-Caveat Lector- A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"
/A -Cui Bono?-
an excerpt from:
Hidden Fortunes Drug Money, Cartels and the Elite Banks
Eduardo Varela-Cid©1999 All Rights Reserved
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
w/Fabian Baez
Michael C Berman;translator
Hudson Street Press
New York Miami
ISBN 0-935016-00-0
398 pps. First Edition In-print
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Preface
THE MAFIAZATION OF SOCIETY
"The problem is not so much that there are a lot of corrupt people, but
rather that there are so many that the honest are scared of the corrupt."
This is how Frank Serpico, an ex-police official in New York, began his
narrative. They no longer hide out, but rather attack and accuse those who
have not come to terms with them, an agreement they usually call "loyalty."
What happens when corruption gets to the point where it controls the police,
appoints judges, and runs congress? The corrupt even have their own armies of
journalists and lawyers.
In Mexico, the brother of ex-president Salinas owns foreign bank accounts
containing unexplained millions; he worked with partners in privatization
deals carried out by his brother's government.- and, to top it off, an
undercover agent of the DEA has connected the accounts with money laundering
for a drug cartel.
It is impossible to tell the whole story of what happens in Mexico. Let's
just say that as the result of an investigation, all the Ministers of a
particular state had to resign, all having been implicated in a cartel in the
area. A drug trafficker was in prison, and after completing his sentence, he
was made director of a bank. It would appear that requirements are not very
strict for such a position.
In Colombia, there are eleven legislators in jail. Until recently, I had kept
a count: one hundred one legislators dead and two hundred seventy journalists
murdered. However, it is really impossible to keep a count of the workers who
have died and those who are in jail, and those who are not, but who have been
indicted. The hero of this story is ex-Minister of justice, Rodrigo Lara
Bonilla, the politician who wanted to extradite drug traffickers because he
found himself powerless to fight against them in his own country. First, they
deposited $12,000 in an account to finance his campaign for senator; then
they harassed him for months in congress using their own journalists who
accused him daily of corruption; finally, they murdered him. The corrupt have
their problems, but anyone who fights seriously against drug trafficking gets
killed. Mafia operations to discredit those who work against their interests
are impressive and discourage even the most valiant.
In Peru, President Fujimori put the Armed Forces to work in the struggle
against drug trafficking. First, an army captain asked for refuge and
confessed that the army was charging smugglers $15,000 for each helicopter
that left with drugs, and then they split up the proceeds. Top authorities
denied the story. A short time later, an imprisoned drug dealer appeared
before the prosecutor, and the charges against him were such that it took
eight long hours just to read the indictment. A lot of people seemed to be
involved. A few weeks later an Air Force plane was detained in Canada with
250 kilos on board, and a few days after that, two Navy boats were found to
contain drugs.
In Bolivia, when ex-President Jaime Paz Zamora took office, he said that he
himself did not have a quorum, but that the drug traffickers did have one. He
said that he would govern honestly the part of Bolivia that he controlled,
but that there was another part under the control of others.
In Brazil, I once visited a slum in the company of a legislator and a
policeman. We had to ask permission of a gentleman who had a machine gun on a
tripod and who let us through only grudgingly.
In Argentina, a non-producing country due to its climate, and until recently
of low consumption and without cartels as they are known elsewhere, there was
a businessman, Alfredo Nallib Yabran. Everybody was afraid of him, and both
politicians and journalists were careful not to go against his interests.
Some worked directly for him, and others simply wanted to survive. Many know
the journalists who work for him; if someone should happen to go against his
interests, they immediately attack mercilessly. There is proof of his press
operative giving out money at a table in a bar.
Three important men of the financial world, a Swiss banker, a Spanish banker,
and an ex-Minister of the Economy from Argentina, told me that in 1993 Yabran
offered 800 million in cash to buy a majority share of stock in Aerolineas
Argentinas.
But this is not the most significant fact. Between 1994 and 1995, he managed
to get so much control of parliament that he was having a law passed that
would have privatized the post office, which he called a "custom-tailored
suit." Everyone knew that Yabran would be the future owner of the post
office, and the privatization law had a provision that would have authorized
