Friday, July 14, 2006

Chile: Pinochet : International Terrorist,, WMD Maker, Mobster, Possibly Dope Dealer


I missed, dictator, torturer, murderer, sadist, criminal, tax cheater, thief.
The secret police director for General Augusto Pinochet's regime, says he ran a cocaine production and smuggling operation for his boss, during the dictatorship.

tip of the hat to Beautiful Horizons

Augusto Pinochet's $26m (£14m) fortune was amassed through cocaine sales to Europe and the US, the general's former top aide for intelligence has alleged.

In testimony sent to Chilean Judge Claudio Pavez, Manuel Contreras alleges that Pinochet and his son Marco Antonio organised a massive production and distribution network, selling cocaine to Europe and the US in the mid-1980s.

According to Contreras, once Pinochet's ally and now a bitter enemy, Pinochet ordered the army to build a clandestine cocaine laboratory in Talagante, a rural town 24 miles from Santiago. There he had chemists mix cocaine with other chemicals to produce what Contreras described as a "black cocaine" capable of being smuggled past drug agents in the US and Europe.


Contreras was the head of Pinochet's own Gestapo, and I don't mean that comparison lightly.

Contreras is serving two jail terms for human rights violations. As former director of DINA, Contreras is accused of running death squad operations that led to the murders of an estimated 3,000 Chileans in the mid-1970s.
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As Randy noted in his piece, General Contreras was very tight with Pinochet, to the point where he had breakfast every morning with him. DINA advised by former Nazi's, not only was responsible for the death and torture of thousands in Chile, but it terrorized exiles abroad. Letelier's death shocked many Latin Americans because it broke the informal rule - based pragmatic considerations that todays ruler is tomorrow's asylum-seeking ex-ruler - that exiled political opponents do not get whacked abroad. And the absolute last place to do it was in post-Watergate Washington D.C., where decisions on military aid, loans for big hydroelectric projects, and visa's were made. DINA's message was clear: no one was safe from its long arm, and it was playing by its own rules.

So the regime was a state-sponsor of terrorism, and was working really hard at rogue regime status. And they earned it, producing weapons of mass destruction, with the secret police chief organizing secret labs to develop, manufacture, and stockpiled biological weapons for both battlefield and terror operations against opponents, in violation of just about every treaty. Pinochet and his top cronies, also diversified by entering the illegal arms trade, which makes them a criminal enterprise. And much like organized crime syndicates everywhere, Pinochet and his criminal cronies murder their own buddies if they feel they will testify against them.

The details of the cocaine operation came as part of an investigation into the murder of Colonel Gerardo Huber, a top intelligence operative and close friend of Contreras.

Huber was found murdered in the middle of an investigation that implicated the Chilean army in breaking a UN weapons embargo and sending arms to Croatia in 1991. Huber, who had extensive first hand knowledge of the deals and was expected to testify before Chilean judges, was kidnapped and his body dumped in a remote area
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The mastermind behind the cocaine operation, alleges Contreras, was Eugenio Berríos, a renegade chemist who was used repeatedly by Pinochet's secret police force, DINA, to run clandestine laboratory experiments. Earlier testimony and documents show that Berríos and the lab tested anthrax and botulism and were able to produce the deadly gas sarin.

The biological weapons were slated to be used against Pinochet's personal enemies and in a massive form against enemy troops in the event of an invasion by Argentina. The drug operation, says Contreras, was designed to raise cash for the dictator.


With this kind of illegal expertise and international terror background, the Pinochet Mafia was over-qualified to produce and export cocaine. With modern lab facilities and no one chasing after you, producing small amounts of cocaine is easy and cheap. A fairly effective intelligence agency could have no problem shipping tens of millions of dollars worth of cocaine across borders, either to 3rd party country brokers who paid cash and asked no questions, or in smaller amounts in destination countries, via the classic diplomatic pouch.

Even if these last accusations are nothing more than a self-serving statement by a proto-fascist, there is serious evidence that Pinochet and his rogue regime sponsored international terrorism, produced weapons of mass destruction, sold weapons illegally, conspired to murder witnesses, earning 28 million dollars in illegal profits. This in addition to being responsible for the murder, torture and exile of thousands of his countrymen. Anyone making more apologies for this beast at this stage of the game, is blind, deluded or stupid in my book. Hopefully this wretch completes his descent into hell pretty soon, but not before the rest of his garbage gets aired fully.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's be contextual--the role of the US in backing facists and opposition almost all genuinely leftwing governmnts should not be overlooked.

The US liberals saw Hitler in a favorable light until a few years before WWII--and even after the war, the US helped keep the left out of power in Europe and put back into power many of the came rightwing thugs that it previously fought.

Thus, you de-contextualized attack on Pinochet (a symptom of imperialism and rightwing hegemony) without mentioning the crucial role of the empire is a bit dubious--especially as you support the empire.

Miriam said...

porque no estas en español!!!!!!!!!!

Boli-Nica said...

Let's be contextual--the role of the US in backing facists and opposition almost all genuinely leftwing governmnts should not be
overlooked.
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attack on Pinochet (a symptom of imperialism and rightwing hegemony) without mentioning the crucial role of the empire is a bit dubious--especially as you support the empire.
---------------

you talk of Empire, and what not.
I talk in terms of presidential administrations, the people making policies, institutions involved, global/national realities. one to look for trends and constants.

Whatever problems and constraints Roosevelt had with the Axis powers, is different from Truman against Stalin, and Johnson, Nixon, and Carter in South America.
The time span I am looking at is Post-Allende Chile.

Anonymous said...

Yes, you tend to de-contextualize. Pinochet is a hero to the fanatical rightwing Cubans in Miami and the rightwing of the US, generally.

The pattern that you should pay attention to is the consistent US alliance with anti-democratic fascists, members of the upper class/business class.

The goal is to supress popular nationalism and democratic socialism--where the majority of people get it in their heads that they should benefit from their own resources. Such attitudes are always the scurge of the comprador classes and their allies in the emprie.

It's pretty clear. Pinochet is a product of US goals in the region--and, likewise, the fact that the US helped perpetrate and cover up this man's crimes is a sorry testament for the real values of the empire.

Now the 'bad guys' are Chavez and Morales. What type of terror and barbarity will be justified to rid the world of these two 'terrorists' and their millions of followers?

Boli-Nica said...

It's pretty clear. Pinochet is a product of US goals in the region--and, likewise, the fact that the US helped perpetrate and cover up this man's crimes is a sorry testament for the real values of the empire.

Go argue with the Troskos..

Jeez, can you get beyond the boilerplate, fill-in-the-blanks, vulgar Marxism? This is the kind of analisis historico claptrap, that Latin American Marxist-Leninists blabbered about from the 50's on.

What next a denunciation of Browderism???

should be your next step, you already alluded to WWII and US Liberals..

Recycling the "Dependency Theory" in your case would actually be an improvement.

Anonymous said...

Really, Boli-Nica, can't you at least admit that the US supported Pinochet's terrorism?

It is really pathetic to see you post comments deploring (rightfully--or you would have absolutely no credibility save for the hard-righties you hang with in Miami) this US sponsored thug--and then you try to avoid the fact that supporting far, rightwing facist regiems to smash democracy has long been part of the US modus operandi.

Really, it is pleasurable and sad to see you squirm like a guisano over this stuff.

Advice: stay away from topics where your ideological affinities will be stripped naked for all to see.

By the way, where do you stand on your empire's illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq? Isreal's bombing of Beruit?

Consistency and dealing with the ethical impicaltions of who you align with is problematic--does not reduce neatly into 'we are the good-guys' cowboy narratives. Too easy to ignore the people that get .ucked over by your beloved empire.

Boli-Nica said...

I mean, isn't it logical that I would be opposed to US support of Pinochet??? And it is a fact that the US supported efforts to destabilize and overthrow Allende.

How to completely ignore - as you do- that people, institutions, and entire nations - have an influence in the conduct of their nations. To suggest that Chile existed in a vacuum at the complete whim of the United States is condescending, because it does not even consider people have a capacity to shape even a little-- their own destinies apart from foreign machinations.

No one denies foreign influences, but there are also Soviet, Chinese, French, Argentinians, Cuban inflluences..

Anonymous said...

Boli-Nica,

Thanks for this post. Very Interesting! I still have a lot to learn regarding Latin American history.

Boli-Nica, remember that others' opinion of you do not define who you are!

We have the right to disagree at times with the opinion of others, but we should respect them.

It's sad that some are compelled to resort to the basic "mantra" of hatred and accusations. They use hateful and demeaning terms to degrade the motives & integrity of those who are perceived as their nemesis. In this case, it seems that the person using it is the one who has the weaker argument.

I wish you well! :) Melek

"How do you manage unreasonable people? You dismiss them. Like shadows."- David Viscott

Anonymous said...

Boli-nica---tssk, tssk, tsssk.

The incontrovertable fact is that your beloved empire continued to support this fascist as the death caravans were rolling. This support was integral to expanding the scope of the oppression.

Don't listen to me--take it from the families of people hunted down and murdered by this US-backed junta.

For you to bring the Soviet Union into this discussion is an insult to every Latin American who ever suffered the terror of the US-backed facist boot.

Read Eduardo Galeano's famous book "Open Vains of Latin America". This will go far toward disabusing you of your reflexive apologetics for the empire and its abiding terror.

Melek--you misconstrue as 'hate' my real love for brother Boli-nica. If I thought that he was beyond redemption for his anti-democratic prolivilities, I would'nt bother to rebuke the nonsense he spouts.

At least he recognizes Pinochet as a terror reigme. But he also needs to recognize the patter of US support for these regiems--then he can claim to make informed comments and not just appear as a quisling for the empire that he has pledged his alligence to.

Boli-Nica said...

Reality can be such a bitch......sooo complicated, unpredictable, chaotic, mysterious, and confusing, and thats before you even wake up.
It doesn't fit nice in neat little dogmas. But hey we all try make sense of things somehow.
You need to learn its not all Rebels and the Empire, Boba Fett.

I like how you personalize it here:
,
Don't listen to me--take it from the families of people hunted down and murdered by this US-backed junta.

For you to bring the Soviet Union into this discussion is an insult to every Latin American who ever suffered the terror of the US-backed facist boot.


WOW, how decontextualized can you GET!!

If we had to go into hiding and leave some country, because some creepy looking guy was taking pictures of our house, during a period of time when people routinely ended up dead in ditches, does that count as the fascist boot?
I mean it might not have been meant for us, after all some guy up the block ended up getting done execution style days later.
Oh well, must be a victim of the empire....oh, but Carter was in the White House. Can't remember exactly if the Embassy people helped us... Might have. They didn't sell that government guns any more, because of nasty things they did to people. But, then again there were some other embassy types, who were a lot friendlier with the military regime, and bitched about Carter, there were people who were sore about Vietnam and "wanted to win one" no matter the rules.
See it never fits in a tight box.

Anonymous said...

What you fail to admit is that relations of domination do fit into generalized patterns. Any left, populist, or movement of the poor that attains power in the world will be a target for the empire. All the smack about 'democracy' and freedom in the context of empire is just that, smack.

You obviously have cast your lot with the far rightwing--against the forces of democracy, people power, socialism, basic human justice, etc.

This is very clear from who you choose to serve--the political tendencies you support.

Again, we base our worldview on generalizations and become problematic when we consider particular cases--the evolving contexts of the ongoing class, social, cultural, and global struggle.

So your family supported the rightwing government of Somoza. The people got tired of the terror and the oppression that your family supported, they overthrew Somoza and tried to form a more just society.

The US was very effective in organizing terror to change that people's revolt.

Now you are in Miami, counting your money, wearing a tie, voting republican and opposing any progressive force that challenges your priviledge. Hey, you've made your bed--just because the people you lie in it with are pretty slimey, that is your choice.

You can always wake up tomarrow and start supporting the forces that opposed Pinochet and the US empire. But you CHOOSE your position in this unfolding drama.

I just think that it behooves you to see clearly just what you are aligning yourself with.

By the way--why arnen't you fighting in Iraq or Afganistan? Just a question.

Anonymous said...

"A Rattlesnake, if Cornered will become so angry it will bite itself. That is exactly what the harboring of hate and resentment against others is - a biting of oneself. We think we are harming others in holding these spites and hates, but the deeper harm is to ourselves."~S. Jones

Boli-Nica said...

Hey genius, I was obviously talking about a Latin American regime during the Carter administration, which the US had cut off military aid because of things like death squad activity.

So it wasn't Nicaragua, there were no real death squads by either side, at least in terms of other countries.

Unlike posers like you, who can't even get their history straight, I actually lived through some of this crap - which was one of the points of my little story. The other being that it makes me somewhat qualified to talk about right wing lunatics, having been under mortal danger from them at some point or another.


So your family supported the rightwing government of Somoza. The people got tired of the terror and the oppression that your family supported, they overthrew Somoza and tried to form a more just society.
Love how out of that grotesque ideology of yours, your lack of historical knowledge, as well as your general cluenessnes, you can draw all sorts of conclusions about my family in Nicaragua (1/2 Nicaraguan b/t/w).. Must be Somoza supporters, yep, overthrown and sent out, bla, bla, bla. Geez, I have generations of relatives who absolutely hated Somoza, and unlike wannabees like you, were out there getting shot at,jailed, exiled, and taking up arms