Documents: U.S. Gov. Report Admits Ex-CIA Operatives Involved in Drugs, Arms and Terrorism

Bizarrely, none other than the U.S. National Parks Service has published a fascinating primer on the drug-dealing, arms-smuggling and terrorist activities of former CIA operatives in Miami, titled "Cold War in South Florida: Historic Resource Study." (Cryptome.org highlighted the 117-page study yesterday.) Some interesting passages: "In the 1970s and 1980s, some Miami Cuban exiles and their associates used their CIA training for a variety of illegal activities not related to ridding Cuba of Castro. Some became arms dealers while others smuggled drugs into the U.S. Former exile CIA operatives participated in the cocaine trade and related illegal activities.

"Two authors claim that 'The rotten core of the big Miami narcotics apple—marijuana and high- grade cocaine smuggled by plane and boat from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru—utilizes the routes, contacts, and techniques for transporting Caribbean contraband that were developed by the CIA during the secret war.' Some former exile CIA operatives became mercenaries, professional hit men, and money launderers. Some participated in terrorist activities including the car- bombing of foreign government officials in Washington, D.C., the bombing of Cuban government facilities in foreign countries, and the bombing of a Cuban passenger aircraft...

"Besides pumping money into the local economy, the CIA operations provided a sort of temporary jobs program for many Cuban exiles. Working for the agency let a large number of exiles get on their feet and establish an economic toehold in the region. Without the CIA sponsorship of so many exile groups, many of the immigrants would have had no means of support. 'The main accomplishment of the agency’s massive intervention in Miami was to support a substantial number of middle class Cubans at a reasonable standard of living, allowing them time to monitor opportunities offered by the local economy and to find a suitable business niche.' Many exiles, supported upon arrival by the CIA’s 'jobs program,' went on to found their own businesses and helped the region become a major center for Latin American business, banking, and international trade."

And from the paper's introduction: "U.S. motivations for waging the Cold War were multifaceted and cannot be solely explained as a purely altruistic desire to save the 'free' world. Such rhetoric is challenged by the reality of the methods used to wage the Cold War. Some of these methods and their effects compromised the ideals and principles of the United States and undermined the oft-stated U.S. goals of supporting freedom and democracy. U.S. Cold War ideological assumptions often resulted in questionable policies and ambiguous outcomes while U.S. policies impacted the nation’s politics, society, culture, environment, and demographics in ways that are only now beginning to be examined by historians."