cannabisnews.com: Lawyers, Drugs and Money





Lawyers, Drugs and Money
Posted by FoM on December 22, 2000 at 11:48:22 PT
By Larry Goodwin
Source: Metroland
The managers of Voxel Dot Net Inc., a small Internet-service provider in Troy, hardly imagined that they would ever become embroiled in an international dispute over drug trafficking. But this month, that’s exactly what happened.Last Thursday (Dec. 14), Voxel was contacted by representatives of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, a Washington, D.C. law firm representing the Mexican bank Banamex. 
Through a lawsuit filed in federal District Court in New York City, Banamex is waging a legal battle to discredit media reports indicating that its president, Roberto Hernández Ramírez, is a drug trafficker whose activities are allegedly protected by powerful politicians in both Mexico and the United States. Since last April, Voxel has provided Internet access to the Narco News Bulletin, a news service that seeks to expose the alleged hypocrisies of the U.S.-led war against drugs—which enters its next phase in January with the start of a military operation in southern Colombia targeting coca growers. Akin Gump reportedly asked Voxel to dismantle the Narco News web site but the company refused, citing free speech concerns. “This has the makings of a huge, huge case,” said Raj Dutt, the corporate spokesman for Voxel in Troy. Dutt said he could not comment specifically on any legal action that might be taken against his company. “We’re not being held responsible. We are the host” of Narco News, he said. Dutt added that the news bulletin was “providing a public service” and that Voxel would continue providing Internet access “until we get a court order basically telling us to take the site down.”“I’m not authorized to speak to the press on behalf of our client,” said Akin Gump spokesman Tom McLish, who has been attempting to serve the legal papers related to a lawsuit brought against the Narco News publisher, former Boston Phoenix political writer Al Giordano.In July, Narco News translated a series of articles published in Por Esto!, Mexico’s third-largest daily newspaper, which documented how the Hernández property in the state of Quintana Roo has become a prime shipping point for Colombian cocaine. The paper went so far as to call the Hernández ranch, located on Mexico’s Caribbean coast, “the cocaine peninsula.” Hernández filed lawsuits against the editor and publisher of Por Esto!, along with several of the paper’s reporters, to force a retraction of its investigative stories. But top Mexican judges ruled against him, saying the stories were “based on the facts,” according to Narco News.Other Mexican papers have reported how Hernández hosted a private reception at his ranch this year that was attended by newly elected Mexican President Vincente Fox, U.S. ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Davidow and President Bill Clinton.Source: Metroland (US NY)Author: Larry GoodwinPublished: December 22, 2000Copyright: 2000 MetrolandAddress: 4 Central Ave., 4th Floor, Albany, NY 12210Contact: metroland metland.comWebsite: http://www.metroland.net/Related Articles & Web Site:Narco Newshttp://www.narconews.com/Drug War Goes on Trialhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8052.shtmlPolice Commissioner Calls for Drug Policy Reformhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5867.shtmlThree-Part Solution Against Drugs - Narco Newshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5697.shtml 
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on December 23, 2000 at 08:47:57 PT:
Uraguay: Backing Drug Legalization 
Source: New York Times (NY)Author: Clifford KraussPubdate: Sat, 23 Dec 2000Copyright: 2000 The New York Times CompanyAddress: 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036Fax: (212) 556-3622Contact: letters nytimes.comWebsite: http://www.nytimes.com/Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/President Jorge Batlle, who is known for speaking his mind on contentious subjects, spoke out in favor of the decriminalization of drugs in a television interview. He said he was only trying to provoke debate, but it was the first time a Latin American president had suggested that partial legalization of drugs could help fight addiction.Clifford Krauss (NYT)Check out Narco News for more on this story!Narco Newshttp://www.narconews.com/
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Comment #3 posted by freedom fighter on December 23, 2000 at 03:02:05 PT
who's telling the truth?
narconewsnfmff
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Comment #2 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on December 23, 2000 at 00:30:18 PT
Truth dealers
  Finally, they've cut out the middlemen, and this has become a war against the truth itself. But they're going to encounter the same problem of supply and demand - the American people demand the truth, and for every truth-peddler they take off the streets, another one will emerge from the woodwork, because the stakes are just too high to pass up.
http://www.pot-tv.net/
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on December 22, 2000 at 12:35:40 PT:
!Muy bizarro!
How do these clowns expect to prevail in court in the USA when the stories were based on Mexican reporting that has already been upheld? Hopefully a reasonable judge will kick this cowchip in the dumpster before it even gets started.
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