Illustration: Gary Viskupic/Newsday
Illustration: Gary Viskupic/Newsday
Few individuals fascinate the U.S. media like Ollie North. Few subjects grab more media attention than drugs. Few countries win more media praise than Costa Rica. Put these three into a single scandal and it spells Front Page News, right? Wrong. What it spells is C-E-N-S-O-R-S-H-I-P.
In July 1989, North and other major Contragate figures were barred from Costa Rica. The order was issued by none other than Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. President Arias was acting on recommendations from a Costa Rican congressional commission investigating drug trafficking. The commission concluded that the Contra resupply network in Costa Rica that North coordinated from the White House doubled as a drug smuggling operation.
The narcotics commission started probing the Contra network centered around the northern Costa Rican ranch of U.S.-born John Hull because of the "quantity and frequency of the shipment of drugs that passed through the zone." North's personal notebook mentioned "the necessity of giving Mr. Hull protection." (San Juan [Puerto Rico] Star, 7/22/89)
Investigators held North responsible for Gen. Manuel Noriega's participation in the contra supply network, which opened the door to at least seven pilots who trafficked in drugs while supplying arms to the Contras. "These requests for Contra help were initiated by Colonel North to General Noriega," the commission reported. "They opened a gate so their henchmen could utilize [Costa Rican] territory for trafficking in arms and drugs." (Costa Rican Tico Times, 7/28/89)
Barred from Costa Rica along with North were Maj. Gen. Richard Secord, former National Security Advisor John Poindexter, former U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica Lewis Tambs, and former CIA station chief in Costa Rica Joseph Fernandez.
The Costa Rican government inquiry confirmed information about Contra/drug links developed by independent journalists, lawyers and a U.S. Senate subcommittee. Ollie North's notebooks contain numerous references to contra-related drug trafficking, including a July 12, 1985 entry: "$14 million to finance [arms] came from drugs."
Helen Thomas (UPI): You have a good point. But when the President makes a statement, when the Secretary of State pounds his fist for 10 months talking about terrorism...I think you cannot do anything but cover the story and quote them....
Cohen: Helen, didn't we learn from the McCarthy era that just because a senator says it, doesn't mean it deserves a lot of publicity? Haven't we learned in 30 years that just because a White House official says something, it may not be true and it's got to be researched?
Bill Plante (CBS): I can't accept your premise that we swallowed all those things whole. They were all reported with the appropriate caveats at the time.
Cohen: Except the truth always appears too little, too late on the back pages, but Reagan got the headlines when he talked about all those scare stories.
Ted Koppel (ABC): Well, Mr. Cohen, maybe I should point out that we are in the business of facts, initially, and the truth sometimes takes a little longer to come out. That's one of the sad realities of journalism.