["Our Opinion" commentary by Orlando Contreras. Havana Radio Rebelde Network in Spanish 1155 GMT 22 Jul 91]

[Text] This morning a dispatch from the EFE news agency, datelined London, reports that the closure of the International Bank of Credit and Commerce, BCCI, is developing into a huge scandal after revelations that the bank served drug traffickers, terrorists, and financed arms sales to Iraq and Pakistan. I believe this is nothing new and is even less than the tip of the iceberg [preceding word in English] when it comes to illegal banking operations.

Furthermore, the revelations concerning this bank are serving to throw a smokescreen over other unresolved illegal operations, such as the Iran-Contra scandal and the various revelations that Gates, Bush's candidate for Central Intelligence Agency director, was involved in illegal maneuvers of the same type during the Reagan administration when Bush, ex-CIA director, was U.S. vice president.

A full investigation has never been done--and I do not believe one will be made--over how various Miami banks made their incredible fortunes. But there is evidence that they were involved in money laundering for drug traffickers and for the mafia that controls the huge business of the distribution of drugs in the United States, without question the largest drug market in the world.

The CIA and the Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA], that is, the U.S. Government agency charged with combating drug trafficking, have been seriously involved in illegal activities related to narcotics trafficking. The CIA operated, among other things, air transport companies to carry out covert operations that included terrorist actions, drug trafficking, and money laundering. This is known in the United States and is known by international public opinion, but a dense cloud of smoke has been thrown over these illegal activities for obvious reasons. The DEA and the CIA have been involved in assassinations, money laundering, clandestine drug labs that manufacture hydrochlorate for the processing of cocaine, and the direct trafficking of narcotics.

In view of this, the scandal that is developing in London now in relation to the illegal activities of the BCCI is less than the tip of the iceberg, [preceding word in English] nothing more than a scapegoat, when it leaves in the dark the more serious cases, much more closely related to politics, like money laundering, drug trafficking, and assassinations related to these activities.