"Castillo discovered cocaine was being smuggled to the U.S. from Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador by CIA operatives..."




Adapted from this source: The "San Antonio EXPRESS - NEWS" Sunday, December 14, 2008. Mr. Guillermo Contreras, Texas' Deadliest Export. "Special report: Part Two of Three."


Pharr, Texas, resident Mr. Celerino Cele Castillo:

"[Is] a decorated Vietnam veteran and former Edinburg police officer, spent 12 years in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

"But [now] he's headed to prison for paying someone to by guns for him that he then resold.

"There's no proof the 32 guns he bought through a straw purchaser ended up in cartel hands .

"But prosecutors say that can be assumed because many of them -- 23 were handguns that can fire armor - piercing ammo -- are favorites of the drug gangs.

"During an assignment in Central America in 1985, Castillo discovered cocaine was being smuggled to the U.S. from Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador by CIA operatives in a clandestine operation to help fund and arm the U.S. -- backed Contras, which opposed the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Castillo wrote in his 1994 book, Powderburns.

"His assertions formed a piece in the puzzle of the Reagan administration's Iran - Contra scandal.

"Castillo said he was told repeatedly by the DEA to back off.

"He later testified before Congress, which launched two separate investigations.

"Castillo said, My supervisors didn't like me making waves, they tried to fire me.

"He took medical retirement in in 1991 after being diagnosed with post - traumatic stress disorder [PTSD].

"The DEA said it doesn't comment on former employees.

Prosecutors and the ATF said they hadn't heard of Castillo before his arrest in March [2008?]."