cannabisnews.com: Libel Suit Threatens Future Of Publication Libel Suit Threatens Future Of Publication Posted by FoM on April 04, 2001 at 09:28:35 PT By Mark Jurkowitz, Globe Staff Source: Boston Globe For much of the '80s and '90s, Al Giordano cut a wide swath among Massachusetts journalists and political junkies. An antinuclear activist who became the Boston Phoenix's political reporter, Giordano was sometimes abrasive, usually controversial, always passionate, and invariably innovative. Who else would have sent GOP pundit Mary Matalin a little tie-dyed T-shirt from a Grateful Dead concert as a baby gift? Giordano seemed to drop off the radar screen after departing the Phoenix in 1996 and then leaving the country. A year ago, he surfaced as publisher of the online publication The Narco News Bulletin which sees its mandate as challenging ''the illusion that the drug war is about combating drugs.''Later this month, Giordano will return to New York from his undisclosed base of operations in Latin America to celebrate the first anniversary of Narco News. He will also formally respond to what could potentially become one of the most riveting libel cases in recent history - if it actually goes to trial.The suit, filed in New York by Banco Nacional de Mexico known as Banamex against Narco News, Giordano, and Mexican journalist Mario Renato Menendez Rodriguez, pits the law firm of such ex-presidential intimates as Robert Strauss and Vernon Jordan against two notable First Amendment attorneys. And it happens to focus on the subject that has captivated Academy Awards voters who recently honored the film ''Traffic'': the drug smuggling trade.''For us, `Traffic' is not a movie,'' Giordano said in a phone interview this week. ''We live it every day.''The suit charges the journalists with ''defamation and interference with prospective economic advantage,'' accusing them of ''maliciously smearing Banamex with accusations that, among other things, it is controlled and operated by narcotics traffickers and has engaged in illegal activity.'' It claims that the defamation occurred in New York last year in a Menendez interview with The Village Voice; in a Giordano and Menendez interview on a radio show; in remarks by the defendants at conference at the Columbia University School of Law; and in Narco News articles.The defense attorneys say the case is another effort to challenge Menendez, following unsuccessful legal proceedings against the journalist in Mexico. At the heart of the dispute are articles published by Menendez alleging involvement by Banamex owner Roberto Hernandez Ramirez in drug smuggling. In a statement released to the Globe, Banamex attorney Thomas McLish, of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, said, ''Menendez and Giordano have been engaged in a campaign to convince people that Banamex and its chairman are involved in criminal conduct.''''The Mexican courts dismissed the claims on technicalities,'' the statement continued. Yet ''the defamatory statements Menendez and Giordano made in New York have not been addressed by any court.'' Banamex filed a lawsuit in New York to ''clear its name'' of ''ludicrous'' charges, the statement added.Giordano calls the suit an attempt to stifle his First Amendment rights. ''They're trying to exhaust us out of existence,'' he said in the interview. ''It's an attempt to silence freedom of the press, freedom of the Internet, freedom of speech.''While Giordano plans on representing himself, Narco News itself will be defended by Northampton attorney Thomas Lesser, best known for successfully defending Abbie Hoffman and Amy Carter in a 1987 case stemming from their participation in a protest against the CIA at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Lesser challenges the Banamex suit on the grounds that, among other things, the defendants' New York appearances did not interfere with the bank's ''economic advantage,'' and because there's ''no question, in Mr. Menendez's mind or Mr. Giordano's mind, that these allegations are, in fact, true.''Menendez is defended by New York attorney Martin Garbus, whose client list has included Lenny Bruce and Timothy Leary. Garbus has filed a motion to dismiss, which is being opposed by Akin, Gump. ''There have already been two cases brought by Banamex against Menendez, and they lost,'' Garbus said. He also argues, as does Lesser, that the only rightful plaintiff is Hernandez, not his bank. ''If I call Bill Gates a crook, can Microsoft sue me?'' Garbus said. ''I don't think so.''Meanwhile, the battle goes on for Giordano. In the interests of disclosure, he is a former Phoenix colleague of this writer and a nephew of Globe editor Matthew V. Storin. On Narco News, he is publicizing his legal defense fund, which he calls ''Drug War on Trial.'' One backer is Gary Webb, author of the explosive and highly controversial 1996 San Jose Mercury News ''Dark Alliance'' series that alleged CIA complicity in a Los Angeles crack epidemic.Last fall, Giordano gained media attention when an Associated Press correspondent in Bolivia resigned after Narco News reported that the AP writer had lobbied the government there on a water project. Now the fate of Narco News, which he calls ''an act of participatory citizens' journalism,'' hangs very much in the balance.Complete Title: Libel Suit Threatens Future Of Online Drug-War Publication This story ran on page C05 of the Boston Globe on 4/4/2001. Source: Boston Globe (MA)Author: Mark Jurkowitz, Globe StaffPublished: April 4, 2001Copyright: 2001 Globe Newspaper CompanyContact: letter globe.comWebsite: http://www.boston.com/globe/Related Articles & Web Site:Narco Newshttp://www.narconews.com/Lawyers, Drugs and Moneyhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8097.shtmlDrug War Goes on Trialhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8052.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by Dan B on April 05, 2001 at 07:53:19 PT: Something Else About U.S. and Latin America I’m posting the following article here because it speaks volumes about the absolute lack of ethics and morality displayed by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While they continue to disallow medical marijuana for those who need it to combat pain, nausea, and spasms; they have no problem encouraging the killing of innocent children in Latin American countries if pharmaceutical companies deem it appropriate to their studies. Disgusting and pathetic.Dan BMedicine vs. MoralityApril 5, 2001 6:15 am ESTSource URL: http://news.iwon.com/home/news/news_article/0,11746,284069|national|04-05-2001::06:15|cbs,00.htmlFDA Approves Drugs Tested In Countries With Different RulesWASHINGTON, APRIL 4, 2001 (CBS News) - Nobody disputes that a drug being developed by Discovery Laboratories may become a promising new treatment for Respiratory Distress Syndrome, a sometimes deadly lung disorder that leaves premature babies struggling for each breath.The problem, CBS News Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports, is a plan to study the drug in Latin America in a way that would never be allowed in the United States. In it, some newborns would get the new drug, Surfaxin, but others only a placebo. They'd get no treatment, not even effective drugs already on the market. Critics claim out of 325 babies to be tested in four countries, 17 who got only placebos would die preventable deaths. "What's unacceptable is to use people's poverty as an excuse to not provide them with known effective lifesaving therapy," says Dr. Peter Lurie, of the watchdog group Public Citizen. "We would never encounter such a study in this country, we should not be putting our stamp of approval when the study is done in Latin America."Yet that's exactly what the Food and Drug Administration seriously considered, in fact encouraged. Both the FDA and drug companies like placebo-controlled studies because it's easier to prove a drug works. Tremendous ethical questions erupt when it comes to withholding treatments for deadly illnesses. The FDA debated the dilemma at a secret conference titled: Use of Placebo Controls in Life Threatening Diseases: Is the Developing World the Answer? noting the Surfaxin study plan "is considered unethical in the USA."Increasingly, pharmaceutical companies test their drugs in places like Mexico and Africa, where the ethical rules are different, there are plenty of untreated patients and research can be much cheaper. Amid an outpouring of criticism, Discovery Labs reversed course Wednesday. Now, in a newly re-designed study, nobody will get a placebo. "All patients" will get "access to drugs currently used in the U.S."But with no FDA policy against similar foreign studies, critics hope the uproar over Surfaxin will make other companies less eager to tread the same ethical ground. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Rambler on April 05, 2001 at 06:11:25 PT scary Al and Mario have probably already wore out several rear view mirrors. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on April 05, 2001 at 05:37:04 PT: A Welcome Illustration, Kap I hope that there will be an outpouring of support for Mr. Giordano and his plight. We need some true justice worthy of the old American Way. Unfortunately, the new Amerikan way is corrupt, repressive, mean-spirited and vindictive. We must insist on reform, and it would begin in no better place by ending the Drug War. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on April 05, 2001 at 04:30:13 PT: Some reasons why the banks are quietly backing Banamex...as well as some governments; From "ON 'COOLING HOT MONEY':TRANSATLANTIC TRENDS IN DRUG-RELATED MONEY LAUNDERING AND ITS FACILITATIONhttp://www.tni.org/drugs/links/south.htm There are many limitations to the success of law enforcement and financial investigation efforts directed against drug-related money laundering. Serious practical problems were identified by the US SFRC Subcommittee on Narcotics and Terrorism (1990: 35-40) as: (i) the lack of coordination between the multiple agencies (national and international) involved and limited intelligence sharing; relatedly, (ii) lack of cooperation between agencies at different 'levels', eg regional or state versus national and federal; and iii) the shortage of 'human resources' involved in the "labor intensive and time consuming work" of investigating suspected violations. These are important practical points but they also illuminate the limitation of vision that has prevailed in the 'war on drugs' law enforcement mentality. There is little sense here of trying to understand the 'big picture'; of questioning either the origins of the problem being fought or the methods and assumptions adopted in that fight(cf Taylor, 1992: 191-192). For example and crucially, we should note that trafficking and associated laundering have, in large part, been stimulated by the debt crisis of many Latin American (and other) countries. As a report from the UN Information Service (1990: 15) pointed out: Loans from US banks to developing countries set the stage for this crisis, and defaults on the loans undercut the stability of the US banking system. Now the proceeds from drug trafficking are helping to buoy the liquidity of US banks and figure prominently in payments on Latin American debts. The impact of coca dollars in the western hemisphere now extends from peasant farmers in the Andean mountains to national governments across Latin America and the boardrooms of major banks.This is partly why we are seeing what we are; the major banking houses of the West, particularly the United States, have sunk trillions of dollars in loans (courtesy through the less than altruistic IMF) into Latin America...which is always on the knife's edge of default. The default of any one nation on its' loans would begin a chain reaction of defaults that would set off bank runs even worse than those seen in the 1929 Crash. As a society, we are much more centralized than we were in the 1920's; most people back then knew at least one farmer on a first name basis. And got some of their food from him. But imagine what would happen if all the narcodollars propping up the banks were to stop flowing? Banks would collapse...and so would society. Is it any wonder why banks are secretly hoping that Giordano and Company take a drubbing? [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Anonymous on April 05, 2001 at 03:23:55 PT And they call this "journalism" The "technicality" that led to the dismissal of the slander case in Mexico, was that the judge ruled the evidence against Banamex was truthful, so no slander was involved. Sheesh, we are lost if reporters can't find that little fact, and certainly lost if they just plain ignored it, as they surely must have. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by ekim on April 04, 2001 at 19:00:53 PT: President Fox Guarding Narco-Hen House? Mexico: President Fox Guarding Narco-Hen House?URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n272/a06.htmlNewshawk: Andrew Grice Pubdate: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 Source: WorldNetDaily (US Web) Copyright: 2001WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. Contact: letters worldnetdaily.com Address: PO Box 409, Cave Junction, OR 97523-0409 Fax: (541) 597-1700 Website: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/ Author: Tom Flocco PRESIDENT FOX GUARDING NARCO-HEN HOUSE? There's an intriguing story left virtually unreported by the mainstream U.S. media regarding a friendship between alleged Cancun drug-trafficker and banker Roberto Hernandez Ramirez and Mexican President Vicente Fox. This is especially strange when you throw in President Bush's Feb. 16 meeting in Mexico with the nation's new leader. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by jAHn on April 04, 2001 at 14:17:47 PT For an Americans take, if the Mexicans isn't your. ..bag of Tea, then check out http://www.copvcia.comScroll down to the Updated last section of the page: Mar.18th, 2001...Click the link about the Banamex suit...There's an americanized synopsis of Al Giordano's Case. Enjoy!!! [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Sudaca on April 04, 2001 at 13:15:08 PT Narco News This man is in grave danger of losing not only his publication and reputation but his head as well. The people he's accusing are very powerful as attested by the law firm hired to block his publication. Menendez, the publisher of Por Esto! (Mexican Paper) has photographic evidence of drug smugglers' operations on the property of the owner of Banamex.Giordano has also tied this man to campaign contributions to the Clinton and Bush gov't.. I see this thing taking the path of the moth towards the light. How can any grown up man believe in the purity of the judical system to save his ass from the big boys?the Colombian ambassador to Canada claims that if they legalize drugs the gov't will be taken over by criminals. I'm sorry. It seems to have already happened propelled by Prohibition. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on April 04, 2001 at 10:40:52 PT: Check the Source This is a big, complicated story, worth visit to the Narco News WWW site:http://www.narconews.com/I suspect Giordano is correct in his assertions. Corruption is ubiquitous do to prohibition. If people do not like it, then they must consider the only viable solution: legalization and regulation. All will benefit, except the corrupt themselves. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: