The War on Drugs is Just a Turf War: Feds Arm Cartels and Banks Reap the Profits

by Scott Creighton

“Our society is run by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing that. That’s what’s insane about it.” John Lennon

Many people know that Wachovia Bank had to admit to laundering 378.4 billion dollars in drug money between 2004 and 2007 and that they paid a mere 160 million in fines to avoid prosecution. What they don’t know is that the money was from a drug cartel in Mexico that the DEA and the Justice department supported as part of a program called “Divide and Conquer” which was designed to weed all the other drug gangs out and leave the one cartel, our cartel, in place.

In short, our banks laundered the money while the government looked the other way or even helped the Sinaloa Cartel bring the drugs into Chicago (there’s that town again) while providing thousands of illegal weapons to the cartel under programs like “Fast and Furious” which they used to murder other drug lords, police, and everyday citizens (and more than a few journalists and politicians who dared to open their mouths).

Now to me, if it’s the US government providing the weapons, the logistics, the protection from prosecution, the lethal hits on the competition, and the resources to launder the cash, then it’s the US government who is actually the drug cartel with the Sinaloa’s providing nothing but cover.

I mean, after all, we are guarding the heroin fields in Afghanistan. Guess someone wants a monopoly on all the illicit drugs in the world just like they want a monopoly on the oil fields, healthcare, GMO corn,  and the central banks.

In March 2010, Wachovia Bank, revealed it had ‘laundered’ $378.4 billion dollars for the Sinaloa Cartel, through a network of exchange houses, or casas de cambio, between 2004 and 2007.

Wachovia, now part of Wells Fargo Bank, avoided prosecution by paying $160 million; a very small sum considering the laundered amount corresponds to one-third of Mexico’s Gross Domestic Product for one year.

A recent article in the British Sunday Observer based on recently uncovered documents traces a sinister chain that connects Wachovia and other financial institutions, to the Pacífico (aka Sinaloa) drug cartel. The leader of that cartel, “Chapo” Guzmán, who was rated by Forbes magazine as one of the 68 “most powerful people in the world.” WSWS

Recently, a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa drug cartel operative gave testimony in court regarding what he knew about various deals struck with the US government starting in 2004. He alleged that Fast and Furious was a way to give weapons to their cartel so they could wipe out the competition and that they were allowed to run drugs, unencumbered, into the United States while apparently the proceeds of the sales were laundered by various US banks like Wachovia.

The statement(s) was made by Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, the Sinaloa cartel’s “logistics coordinator” in charge of arranging massive drug shipments from Latin America to the United States as well as the son of cartel leader Ismael “Mayo” Zambada-Garcia and a close associate to kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman…

[from court documents] “[T]he United States government at its highest levels entered into agreements with cartel leaders to act as informants against rival cartels and received benefits in return, including, but not limited to, access to thousands of weapons which helped them continue their business of smuggling drugs into Chicago and throughout the United States, and to continue wreaking havoc on the citizens and law enforcement in Mexico.”

The motion for discovery claims the agreement between the U.S. government and the Sinoloa cartel began sometime before 2004 and lasted at least until March 2009 as part of America’s “Divide and Conquer” strategy against other cartels, in which the U.S. would use “one drug organization to help against others.”

[From the court document] “Under that agreement, the Sinaloa Cartel under the leadership of defendant’s father, Ismael Zambada-Niebla and “Chapo” Guzman, were given carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States and were also protected by the United States government from arrest and prosecution in return for providing information against rival cartels which helped Mexican and United States authorities capture or kill thousands of rival cartel members.” Business Insider

The government claims they won’t release details of the arraignments between them and the cartel due to matters of “national security”

Cocaine and crack destroys cities and communities from within. They take lives and leave some (most) with lives not worth living. They provide an endless supply of new convicts for the prison industrial complex while pouring millions and millions of dollars into revenue streams for cities, counties, and legal firms.

The British started using illicit drugs centuries ago to destabilize nations during the Opium Wars with China. The heroin we protect in Afghanistan is heading mainly to Russia… go figure.

The CIA brought in heroin and crack in the 60s and 80s to undermine black communities through this country. It has a long sordid history with the transportation and smuggling of narcotics, just as Gary Webb (oh, that’s right, he shot himself in the head.. twice) or Oliver North.

The people of this country can’t continue to turn a blind eye to operations like this. We know the government is owned by these banks and the more we know about their behavior, the more we understand about the future they have planned for us.

American Gangster isn’t about some New York thug who got lucky. It’s about a guy who allowed the CIA to use him as a cover to destroy the lives of thousands of his brothers. The Sinaloa Cartel is just another in the long line of covert cover patsies. The real “pusher man” in America is right in front of you on your check book and on your Vote 2012 bumper sticker. Blue or Red it doesn’t matter, it’s all about the Green.