Israel, the CIA, Central America, and Dictatorships

Israel, the CIA, Central America, and Dictatorships

Selection from the book Dangerous Liaison, 1991 by Andrew & Leslie Cockburn

"In Central America, Israel is the 'dirty work' contractor for the U.S." -- General Matityahu Peled, (p.218)

"The Israelis do not let this human right thing get in the way of business",-- a prominent politician (p.218)

"I don't care what the gentiles do with the arms. The main thing is that the Jews profit" -- Amatzia Shuali, an Israeli trainor of Nicaraguan contras, Guatemalan, Colombian cartels, and Honduran. (P.221)

"The Americans have the problem of international public opinion, international image .... we don't have this problem." -- Dror Eyal, Spearhead Ltd., Israel, (p.218)

"Israel had already been the Guatemalan military's largest supplier of arms since 1977" (p.218)

Mike Harari, a Mossad agent who was part of the team that mistakenly assassinated a Morrocan waiter in Norway in 1973, has become Noriega's right-hand advisor. Their work included weapons to Contra and Drugs from Colombia. Noriega got arrested by U.S. forces (for knowing too much about who was involved from the CIA, in the drug-Contra dealings.) When Noriega was arrested, Harari fled to Israel under the nose of U.S. forces who controlled all the roads and airports in Panama.

"Amatzia Shuali [an instructor at the Israeli Security Forces School and at the police antiterror unit], ..., trained nearly everyone above the rank of captain in the Guatemalan army.... served time with the Nicaraguan contras in Honduras, not to mention sharing his expertise with the cartel hit men in Colombia", p.213.

Israel's involvement with Central America --the Somoza family of Nicaragua-- was early, nine years before the founding of Israel, when the Jewish underground forces turned to Gen. Anastasio Somoza Garcia for arms to fight the British and Palestinians. "In 1948,.. when General Somoza issued Nicaraguan passsports for Haganah agents.." p.216

Mobutu seized power in Zaire in 1964. He had a close Israeli Mossad friend, Meir Mayouhas, an originally-Egyptian Jew who was one of the Israeli agents ordered to firebomb British and American installations in Egypt (a.k.a. the Lavon affair. See the U.S. Interest section). (pp.112-113,122-123.)

The CIA, Britain and Israel befriended Idi Amin, who from 1971 to 1979 is estimated to have killed 300,000 of his countrymen. His friendship with Israel ended upon befriending Kaddafi. His friendship with the CIA, who "trained his thugs at the notorious International Police Academy "school for torture" opposite the end of key Bridge in Georgetown", also came to an end. -- (pp.114-116.)

The CIA and Israel put Hissen Habre in power in Chad (south of Lybia) in 1982 and helped train his secret police.

P.223 when the US administration is blocked from offering direct aid to the contras by political pressure or by act of congress, Israel can step in with weapon and expertise .

P.224-225 IDF Col. Leo Gleser a veteran of the 1976 entebbe rescue mission in Uganda, was hired along with his Israeli team by Honduran Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Matrinez, (CIAs favorite general north of PANAMA) to train death squad to do the dirty work of silencing dissent.

P.226 According to former Salvadoran intelligence chief Col Roberto Santivanez, the contra commander of a 45-man death squad Ricardo Lau, who according to Gen Lopez were trained by the CIA and Israelis, had received a payment of $120,000 for organizing the murder of Archbishop Romero of El Salvador in 1980. The murder of the Archbishop was also organized by Roberto D'Aubisson, another Israeli trainee (p.238) .

P.228 During the early 1980's the CIA began transshipping arms captured by Israel in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, to Honduras where they were handed over to the contras, in operation " Tipped Kettle" which was ordered personally by William Casey.

P.237 Between 1979 and 1983 there were upwards of 40 000 civilian death in El Salvador. Up until at least 1984 the Salvadoran air force was dropping Israeli napalm on supposed guerilla strongholds. American medical workers found that NAPALM had been dropped on the civilian population.

P.238 Israeli advisers also trained Salvadoran secret police ANSESAL, created at the urging of the Kennedy Administration. Israelis also trained Col. Sigifredo Ochoa (trained in Israel) who was deemed responsible for a 1981 civilian massacre.

P.239 The powers that be in El Salvador were decidedly out of control. But neither of their chief supplier demanded that they stopped, not the US not Israel.

P.242 After the CARTER administration could no longer stomach shipping arms to Somoza, The Nicaraguan dictator received 98% of his arms from Israel^E during the same time when Somoza's national guard (many of whom later became contra commanders) were engaged in an orgy of killing, and felt free to execute an ABC News correspondent, Bill Stewart, in cold blood as he knelt before them in the dirt.

Further reading

Israel's Role in Worldwide Repression
By The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, 2012.
Document also available as PDF for easy spreading.

Israel in Latin America
Israeli assistance in dirty wars and to dictatorships. By Mazin B. Qumsiyeh.