending drugs. We are attempt-
ing to deal with the U.S. sources through do-
mestic measures, but for the foreign sub-
stances we must look to other governments
for cooperation. Frequently, it has been a
case of persuading them that the problem is
not just ours but is also theirs.
We have been increasingly successful in
these efforts since mid-1971, when stopping
the flow of narcotics to the United States-
with emphasis on heroin and cocaine-be-
came one of our principal foreign policy ob-
jectives. At that time, the Department of
State was assigned the primary responsibil-
ity for developing an intensified interna-
tional narcotics control effort and for man-
aging the expenditures under the program.
To encourage cooperation from other gov-
ernments and to assist them and internation-
al organizations to strengthen their antidrug
capabilities, we have provided an annual
average of $22 million in grant assistance
over the past three years. Our request for
international control funds for the current
fiscal year is $42.5 million. Our bilateral
programs emphasize cooperative law enforce-
ment and exchange of intelligence. The ma-
jor categories of grant assistance are train-
ing programs and equipment for foreign en-
forcement personnel and financial assistance
for crop substitution and related agricul-
tural projects. We are also exploring useful
cooperative ventures in the fields of drug
abuse education, treatment, and prevention.
During the past two months, I visited
many of the countries in Latin America, the
Near East, and Asia to examine our pro-
grams and look for ways to strengthen them.
I can report that all of these governments
expressed a sincere willingness to help stamp
out illicit production and trafficking. But
these governments also face serious internal
problems. The opium poppy, for example,
usually flourishes in the more isolated areas
where central government control is weak or
nonexistent. In many areas it is the only casli
crop of unbelievably poor tribesmen, and it
also provides their only medication and relief
from serious disease and hardship.
On my trip I saw something of the poppy-
growing areas in Afghanistan in Badakshan
and Nangarhar Provinces and of the Buner
and Swahi poppy-producing areas of Pali.
istan's Northwest Frontier Province when x
drove from Kabul, Afghanistan, to Peshai-
war, Pakistan, through the Kabul Gorge and
Khyber Pass and then went on to Islamabad
by Pakistani Government helicopter. I also
helicoptered over the northern mountains of
Thailand, where the Meo hill tribes grow
opium like the tribesmen in the neighborini
mountains of Burma and Laos in what is
called the Golden Triangle.
The experience vividly demonstrated to mp'
the conditions which make it very difliculIt
for these governments-despite a genuine
desire to stamp out illegal opium-to control
production effectively any time soon. We and
producing countries cannot expect to see a
high degree of success in our cooperative en-
forcement efforts until significant adjust-
ments are made in the social attitudes and
economic conditions in the opium-growing
areas.
Western Hemisphere Control Programs
Mexico-Today, the number-one priority
country in our international narcotics cone
trol efforts is Mexico. The Mexican opium
crop and heroin laboratories are the current
source of more than half of the heroin on our
streets. The so-called Alexican brown heroin
has not only moved into our largest cities
but is also spreading to some of the smaller
cities throughout our country. When Presi-
dent Ford met with President Echeverria in
October, narcotics control was very high on
their agenda and they agreed that an even
more intensified joint effort is needed.
The Mexican Government under President
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Echeverrfa has assigned high priority to its
antidrug campaign and has directed Attor-
ney General Pedro Ojeda Paullada to coor-
dinate its eradication and control efforts.
We are helping them by providing air-
craft, mainly helicopters, to assist in the
eradication of opium poppy cultivation in
the western mountains. This cultivation is il-
legal in Mexico, and there is no question of
the Mexican Government offering income
substitution to the farmer. There is also a
crash program to strengthen antismuggling
controls on both sides of the border. Our
crooks smuggle guns and appliances into
Mexico, in coordination wjth their crooks
who supply ours with heroin and marihuana.
U.S.-Mexican cooperative measures are pay-
ing off, but much remains to be done before
illicit trafficking can he reduced in a major
way.
For fiscal year 1975, about $10 million, or
almost one-quarter, of our international nar-
cotics control funds are being allocated to the
Mexican program. Our Mexican neighbors
are spending much more. AIy colleague John
Bartels, Administrator of the Drug Enforce-
ment Administration (DEA), and I meet
three or four times a year with Our friend
Pedro Ojeda Paullada, either in Mexico City
or Washington, in order to coordinate our
respective efforts.
Colombia-A country with extensive coast-
lines and huge land areas, Colombia is the
major transit point for illegal shipments of
cocaine entering the U.S. market. The Co-
lombian Government has launched a great
effort to eliminate the criminal element, to
combat drug trafficking, and to crack down
on the laboratories processing coca base
smuggled in from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador,
and Chile. The United States is moving for-
ward with an assistance program tailored to
help the new Colombian Government thrust.
We are furnishing such enforcement items
as jeeps, motorcycles, radios, and laboratory
equipment. We are also providing antinar-
cotics technical training for the Judicial Po-
lice, the National Police, and Customs.
Jamaica-This Caribbean island has
emerged as a major supplier of marihuana
to the United States, surpassed only by Mex-
ico. Moreover, there is evidence that Jamaica
is a transit point for the smuggling of co-
caine and heroin to our country from South
America. Within the past year, the Jamaican
Government has undertaken major steps to
curb illicit drug activities. In response to ur-
gent requests for assistance from the Jamai-
can Government, U.S. technical assistance
and equipment was extended to a Jamaican
task, force set up to intercept boats and air-
craft engaged in narcotics smuggling, to dis-
rupt trafficking rings, and to destroy commer-
cial marihuana cultivation. Well over (100,000
pounds of commercially grown marihuana
have.been destroyed thus far. U.S. support
consists of loaning of helicopters and trans-
fers of communications equipment and in-
vestigative-enforcement aids together with
training and technical assistance.
The Situation in Turkey
Turkey-In 1971, with the realization that
a substantial amount of opium legally pro-
duced in Turkey was being diverted to illicit
narcotics trafficking, the Turkish Govern-
ment concluded that a total ban on poppy
growing would be the most effective way to
stop the leakage. However, the Turkish Gov-
ernment which assumed office in January
1974 reconsidered the ban, amid great in-
ternal political debate, and on July 1 re-
scinded it on the grounds that what is grown
in Turkey is a sovereign decision of the
Turks.
In high-level dialogue between our two
governments we have made clear our very
deep concern at the possibility of a renewed
massive flow of heroin from Turkish opium
to the United States. We stressed our hope
they would adopt effective controls. A spe-
cial U.N. team held discussions on this sub-
ject in Turkey on the invitation of the Turk-
ish Government, which has stated publicly
many times that it will not allow its resump-
tion of poppy cultivation to injure other peo-
ples.
In mid-September, the Turkish Govern-
ment issued a statement that it would adopt
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a method of harvesting the poppies called the
poppy straw process, which involves the col-
lection by the Turkish Government of the
whole poppy pod rather than opium gum.
This was the procedure recommended by the
U.N. experts. Traditionally, the opium gum
was taken by the farmers through lancing
the pod in the field, and it was a portion of
this gum that was illegally bought by the
traffickers.
Last month I talked with senior Turkish
Government officials and with police officials.
The word has moved all the way down the
chain to the poppy farmer that opium gum
production is definitely proliibited, and the
enforcement mechanism is moving into place.
Turkey and the tT.N. narcotics organization
are cooperating fully in this effort, and all
will be watching closely to endeavor to pre-
vent and to head off diversions into the illicit
traffic.
Southeast Asia-The Golden Triangle
area, where Burma, Laos, and Thailand come
together, is the largest source of illicit opium
in the world, with an estimated annual pro-
duction of 600-700 tons. Most of this produc-
tion is consumed by opium or heroin smokers
in Southeast Asia. Since 1970, when heroin
processed from opium in Golden Triangle re-
fineries began to become widely available to
U.S. troops in Viet-Nam, we have been con-
cerned that heroin from this source would
increasingly reach the United States, espe-
cially as the ban on opium production in Tur-
key and disruption efforts along the way
dried up the traditional Middle Eastern-
European route to the United States.
For the past three years, therefore, we
have made Southeast Asia a major object of
our international control efforts. We have de-
voted a significant share of our suppression
efforts and resources to our cooperative pro-
grams in Thailand, Laos, Viet-Nam, the Phil-
ippines, and Hong Kong. The biggest concen-
tration has been in Thailand, which serves as
the major transit area for Burmese-origin
opium. A recent series of agreements for
U.S. assistance to Thailand include helicop
ters, communications equipment, vehicles;,
and training programs. Important steps were
also taken on the income-substitution sidel,
including the approval of an aerial survey of
northern Thailand, where opium is grown by!
the hill tribes. In Burma, the government has
stepped up its antinarcotics efforts. For fiscal
year 1975, Southeast Asia will account for
over $10 million of our international nar-
cotics control funds.
While our joint suppression efforts are
making some headway in Southeast Asia, we
should not view the situation there through
rose-colored glasses. Anti narcotics efforts ii
Southeast Asia run up against several unique
problems. Burma and Thailand are threat'.
ened by insurgent groups which control or
harass large areas of the opium-growing re-
gions. The governments have limited re-
sources and few trained personnel available
for narcotics control. In addition, the lack of
internal security hampers police action and
intelligence operations against traffickers;.
The Government of Burma, for example, doe'
not have effective administrative control over
a significant portion of the area where most
Asian poppies are grown.
The topography of the Golden Triangle
area is mountainous, wild, and uncontrollat
ble. When one smuggling route is uncovered
and plugged by police and customs teams, the
traffickers can easily detour to alternate
routes and modes of transportation. We need
only look at the difficulties that our own well.
trained and well-equipped law enforcement
agencies have in blocking narcotics traffic
across our clearly defined peaceful border!
with Mexico to gain a better appreciation of
the difficulties in Southeast Asia.
Moreover, use of opium has been tolerated
in the area, and opium has been regarded as
a legitimate commodity of commerce for cent
turies under both colonial and indigenous
governments. For the hill tribes, opium is
still the principal source of medicinal relief
for endemic diseases and is also the most lu.
crative crop to sell or barter for basic necest
sities. We are actively seeking alternative
crops and other sources of income for these
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peoples, in close cooperation with similar ef-
forts by the U.N. narcotics organizations;
but progress will be slow, as a way of life
of primitive and remote peoples must he mod-
ified.
And so the situation in Southeast Asia is
complex and long term.
Multilateral Approaches
Concurrently with our bilateral action pro-
grams, we have given full support to the
multilateral or international efforts in the
fight against illicit narcotics production and
trafficking.
For example, the United States was a lead-
ing proponent of the establishment of the
United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Con-
trol. To date, we have contributed $10 million
of the $13.:i million made available to the
Fund by all countries. In Thailand, the Fund
is assisting in a comprehensive program de-
signed to develop alternate economic oppor-
tunities for those who grow opium; the Fund
has a similar project in Lebanon for the de-
velopment of alternatives to cannabis pro-
duction. Within the past year, the Fund has
financed a \Vorld Health Organization world-
wide study of the epidemiology of drug de-
pendence which we hope will contribute to-
ward clarifying the nature of the problem we
seek to solve. It is also financing treatment
and rehabilitation activities for drug addicts
in Thailand, fellowships and consultancies in
rehabilitation in various countries, and semi-
nars on community rehabilitation programs
in Europe.
The U.S. Government has also taken a
leading role in formulating two major pieces
of international narcotics legislation. The
first relates to the 19ti1 Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs. I am happy to report that
the U.S.-sponsored amending protocol, which
would considerably strengthen controls over
illicit production and trafficking, has been
ratified by 32 of the 40 countries necessary
for its coming into force. The United States
was one of the first countries to ratify the
protocol, on November 1, 1972.
The second major area of international
legislation pertains to the Convention on Psy-
chotropic Substances, which would provide
international control over LSD and other
hallucinogens, the amphetamines, barbitu-
rates, and tranquilizers. The administration
submitted the convention to the Senate in
mid-1971 with a request for its ratification.
We are now waiting for congressional ap-
proval of the proposed enabling domestic
legislation that would pave the way for rati-
fication of this essential international treaty.
U.S. approval of the Psychotropic Conven-
tion would strengthen our hand in obtaining
cooperation from other governments in con-
trolling the classic narcotic substances.
The approach to a successful antidrug pro-
gram cannot, of course, relate to supply
alone. Nor is an attack on the demand side
alone the answer. Only through a combined
effort can the job be done. Thus the initial
objective of our international program has
been to reduce availabilities of illicit supplies
so that addicts will he driven into treatment
and others will be deterred from experimen-
tation. We are also examining ways to foster
international cooperation in the fields of
treatment and prevention to augment aware-
ness that drug abuse is not exclusively an
American problem but one that seriously af-
fects developing countries just as it plagues
the affluent. We also hope to demonstrate our
progress in treatment and prevention and to
learn from other countries the methods that
they have found effective.
As many of you know, we have several co-
operative treatment and research projects
with a number of concerned governments
throughout the world. For example, with the
Government of Mexico through Dr. Guido
Belsasso's organization, the Mexican Center
for Drug Dependency Research, we have pro-
vided some assistance to the Mexican epide-
miological study and we are jointly studying
heroin use along our common border.
I think we can point with pride to our role
over the past three years toward a tightening
of international controls. Worldwide seizures
and arrests of traflickers have become more
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and more significant as other countries have
joined in the battle. And there has been a
move in the direction of more effective con-
trols through treaty obligations. However,
the job is far from done. It should be ap-
parent to its all that abundant supplies of
narcotics-both in storage and under cultiva-
tion-quickly respond to illicit high profits.
Our task, then, is to further strengthen the
international control mechanism to reduce
illicit trafficking.
On October 18, John Bartels, the Admin-
istrator of DEA, Dr. Robert DuPont, Direc-
tor of the Special Action Office for Drug
Abuse Prevention, and I met with President
Ford to review the U.S. drug abuse pro-
grams. The President stated that he had per-
sonally seen examples of the human devasta-
tion caused by (lrug abuse and said he wanted
every appropriate step taken to further the
U.S. Government's drug abuse program both
at home and abroad. On the international
front, the President specifically directed that
all American Ambassadors be made aware of
the prime importance lie attaches to our ef-
forts to reduce the flow of illicit drugs to the
United States and requested that each Am-
bassador review the activities of his mission
in support of the drug program.
Thus, drug control continues to he a high-
priority foreign policy issue. In cooperation
with our missions abroad and the govern-
ments to which they are accredited, we shall
carry on with our efforts against the scourge
of drug abuse.
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NEW YORK TIMES
21 April 1975
Latins Now Leaders
Of Hard-Drug Trade
Operators of Rings Supplying U.S.
Virtually Immune From Prosecution
In the last two years, Latin
America has become the major
source of hard drugs entering
the United States. Much of it
is being supplied by rings con-
trolled by businessmen and
professionals who have grown
so politically and economically
powerful that they can operate
with virtual immunity from ar-
rest and prosecution.
Latin America now supplies
all of the cocaine sold in the
United States, where the de-
mand for the drug has risen
so sharply that the price of
coca leaves, from which co-
caine is extracted, has soared
1,500 per cent since 1973 in
some Latin countries - from
$4 to $60 a bale.
In addition, Mexico has now
replaced France as the main
supplier of heroin to the United
States, increasing its share of
the illegal heroin market from
20 to 60 per cent in the last
five years.
The increasing market for
drugs from Latin America,
which is centered in New York,
Miami and Los Angeles, is sup-
plied by traffickers who can
buy protection by bribing poor-
ly paid police officers, judges
and other officials. In some
cases, corrupt policemen and
public officials in Latin Ameri-
ca have gone into the profitable
drug traffic themselves.
New Networks Formed
The shift of the drug flow
from Europe to Latin America
also has brought into power
new criminal networks in New
York and other cities in the
United States that are dominat-
ed by Colombians, Cubans and
Mexicans.
The Federal Drug Enforce-
ment Administration has ident-
By NICHOLAS GAGE
litically that they are consid-
ered "untouchable" in their na.
The New York Times has
conducted a two-month in-
vestigation in eight Latin
American countries to ex-
plore how the drug traffic
works there, how narcotics
reach the main market in
New York, who the major
dealers are and what the
United States and Latin
American nations are doing
about the problem. This is
the first in a series of four
articles and supplemental re-
ports on that investigation.
live countries. Some Latin American police-
is kilos of cocaine in her posses-
Typical of the situation men who won't take bribes sion, the judge on the case
the case of Luis Rivadeneira are not averse to arresting drug dismissed the charges against
of Ecuador, who was arrested traffickers and then extorting her. But the Minister of the
there last Dec. 16 with two money from them-a practice Interior, Juan Pereda Asb0n,
kilos (4.4 pounds) of cocaine called volteo, which means had both Miss Malky, whose
possession. Soon rolling." family he knew, and the judge
paste in his Last year a United States jailed on corruption charges.
after his arrest, according to citizen was arrested trying to Several factors have put
authorities, Adm..Alfredo Pove- buy two kilos of cocaine for Latin America on the crest of
da Burbano, Ecuador's Minister $7,000 from Maj. Oscar Zebal- the wave of profitable drug
of Government, who directs all los of a Bolivian narcotics unit traffic.
law-enforcement agencies in who was posing as a trafficker. In recent years cocaine has
Major Zeballos seized the mon- become the most fashionable
the country, called the police ey, keeping $5,000 for himself drug in the United States and
and ordered them to change and letting two younger offi- Europe because it is less expen-
the evidence against Mr. Ri- cers split the rest. sive than heroin, it Is not physi-
vadeneira so that the charges His mistake was not sharing cally addictive and it has a
against him would have to be the money with the informant reputation as a sexual stimu-
dismissed. who had originally put him lant. One indication of the
on to the North American. The drug's growing popularity is
"Admiral Poveda explained irate informant told the officer's that cocaine seizures in the
his order by saying that Ri- superiors and Major Zeballos United States have increased
vadeneira was a close relative was quietly dismissed from the 700 per cent since 1969.
of a friend of his-another ad- police force, losing all his ben- The huge profits to be
miral," said a police captain. efits. made by transporting co-
The police complied. The astronomical profits of caine from Latin America to
If drug so tempting to some underpaid why so many are willing to
political influence to stop in- Latin American policemen that take the risk. In New York
vestigations against them, they they go into the business them- City a kilo of cocaine is sold
can often successfully bribe selves. on the street for between $75,-
police officers or judges. Last year, for example, a 000 and $100,000. In La Paz,
Traffickers have so much DC-3 flying from Peru to Co- Bolivia, that same kilo would
lombia had mechanical trouble cost only $4,000; in Lima, Peru,
available cash, for example, and was forced to land on a $5,000; in Quito, Ecuador,
that in Colombia judges some- military base in Colombia. There $6,000; in Bogota, Colombia,
times compete to try major were five people inside. The $7,500, and in Buenos Aires,
narcotics cases because of the head of the group identified $8,500. (North American cus-
potential payoffs involved. himself as Lieut. Benhur Bena- tomers are charged 15 to 30
Eduardo Davila, reputed to vides of the Colombian nar- per cent above these going
be a major cocaine trafficker cotics unit of F-2-the detective rates.)
from the city of Santa Marta, division of the national police. French Source Weakened
was arrested late last year on Nevertheless, the commander of
charges of murdering a police- the military compound had the While cocaine has been
man. According to the Colour- plane searched and inside he growing in price and populari-
bian national police, three found 100 kilograms of cocaine ty, heroin from France-the
judges have already tried to get paste. traditional source-has been
his case. declining in availability be-
Traffickers often find the po- Resisting Easy Money cause of international law-en-
lic^_ even easier to corrupt than Despite the temptations, forcement pressure on French
iudges because throughout Lat- many policemen remain honest. traffickers. This has left a gap
in America they are so badly "I've met cops making $60 a that is increasingly being filled
paid. Police salaries range from month who wouldn't take a by Mexican heroin.
about $60 a month in Bolivia nickel from anybody," said Mexico began producing her-
to $250 a month in Argentina. Louis Bachrach, the Druf En- oin for the United States
in Mexico, some high police forcement Administrations re- market during World War 11.
gional director for South "When the war dried up the
officials are known to have
ified about 250 Latin Americans become millionaires by taking America. supply of heroin from Europe,
as controlling the rings that bribes. When some police offi- Many government officials several New York Mafiosi-
supply cocaine and heroin to cers are transferred from one also are unmoved by any per- Tom Gagliano, Frank Livorsi,
the United States market. Some district to another, they sell sonal or political considera- Joe Bonanno-went to Mexico
to their successors the list of tions. When the Bolivian police and set up a new source of
of them are so i uential po a NOM , %&, Went s I ' said John T. Cusack,
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Administration's international
operations. "Until then only a
few Chinese immigrants were
growing poppies in Mexico."
Today the Federal authorities
estimate that Mexico produces
15 tons of opium base, from
which heroin is made, every
year. It comes from thousands
of cultivation sites situated
principally in the states of
Sinaloa, Durango, Sonora and
Guerrero. The heroin refined
from Mexican poppies is brown
in color while French heroin,
refined by more sophisticated
methods, is white.
Mexico is now employing
soldiers to seek out and destroy
fields of opium poppies. "So far
this year we have destroyed
6,000 poppy fields and have de-
tected another 2,000," said
Pedro Ojeda-Paullada, Mexico's
Attorney General, who is di-
recting the eradication pro-
gram.
But so far the drive has not
slowed up poppy cultivation to
any noticeable degree. When
one field is destroyed, the
campesinos (peasant farmers)
plant again elsewhere.
Last year Mexico passed a
law that provided for confisca-
tion of land used for cultivating
opium poppies. But the campe-
sinos worked around that by
planting the poppies on Federal
lands-often on mountainsides
that are too steep for army
helicopters to land on and hard
to reach on foot.
'Like the Old West'
In Mexico, the investigation
of narcotics traffickers is just
one of many responsibilities of
a 340-man Federal police force.
The Federales are led by 20
comandantes and enforcement
apparently depends largely on
the competence of individual
commanders.
"It's like the Old West," said
Robert Eyman, the Drug En-
forcement Administration's re-
gional director in :Mexico. "if
you have a strong Marshal
Dillon, you get good enforce-
ment."
United States officials esti-
mate that there are four Mar?
shal Dillons among the 20 co.
mandantes. Some of the others
are said to be simply indiffer-
ent, but several are thou ht
blatantly corrupt, having be-
come millionaires on a job that
pays about 5300 a month.
To combat such problems,
Mr. Ojeda-Paullada uses select-
ed comandantes, such as Salva-
dor Del Toro and Ismael Diaz
Laredo, to carry out special
missions. He also periodically
shifts comandantes from one
post to another to keep them
from establishing ties with traf-
fickers.
Nevertheless, many traffick-
ers retain their power, pro-
tected not only by the po-
Among the 70 major drug traf-
fickers United States agents
have chosen as primary targets
in Mexico, is a high official in
a major ministry.
Attorney General Ojeda-Paul-
lada has tried to fight such
corruption by dismissing or
reassigning corrupt officials in
several provinces, promoting
mandatory sentences for major
drug traffickers and setting up
a school to provide professional
standards for the Federal po-
lice.
But thus far the Mexican
Government's efforts have not
been enough to inhibit heroin
production in Mexico. Nor have
they succeeded in discouraging
Uie use of the country as a
transshipment point for co-
caine from South America.
Crop From Andes
Cocaine is derived from the
leaves of the coca plant, which
grows at elevations of 2,000
to 8,000 feet on the eastern
slopes of the Andes mountains.
Because of the large quantity
of leaves required to produce
cocaine-more than 300 pounds
for one kilo-the leaves are
processed by campesinos into
"coca paste" in primitive stills
close to the growing areas.
These stills are no more than
oil drums containing a solution
of potassium carbonate, water
and kerosene in which the
leaves are allowed to soak.
The paste, which resembles
moist flour, is then shipped
to laboratories throughout Lat-
in America to be processed
into cocaine, Processing co-
caine does not require the so-
phisticated chemistry needed to
produce heroin. A cocaine lab-
oratory can be set up with
about $1,500 worth of equip-
ment.
Peru and Bolivia are the only
two Latin American countries
where the cultivation of coca
leaves is legal. In Peru, new
coca planting has been forbid-
den since 1964, but production
of coca has increased 20 per
cent a year. Last year Peru
produced 20 million kilograms
of coca leaf, only 4 million
of which were used for such
legitimate purposes as export
for chemical use and for chew-
ing by local Indans.
When the Peruvian Govern-
ment clears jungle land for
farming and turns it over to
the campesnos, they almost
always plant coca on the land.
The Government winks at this
practice, however, because it
allows the campesinos, who are
mostly Indians, to support
themselves without any train-
ing or financial support.
"The Peruvian Government
Crop Test in Bolivia
Unlike Peru, Bolivia has been
trying harder to bring coca
production under control. Bo-
livia is now participating in an
$800,000 United States pilot
project -to find crops that the
campesinos would be willing to
grow instead of coca. Many
observers are doubtful about
the project's chances of suc-
cess, however, pointing out
that coca requires little atten-
tion and provides three to four
harvests a year, attributes that
few other crops can offer.
"I've got as much skepticism
about the project as anyone,"
said William Stedman, the
United States Ambassador to
Bolivia. "But we've never tried
crop substitution down here
and an experimental effort
should be made."
A year ago Bolivia enacted
broad narcotics legislation call-
ing for the control of coca
production, stiff prison terms
for drug dealers and unified
police action against major
traffickers. But implementation
of the law has been extremely
slow and the narcotics unit
has made few significant ar-
rests or seizures,
Col. Luis Carrasco, director
of the Department of Narcotics,
has attributed the lack of prog-
ress to organizational prob-
lems.
"We want to set up an effec-
tive unit and find honest, able
men for it," he said. "This
takes time."
But other officials wonder
whether the lack of progress
is not related to the political
influence that some major traf-
'ickers are said to have in
Bolivia.
For example, when Alberto
Sanchez Bello, a courier for
one of Bolivia's major cocaine
traffickers, Carlos Balderama,
needed diplomatic papers to
facilitate carrying a cocaine
shipment to Canada last year,
he was able to go to Edwin
Tapia Frontanilla, secretary to
the presidency. Mr. Sanchez
was arrested in Canada and
Mr. Tapia's role in the affair
was exposed, forcing his dis-
missal from office.
The centers of the narcotics
traffic in Bolivia are La Paz,
the capital, sprawling across
the slopes of a canyon 12,000
feet above sea level, and Santa
Cruz, the country's commercial
center on the eastern lowlands.
Bolivian traffickers process
coca paste, which they buy
So much coca paste is sent
from Santa Crtiz to northern
Paraguay and western Brazil
that the area is called "the
Silver Triangle" to compare it
to the center of opium traffic
in Laos, Cambodia and Thai-
land known a$ "the Golden
Triangle."
Until 1973, otivia exported
most of its coca paste to Chile.
"Chile has always had the best
cocaine chemi is in South
America," said cot. Guido L6-
pez of the Bo ivian national
police. "It wa the Chileans
in fact who first taught the
Bolivian campe~inos how to
make paste fro coca leaves."
Junta Cranks Down
But the milit~ry junta that
seized power in Chile in 1973
has acted against major traf-
fickers, jailing hem, expelling
them to the Ur ited States or
forcing many o them to flee
the country. M y dealers went
to northern Argentina, where
they are now setting up new
laboratories. But they are mov-
ing cautiously because they
have alien statuand therefore
are subject to expulsion.
Those remaining in Chile
operate mostly around the
northern city of Arica, which
is near the bo ders of both
Bolivia and Peru. The traffick-
ers in Arica apparently still
are entrenched enough to com-
mand police protection.
"When we have a case in
Arica, we never tell the police
what we're up ti," said a lieu-
tenant in the Carabineros in
Santiago. "We've been burned
too many times."I
Peru, the other coca-produc-
ing country in 1 atin America,
exports most of its coca paste
to its northern neighbors, Ecua-
dor and Colombia.
In Ecuador the; major cocaine
rings operate out of Quito, the
capital, and Guayaquil, the
principal port. Ecuadorian traf-
fickers now send more than
100 kilograms f cocaine a
month to the nited States,
according to Walter White,
head of Drug Enforcement Ad-
ministration's office in Quito.
A Faltering Effort
The police in Ecuador have
not been considered effective
against the dryg traffickers.
As is customary throughout the
country's various; police forces,
officers in the
are transferred t
every four mon
are never on the j b long enough
to learn how t make major
drug cases.
A reorganization law for the
police was drafted more than
a year ago that established
two-year tours o~ duty for nar-
cotics work, But the law keeps
Lima. "Many ministers feel that a kilo, at a handsome profit. bouncing from ministry to min-
cocaine is an American problem They also export it at $1,000 istry d without being imple-
arcotics unit
other duties
hs and they
Some and not a Peruvian responsibili- a kilo to laboratory operators mente . a arepubl c oodficia lers, ino~f~a t F&r Release 1999/09/02 : ~i eA q~t~~9p~a ~4/ai~1010n nimajor dealers are
dfia ! `~ n Eduador, they often
 Approved For Release 1999/09/02 : CIA-RDP79-01194A000100400001-1
are able to avota prosecution.
"If a trafficker is a land-
owner or a lawyer or an
important man, many judges
will dismiss the charges against
him no matter what the
evidence," said Col. Tarquino
Ntitiez, director general of nar-
cotics enforcement in Ecuador.
"A professor was caught with
three kilos of coca paste last
September and the judge re-
leased him only because of his
position."
Ecuador not only prccesses
cocaine, it also produces opium
poppies. Acres of poppies are
planted every year in remote
mountain fields, usually mixed
with other crops such as corn
or barley.
"Heroin is not a serious prob-
lem in Ecuador now, but the
potential is here," Mr. White
said.
His immediate concern, he
said, is to persuade Ecuadorians
to strengthen controls along
their borders with Peru and
Colombia.
"Tons of paste come up from
Peru with little interference and
a lot of it moves on up to Co-
lombia," he said. "if we could
do something about the bor-
ders, we would disrupt the co-
caine traffic not only here, but
also in Colombia, which sends
more of the stuff to the United
States than any country in
South America."
Federal authorities believe
Colombia now has between 60
and 80 major criminal organi-
zations engaged in the cocaine
traffic. "Half of them are as
NEW YORK TIMES
21 April 1975
sophisticated and as disciplined
as our own Mafia families,"
said Octavio Gonzalez, head
of the Drug Enforcement Ad-
ministration s office in Bogota.
"They have ample capital re-
sources, large organizations of
from 50 to 100 people and
layers of authority that effec-
tively insulate their leaders
from prosecution."
These groups are based in
Colombia's major cities-Me-
dellfn, the industrial capital;
Bogota, Cali, Barranquilla, San-
ta Maria and Cartagena. They
employ their own chemists to
process cocaine in sophisticated
laboratories outside the main
cities, own fleets of planes,
trucks and automobiles, and
can call on scores of couriers
to transport their product.
Colombian drug rings send
at least 300 kilograms of co-
caine a month to the United
States, mostly to New York
and Miami, according to Feder-
al law-enforcement agency esti-
mates.
Like many Latin-American
countries, Colombia has several
police forces fighting the nar-
cotics trade-the security police;
F-2, the detective branch of
the national police; and the
customs police. The F-2 narco-
tics unit is considered to be
the most effective.
But police action alone, no
matter how intensive, cannot
destroy the narcotics traffic
in Latin America. "There are
too many loopholes in our laws
and not enough cooperation
between countries," said Capt.
Theodoro Campo Gdmt'z, the
31-year-old commander of the
F-2 narcotics unit in Colombia.
"We have to change."
Atlantic
Ocean
0 Mites 1000
Th0 New York Times/April 21, 1975
So much one ,..,-aste, which is processed into cocaine,
is snipped from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to northern Para-
guay and western Brazil that the area is called "The
Silver Triangle," to compare it to the center of opium
traffic in Southeast Asia called "The Golden Triangle."
American countries that will Alvarez, the coca paste is
Herreras Among Biggest zens. extradite its own citi- refined into cocaine. These
ens. Later, however, he made laboratories are usually with-
the mistake of visiting Peru. in 10 to 15 miles of Colom-
At the request of United bia's main cities - Bogota,
Of Cocaine Organizations States officials there he was Medellin, Cali and Barran-
arrested and expelled to the quilla.
United States. He is now Last Dec. 16 the Colombian
One of the biggest rings Outsiders chosen for their back in prison in Atlanta. police raided a laboratory
supplying the New York mar- professional skills bring the In Benjamin's absence, canoe to supplying co-
ket with cocaine is the Her- organization's membership to leadership of the family has aine to the Herrera le -
o
rera organi, ation of Colom? a total of 92. been taken over by his broth- zation that was capable of
bia, which has its headquar- er Gustavo, according to the turning out 50 kilos of co-
ters in Cali, the flourishing A Daring Escape Colombian police. Ramiro, caine in one batch. Of the
city southwest of Bogot4. United States and Colom- another brother, is in charge eight persons arrested, one
"The Herreras send out than authorities say the nom- of importing coca paste from was a professor of chemistry
an average of 40 kilograms final head of the organization Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. at Santiago University in Cali
of cocaine a month, mostly is 34-year-old Benjamin (Ne- Informants say the paste and another was a captain
to New York and Miami," gro) Herrera. They say it is often flown to the interna- in the Cali fire brigade. The
says Octavio Gonzilez, head is indicative of the organiza- tional airports at Cali and police also found a 25-ton
of the Federal Drug Enforce- tion's power that the Herre- Bogota in ordinary suitcases press used for packing the
men( Administration office rat arranged for Benjamin's and rushed through customs cocaine into fine sheets, 700 in Bogota. "At wholesale successful escape from the without inspection by accom- gallons of acetone used in the
prices that adds up to a $14- Federal penitentiary in Atlan- modating officials on the or- chemical process and other
million a year business." ta, where he had been sen- ganization's payroll. equipment and materials val-
tenced to five years in 1970 ued at $800,000.
Like most Latin-American Authorities say the Herre- ElaborateCourier S
criminal groups dealing in for to ing to smuggle heroin ras have several well- yam
drugs, the Herrera organiza- into the United States. equipped laboratories in Co- Although the Herreras may
tion has a family as its nu- After his escape. {B~enjja~jm~ Benjamin lombia where, yunder the su- lose a lab once in a while, ards.
clews-seven bA*AQM FOr t~etR~Nrane n~lti~f/Bt Ji Cl~ id 14~t li~c 01004 D$I er' erastllabora oriies
sisters, cousins
Caribbean Sea
PANi4M j6ar9ca9_ _ ....
 Approved For Release 1999/09/02 : CIA-RDP79-01194A000100400001-1
process the paste, the fin-
ished cocaine is distributed
to Emilio Herrera in Barran-
quilla, Carlos Herrera in Bo-
gota and David Herrera in
Medellin. They, in turn, ex-
port it by "mules" (couriers)
in small amounts of two to
four kilograms each. Larger
quantities are sent on com-
mercial vessels through the
ports of Turbo and Bue-
naventura to Atlantic coast
harbors in the United States.
Couriers for the Herreras
sometimes pose as students.
They are given student visas
and they are supplied with
hooks that have sheets of
cocaine secreted in them. The
"students" are paid from
$500 to $1,000 plus expenses
and are given new clothes
for carrying the cocaine to
New York.
The authorities say false
documents for these couriers
are usually procured by Aura
Monsalve, a cousin of the
Herreras, and Francisco Mar-
tinez, who also serves as
a liaison to several of the
group's North American buy-
ers.
It is unlikely that an organ-
ization as large as the Her-
rerases could function with-
out police and political
protection. Authorities say
the organization's protectors
include not only influential
officials in the police, cus-
toms and the judiciary, but
also several leading members
of Colombian society who
have invested in the lucrative
cocaine trade.
NEW YORK TIMES
22 April 1975
Drug-Smuggling Logistics
Bizarre and Often Fatal
Second of four articles on why Latin America is now
the major source of hard drugs entering the United States.
The rainy season has ended
in Chulumani, Bolivia, and
on the steeply terraced
mountainside, Juan Mamani
is crouching in his small plot
of coca plants, beginning to
strip the tiny green leaves
that will be his first crop
of the year. He will pack
the leaves into bales, called
tambors, and sell the 300
pounds he harvests for $250.
In Jackson Heights, Queens,
drug dealers are waiting
for new supplies of co-
caine from South America.
The 300 pounds from Juan
Mamani's small plot will pro-
duce one kilogram of the
drug (2.2 pounds). Although
he will get $250 for his crop,
the kilo of cocaine will bring
in at least $75,000 in the
New York City retail market.
The huge profit between
New York and Latin Ameri-
ca, which has become the
major source of hard drugs
entering the United States,
is what makes thousands of
men and women willing to
take the risks involved in
smuggling cocaine into the
United States.
The methods they use are
imaginative, bizarre and
sometimes fatal to the cour-
iers, who have been known
to soak their clothes in co-
caine or to swallow drugs
stuffed in a prophylactic
pouch.
Everv conceivable contain-
er has been used by couriers
to secrete drugs coming in
from Latin America -false-
bottomed wine bottles,
frames of paintings, hollow
ski poles. Carmen Moreno,
a member of the Alberto
Bravo organization in Colom-
bia, one of the leading nar-
cotics rings, was captured
when she was about to flv
from Toronto to New York
with a kilo of cocaine hidden
in a hollow wooden hanger.
Large quantities of cocaine
-over four kilograms-are
carry narcotics on their ves-
sels into American ports. The
drugs then may be carried
ashore or dropped overboard
in harbors to be picked up
by scuba divers.
In Colombia, major drug
organizations often use pri-
vate planes flown by their
own pilots. A pilot will rent
a plane in the United States
and f:11 out a false flight
plan. Then he will flv to
Colombia, where the drugs
are waiting.
In northeast Colombia
there is a desert area called
Guajira that is so flat that
planes can land just about
anywhere," said Octavio
Gonzalez, head of the Federal
Drug Enforcement Adminis-
tration office in Bogota. The
area is controlled by Indians
and there is little local law
enforcement.
"When they have a ship-
ment, Colombian traffickers
will pick a time and place
for the landing and hire In-
dians to guard the area.
There will be 20 to 50 Indians
armed with R-15 carbines.
The plane lands, picks up
the cargo, and takes off with-
in 45 minutes."
Large shipments of drugs-
usually cocaine and marijua-
na-can be moved on these
flights, according to Mr. Gon-
zalez. "Some of these planes
are big: B-26's, B-25's twin-
engine Cessnas and, in one
instance, a Lockheed Con-
stellation. And then the
planes return to the states
and land at designated small
airports, sometimes in South
Carolina, Florida and Geor-
gia."
According to the Drug En-
forcement Administration,
the Colombian narcotics or-
ganizations have highly so-
phisticated logistical equip-
ment to assist these flights,
including fuel depots and
elaborate ground-to-air com-
munications equipment. If
one of their planes does get
into trouble or if the pilot
discovers that authorities are
tracking it, the standard pro-
cedure is to throw the drugs
overboard.
Smaller amounts of cocaine
the couriers coroI a from Co-
lombia, which sends more
cocaine to the United States
than any other Latin-Amer-
ican country. Of Ithe 165 co-
caine couriers arrested in the
United States du ing the sec-
ond half of last year, 117
were Colombiansi.
Latin-American drug traf-
fickers find it isn't difficult
to recruit their 'countrymen
as couriers, called "mules,"
because if they !are caught,
many judges in the United
States will give; them only
suspended senterjces and de-
port them in tho belief that
they are not har(lened crimi-
nals.
"When the couriers go
back home, there walking
advertisements or the re-
cruiters," said J hn R. Bar-
tels Jr., the head',of the Drug
Enforcement Ad inistration.
Fees AreIigh
Couriers, who sually earn
from $500 to $1,000 a
kilo plus expenses for each
trip, have used many methods
to conceal drugs. One of the
most ingenious is to soak
their cotton clothing in a
liquid solution t Hat contains
cocaine and on their arrival
in the United States to put
the clothes in a solution that
releases the drug. Detection
is difficult.
"They start with cocaine
base (the stage before pure
cocaine) that they dissolve
ip pure alcohol,'I' explained
Eugene Castillo, fi Drug En-
forcement Administration
agent stationed in Bolivia.
"Then they take an article
of clothing, soap it in the
solution and let it dry."
"When they get to the
States they take the article,
soak it in acetone for 10
to 15 minutes, wring it out,
and run the solution through
filter paper. Then they pour
the solution into s flat con-
tainer and let itl dry. This
process not only conceals
the drug, it also refines the
cocaine base into finished
of base they soa
they get 100 gr
300 grams
this way,
ms of co-
usually sent by ship or plane. -under four kilos-are car- Caine."
Crew members on ships are vied generally by couri6n, Another one of the more
m"d
Approved Fn
u aatJl9'/02 : yd'P-y~ttt00010~s4the! most tdan~
 lactic gerous:
couriers fill h For o L~rtit 'off' ic s. ?ro h rotor 'from 0 ",CO.
lactic APP ro 9,J' 9r't1 J0 : CD looa oa
and then swallow it before and $1,500. Those who are apprehend-
Latin America, according to ed carrying narcotics in Mex-
crossing the border. They in- The retailers who buy the Federal agents. Mexican her- ico, however, run the risk
tend to regurgitate the ounce then cut the cocaine oin in New York has sur- of serving at least five years
pouches later. But in at least three or four times and sell faced primarily in Greenwich in a Mexican prison.
four instances, United States the diluted Cocaine for $50 a Village, where it is said to
citizens who went to Latin gram. Their gross for one be running 17 per cent pure As of last February, there
America to buy drugs, swal- ounce thus ranges between compared to about seven per were 509 United States citi-
lowed the pouches and then $4,200 and $5,600. cent for French heroin. zens in Mexican jails, 420
were stricken when their di- Arrests of Latin traffick- But outside New York, Fed- of them there on narcotics
gestive juices caused the ers in New York has dis- eral agents say Mexican her- charges. Of these 420, some
pouches to burst. closed that many of them had oin dominates the market, 123 were women.
Three men-in Bolivia, Co- entered the United States on taking an 80 per cent share Conversations with some
lombia and Panama-died as forged passports and that in Chicago, a 70 per cent of them in a Mexican prison
a result of this method of most of them had police rec- share in Houston, a 60 per showed that they generally
smuggling. A partner of the ords back home as petty cent share in Los Angeles believed they would soon be
man in Bolivia also was thieves. and a 50 per cent share deported by the Mexican
stricken and went into con- The rings that handle co- in Denver. government in response to
vulsions, but his life was Caine distribution in the city Los Angeles is the source pressure from the United
saved. include scores of members, city for most of the Mexican States Government.
Key City Areas Cited Last October, for example, heroin sold in the United "They seem to be convinced
Federal agents and the New States, according to Abraham that they'll be allowed to
When the cocaine reaches York police arrested 150 per- L. Azzam, the Drug Enforce- go home if they just push
the New York metropolitan sons that they said were part ment Administration's deputy their Congressmen a little
area, it goes to major distri- of just one ring, the Alberto regional director in Califor- harder," said Peter J. Peter-
bution rings centered in areas Bravo organization. nia. Dealers from other cities son, the United States Consul
with large Latin populations, The Bravo sroun ' .a,; said go to Los Angeles to pick up General in Mexico City. "The
such as Jackson Heights in y
to have imported ^,00 pounds their supplies from whole- often fabricate complaints
Queens, the South Bronx, of cocaine in 1974 alone. salers there who deal directly and it makes it difficult for
Washington Heights and Important figures in il,e us to handle legitimate
Union City, N. J., according , group, according to narcotics with Mexican traffickers, he grievances."
to Arthur Grubert, head of agents, included Mario Rodri- said. Asked about the Americans
the Drug Enforcement Ad- guez of Forest Hills, Queens, Unlike the French heroin in prison, Pedro rney en-
ministration's intelligence in whose apartment the traffickers, who prefer to
po liada, Mexico's Attorney Gen-
unit in New York. "Union lice said the found nine send drugs in big lots, the
they eral, said, "I can tell you
City is known as Cocaine p categorically of cocaine, and Do- Mexican suppliers use the cate
gorically that Mexico
City in some quarters," he min o Fernandez of Jackson "human wave" approach.
g will not deport anyone until
said. Heights, now a fugitive. They send a multitude of he completes his sentence.
The growth of the cocaine But, the organization's couriers carrying small are totally committed
market in New York has leader, Alberto Bravo, re- amounts on the theory that to
the law and any person
created important rings to mains at large in Medellin, if some are apprehended, the bringing drugs into Mexico
majority will get through.
supply it. These rings are Colombia. His chief lieuten- "The biggest five to 15 years in
dominated by Colombians ant in charge of maintaining seizure of our prisons."
and Cubans, Mr. Grubert French heroin we ever had Although most of the oth-
said. smuggling operations to New was 412 kilos," said John T. er Latin-American countries
Many of the rings are York, Bernardo Roldan, also Cusack, head of international have equally stiff drug laws,
closely bound through family remains free in Medellin. They operations for the Drug En- recruiters of "mules" in the
loserelationships, and disputes have been indicted in New forcement Administration.
York on conspiracy "But our biggest States assure them
are settled b dis- P charges, seizure of
generally by but Eolombi., will not extra- Mexican heroin was only the Latin-American
used
cussion, he said. Violence is dite its citizens to the United eight kilos." Y la countries Ts don't enforce those
used to maintain discipline, laws. The fact is, only Co-
he said, but not as often as States. If a Mexican drug traf. lombia consistently deports
in Mafia groups. To keep its vast New York ficker wants to send a heroin North American drug viola-
"Latin criminal network adequately supplied, shipment of more than three
groups authorities say the Bravo or- kilos to the United States, he a tors and it holds them about
maintain much closer ties ganization shipped cocaine will usually have it driven a year first.
to the main organizations Latin-American dru traf-
back home than American to it through a variety of across the border in a special g
routes, including Canada, "load" car or flown over in a
Sicilian "mules like to recruit
Mafia groups do with their Mexico, Puerto Rico and Mi- private airplane. ' mules" from among the
counterparts," Mr. ami. One shipment was first , most innocent and honest-ap.
Grubert said. At checkpoints on the Mex- pearing united States res.
flown
Mafia groups in New York to Munich and then -ican border, United States
have not become active in to New York, where it was Customs agents use corn- idents they can find.
the cocaine traffic, Federal said to have been delivered puters into which they feed Two grandmothers fro-4
officials believe, because to Mario Rodriguez. the license number of any California, Jeanne McMi.a
they do not have well-estab- The authorities contend that suspicious car that passes chael, 61 years old, and Eliz.
fished relations with sup- New York distributors for through. If any information abeth Lankton, 52, were in.
pliers in South America. South American traffickers is recorded about the car, it trigued when they were apy-
New York cocaine dealers are not restricted to Latins. scores a "hit" on the com- proached by a woman they
are doing a booming busi For years, one of the biggest puler and is pulled aside and knew who offered them free
ness, which has not been drug traffickers in Bolivia, searched. vacations to South America
affected by the economic re- Jaime Hergueta, sent almost plus $6,000 each for bringing
cession since many of their all of the cocaine he Drug traffickers will often back cocaine. customers are from affluent processed to James A. Aus- send an empty car across the The two grandmother)
circles where snoetin co- tin, who operated out of border to see if it scores a successfully carried cocain,
g Manhattan and the Bronx, "hit." If it is passed through, back from Colombia and Boa
1 aine has become increasing- according to narcotics offi- they will bring it back and Livia. But on March 24, 1974.
y popular. cials here. load it up with heroin. they were arrested going
Mr. Austin, who the police Border Vigilance Difficult through customs in Mexico
When the New York rings say accumulated four apart- Because the border he- City and subsequently con-
receive the cocaine, they sell ments, three Mercedes Benz tween Mexico and the United victed of carrying six kilo.
it to wholesalers in kilo lots, automobiles and a 67-font States is both big (2,000 grams of cocaine in false-bot-
and they, in turn, market yacht during his alleged asso- miles) and busy (25 million tomed suitcases.
it in ounce portions. Mr. ciation with Mr. Hergueta, crossings last year) it is vir- The women have been in
Grubert said that their was arrested on narcotics tually impossible to police it custody tor more tnan a year
"stores" are often Latin bars charges last Dec. 16 at Ken- thoroughly. This has tempted now, but they have not been
and restaurants throughout nedy Airport as he stepped some United States residents sentenced yet. Because of
the city. f -from
q~~ {~ drug laws is
An ounce of 1 13ptj eyed Fo ; . I~~rrbo2 CJ a i%nll`tr tb1 4 OO1 >'$ U?'-'1re certain to
cocaine (more than 95 per New York gets all of its it to the United States spend at least five years in
a Mexican jail.
 Approved For Release 1999/09/02 : CIA-RDP79-01194A000100400001-1
No Antiwoman job 1 Bias
In the Narcotics Trade
a~~Us
Illicit CocaineTraffic
M Growers
;I Processorsand Exporters
4' Shippers
husbands' rackets. Latin wo-
men often work closely with
their men in; the narcotics
traffic. When! two brothers,
Juan and Roberto Hernandez,
were imprisoned in Mexico
for drug smuggling in 1970,
their wives r~ontinued their
work.
On Oct. 17,4974, the Mexi-
can federal police investi-
gated their a tivities in the
La Mesa State Penitentiary in
Tijuana an discovered
evidence showing that the
Hernandezeshad continued
to run their drug ring even
behind bars.' Also busy in
the traffic from her cell was
Roberto's wife Helen, who
had been apprehended ear-
lier.
A month !later, Mexican
authorities *rrested Juan's
wife Patrici in a Tijuana
motel as she; was delivering
a kilo of heroin to a customer
from the United States. They
found in her possession fami-
ly records documenting ex-
tensive real estate holdings
and a balange in Hernandez
bank accounts of about $20-
million. She; also was con-
victed.
But the r sks for women
in the narcotics trade are
not always confined to law-
enforcement;agents. Consider
the harsh fate of Ruth Goda-
mez of Chile. who was a
dealer in cocaine with her
lover, Selim Valenzada. Unit-
ed States arcotics agents
had made iss Godamez a
major targe4 and placed her
under suvetll,ance.
Mr. Valerizada saw Miss
Godamez speaking to
someone wlltom he thought
was a narcotics agent and
decided thatl she had become
an informer}.. He shot her
five times in the stomach,
but she surn~ived the wounds.
Later MrI Valenzada was
expelled fr m Chile to the
United Stags, where he had
been under; indictment on a
narcotics c arge. As he was
led to det~ntion, he asked
narcotics agents, "Was she
talking or did I waste the
bullets?" No one answered
his question.
Miss G damez did not
''turn"-be;ome an inform-
ant - but after several
o
Il
ruled that since her
. NEZUEIA \!~/ FRENCH
\
es 1 0
Women have a prominent
place in Latin America's illic-
it drug traffic, filling every
role from "mule" (courier) to
head of a criminal organiza-
tion.
A short, stocky, middle-
aged woman of Chilean de-
scent who owns three wig
shops in Buenos Aires is con-
sidered by American officials
to be one of the major
sources of narcotics brought
into the United States.
Yolanda Sarmiento, who
is 46 years old, has a long
history of narcotics involve-
ment.
"She's one of the sharpest
dealers anywhere," said
Rhyn C. Tryal, head of the
Federal Drug Enforcement
Administration's office in
Buenos Aires.
On April 15, 1970, the
New York police raided a
West Side apartment alleged-
ly used by Mrs. Sarmiento
and seized 72 kilograms of
heroin and 47 kilograms of
cocaine with a wholesale
value of $3.5-million.
A few days later, the po-
lice arrested Mrs. Sarmiento
along with her lover Emilio
Diaz Gonzalez, who is a na-
tive of Spain, and two other
men outside a New Jersey
motel. Federal agents say
they were traveling by car
from Miami to claim the nar-
cotics that had been stashed
in the apartment.
Escapes City Jail
Mrs. Sarmiento's hail was
set at $100,000. She posted
the bail and then fled the
United States, leaving Mr.
Dfaz and his associates in
custody in New York.
Several months later, on
Jan. 24, 1971, Mr. Diaz es-
caped from the Federal
House of Detention in Man-
hattan. Investigators in New
York believe that Mrs. Sar-
miento had helped plan and
finance his escape.
The pair were next seen
in Buenos Aires where Mr.
Dfaz was seriously wounded
in a gunfight with the Argen-
tine police on Dec. 2, 1972.
He escaped and his wherea-
bouts are unknown, but Mrs.
Sarmiento was apprehended.
The United States tried to
have her expelled from Ar-
gentina to New York to stand
trial. But the Argentine
The New York Times/April 22, 197S cm karen were uurn ur n, gcu- has decided to cooperate
Map indicates where illicit cocaine originates and moves in Latin Amerce. tins, Mrs. Sarmiento was en- with the government.
-- - Appro elease-4999/0S 0 CtA=RD1 -b19'94 tIbc1i 48400001-1
 Approved For Release 1999/09/02 CIA-RDP79-01194A000100400001-1
NEW YORK TIMES
23 April 1975
and Francois Chiappe, prac- Two other informants subse-
Argentine Filled Key Role ticed giving one another shock quently said that Guillermo
treatments to train themselves Gonzalez was closely linked
to withstand torture if they with Armando Nicolai, and that
In Latins' Drugs Network were seized and questioned by the association between them
the police. Mr. Sarti himself dated back 10 years when Mr.
was admiringly referred to by Gonzalez was an air controller
his cronies as "Iron Head." in Panama and would clear
Third of four articles on why Latin America is now; Informants say that Mr. Ni- planes for Mr. Nicolai that con-
the major source of hard drugs entering the United ? States. i colai regarded these activities tained contraband.
B NICHOLAS GAGE of the Pietra Forte with some As a result of this informa-
y . i amusement. He considered him- tion, Mr. Nicolai was indicted
The one man in South Amer- self merely a "businessman" in
st of the leading principals, in New York for conspiracy
ica whom drug enforcement i luding Mr. Ricord, were ex- the smuggling business and had in connection with the heroin
officials say they would most led to the United States, no taste for robbing banks or Mr. Richard attempted to
Y Y e they were convicted of exchanging shock treatments. smuggle into the United States.
like to see behind bars is Ar- er As a contrabandista, Mr. Ni-
rcotics violations and impris- Mr. Richard and Mr. Gonzalez
mando H. Nicolai, a 46-year-old colai had accumulated' a large were convicted and sent to
Argentine who has been under ed. Others fled to their na- number of contacts and also-
t e Europe. Authorities say ciates throughout Latin Ameri- prison.
indictment on narcotics con- t only major figure who man- A Prime Target
spiracy charges in New York d to avoid their net was to ease who his we ae in a position passage across bor- After the Richard arrest, Mr.
since 1971. ando Nicolai. ders and through customs. Nicolai became a prime target
"Nicolai is the only man In Sarti and Mr. Nicolai Informants say that after he of United States narcotics
down here with the reputation, t when the Corsican and got into the heroin trade he agents posted in South Ameri-
contacts and know-how to reor- associates began courting used. the enormous amounts ca. When informants leaked
n ive contrabandistas-South of money he was making to the information that something
ganize tac the South American ericans who made a living extend his influence within the big was brewing in the Sarti-
Connection," said Frank Mac- b smuggling various goods government, judiciary and the Nicolai group, United States
olini, the Federal Drug En- a oss borders for the black police in half a dozen Latin- narcotics agents got permission
forcement Administration's rket. American countries. from Uruguyan officials to put
deputy regional director for 7r. Nicolai had already be- He moved his headquarters a tap on Mr. Nicolai's tele-
South America. c ie a legend among the con- from Buenos Aires to Montevi- phone.
Until 1972, 35 per cent of all t bandistas. Part of his fame deo, Uruguay, where he lived Iln early 1972, Lucien Sarti
s due no doubt to his physi- In luxurious style, entertaining traveled. to La Paz, Bolivia,
the French heroin smuggled c size and strength, for in influential politicians at his in the company of a - friend
into the United States every a ountry where great height apartment near the presidential named lean-Paul Angeletti and
year was sent through the iuncommon, Mr. Nicolai is palace and overseeing his fleet Housep Caramian, a Buenos
Latin-American networks of jet 3 inches tall and weighs of automobiles and private Aires businessmafi who had
European fugitives, most of over 230 pounds. planes, staffed by his own pbeen introduced to the heroin
one instance, in 1962, lots. traffic a few years earlier.
them French Corsicans. and a oup of asso- Informants maintain that Mr. Traveling with the men were
At its peak, the French Con- es were arrested b the Mr Sarti s cotmmon-law wife
section controlled much of the Y Po colai's contacts were so good and Mr. Aieletti's girlfriend.
MrNicolai broke his that he would fly to France
heroin supplfor 'the United cuffs with hs bare hands himself to pick up shipments All were usifalse identities.
States, but it lost its hold on all beat tip seven policemen of heroin and carry them in Informants say the group
its market except New York. le his cohorts escaped. "At- suitcases to South America ento Bolivia to buy a 6,000-
Even in the city, the French that, every contrabandista say, he would be allowed acre plantation on which to
irt~Argentina looked up to him," add, he would be allowed grow their own coca leaves
traffickers fared poorly fora sa?t!'lthyn C. Tryal, the head of through customs without hav- so that they could branch out
long spell, but authorities re- the Drug Enforcement Admin- ing his bags examined. into cocaine. They carried with
port that French heroin is plen- istration's district office in them $380,000 in a case, which
tiful on the streets again. [Page Buenos Aires. Mr. Nicolal was doing very they had with them when they
well in the heroin-smuggling were arrested at their hotel.
53.1 Mr. Nicolai has an aristo- business when, on July 8, 1971, The lice had been called by
The South American Connec- cratic appearance that hints of a young man from Panama
tion, in its, powerful, days, was his Italian heritage. His strong named Rafael Richard, was ar- bered astute bellhop who remem-
profile, with an arched nose, rested at John F. Kennedy Air- visit visit and who Sarti noticed from a previous
composed primarily of two ma- suggests an ancient Roman port in New York after it was this trip he had registered on
jor groups of Corsican traffick- bust, and his hair, worn fairly discovered that his suitcases gistered iut-
ers. long, is dyed reddish brown. He contained 70 kilograms (154 der a different name.
One organization, based in walks with a decided stoop. pounds) of heroin. Armando Nicolai's lawyer Buenos Aires, o
Paraguay, was led by Auguste Mr. Nicolai was attracted by Mr. Richard had refused to Mario Conternz
the hue profits to be made promptly turned up in La Paz
Joseph Ricord, a 64-year-old R open his suitcases, maintaining and attempted without success
naturalized Argentine citizen by smuggling hard drugs, and, that he had diplomatic immu- to obtain their release. Next
thanks to his natural leadership nity because his father was to arrive, however, was Helena
v*o served as an agent of ability, he soon rose to a posi- Panama's Ambassador to Tai- Ferreira.
? Gestapo in Fratsre during tion in the organization equal wan. But the inspector opened Miss Ferreira had flown to
id War :'. The other was to that of Mr. Sarti. them anyway and when Mr. La Paz from her native Brazil,
red by Lucien Sarti, the He did not, however, share Richard was taken into cus- where she had been living
five murderer of a Belgian the almost fanatic Spartan dis- tody, he agreed to cooperate for a time with Mr. Sarti: Prliceman, who arrived in cipline of Mr. Sarti and his with the authorities. tending to be his sister, she
S''uth America in 1966, when French Corsican associates, Mr. Richard said he had made persuaded the Bolivian officials
some of whom formed a group five earlier smuggling trips to to release Mr. Sarti and all his
was 29, to look into the nar- called the "Pietra Forte" (hard the United States and another associates except Mr. Cara-
tics trade. Mr. Nicolai was an rock), a Mafia-like organization to Brazil and Argentina, most mian. But when they left La
i portant member of the Sarti that specialized in extortion of them with his uncle, Guiller- Paz, informants say, they no
anization. and bank robbery in addition mo Gonzalez, or in one case Innger had the $380,000 that
Beginning in 1972, a barrage to heroin dealing. with his aunt, Nelva Jurado had been in their
Mr. Macolini of the Federal possession
extraditions, shootouts and drug agency said that the de Gonzalez. In Buenos Aires when they arrived.
zures broke up the lucrative group, he said, his aunt gave speckk- The group traveled first to
grou whose members includ- age to a man named Armando, Peru, where they were picked
uth American pproved For Release 1999/09/011: CIAW [~1~~ rduPlt'~~Ub''100 0'061-1rt' pilot, Julio
 a vvrn "t ,vii, tratea at not neing awe to act
not with them; she had been Sarti's companion, Jean-Paul against Mr. Nicolai that they ap-
arrested in Peru and detained Angeletti. They expected anoth- proached United States agents
an a currency charge. The ar- er shootout, but when they with an offer: If the United
rest may have saved her life. entered the room Mr. Angeletti States consented, they would
When Mr. Sarti arrived in was in bed with his mistress, have him killed.
Mexico, he telephoned Asian- Georgette Viazzi, and his colt The offer was rejected. "We
do Nicolai in Montevideo. The Cobra wa& out of: reach on. didn't want him that bad," said
narcotics agents who were tap- the night table. '- the United States official to
ping Mr. Nicolai's phone heard After the death of Lucien whom the offer was made.
Mr. Sarti (whom they had not Sarti, all of his associates in Mr. Nicolai is now maintain-
yet identified) tell him that he Mexico were deported. Mr. An- ing a very low profile in Buenos
must come at once to Mexico geletti and Mr. ' Sarti:'s wife, Aires, conscientiously living the
City. Mr. Sarti wanted him Lilia
s`
n Rou
Viallet: were sent life of a middle-class merchant
to meet with two Franco Corsi- back to France. Within the next in leather goods. He lives in a
cans who were suppliers of several months me st of the modest apartment in Barrio
heroin and some representa- European-born traffickers in. Once, the old Jewish section of
tives from Mafia families in volved in the South American Buenos Aires, with his wife
New York who were presuma- Connection were arrested or Angela and two sons, Er-
ably to be the buyers. deported and the Sarti and nesto, 20, and Angel, 12.
There was going to be a Ricord organizations had co!- According to Mr. Conterno,
conference to set up future lapsed. an aristocratic, handsome, well-
sales, Mr. Sarti indicated, as Armando Nicolai alone had spoken lawyer, reports of such
well as to settle a deal for survived the purge, but shortly involvement in the heroin trade
70 kilograms of heroin that after, he faced a new threat. are "fantasies." He said that
he had already on hand. The Drug Enforcement Admi- Mr. Nicolai has categorical'y
"Nicolai made reservations nistration had organized "Oper- denied any involvement in the
half a dozen times for Mexico, ation Springboard," which was drug charges against him in the
but each time he held off," designed to persuade Latin United States.
recalled Mr. Macolini, the American countries to expel to When it was pointed out that
narcotics agent heading the in- the United States traffickers Rafael Richard and other con-
vestigation of Mr. Nicolai. "He who were not natives of the victed drug traffickers have
drove us crazy." country if they were under named Mr. Nicolai as the source
Although he could not put indictment in the United States. of their drugs, Mr. Conterno
his finger on what was wrong, Mr. Nicolai realized that he said, "When a man is facing 20
Mr. Nicolai apparently sensed was no longer safe in Uruguay years in jail and you give him
that there was danger afoot and so he returned to his native a guitar and tell him that if he
and he was reluctant to join
Argentina. Authorities there say
Mr. Sarti in Mexico City. It he made some efforts toward
was just one example of Mr. reorganizing the drug traffic
Nicolai's sixth sense for danger from Buenos Aires. But they
that authorities say has made add that he knew he was a
him the only survivor of the prime target of the police and
South American Connection. that the knowledge evidently
Lucien Sarti and his asso- was workin
on t.;.. ,
g
were all using anases? In February, 1973, during a The French Connection has
during their stay in Mexico state of siege in Argentina be Post its hold on the heroin American cities, including
be-
City and in their telephone pre totaling 41]r2 kilos (908
fore Juan Perlin had returned to market in most of the coun- pounds).
conversations with Mr. Nicolai. power, the police picked him tr, but it still dominates
The eavesdropping narcotics up in a general round-up. The
y in y' New York Back in uFranle, nder ithe poonal
g say he general
agents were desperately trying . acting under nternational
so rattled that
to find out their real identities, After a long dry spell, Fed- pressure, started convicting
The Agents Move In officers, "I give u! Don't kill anal authorities here say major traffickers, identifying
g up! that French heroin is plenti- laboratories an making bi
The break came when, in me!
the " ful again in the city, as dem- seizures of bot finished he
course of a conversation Elements of the Argentine onstrated by the fact that roin being shipped out of
with Mr. Nicolai, Mr. Sarti men- police were said to be so it's averaging close to seven the country an opium base
tioned his own daughter's eager to get Mr. Nicolai per cent pure on the street, from Turkey being shipped
name. Veronica, out of their country that they up from four per cent a into France to )e processed.
The name was telegraphed arranged to hold him incommu. year ago. The law-enfoqcement pres-
to Washington, where Jerry nicado until the Federal drug "It's a buyers' market sure was enhanced by Turk-
Strickler was then heading the agents arranged for a plane to again," said John Fallon, the ey's decision in 1972 to pro-
Federal drug agency's Latin come and take him to the Federal rug EMgrcement hibit further cultivation of
was American known desk. Mr. Strickler United Stales. Administrtt torts regional di- poppies.
for his computer- But once again Mr. Nicolai rector here.
d All these fa tors forced
like memory and soon he was second-guessed them
U. h
.
a
Until 1971 heroin processed French supplier to cut back
able to identify Lucien Sarti made arrangements with his in France was flowing into sharply on th amount of
simply from his daughter's first family and friends that he the United States at the rate heroin they sen to the Unit-
name. would call them every couple of 10 tons a year and begs ed States.
After repeated telephone calls of h If th A ;A t fi
o
him, they were to assume sold on the street were rim "They decided to concen-
to Mr. Nicolai, saying that the from
Frenchmen were now in Mexico he had been arrested. oing as much as 15 per cent trate on their drain market,
City and waiting for him, Mr. Within two hours of his ar- pine. But in the next year the the East Coast from Rich-
and
Rave up and decided to rest, Mr. Nicolai's lawyer, Ma- lating uffering a reversals. series of devaa? to leave the the rest Mexicano ," the said John
country
meeting rio Conterno, had contacted
without him. At that point the the police, saying that a writ T. Cusack, the ru Enforce-
police decided to move against of habeas corpus was on its A Global Assault g
the principals. way and demanding that his First the South American ment Anationt ation's chief
On April 27, 1972, the Mexi. client be produced. toute, which was handling of international operations.
can police approached Lucien Within four hours the writ $5 per cent of all French But the haral not French
Sarti as he was getting into an arrived-not from a local court. heroin shipments to the Unit- enoughrs could not provide
automobile with his wife and but from the Supreme narrowed heroin riven for their
young daughter. Mr. Sarti, who of Argentina. V , was demolished narrowed market, and local
The olice rea- - With the States, of the major
probably realized he would be lized that they would never French wholesalers were forced to
- Corsican traffickers
identified as the fugitive under he able to spirit awn Mr. cut their supply so much
Y in Latin America,
sentence of death for killing a , that by 1973 w~qt was sold
iceman in Bel pulled Nicolai to the United States. Then United States narcot- on the street Was as as only two
out lMrQVQd For Q ' r~i~ . CIAi ~~gtyt? a~ '~tgr~q~p 1OO~14iO6OP1u4
out a Colt Cobr 1` r g ~} iWtlgd sTtindtgBtAZ+Ftfi~
fire. The police sho him dead. S3u thi time snma Argentine Unsatisfied with the heroin
earlier, you'd be surprised how
many arias he'll make up."
He contended that the "per-
secution" of Mr. Nicolai by
United States agents is "a
water-closet scandal. It's like
Watergate and it;stinks."
After Lucien Srti was shot
in Mexico City, is pilot, Julio
Lujdn was said to have flown,
back to Uruguay with a cache
of 90 kilos of heroin that Mr.
Sarti had on hand. Mr. Luja.n
Is now serving a prison term
and Mr. Nicolai would like to
think of a way to sell that
heroin, the police aid.
In addition, Mr Sarti is said
to have hidden
kilos of heroin in
and Mr. Nicoiai
find it.
another 100
everal places
is trying to
Meanwhile, bo~h American
and Latin American narcotics
agents are eagerly trying t^
find something-anything-on
which they can
Nicolai in Argent
lieve his freedor
ccnvict Mr.
na. They he-
t constitutes
the biggest threat that the
South American; Connection
might once agairi be revived.
French Connection Stays
Dominant in Market Here
available, Mr. Cusack said,
 Approved For Release 1999/09/02 : CIA-RDP79-01194A000100400001-1
NEW YORK TIMES
many addicts here switched
to methadone, .went into
treatment centers or slowly
detoxified themselves be-
cause the heroin they were
buying was increasingly di-
luted. "As a result, the num-
ber of heroin addicts on our
streets declined considera-
bly," he said.
In the last year, however,
authorities believe the
French traffickers have reor-
ganized and have found new
ways,eof sending heroin here,
One method, according to
Federal agents, involves
sending shipments to the
Midwest, where they're less
likely to be intercepted, ana
having them forwarded East
from there,
The reorganization of the
traffickers in France and the
decrease in customers here
have made heroin more avail-
able again, authorities say,
and that, in turn, has resulted
in the higher purity of what
is sold on the street. The
degree of purity is seen as
a measure of availability.
Some narcotics specialists
believe the increased availa-
bility is due to the release
of heroin stockpiles compiled
by the traffickers three years
ago when Turkey announced
its ban on further cultivation
of opium poppies.
The traffickers stockpiled
the heroin, the theory goes,
in anticipation of soaring pri-
ces once the ban was felt
in the illegal drug market,
and they released the stock.
piles when Turkey an-
nounced last year that it
would resume cultivation of
poppies.
A New Worry
Mr. Cusack and Arthur
Grubert the chief of intel-
ligence in the Drug Enforce-
ment Administration's office
in New York, do not believe
that significant stockpiles
ever existed.
"If the French had that
much heroin available, they
would have broadened their
market again, but they
haven't," Mr: Cusack said.
But officials of the Drug
Enforcement Administration
are very concerned that the
French traffickers will start
to do big business again once
the poppy crops in Turkey
are harvested.
Mr. Cusack pointed out that
Turkey first said it would al-
low 70,000 farmers to culti-
vate opium poppies, but it
has now quietly increased
that number to 103,000.
"if each farmer holds back
just one kilo for the illegal
drug market, that's 100 tons
of opium," he said. "That
can bury us."
24 April 1975
Lack of Treaties Hinders
U. S. Effort to Curb Drugs
Last of four articles on why Latin America is now;
the major 'source of hard drugs entering the United States.
By NICHOLAS GAGE
The United States has indict-
ed more than half df the 200
active drug traffickers in Co-
lcmbia for narcotics violations
in this country, but under ex-
isting international agreements
they cannot be extradited from
Colombia or prosecuted at home.
So these dealers continue in
business, supplying much of the
cocaine sold in New York and
other major-cities.
The lack of adequate extradi-
tion agreements and treaties
with Latin American nations
to allow the prosecution of
major drug traffickers in their
own countries has been a major
stumbling block in the efforts
of United States agents to stem
the rising flow of narcotics
from Latin America.
Many law enforcement offi-
cials involved in those efforts
are critical of the State Depart-
ment for not pushing to achieve
such agreements and treaties.
What is missing from the
United States effort in Latin
America, they say, is the kind
of concerted drive the United
States Government made at its
highest levels a few years ago
to persuade France to go all
out against what had then been
the major narcotics traffic into
this country.
The heroin traffic from
France was seriously disrupted,
they remember, after France
responded to such pressure by
expanding its own narcotics
enforcement units, establishing
close investigative cooperation
with United States agencies
and agreeing to prosecute
French traffickers on evidence
gathered in the United States.
"We started off strong with
Latin America, too," said one
official, who, like others, re-
quested anonimity because of
his professional relationship
with State Department. "But
with all the Watergate prob-
lems, Washington's interest
faded and we loft the momen-
tum. We haven't .got it back
yet."
A number of agencies are
involved in the United States
ca, but the most active are
the Federal Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Central In-
telligence Agency and the
Agency for International Devel-
opment.
Individual agents work under
the supervision of the United
States ambassador in the
country in which they are
posted. The over-all narcotics
effort, however, is directed from
Washington by the Cabinet
Committee of International
Narcotics Control, which is
headed by the Secretary of
State and which has among
its members the Attorney Gen-
eral and the Secretaries of
Agriculture and Defense.
But officials from several
participating agencies believe
that Secretary of State Kissin-
Iger has little interest in the
narcotics effort and that, as
a result, many American diplo-
mats in Latin America haven't
devoted themselves whole-
heartedly to it either.
Kissinger Is Defended
A State Department spokes-
man denied such allegations.
"Obviously he's been busy with
other problems," he said of
Secretary Kissinger. "But if he
didn't have i strong interest
in narcotics control, he
wouldn't remain as chairman
of the cabinet committee."
Evidence of the Secretary's
concern with the narcotics
problem, the spokesman said,
is the strong support Mr. Kis-
singer has given the com-
mittee's executive director,
Ambassador Sheldon Vance, a
career diplomat who coordi-
nates United States narcotics
control efforts throughout' the
world.
The United States declared
narcotics control a "major"
foreign policy goal four years
ago, but some diplomats to
South America concede they
have not yet given it that kind
of attention.
"I must admit I haven't reeis-
tered our concern about narco.
tics sufficiently with the top
people here," said one ambas-
sador. "We've had so many
little crises."
Another diplomat said, "We
could jeopardize our relations
by pushing too hard on narco-
tics. These countries don't have
a drug problem themselves.
There's no mutual interest to
work ljvith."
Wlulfr. some narcotics officials
have been grumbling about lack
of support from the State De-
partment, the most active and
visible of the agencies fighting
narcotics abroad-the Drug En-
forcement Administration-has
come under its own share of
criticism, much of it from the
Senate Permanent Subcommit-
tee on Investigations headed
by Senator Henry M. Jackson.
`Ineffectiveness' Is Explored
The subcommittee is now
conducting an investigation of
the agency and will hold hear-
ings later this spring. But a
spokesman for Senator Jackson
said that the subcommittee has
collected information showing
that the agency-has been "inef-
fective" on several fronts in
Latin America and that its
agents have been involved in
situations that threaten to em-
barrass the United States.
"No one person from the
subcommittee has come down
here to see what we're doing,"
countered Louis Bachrach. the
Drug Enforcement Administra-
tion regional director for South
America.
The spokesman for Senator
Jackson said the subcommittee
may send investigators to
South America later, but that
it was now concentrating on
studying the agency's files.
Mr. Bachrach and his staff
maintain that the agency's
achievements in South America
,have been significant. Since the
Drug Enforcement Administra-
tion was formed in July, 1973,
he said, cooperative efforts
with the police in South Ameri-
ca have resulted in the destruc-
ition of 73 cocaine laboratories,
the arrest of 457 important
traffickers and the seizure of
more than 1,300 kilograms of
cocaine and cocaine base.
Furthermore, Mr. Bachrach
said, agents in his region
should be credited for wiping
out the South American Con-
nection, the rings headed by
Corsican gangsters that former-
ly handled 35 per cent of all
the French heroin entering the
United States.
The South American Connec-
tion collapsed after a series
of arrests, extraditions and ex-
pulsions of the major Corsican
traffickers operating in Latin
America.
Cocaine Gains Cited
Another achievement cited
by Mr. Bachrach was the dis-
ruption of cocaine production
in Chile. Shipments of cocaine
to the United States from Chile
have now been reduced from
more than 200 kilos a month
to less than ten, he said.
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 Approved For Release 1999/09/02 CIA-RDP79-01194A000100400001-1
The important advance in The Drug Enforcement Admi- When ,the plane arrived with "They [the C.I:A] were so
fighting narcotics in Chile came nistration calls "Operation the United States agents it protective of their informants,
after the military coup against Springboard" a success. But it, shooting broke out, with we couldn't make cases with
President Salvador Allende, Mr. a number of the expelled traf- each police group thinking thr what they gave us," he said.
Bachrach -said. The junta that fickers have appealed their con- other was the traffickers. "But in the lase year we've
overthrew him agreed to expel victions in Federal courts. Although no one was killed, settled our differences."
19 Chilean traffickers to the maintaining that their right" newspapers in Colombia la- The C.I.A. was; asked to join
United States, where they faced under due process were violat- beled the incident a "Keystone the campaign against narcoticla
narcotics charges, even though ed because they were kid- Kop raid" and back in Wash- by President Ninon in 1971,
they were Chilean citizens. napped. ington, Senator Jackson termed but apparently ts agents in
Most of the other traffickers, The Federal Court of Appeals it "greatly disturbing." South America have never talc
fearing similar action against has upheld the contention of Mr. Bartels, the Drug En- en fully to the id a.
them, fled the country, he said. one defendant, Francisco Tos- forcement Administrator. One of the reasons given
he said. canino, an alleged associate of thought his men performed well for the C.I..A 's discontent i5
Chilean officials cite several Lucien Sarti and Auguste under the circumstances. "A]- that while agars missions in
factors for taking such unusual Joseph Ricord of the South though under attack neither South America ha -e been riven
American Connection. Mr. Tos- of them fired their guns," he extra'funds for narcotics work,
action against the traffickers. canino said his rights were they have not deceived addi-
"We don't want to wind up said. "And they got 23,000 they tional men, except in Ar en-
p g
with a big drug to win like violated because he was tor- pounds of marijuana." tins.
g g problem tured by the police in Brazil, 'Buy and Bust'. .
the United States has," said the country that expelled him. y Some drug enforcement
Lieut. Col. Luis Fountaine, head' The Government now is ap- The drug enforcement agents agents said that he C.I.A. has
of the narcotics unit of the pealing the Toscanino decision in Latin America also are criti- helped them on several levels
Chilean Carabineros. "We want to the Supreme Court. It has cized by Senator Jackson and in South Amerii:a, providing;
to nip it in the bud." been upheld thus far on all others for allegedly relying ex- them with intelligence reports
"There is evidence that sup- other appeals by defendants cessively on the "buy and bust" on the narcotics tjraffic in each
porters of Allende have been extradited from Latin America method of getting indictments. country and on political power
involved in narcotics," Colonel and later In such cases, an agent works structures.
Fountaine added. When pressed violations convicted of drug vhere. under pover to buy drugs and "If we want to ~oax a fugitive
to discuss such evidence, he Mr. Bachrach said that if when the sale is grade, the trafficker to a third country
said that he hadn't seen it Mr. Toscanino was tortured in local police arrest the seller, to expel him toy the States,"
himself, but that the junta's Brazil; it was done without the undercover "buyer" some- one narcotics agtnt explained,
intelligence agency was in nos- the knowledge of his agents. how managing to escape. "they can tell us if he's got
session of it. "Our men are instructed to The buy -and - bust method enough null in that country
Unit Is Eliminated get the message to local police could prove politically embar- to beat us there."
Despite its energetic prosecu that torture is not professional rassing to the United States. Effort Is In paired
tion of narcotics traffickers, or productive and cases in an aide to Senator Jackson The drug agency's effort was
the Chilean junta did not hesi- which torture is used will not said, if the agent is exposed mpaired earlier r this year,
tate to eliminate the Customs stand up in the States," he or shot during an arrest Or however, when itRckrtov;ledged
Investigative Agency, by all ac- said. "We have a vested inter- what would happen, he asked that it had hired 5,? former C.I.A.
counts the most effective police est in discouraging torture." if the agent shot a national in agents. The disclosure upset
unit fighting narcotics in Chile. Building Some Bridges his own country. many South American officials,
It is believed that the junta Agents in Latin America who maintained thrif it would
] Although they cannot make maintain that they don't rely he imnosible to tell narcotics
did so because the unit had arrests in Latin America, Fed- on the buv-and-bust meihod agents from spies.;
been identified closely with eral narcotics agents there de- frequently, but have developed As a result, Mr. Bartels said,
President Allende. velop cases and turn them over other techninues that allow the agenc v has found resistance
The head of the unit was to the local police. When the them to keep a low profile. n trvinn to open four nev6
Luis Sanguinetti. a friend of police then go to make arrests in eight of the 12 Drug Fn- offices in South 4merica-two
President Allende's. He and his on the cases, the agents accom- forcement Administration offi- n Colombia and two in Brazil
top assistants were arrested panv them. cec in South America. "special _Nvhirh were considered neL,
immediately after the coup and "too many things happen action units" patterned on simi- cessary for adequate coverage.
his body was later found n to foil up the case when w( lar grouns m"inthined by th' of the continent.
the hold of a ship taking politi- don't," said an agent in Ecuador. Central Intelligence Agents. Mr. Bartels said that none
cal prisoners to an island pri- The task of drug enforcement have been established. of the former C.I.A' . agents now
son. agents is complicated by the The agents in these units with the agency is ser?;jng as
The junta said that Mr. San- fact that many countries have hire local investigators, some a drug enforcen7?nt agent in
guinetti committed suicide by more than one police force- of them po9re officers, to con- South America.
lumping head first into the sometimes three or four - duct sui,'eillance. ohserve ar In an attemoti to reassure
hold. His two assistants were working on narcotics, and the rests and perform other func- South American officials, ;ttr.
shot while allegedly trying to various police units are some- Lions that the United State Rartels said he j tended to in-
escape from detention, and two times fervent rivals. agents cannot do without risk- vice Latin narco ics agents tl5
others were killed in a shootout To keep on good terms with ing exposure. come to the United States and
with the police. the different police groups, Some of the special units work with his own men here.
Another accomplishment drug enforcement agents from are said to he quite effective. "We want them to see thaf:
which Mr. Bachrach cited n the United States try to distri- In Buerns Aires, for example. we're net C.I.A. and that we
response to criticism of his hole the cases they develop to when terrorists began kidnap- don't mean narcotics coApera-
agency is the removal of 57 ail the various local police units. ring diplnm'ats. the United Lion to be a 'ono-way street,".
fugitive Latin American drug But the potential hazards of States ambassador asked the he said.
traffickers to the United States police rivalry within fatir head of the narcotics aeencv's intelligence Area Lags
through a campaign called American countries were illus- special action unit to set tin a Ironically, the Drug Enforce
"Operation Springboard." Crated in March when United security comnenv to provide 'lent ?Administra ton effort in
The operation was conceived States narcotics agents heard rarotection for high officials in Smith America p'obably needs
as a means of getting around that a 23,000-pound cache of the en?ihnssy.
the refusal of almost all Latin marijuana was hidden in a spot The Drug EnforcementAdmin- that is em the ent strength in an area
rngth the
countries to extradite their own 180 miles south of Bogoti. istration also has been criti- C.I.A. hat ntelljge gathering
ng
nationals. Since existing trea- Two drug enforcement agents '-ized hN' members of the ,lack- anC- intelligence
nn.! For example,
ties do not allow for evidence told the Colombian custntr' son committee for failing to in the e ag agency's cy's ii r Fo egional l head-
collected in the United States po!ire about the marijuana and cooperate with the Central in .
to be used against traffickers ti~rnce Agency in dve1onin Quarters in Caracas. only one
accompanied them in a privatr tel g -
staff member handles intelin their native countries, driie plane to the spot. Unknown. a unified attack against narcot- ligence duties for all of South
enforcement agents in Latin to the agent. however, the ics traffickers. America.
America decided to coax traf- Colombian security police also M. r. A'rtels acknowledged "We've ,
tickers to third countries and had been informed of the same that differences between the had three more
to try to perucj~ ~irrrjfygs e ' v: aitjn to go down for
there to expe ~Ffi ce~~~~lJ eeFol'a '1VA?kF /O: Cl AR `7 .e~ItJ 7i5~t~fl i 10 0' ~~the' C.I.A. furor
United States. ^f informants has held us back," Mr. Bartels
said.
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In addition to enforcement
efforts, American agencies in
Latin America are trying to~
fight narcotics through a varies
tv of training and assistance
programs. Over the last three
years, the United States has
provided an average of S22-mil-
lion annually in grant assis-
tance for fighting narcotics.
The largest chunk of assis=
tance for narcotics control In
Latin .America-`612-million last
year-has gone to Mexico re-
flecting the high priority giver
it, Washington to diminishit16
the flow of Mexican heron to-
the United Stataes.
In South America. many of
the narcotics assistance pro,
grams are being implemented
by the Agency for International.
Development. The agency oper-
ates training classes fo, narcof;
ics and customs police and
arranges for material assistance,
such as communications equip-
ment, vehicles and weapons.
Picking the Priority
Still, the assistance programs
and the enforcement efforts
have not appreciably stemmed
the flew of drugs to the United
States.
The best way to stop the
drug traffic, enforcement offi-
cials believe, is to go after the
major traffickers in their own
countries.
They point out that the co-
caine traffic in Chile and the
heroin traffic in France were
disrupted when major traffick-
ers in those countries were
either expelled or prosecuted.
even when the evidence -was
gathered elsewhere.
"As long as traffickers feel
safe in their own countries"
said Frank Maco!ini, the Drug
Enforcement Administration's
deputy regional director for
South America, "they're going
to keep sending drugs to ours."
Narcotic Agei
From the time he was a
young boy, the son of the
local constable in the sleepy
Texas town of Palacios,
George Frangullie "always
wanted to be a cop."
Now, at 37 years old, he
is the special agent in charge
of the Federal Drug Enforce-
ment Administration office
in Santiago, Chile, and an
important component in the
United States narcotics effort
in Latin America.
Mr. Frangullie is a man
who clearly enjoys his work.
But there have been prob-
lems. He had an assistant,
Charles Cecil, until eight
months ago when 'M.r. Cecil
and his wife were shot at
while driving home from g
movie. Mr. Cecil was trans-
ferred to Colombia and now
Mr. Frangullie must break
in a new man.
In addition, he must cope
with the frustrations every
Federal narcotics agent faces
in Latin America. He has
to maintain a low profile,
stay on good terms with
operatives from rival police
forces and let local authori-
ties make cases he has de-
veloped. Nevertheless, Mr.
Frangullie delights in trying
to get around these prob-
lems.
"There are two ways to
work as a cop." he says.
"You can use traditional meth-
ods or you can try to come
up with new ideas."
Transforms Situation
Mr. Frangullie's skill in de-
veloping new ideas has
helped to transform the drug
situation in Chile in the two
years he has been posted
there. Today most of the
traffickers in Chile have
fled the country as a result
of one of Mr. Frangullie's
untraditional methods.
Latin - American countries
generally will not extradite
their own nationals who have
been indicted on drug viola-
tions in the United States.
'But after the overthrow of
the government of Salvador
Allende in i l9;3, Mr. Fran-
gullie found the situation
there more "flexible."
He discovered a loophole
In the law through which he
has so far threaded 19 major
Chilean drug traffickers. As
he tells it, "A friend of mine
came to my office with the
official gazette and showed
me an article about a new
law that had gone into ef-
fect. It said that any person
-alien or Chilean-who
threatens the security of the
state, can be expelled from
the country.
"At 4 the next morning, it
hit me that we could use that
law to'. expel major Chilean
traffickers to the United
States where they were under
indictment. I had a meeting
with the Minister of the In-
terior and pointed out to him
that profits from cocaine
could he used oy radical
groups to buy arms and am-
munition. The minister said
'Go' and we chartered a Boe-
ing 707 to take nine traffick-
ers to New York."
Mr. Frangullie and the six
Chilean police officials who
accompanied the traffickers
found the ride an eventful
one. Mr. Frangullie knew
that most of thl? cases against
these men had been devel-
oped years before by Thomas
Duggan, an experienced Fed-
eral agent in New York who
had since g"ven up all hope
of seeing them brought to
justice.
Mr. Frangullie arranged to
have Mr. Duggan at the air-
port in New York so he
could see his face when the
Chileans were brought off
the plane.
Most Traffickers Curbed
Since then 10 more traf-
fickers have been expelled
to the United States from
Chile under the same law
and most of the remaining
traffickers under indictment
are believed to have fled
the country in fear of meet-
ing the same fate.
The hard line taken against
traffickers by the ruling jun-
ta has made Mr. Frangullie's
iob easier. "But I made good
cases under Allende," he
says. "I've received good
cooperation ever since I got
here."
Mr. Fran?gullie spent two
years in college before leav-
ing to join the Houston police
force. HP found a tour of
duty in the narcotics division
so stimulating that he joined
United States Customs In
1964. Four years later he
switched to the Federal Bu-
reau of Narcotics and Danger-
ous Drugs, which became
the Drug Enforcement Admin-
istration in 1973, the same
year he was sent to Chile.
His wife, Anita, whom he
met in a Texas drugstore,
has found it difficult raising
two children-a boy of II
and a girl of fi-in a foreign
country. So Mr. Frangullie
has asked for a stateside
assignment at the end of
the year. But as he talks
about moving, it's clear he
doesn't look forward to it.
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