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Forwarded from the New Paradigms Project [Not Necessarily Endorsed]:
Subject: Knights of Malta
GroupWatch was compiled by the Interhemispheric Resource Center,
Box 4506, Albuquerque, NM 87196. http://www.irc-online.org/
GroupWatch files are available at http://www.pir.org/gw/
Group: Knights of Malta (Caballeros de Malta)
File Name: smom.txt
Last Updated: 11/91
Principals: J. Peter Grace (chair, U.S. chapter; W.R. Grace),
Martin F. Shea (sec, U.S. chapter; Morgan Bank), John D.J. Moore
(chancellor; U.S. Ambassador to Ireland under Richard Nixon and
Gerald Ford). Members include: William Simon (Citicorp; former
Treasury Secretary under Richard Nixon), Prescott Bush Jr.
(brother of Vice Pres George Bush), Alexander Haig (former
Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan), Jeremiah Denton (former
Republican senator from Alabama; author of the Denton Amendment),
Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), Lee Iacocca (Chrysler), Barron Hilton
(Hilton Hotels), William F. Buckley, William P. Clark (former
National Security Adviser under President Reagan), Frank
Shakespeare (former director of the U.S. Information Agency and a
director of the Heritage Foundation), Robert Abplanalp, Spyros
Skouras (Prudential Lines; Grace Lines), Francis X. Stankard (Chase
Manhattan), Felix Larkin (W.R. Grace; former Dept of Defense
general counsel), C.W. Owens (W.R. Grace), Harold A. Stevens
(W.R. Grace), Charles W. Miller (W.R. Grace), Paul F. Hellmuth
(W.R. Grace), Harold A. Eckmann (W.R. Grace).(10,14) Clare Booth
Luce (a Dame of SMOM), Francis V. Ortiz Jr. (former Ambassador,
country director, or U.S. chief of mission to Uruguay, Argentina,
Paraguay, Barbados, Grenada, and others), Patrick J. Frawley Jr.,
William A. Schreyer (Merrill Lynch), Walter J. Hickel (former
governor of Alaska; former Secretary of the Interior under Richard
Nixon), John McCone (former director of the CIA under President
Kennedy).(6) Edward Bennett Williams (exec representative), Thomas
M. Walsh (financial representative), Paul Dietrich (program
director).(15) Father Bruce Ritter (founder and former director of
Covenant House.(18) Past members include: The late William Casey
(CIA director under President Ronald Reagan).(14)
Category: Religious, Service
Background: The formal name of this elite Catholic lay organization
is the "Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John, of Jerusalem,
of Rhodes, and of Malta" (SMOM). It was founded in l061 as a military
order to protect "the poor of Christ" and pilgrims to the Holy Land.
An international order of laymen with charitable objectives, SMOM
now claims 10,000 members in 42 countries. The group is organized
as a sovereign, though landless, diplomatic state whose only territory
consists of a headquarters in Rome. This unusual diplomatic status
allows SMOM to send items across borders without review by local
customs authorities.(5,10,13) Social historian Stephen Birmingham
has said that the Knights of Malta "comprise what is perhaps the
most exclusive club on earth. They are more than just Catholic
aristocracy. They can pick up a telephone and chat with the Pope."(14)
SMOM has been called "the cutting edge of right-wing Catholicism, a
hidden mating ground where the Catholic church and the U.S. ruling
elite intersect." As of l983, the U.S. chapter had l,750 members.(10,14)
Countries: CH, CR, ES, GI, GT, HO, MO.
Funding: The Knights of Malta receive many contributions from large
corporations.(5) SMOM's Federal Association in l985 listed revenues
and support of $205,463 of which $l90,302 came from private
contributions and $15,161 from private revenue, e.g. investments.(9)
SMOM has received funds from the U.S. Agency for International
Development for projects in El Salvador.(13) It has also received
funding from the Christian Broadcasting Network.(2,3)
Activities: The Knight's Federal Association describes its general
purpose as one of promoting the spiritual and physical welfare of
the sick, disabled, and poor through charitable giving. It says
that fundraising and allocation of funds is its primary response to
requests for assistance. In l985, the Association had plans to set
up a hospice program and to participate in disaster relief projects
in El Salvador, Chile, Costa Rica, Mozambique, Guinea, and other
areas in Africa.(9) SMOM's work in Central America was pushed
forward in l983 when J. Peter Grace contacted Robert Macauley,
director of AmeriCares, to suggest joint involvement in the
shipment and distribution of medical supplies in the region.(16)
El Salvador: El Salvador is one of the countries with which the
Knights of Malta enjoys diplomatic privileges, and the organization
has had a presence there among the Catholic elite since l942. It
was not until l974, however, that SMOM obtained its legal status as
a charitable organization in El Salvador. As of l988, there were
ten Knights in El Salvador, and the group said it employed 30 people
in the country. The local organization maintains particularly close
ties with SMOM branches in the United States from which it obtains
the bulk of its funds and supplies.
Gerald Coughlin, a U.S. citizen who married into the wealthy
Quinones family, is the Knights' Salvadoran director. Coughlin
administers SMOM from the International Harvester building in San
Salvador, which doubles as the main SMOM warehouse in the country.
The NGO distributes humanitarian aid--primarily medicines--to more
than 120 churches and institutions, including hospitals, clinics,
childcare centers, orphanages, and homes for the elderly. In addition,
it operates ten clinics, sponsors a repopulation project in Aguacayo,
Suchitoto, and is starting a prosthesis program in the San Miguel
area. The organization reports that it distributes $12 million in
supplies annually and that it brought in approximately $8 million
in earthquake relief. About 90 percent of this assistance is medicine;
the rest is distributed among food, educational material, furniture,
and medical equipment. Associated SMOM branches in France, Rome,
Venezuela, and the United States contribute funds and supplies to
the Salvadoran effort. The Washington D.C. and New York chapters of
the Knights have provided constant aid, most of which comes from a
Catholic-oriented foundation called AmeriCares.
SMOM says it gives people a psychological lift by funding projects
such as the Boy Scouts and soccer teams. It is also sponsoring
productive activities, such as teaching people how to sew so they
can eventually work in textile assembly industries known as
maquiladoras. The Agency for International Development has given
the Knights of Malta $500,000 for a prosthesis program involving
two clinics which provide provisional prostheses to victims of
guerrilla land mines. The organization funds the government's human
rights organization to monitor human rights violations and to keep
a census of the victims of mine explosions. SMOM explains its
program in counterinsurgency terms: "If you're not eating and a
private organization brings you food, then you're less likely to be
recruited by the guerrillas."(13) SMOM took funds from AmeriCares
to El Salvador.(1) They helped Christian Broadcasting Network
distribute supplies and received funds from them.(2,3) They assisted
Air Commando Association in El Salvador.(2) They are also helping
with AID's resettlement program in El Salvador.(7)
Guatemala: AmeriCares donates goods and SMOM distributes them. SMOM
is doing minimal development work there but is distributing goods
to priests in conflict zones.(5) An AmeriCares/SMOM joint venture
in Guatemala has distributed $6 million to $7 million in medicines
in 1985-86. Overhead costs are minimal because local Knights provide
office space, transportation, and storage facilities. One of the
top Knight's in Guatemala, Roberto Alejos, allowed the CIA to use
his sugar plantations in San Sebastian, Retalhuleu to train anti-
Castro counterrevolutionaries for the Bay of Pigs Invasion in 1961.
Knights' donations have reached most areas of the country, including
hospitals and health campaigns in the government's "model villages."
These villages, similar to the strategic hamlets in Vietnam during
the conflict in Indochina, are designed to control and pacify local
populations. SMOM has donated to hundreds of other NGOs, including
Living Water Teaching, PAVA, and the 700 Club.(5,16)
In 1981 Covenant House, the New York-based home for street teens
founded by Father Bruce Ritter, expanded its operations to Guatemala
through the foundation of Casa Alianza. AmeriCares and the Knights
of Malta provided major support to the new enterprise. Roberto
Alejos served as the conduit for hundreds of pounds of food and
medicine from AmeriCares and helped to obtain donations for Casa
Alianza from private sources.(18)
Nicaragua: Since the election of the UNO government in 1990, the
Knights of Malta, particularly the chapter in Los Angeles, have
made major donations to Nicaragua. SMOM members assisted in the
delivery of three plane-loads of medical supplies from AmeriCares
that arrived in Managua three days after the election. It is estimated
that the Nicaraguan chapter of SMOM has 25 members, about half of
whom live out of the country.(19,20) Members of the German SMOM
served as part of the ONUCA (Organizaciones Unidas de Centro America)
peacekeeping force that watched the Nicaraguan borders to prevent
contra movements across the border with Honduras.(20)
Govt Connections: J. Peter Grace has a long history of involvement
in CIA-linked projects, such as the American Institute for Free
Labor Development (AIFLD). In addition, he was involved with the
CIA-backed Radio Free Liberty and Radio Free Europe projects in
Europe, and Grace representative Francis D. Flanagan belonged to
International Telephone and Telegraph's (IT&T) "Ad Hoc Committee on
Chile" during the l973 overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile. IT&T
had CIA backing for its efforts against the Allende government.(14)
El Salvador: For its work in El Salvador, the Knights of Malta
benefits from free transport of its humanitarian supplies by the
United States military due to the space-available provisions of the
Denton Amendment. SMOM and the U.S.-based Family Foundation of
America received an AID grant to carry out rehabilitation programs
in an area of Suchitoto selected by the military for pilot
repopulation efforts. AID has also given SMOM $500,000 for the
prosthesis program described in Activities.(13)
Guatemala: In Guatemala, the Knights of Malta have worked with the
Guatemalan National Reconstruction Committee (CRN) and the Ministry
of Health.(5)
Private Connections: SMOM has worked with or supported the
activities of a variety of NGOs, including AmeriCares, Christian
Broadcasting Network, and Air Commando Association.(1,2,3) It
was loosely linked to the Nicaraguan Freedom Fund (a pro-contra
fundraising effort) and CAUSA (the political arm of the Unification
Church) through William Simon.(4) It supports the work of Friends
of the Americas and acts as the distribution network for AmeriCares
in Central America.(6) J. Peter Grace is a board member of AmeriCares
and served on the board of the now-defunct Friends of the Democratic
Center in Central America (PRODEMCA). He also served on the board
of trustees of the American Institute for Free Labor Development
(AIFLD), the Latin American arm of the AFL-CIO. AIFLD has been
linked to the CIA and is funded primarily by the Agency for
International Development. AIFLD promotes pro-U.S. labor unions in
Latin America. Including Grace himself, at least eight Knights are
directors of the W.R. Grace Company. William Simon and Prescott
Bush Jr. are members of AmeriCares, and Simon was on PRODEMCA's
national council. Simon, who was Treasury Secretary under Richard
Nixon, was also the chairman of the Nicaraguan Freedom Fund (NFF),
a fundraising organization set up in l985 by the Washington Times,
a newspaper owned by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church.
The NFF was established to raise funds for the Nicaraguan rebels
popularly known as the contras.(l0,11,14) Clare Booth Luce was
also a director of the NFF and was on the Board of the Washington
Times.(6) Like the Knights of Malta and the NFF, PRODEMCA and
AmeriCares were involved in efforts to support the contras and/or
private sector opposition groups in Nicaragua.(10,12) In many ways,
SMOM and the Connecticut-based AmeriCares foundation are interlocking
organizations. Grace, in addition to his work as an AmeriCares
director, was instrumental in its founding, and the president of
the New York City SMOM chapter is the vice-president of AmeriCares.(13)
El Salvador: SMOM, as noted, works closely with AmeriCares in
El Salvador. The latter organization says it sent about $13 million
in aid to El Salvador between l983 and l986. AmeriCares receives
support from AID for the cost of shipment from the U.S. to El Salvador.
Other supplies comefrom the Tom Dooley/InterMed Foundation and from
Direct Relief International. Gerald Coughlin, described above in
Activities, serves as the Salvadoran country representative for
both of these organizations. In addition to AmeriCares, SMOM in El
Salvador works closely with the Salvadoran American Foundation and
the Family Foundation of America. Local Rotary and Lions clubs use
SMOM's duty-free privileges to import supplies into the country.
Project Hope in Washington helps SMOM in El Salvador with
transportation and storage.(13) The Dooley Foundation gives
supplies to SMOM for its work in El Salvador.(7)
Guatemala: In this country, SMOM has worked with or supported the
Rotary Club, AmeriCares, Lions Club, Living Water Teaching, PAVA,
the CBN's 700 Club, Catholic Service Organizations for the Interior,
and a number of hospitals and orphanages.(5,16)
Honduras: The Knights of Malta works closely with AmeriCares in
Honduras. In addition, donations for SMOM have arrived in Honduras
via United Brands and Standard Fruit boats.(17)
Misc: According to a source named Jimmy-the-Weasel, Mafia members
apparently created memberships in SMOM for a fee, using their
connections in SMOM.(8) During the Vietnam war, the Knights of
Malta supported U.S. military intervention in Southeast Asia and
contributed to Washington's pacification campaign in South Vietnam.(10)
SMOM gave its highest award of honor, the Gran Croci Al Merito
Conplacca, to Gen. Reinhard Gehlen in l948. Gehlen, who was not
a Catholic, was awarded the honor because of his efforts in the
"crusade against godless Communism." Gehlen headed Adolf Hitler's
spy operations against the Soviet Union during World War II. After
the war, he and his spy apparatus--staffed mostly by former Nazis
--were recruited by the CIA. He became the first director of the
BND, West Germany's intelligence agency, which contributed large
percentages of NATO's raw intelligence during the Cold War.(14) In
l963, as Director of the CIA, John McCone oversaw the assassination
of South Vietnam's Prime Minister, Ngo Dinh Diem. In l973, from a
senior post in IT&T, he played a role in the overthrow of the
Allende government in Chile.(6)
U.S. Address: The Hill Building, 839 l7th St. NW,
Washington D.C. 20006 (202-835-2657).
Sources:
1. AmeriCares Information Packet.
2. Air Commandos Association Newsletter, Feb, 1985.
3. Synapses, "CBN: Unholy Alliance," May, 1985.
4. Miami Herald, June 24, 1985.
5. Interview with Roberto Alejos, Jan 27, 1987.
6. Francoise Hervet, "Knights of Darkness: The Sovereign Military
Order of Malta," Covert Action Information Bulletin, Winter, 1986.
7. Interview with Gerald Coughlin, 1987.
8. Letter from James Sullivan, July 28, l987.
9. Bureau for Food for Peace and Voluntary Assistance, Report of
American Voluntary Agencies Engaged in Overseas Relief and
Development Registered with the Agency for International Development,
Voluntary Foreign Aid Programs, l985 (Washington D.C.: AID, l986).
l0. The New Right Humanitarians, The Resource Center, l986.
ll. Summary of La Prensa Grant Proposal, National Endowment for
Democracy, no date.
12. John Spicer Nichols, "La Prensa: The CIA Connection," Columbia
Journalism Review, July/August l988, pp. 34-35.
l3. Private Organizations with U.S. Connections: El Salvador,
The Resource Center, l988.
l4. Martin A. Lee, "Who Are the Knights of Malta?" National Catholic
Reporter, Oct ll, l983.
l5. Office of Private & Voluntary Cooperation, The Executive
Contact List: Private and Voluntary Organizations Registered
with the Agency for International Development (Washington D.C.:
AID, no date).
l6. Private Organizations with U.S. Connections: Guatemala,
The Resource Center, l988.
17. Private Organizations with U.S. Connections: Honduras,
The Resource Center, l988.
18. "War for the Children," Newsday, Oct 7, 1990.
19. Interview with Agnes Thompson Kelly, Knights of Malta,
Nicaragua, July 18, 1990.
20. Interview with Enrique Ortega, Nicaragua, July 14, 1990.
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