posted August 14, 2006 01:28 PM            

Raul Castro: Cocaine Connection?
August 14, 2006 9:55 AM

Brian Ross and Vic Walter Report:

Federal prosecutors in Miami were prepared to indict Raul Castro as the head of a major cocaine smuggling conspiracy in 1993, but the Clinton Administration Justice Department overruled them, current and former Justice Department officials tell ABC News.

The officials say Castro, as Cuban Defense Minister, permitted Colombian drug lords to pay for the use of Cuban waters and airstrips as staging grounds for smuggling runs into the United States in the 1980s and early 1990s.

"It was a major investigation involving numerous witnesses that was killed at the highest levels in Washington," said a former Justice Department official with direct knowledge of the case.

"There were numerous national security and intelligence issues that would have made the case difficult," said Tom Cash, the former head of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Miami.

Convicted Colombian drug boss Carlos Lehder of the Medellin cartel testified in a 1991 federal trial that he met twice in Havana with Raul Castro to arrange safe passage for cocaine flights over Cuban airspace.

The draft indictment, as described by a former Justice Department official who saw it, listed Raul Castro as the leader of a conspiracy involved in smuggling seven and a half tons of cocaine into the United States over a 10-year period. At least a dozen other Cubans were also to be indicted.

In 1989, a top Cuban General, Arnoldo Ochoa, was convicted by a Cuban court and ordered executed with three other military officers for their roles in drug smuggling.

Cuban waters continue to be used by drug smugglers, according to federal law enforcement officials.

"The smugglers know that the U.S. Coast Guard can't go after them in Cuban waters," one official said.

posted August 14, 2006 02:49 PM            

quote:

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In the past, Fidel Castro has denied that his country or his brother had any role in protecting drug smugglers.

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Yeah, Castro and his "government" have absolutely nothing to do with the absurdly large amount of drugs and drug smugglers in Cuba and her waters. What a load of bull.
People have one hell of a time getting basic food items and toiletries "underhandedly" over there but drugs move so smoothly through Cuba in such large amounts because the smugglers are what? Lucky?
Yeah, right.
It's a friggin' communist country. There is very little you can do outisde the regime's expectations and accepted behavior policies without the authorities breathing down your neck and discretion is a necessity for survival. No way are these guys sneaking in, out and around Cuba with Castro and his goons not knowing about it. There's just no way.

I can clearly remember my dad back during Clinton's presidency saying, "Clinton es un condenado communista, @#$%!"

Why did they stop Raul Castro from being indicted anyway?

posted August 14, 2006 06:23 PM            

This is the first I ever heard of the then pending indictment and it's probably the first time it's percolated to the top and the publics attention.

Your father didn't know the half of it and by the time everything gets out into the public arena, even people who are usually "in the know" will realize they didn't either.