- Cele Castillo played it tough with the
"Big Boys" for a long time until the former DEA agent couldn't
take it any more.
-
- For 12 long years he fought hard against
the drug lords in South America, finally realizing in the late 1980's his
fight was essentially for nothing.
-
- After raiding jungle cocaine labs in
the Amazon, conducting aerial eradication operations in Guatemala and assembling
and training anti-narcotics units in several countries, Castillo finally
went public and blew the whistle after realizing the real kingpin drug
dealers worked in the White House, not in the jungles of Central and South
America.
-
- "I took an oath to defend my country
and fight the war on drugs. When I realized the enemy was within our own
government, I took the path of truth, trying to alert the American people,"
said Castillo, a former Viet Nam veteran who recently appeared on Greg
Szymanski's radio show, The Investigative Journal.
-
- "The end of my career with the DEA
took place in El Salvador. One day, I received a cable from a fellow agent,
saying to investigate possible drug smuggling by Nicaraguan Contras operating
from the Ilopango Air Force Base.
-
- "I quickly discovered that the Contra
pilots were, indeed, smuggling narcotics back into the United States -
using the same pilots, planes and hangers that the Central Intelligence
Agency and the National Security Council, under the direction of Lt. Col.
Oliver North, used to maintain their covert supply operation to the Contras."
-
- Instead of playing along with the criminals
inside government profiting from cocaine trafficking, Castillo attempted
to seek justice, naming many high-level officials along the way, including
North and former President George H.W Bush.
-
- In fact, after Castillo blew the whistle,
Bush made a point to seek out Castillo during one of his South of the border
visits, in essence trying to "feel out" Castillo, but at the
same time careful not to make any incriminating statement.
-
- "When Bush confronted me and then
just walked away after I told him some of the evidence I had, it was obvious
he knew what was going on and was involved in the illegal drug trade,"
said Castillo.
-
- And when Castillo's allegations first
went public, he was the first government DEA agent with first-hand knowledge
of North's drug dealing sanctioned by Bush and other higher-ups.
-
- At the time of the allegations, North
was in the process of running for the U.S. Senate and Castillo was quoted
as saying he "belongs in prison," not in government.
- "We saw several packages of narcotics,
we saw several boxes of U.S. currency, going from Ilopango to Panama,"
Castillo said.
-
- According to a statement made by Castillo
on his web site, www.powderburns.org , the entire drug program was run
out of Ilopango's Hangars 4 and 5. "Hangar 4, owned and operated by
the CIA and run by Felix Rodriguez, or 'Max Gomez,' of the Contra operation
directed by North.
-
- "Basically they were running cocaine
from South America to the U.S. via Salvador. That was how the Contras were
able to get financial help. By going to sleep with the enemy down there.
North's people and the CIA were at the two hangars overseeing the operations
at all times," Castillo added.
-
- Castillo also fingered John Negroponte,
now in the Bush administration and who served from 1981-1985 as U.S. Ambassador
to Honduras, as just another drug smuggler covering up the illegal government
activity as well as illegally assisting the contra war and helping the
Reagan administration in the disappearance of more than 300 political opponents
in classic death squad fashion.
-
- "In Honduras, I saw first hand how
Negroponte and General Alvarez committed some of the worst human rights
violations ever committed against humanity in the Western Hemisphere"
said Castillo, adding in 1994, the Honduran Human Rights Commission charged
Negroponte personally with several human rights abuses.
-
- "President Bush then appointed Negroponte
as ambassador to Iraq with the "Salvador Option" in hand. The
Salvador Option is a blue print of the Phoenix Program that was utilized
in Vietnam. And know it is being implemented in Iraq.
-
- "Today, President Bush has named
Negroponte, as headhunter, Director of National Intelligence. He is now
in charge of all intelligence including the Pentagon. God help us in saving
our world.
-
- "I've risked my life to demonstrate
what I believe to be real. And, that is that an armed struggle (with pen
in hand) is in order for those who are struggling in keeping their freedom
at home. I've now become a veteran of my third, and perhaps most dangerous
war, the war against the criminals in my own government."
-
- Since going public in the 1980's, Congress
listened to Castillo's allegations and the testimony of others in hearings
held by Senator and former Presidential candidate, John Kerry.
-
- But the watered down investigation did
little to solve the problem, as the kingpins in government were allowed
"to walk" and, in fact, are still running drug operations today,
according to Castillo.
-
- "The same thing is going on today
with the same people from the 1980's now in charge of our government,"
reminded Castillo, adding billons of dollars of drug money is being used
by government for secret, covert operations without congressional oversight.
-
- "We, ordinary Americans, can not
trust the C.I.A. Inspector General to conduct a full investigation into
the CIA or the DEA. Let me tell you why. When President Clinton (June,
1996) ordered The Intelligence Oversight Board to conduct an investigation
into allegations that US Agents were involved in atrocities in Guatemala,
it failed to investigate several DEA and CIA operations in which U.S. agents
knew before hand that individuals (some Americans) were going to be murdered.
-
- "Some people have asked, why I am
doing this? A long time ago I took an oath to protect The Constitution
of the United States and its citizens. In reality, it has cost me so much
to become a complete human being, that I've lost my family.
-
- "In 1995, I made a pilgrimage to
the Vietnam Wall, where I renounced my Bronze Star in protest of the atrocities
my government had committed in Central America. I have now become a veteran
of my third, and perhaps most dangerous war --- a war against the criminals
within my own Government.
-
- "Heads have to roll for those who
are responsible and still employed by the government. They will be the
first targets in an effective drug strategy. If not, we will continue to
have groups of individuals who will be beyond any investigation, who will
manipulate the press, judges and members of our Congress, and still be
known in our government as those who are above the law."
-
- Castillo has also authored a book about
his life called Powderburns which can be purchased from his web site.
-
-
- For more informative articles, go to
www.arcticbeacon.com.
|
