cannabisnews.com: Series Details Pablo Escobar Case










  Series Details Pablo Escobar Case

Posted by FoM on November 11, 2000 at 13:46:41 PT
By The Associated Press 
Source: Star Tribune 

U.S. experts played an extensive role in funding and guiding the Colombian authorities who hunted down and killed cocaine lord Pablo Escobar, according to an investigation by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The newspaper, which begins publishing the results of a two-year investigation in Sunday' s editions, also said the Colombian police unit Search Bloc that worked with the Americans in the manhunt had links with vigilantes who assassinated 300 of Escobar' s associates and relatives in the Medellin drug cartel. 
" The United States continued to supply intelligence, training and planning to the Search Bloc even as the assassinations continued, " the Inquirer said in the first story of its series. The paper made a copy of the story available to The Associated Press. An American official involved in the operation, then Ambassador Morris D. Busby, is quoted in the article as saying he never found the allegations of links with vigilantes convincing. American involvement in the Escobar operation was far more extensive than previously acknowledged, the Inquirer said. It included millions of dollars and the use of elite U.S. units such as the Army' s Delta Force and the Navy SEALs as well as the CIA, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and the National Security Agency, the newspaper said. U.S. officials have previously acknowledged training the Search Bloc. Escobar' s killing in December 1993 ended a long terror campaign that shook Colombia to its core. The drug lord' s gang set off bombs, downed an airliner and killed dozens of police officers and officials to coerce the government to not extradite drug suspects to the United States. While hailed as a major drug war victory at the time, the cocaine king' s death failed to stem the flow of cocaine from Colombia to the United States and Europe, estimated last year at roughly 500 tons. Washington is currently embarking on a major new commitment to fight cocaine trafficking in the South American country, providing $1.3 billion for helicopters and training for Colombian anti-narcotics troops. According to the Inquirer report, Busby and DEA officials lobbied for continued aid and support for the Escobar manhunt despite reports of Search Bloc cooperation with the vigilantes known as Los Pepes -- People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar. Busby, who along with CIA station chief Bill Wagner supervised the U.S. activities, is quoted as saying he did not find those allegations convincing. If he had, " it would have been a show-stopper, " Busby is quoted as saying. " We would have pulled everybody out of the country." The AP could not locate Busby to seek comment on the Inquirer report. Enrique Parejo, a former Colombian justice minister who survived an assassination attempt ordered by Pablo Escobar, told the AP on Saturday that police links to Los Pepes had always been rumored but that he had never seen any definitive evidence. Carlos Medellin, another former justice minister, said U.S. aid and intelligence was critical not only in finding Escobar but in the 1995 arrests in Colombia of the leaders of the rival Cali cocaine cartel. The Cali gang took over the drug trade after Escobar' s death and was widely rumored to have helped Search Bloc locate him. Gen. Hugo Martinez, the Colombian police chief who led the manhunt for Escobar, told the Inquirer that Search Bloc did not work with Los Pepes. But according to a DEA cable cited in the story, a top Los Pepes leader -- Fidel Castano -- even led a Search Bloc raid on a suspected Escobar hideout. Castano is the late brother of Colombian paramilitary leader Carlos Castano, a fugitive wanted in numerous massacres and assassinations. Pablo Escobar may himself have been assassinated, the Inquirer added, contradicting official accounts that he died in a gunfight with police on Dec. 2, 1993. An autopsy showed the drug lord was shot point-blank in the ear, the newspaper said. The Inquirer said that because of concerns about police-vigilante links, the Pentagon had just before Escobar' s death begun to withdraw two covert Army counterterrorism and surveillance units that had helped Colombian officials track the drug lord' s movements and plan police raids. Published Saturday, November 11, 2000 Copyright 2000 Associated Press. Related Articles:DEA Implicated in Deal With Terrorists http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7396.shtmlDead, I Can't Do Anythinghttp://cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5297.shtmlFighting the New Drug Lords http://cannabisnews.com/news/4/thread4738.shtml

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Comment #8 posted by anonimo on August 24, 2001 at 09:12:37 PT
Diganos mas
Veo, Rocio, que usted esta escribiendo de Colombia, asi que sus observaciones estan de gran interes aqui. Por favor diganos mas. Quisiramos saber sobre el herbicida de los efectos en la gente y cosechas en Colombia. Y como usted ve la guerra civil alli el convertirse? El gobierno de Pastrana sobrevivira? Las drogas seran legalizadas en Colombia? 
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Comment #7 posted by ROCIO GALAN on August 24, 2001 at 08:31:29 PT:
LA ECONOMIA COLOMBIANA
SE QUE ALGUNOS LATINOS VISITARAN ESTA PAGINA Y CONCORDARAN CONMIGO EN QUE LA SITUACION DEL PAIS, COLOMBIA, ERA MUCHISIMO MEJOR Y MAS PROSPERA HABIA TRABAJO POR DOQUIER, SE PUEDE DECIR QUE COLOMBIA VIVIO SUS MEJORES AŅOS CUANDO EL NARCOTRAFICO ERA UN NEGOCIO FACIL, RENTABLE Y SEGURO, DURANTE MUCHOS AŅOS FUE ASI PERO LASTIMOSAMENTE ESOS AŅOS ACABARON EN EL MOMENTO DEL ASESINATO DE PABLO ESCOBAR AHORA TODO EL MUNDO NOS SEŅALA CON EL DEDO COMO SI NO HUBIERAN TAMBIEN COMPARTIDO PARTE DE ESE DINERO EL NEGOCIO DE LAS DROGAS NO SOLO ERA PARTE DE COLOMBIA, SIN EMBARGO NOS TACHAN DE MALOS COMO SI LA HUBIERAMOS CREADO, AHORA LO UNICO QUE QUEDA POR HACER ES SENTARSE A VER LA LUCHA DE UN PAIS POR SOBREVIVIR ANTE UNA SITUACION ECONOMICA QUE CADA DIA EMPEORA POR DONDE SE VEA. 
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Comment #6 posted by Maria on August 21, 2001 at 21:29:11 PT
IM WASTED!
MONEY IS GOOD... DRUGS ARE GREATPABLO ESCOBAR RULES!
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Comment #5 posted by 1stAmendment on June 04, 2001 at 00:33:58 PT:
Escobar Sad !
I think it.s sad that the people who killed him, and those who supported killing him, are just as gulty and death desirving as he 'may' have been. They are bringing illegal narcotics in the US themselves. THIS is a SAD story. My heart goes out to Pablos family and children.
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Comment #4 posted by Davėd on April 30, 2001 at 11:41:12 PT
hey, if you can't stop em' join em'
 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$MONEY!!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
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Comment #3 posted by rudy h. on April 19, 2001 at 17:12:53 PT:
drug cartels
a good way to try and stop the drug trafficking is by sending a team of the elite forces of the NAVY SEALS, the seals should study the area of heavy trafficking and violence and then take out the drug bosses. a similar alternative is to invade the country like it was done in panama.
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 18, 2000 at 11:50:51 PT:

Killing Pablo - Complete Series - Easy Reading
KILLING PABLO Introduction by Richard Lake, Senior Editor, The Media Awareness Project of DrugSense Over 35 chapters, published from 12 November through 17 December 2000, the Inquirer documents the manhunt for Pablo Escobar. The series raises important questions. Did, in the name of the War on Drugs, "American forces in Colombia were going beyond their instructions and possibly violating a presidential directive prohibiting American involvement in assassinations of foreign citizens."? Did "... the end justifies the means."? In what additional atrocities will we, our military and our agents, participate -- made public only years later -- in the name of 'Plan Colombia'? Among the organizations following this story and Plan Colombia is Veterans for More Effective Drug Strategies http://www.vetsformeds.org/ The Media Awareness Project's link for Colombia news items is http://www.mapinc.org/area/Colombia Our thanks to David Isenberg for newshawking many of the chapters. And to Martha (FoM) of Cannabis News http://www.cannabisnews.com/ for creating this page which will allow readers to read the entire series in one place. http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/kp.htm
Killing Pablo - Complete Series - Easy Reading
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Comment #1 posted by Imhuman on November 11, 2000 at 14:19:17 PT:

Are todays Authorities any better?`

Prohibition Invites Violence and Corruption.Col. Hiett's wife was sending illegal drugs back to New York City through the embassy mail service. Does anyone really believe that the authorities running the show today are less likely to fall prey to GREED? I don't think so.The money is good as long as the demand is there. As Abe Lincoln told us years ago "Prohibition can not work because you cannot legislate morality." Get it together America.
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