My impression of Gary Webb was that, in addition to being a novice to tumultuous Central American politics, he was dead set on his thesis that the Contras originated the crack cocaine epidemic in the United States.
Dark Alliance rattled a lot of cages – it led to a Congressional investigation, and ultimately a CIA Inspector General’s report, which would corroborate some of Webb’s findings. But the San Jose Mercury News’ scoop also shook up a lot of the newspaper world. The New York Times, L.A. Times, and The Washington Post all went after Gary Webb to tear down his credibility and that of the story.
Cocaine seems to be falling from the sky in Costa Rica, as cops in the past 24 hours have seized more than a metric ton of cocaine in separate operations throughout the country.
Costa Rican police seized $4.13 million on Tuesday night during an anti-drug operation on the Inter-American Highway, the Public Security Ministry reported. According to reports, the stash of bills was hidden in a spare tire.
Details of the operation are still emerging, but initial reports from Costa Rica's National Police indicate that cops on Sunday seized an SUV loaded with 400 kilograms of cocaine in the Pacific coastal province of Puntarenas. Two suspects fled and no arrests have yet been made.
"Anti-drug policies in Central America have not had their desired effect,” Public Security Minister Celso Gamboa said. "I can say that after 20 years experience fighting drug trafficking, ... the cases where white collar criminals are caught, those who never touch the drugs, these cases are scarce.”
Liberia Assistant Prosecutor Liliana Zamora confirmed to The Tico Times that Rancho Horizonte, where cops seized 400 kilos of cocaine and more than $1.8 million in cash on Sunday, is owned by several U.S. shareholders. Although the name "Hilton" appears in the company's title, Zamora could not immediately confirm that diva Paris Hilton had any connection to the property.
National Police stopped the van in Cuervito, Puntarenas, near the Panamanian border. Police seized 121 kilos of cocaine, 10 weapons, including several 9 mm pistols and submachine guns, and four fake DEA vests.
In the driver’s compartment police also discovered the driver's 29-year-old son, who abandoned a truck he was driving in El Salvador on Friday with 102 kilograms of cocaine.
Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration apprehended the suspects, most of them under 30 years of age, with 1.9 metric tons of cocaine in a fishing boat approximately 200 nautical miles southwest of Punta Burica on June 10.
