kenworld
Cocaine Politics


Cocaine Politics
By: Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall
Published: 1991
Reviewed: 2/2/2002



If you still thought the Reagan/Bush administration was still worth a damn after the Iran-Contra affair, I highly recommend reading this book. Scott and Marshal base a large part of the book on the 1989 Kerry Commission report on possible links between the CIA, the Contras and drug smuggling. They fill in the gaps with other government documents and interviews. Well documented, the references alone require are over 60 pages. Bottom line: The Contras supported their efforts by smuggling cocaine into the United States through Honduras and Costa Rica. While they were flying drugs north, the CIA was filling the same planes with arms while flying south. The CIA also protected the shipments by warning off DEA and other law enforcement agents agencies. The Reagan administration even closed down the Honduran office of the DEA in 1983. While Vice President George Bush was in charge of the War on Drugs, the administration was deliberately importing cocaine into the US.