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Cia connection la crack trade { September 13 1996 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.house.gov/waters/pr913cb.htmhttp://www.house.gov/waters/pr913cb.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 13, 1996 CONTACT: Leah Allen
(202) 225-2201
REP. MAXINE WATERS LEADS CHALLENGE TO CONGRESS, ADMINISTRATION TO INVESTIGATE C.I.A.-LED DRUG DEALINGS
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CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS SEMINAR DRAWS 2,000
Cites News Account Documenting C.I.A./Nicaraguan Contra Connection to Original Crack Trade in Los Angeles/U.S.
In a dramatic presentation before this year's Congressional Black Caucus Legislative Conference, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) challenged her colleagues on that panel, as well as the House Republican Leadership, to investigate news stories linking the Nicaraguan Contras and the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) to the introduction of crack cocaine to South-Central Los Angeles in the early 1980s.
In a seminar hosted by Rep. Waters and co-hosted by Reps. Watt, Cummings, and Jackson, Jr., Waters roused a crown estimated to exceed 2,000, and vowed to fight until all the facts relating to the origins of the crack cocaine trade in South-Central Los Angeles and other inner city areas are revealed.
"The origin of the crack cocaine trade in this country was led and designed by the CIA and their paid Nicaraguan agents -- who introduced crack cocaine to South-Central Los Angeles," proclaimed Waters as the hearing began. "The consequences of this wholesale dumping of cocaine into inner cities by CIA-organized agents has been widespread homelessness, violence, the destruction of families, and death."
Rep. Waters cited a series of articles in the San Jose Mercury News, from August 18 - 20, 1996, authored by reporter Gary Webb, which documented the connection between U.S. foreign policy in the 1980s, international drug traffickers, and crack cocaine's origins in South-Central Los Angeles. The drug trade subsequently spread to many other inner city neighborhoods in the United States.
Waters' workshop entitled "Cocaine, Contras, and the C.I.A.: How They Introduced Crack into the Inner City," drew one of the largest crowds of any event of its kind in recent memory.
Waters has requested full investigations by the Department of Justice and the C.I.A., as well as hearings to be conducted by the House Judiciary Committee, on which she serves.
Besides the Congressional Black Caucus members, panelists included Joe Madison, the radio talk show host, Phyllis Newton, the Staff Director of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, and John Newman, a professor at the University of Maryland.
Rep. Waters said, "I vow to leave no stone unturned in an effort to punish those responsible for creating the devastating drug addition, sales, gun-running, violence, and death associated with crack cocaine throughout this nation."
She also reiterated her disgust at federal mandatory minimum sentences which target small-time inner city users, while large-scale dealers like those identified in the San Jose Mercury News accounts go free.
Participants at the workshop were challenged by Rep. Waters to go back to their communities, distribute the information presented at the workshop, and demand that Speaker Newt Gingrich appoint a Special Select Committee to investigate the Contra/C.I.A./crack charges. They were also urged to organize and attempt to force the C.I.A. to release all relevant documentation relating to this matter.
Rep. Waters concluded, "We're in this for the long haul. We must demand information, accountability, and justice."
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