Witness Says Drug Lord Told of Contra Arms

A prosecution witness in the Enrique Camarena murder trial testified Friday in Los Angeles federal court that Mexican drug lord Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo told him that he believed his narcotics trafficking operation was safe because he was supplying arms to the Nicaraguan Contras.

Lawrence Victor Harrison also said that Felix told him in a face-to-face conversation that he (Felix) got others to provide funds for the U.S.-backed Contra movement that was trying to topple the Sandinista government. Harrison did not say when the conversation took place, but he testified earlier that he had worked for Mexican drug traffickers in 1983 and 1984.

Harrison made his comments outside the presence of the Camarena jury. U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie later ruled that the testimony was “hearsay” and did not allow jurors to hear it.

Felix is one of 22 people who have been indicted in Los Angeles on charges stemming from the 1985 murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Camarena in Guadalajara, Mexico. Felix is in prison in Mexico on drug charges unrelated to the Camarena case.

Earlier this week, documents turned over to defense attorneys by U.S. prosecutors indicated that Harrison had told the DEA that the CIA had trained Guatemalan guerrillas at a Veracruz, Mexico, ranch owned by drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the murderers of Camarena.

However, Harrison testified Friday that he had no direct knowledge that the CIA was involved with drug traffickers. He also said that Caro’s ranch was used by Mexican law enforcement agencies for training their personnel to prevent a rumored incursion into Mexico by Guatemalan guerrillas.

The CIA this week denied that it had any involvement with drug traffickers.

Harrison said that based on research he had done, he believed that there had been a training camp for Nicaraguan Contras on the ranch. He added that it was his impression that the operation was there “by fiat” of the American government.

He said that he had been misquoted in the DEA’s report of his February interview. He said a DEA agent had substantially condensed remarks he had made and that he never said Guatemalan guerrillas had been trained on the ranch, as he was quoted saying by the DEA.

Rafeedie ruled Friday that Harrison could not be questioned in front of jurors about the conversation with Felix or anything else about alleged ties between the CIA and Mexican drug traffickers.

“This witness’ testimony is based on hearsay, gossip and speculation,” Rafeedie said after listening to two hours of questioning of Harrison. “The court found this witness’ testimony incompetent.”

The judge had allowed defense lawyers to recall Harrison, who had testified last month under a grant of immunity from prosecution. Harrison, 45, testified that he had installed sophisticated radio communications systems for major Mexican drug traffickers and for major Mexican law enforcement agencies that were allied with the traffickers.

In addition to his talk with Felix, Harrison described several conversations he had with other Mexican drug lords about their dealings with Americans, but only Felix stated specifically that his operations were protected because of aid he had provided to the Contras.

Harrison said several other traffickers--including Caro and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo--and their Mexican law enforcement allies told him they believed they were protected because “they had some kind of relationship with the American government.”

The nature of the relationship was not explained to him, and some of the traffickers told him not to ask questions about it because it was “a political thing,” Harrison said.

The 6-foot, 7-inch witness also said he met two men at the Guadalajara home of Mexican drug lord Fonseca in 1983 who led him to believe that they were American intelligence agents, but said the men had not shown him any credentials. He said the men told him they were involved with the Contras and described previous mercenary activities they had engaged in, including work in South Africa.

He also said that he had once met a man named Theodore Cash, who had flown a shipment of arms to Fonseca. In a 1988 Los Angeles trial, Cash said he had flown aircraft for the CIA for 10 years.

Earlier in the day, the defense won a significant victory when Judge Rafeedie agreed to admit into evidence records from Mexico’s national telephone company that raise serious doubts about testimony given by a key prosecution witness in the trial.

In late May, Hector Cervantes Santos testified about several meetings at the home of his boss, narcotics trafficker Javier Barba Hernandez, where drug lords and their law enforcement allies planned the kidnaping and murder of Camarena. He gave incriminating testimony about all four defendants in the case.

During his testimony, Cervantes said that telephone calls had been made and received at the house. However, telephone company records show that there was no phone at the house in late 1984 or early 1985, when the meetings allegedly occurred. In fact, the records show that there was no telephone service in that area until early 1988.

Rafeedie also admitted into evidence Mexican records that Cervantes had been discharged from his position as a Mexican police officer for theft of government property last November, just one week before he decided to become a U.S. government informant and witness in this case.

The judge indicated that he planned to admit into evidence a 1985 telegram sent by a DEA agent in Mexico to his superiors in Washington that raises substantial questions about the credibility of another prosecution witness.

Late Friday, the defense rested its case, and the prosecution started putting on its rebuttal. The judge told the six-man, six-woman jury that he expected closing arguments would begin next week.