From daemon Thu Jan 23 19:44:25 1997 Return-Path: Received: by pencil.math.missouri.edu.math.missouri.edu (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA23568; Thu, 23 Jan 97 19:44:25 CST Date: Thu, 23 Jan 97 19:44:25 CST Message-Id: <9701240144.AA23568@pencil.math.missouri.edu.math.missouri.edu> From: lar-jen@interaccess.com (Larry-Jennie) Subject: US Issues Visa to Cocaine Trafficker Organization: InterAccess,Chicagoland's Full Service Internet Provider Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive Followup-To: alt.activism.d Approved: map@pencil.math.missouri.edu Apparently-To: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu Status: OR U.S. gave visa to Nicaraguan drug trafficker -- Fugitive: Man who was linked to U.S. cocaine ring had fled prison. By Gary Webb Mercury News Staff Writer December 31, 1996 Just hours after he disappeared from a Nicaraguan prison last year, a convicted cocaine trafficker connected to a U.S. drug ring walked into the U.S. Embassy in Managua and received a 10-year visa to live in the United States. Enrique Miranda Jaime -- who was a key member of a drug ring that provided cocaine to the Crips and Bloods street gangs in Los Angeles -- was eventually captured by FBI agents Dec. 2 in Miami, where he had been living with his family since May. He was turned over to Nicaraguan police to face escape charges in his homeland. Embarrassed officials at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C., said the matter is under investigation. ``I'm personally not happy to have found out that this occurred,'' said one official, who asked not to be identified. ``Clearly, this is being looked into and investigated and appropriate action will be taken.'' During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Miranda was chief aide to Nicaraguan cocaine dealer Norwin Meneses, a well-known smuggler whose organization sold tons of cocaine in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles' black neighborhoods between 1981 and 1991. He and Miranda were arrested by Nicaraguan police in late 1991 as part of a conspiracy to smuggle more than 750 kilos of cocaine into Southern California inside specially modified Mercedes-Benzes. 1992 guilty plea Miranda pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges in 1992 and became the government's main witness against Meneses. He told Meneses' jury that Meneses sold drugs in the United States in the 1980s to help finance the Contras, a CIA-supported army that was trying to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. As part of that operation, Miranda testified, Meneses used Salvadoran air force planes to transport Colombian cocaine to a military air base in Texas. Meneses and his Los Angeles distributor, Danilo Blandon, were selling cocaine to gang members in Los Angeles, where most of it was turned into crack. Meneses and Miranda were key figures in a Mercury News series, ``Dark Alliance,'' published in August. The series detailed how the Meneses drug ring sold tons of cocaine to the street gangs of South-Central Los Angeles in the 1980s and funneled millions in profits to the Contras. The series did not say that there was direct CIA involvement in the drug operation, but many readers drew that conclusion. CIA officials have denied any involvement, and at least three federal investigations are under way. In a recent prison interview with Managua journalist Georg Hodel, on assignment for the Mercury News, Miranda stood by his trial testimony. He said the Texas air base used by the Salvadoran planes for cocaine flights was near Fort Worth but did not know the name of it. Conflicting accounts Miami FBI agent Paul Miller said that after Miranda was captured, he volunteered to return to Nicaragua and was put on a plane back to Managua the same day. But Miranda, a former military intelligence officer, disputed that. He said he was kidnapped by FBI agents at gunpoint, who produced no warrants and refused to allow him to call an attorney. He said an immigration official forced him to sign documents authorizing his immediate deportation. A spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami did not respond to questions about Miranda's capture. During the arrest, Miranda said, agents rifled his files and seized what he called his ``life insurance'': a suitcase full of documents he said detailed Meneses' bank accounts, business contacts, balance sheets and organizational charts. He said he hoped to use the information to gain asylum in the United States by testifying to Congress about his knowledge of Meneses' drug operations. The FBI had no comment about whether anything was seized in the arrest or if anyone else was arrested. In Managua, Nicaraguan National Police Commissioner Eduardo Cuadra Ferrey told reporters that Miranda went to the U.S. Embassy on Nov. 13, 1995, the same day he disappeared from prison in the city of Grenada, and received a U.S. visa, issued in his name. He also got a visa from the German Embassy, Cuadra said. Miranda confirmed that, and said he quickly traveled to Costa Rica, where he boarded an American Airlines jet to Miami. ``Everything went normally (at the U.S. Embassy),'' he told Judge Guadelupe Valencia at his arraignment Dec. 3. ``I was treated as a normal citizen.'' Questions remain A State Department official confirmed that Miranda met with a consular officer at the embassy in Managua and requested the visa. He could not explain why the request was granted, given Miranda's well-publicized involvement with drug trafficking and the fact that he was supposed to be serving a seven-year sentence at the time. Two State Department officials said it was very unusual for a visa to be issued to an escaped drug trafficker. ``Pretty much on a regular basis people are refused or denied visas because we have information that they are involved in narcotics,'' said one official. Miranda's involvement with narcotics has been front-page news in Managua for several years. During Meneses' trial, his picture was frequently in the newspapers and his disappearance in November 1995 was also front-page news. Since his arrest in Miami, two Nicaraguan papers have raised questions about the legality of his capture and extradition. Those stories suggested that Miranda was whisked out of the United States because he has information that ``could embarrass Nicaraguan and U.S. authorities.'' Miller of the FBI said he knew nothing about that. He said Miranda ``was detained to determine his status in the U.S. and it was determined that he was not here legally. . . . Nicaragua was anxious to have him back.'' The FBI refused to say how Miranda, who had a visa, was in the country illegally. This material is copyrighted and may not be republished without permission of the originating newspaper or wire service. NewsHound is a service of the San Jose Mercury News. For more information call 1-888-344-6863. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$ $$ $$ The CIA cocaine smuggling on behalf of the Contras $$ $$ through Mena, Arkansas corrupted the Presidencies $$ $$ of Bill Clinton, George Bush and Ronald Reagan. $$ $$ For details, see: $$ $$ ftp://pencil.cs.missouri.edu/pub/mena/ $$ $$ $$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$