Biology of Information: Iran Contra Redux.

 Iran Contra Redux

Performed at the Museum of Sound Recording

Saturday October 19th, 1996

Lab´y-rinth, n. [Labyrinthus; Gr. labyrinthos, 

from laura,  labra, an alley, lane.]

     1. an intricate structure or enclosure containing a series of winding passages hard to follow without losing one's way; a maze.

    2. [L-] In Greek legend, such a structure built by Daedalus for King Minos of Crete, to house the Minotaur.

    3. a complicated, perplexing arrangement, course of affairs, etc.

    4. in anatomy, that part of the internal ear behind the cavity of the tympanum, or drum; the inner ear.

    5. in metallurgy, a series of troughs in a stamping mill through which water passes for washing, pulverized ore.

    6. in architecture, a design in the tiling of a floor.

On Form and RadioText 

Much of the sound in this performance comprises radio documentary material included in productions aired nationally over the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Sound was recorded on location in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico with a Sony D5M analog cassette recorder and an Electrovoice 635A omni directional mic. 

During most of the past 500 or more years the "banana republics" of  Central America have suffered religious, racial, economic and political oppression. Human rights organizations estimate that one-fifth of these countries populations were displaced by war during these years. Disappearances, torture and abandoned corpses on roadsides were common. In the years, since the CIA engineered coup in Guatemala in 1954, hundreds of thousands of Mayan Indians have been killed. Death squads have become a nightmare. Nicaragua became one of the world's leading designers of prosthetics.

The core to the second part of The Biology of Information is a radio documentary called Sandino's Children: Nicaragua a Country at War, describing a journey through Nicaragua with Abbie Hoffman.  It  provides context to the Iran-Contra affair.  It is recorded on plantations, in cathedrals, barrios and mountains, jungles and dusty cities.

Sandino's Children was mixed in a long all-night session in Studio B at WBAI. I had never used the board there before but by dawn knew it well enough. I wrote the script as I constructed the program - a strategy learned from the great German program maker, Peter Leonard Braun who says you need to listen to your sound perhaps 40 times before the story reveals itself.

The program is the first on a series I produced around the Central American conflicts. It is a search for a way to draw people to the emotional quality of these lands. Whilst there is enormous violence there is also great beauty in the colonial towns and cities with their faded pastel walls, the intuitive elegance and dignity of the Indian's who face the worst oppression, the depth of history, the power of belief: Christian, Mayan, anti-communist, revolutionary - these elements together are very potent.

And there is the question of death squads and murder. Some say genocide is happening in Central America. It is an extreme word to use, like holocaust. During the nazi holocaust, the world did little but wring its hands. We let it happen and its ugly legacy live on.

I also use the work of other artist's who have their own interpretations of Iran-Contra.

The audience is  invited to enter a sonic dream. 

Iran-Contra Redux

August 1st, 1994:

Virtual Radio Network organizes and hosts a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC introducing  Oliver North's million dollar international arms and drug smuggling operation out of Central America and Mexico into the US.  

For me the press briefing was an act of rebellion, conceptual more than practical.  And there was a commercial edge to it too since both men I introduced that muggy August morning, had just published books documenting their stories and the books were just hitting the stores. Naturally the publishers were more than happy to provide copies to anybody who might publicize their product. 

I remember arriving in Washington from New York by train, grabbing a taxi from Union Station for the press conference in plenty of time to set-up. I had a tape recorder, mic stand and cables to make sure I had  clean audio documentation of the event.  I didn't bring a camera.

Washington is one of the great capitals of the world and very American. Architecture is lifted from every period of history. Legends and sentiment drip down  the Corinthian columns,  past thousands of homeless and black limousines on wide boulevards, through groves of Greco-Roman buildings, dogwoods and cherry trees, The Vietnam Memorial,  the constructed version of Iwo Jima, Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, Watergate, White House, Pentagon, Georgetown Adams Morgan where you can still find the best Ethiopian food around -  and very beautiful women.

Fifteen people signed in at the press conference including reporters from The London Economist, AP, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sankei Shimbu, freelancer Tony Avirgan,

Lisa Arbetta, Security Management; CCEPP (?), Current, (Public Radio's  trade newspaper); London Sunday Telegraph, National Security Archive.

Michelle Mittelstadt, AP reported the press conference this way.

 August, 2 1994:

By Michelle Mittelstadt

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Drug Enforcement Administration ignored reports that Oliver North knew about drug trafficking by pilots supplying Nicaraguan Contra rebels, says a former DEA agent now peddling a book about his agency days.

In "Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War," former special agent Celerino Castillo alleges that North knew shipments of cocaine were being smuggled into the United States by pilots he'd hired to assist the rebels in their fight against the Communist-backed Sandinista government. 

The articles goes on to say "'He (North) knew these pilots were documented (drug) traffickers," Castillo said Tuesday at a sparsely attended news conference at the National Press Club. "He knew what were up to and failed...to do anything about it."

Castillo said that: "several of his reports mentioned North and that the agency ignored his reports about drug activities at two hangers at Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador he said were used by North's network.

"Castillo gave reporters one of the case file numbers he said mentioned North."

" ...Castillo took disability retirement from the DEA in 1992 after a lengthy battle with his superiors over his allegations. Now 44, he is a private investigator in McAllen, Texas."

"...Jack Lawn, who headed DEA at the time, last month issued a statement saying there was no credible evidence to support allegations of drug trafficking."

For months prior to the press conference,  my  investigative journalist friend, Dennis Bernstein had been calling me late at nights documenting his progress deeper and deeper into the Iran-Contra labyrinth He told me the latest in his search. It was he who introduced me to Celi.

At the Public Radio Conference in San Antonio earlier that year,  I had recorded Celi in my hotel room while  Dennis asked  questions over the telephone from his office in Berkeley. Dennis and I had arranged for Celi to drive down from his home in McAllen, north of San Antonio to record this interview. Dennis and I subsequently used the interview in a 29 minute radio documentary, Oliver North: Drugs and the Senate.  It was distributed nationally over the National Public Radio satellite. The introductory script for the show read thus:

Intro Script  - Oliver North: Drugs and the Senate

May 25, 1995

"This BACKGROUND Briefing's called OLIVER NORTH- DRUGS AND THE SENATE - investigative journalist DENNIS BERNSTEIN reports allegations of Senate candidate Colonel OLIVER NORTH's deep involvement in drug smuggling in Central America. 

It's a news making interview with a  U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency undercover officer who worked SIX years in Central America - He says Colonel OLIVER NORTH - now running for a  U.S. Senate seat in  VIRGINIA- was deeply involved in a huge drug and gun smuggling operation run out of hangers FOUR and FIVE at the ILOPANGO military airport near SAN SALVADOR by the so called NORTH NETWORK and the CIA. 

CELERINO CASTILLO is a decorated DEA agent and VIETNAM war vet. In this BACKGROUND BRIEFING, CASTILLO says he wrote an official memorandum in 1989 to his DEA supervisor - laying out in great detail - the structure of this drug operation. His report identifies more than TWO dozen known drug and weapons smugglers from SOUTH AMERICA to the United States.  

One operator was an American - WALTER GRASHEIM -  a shadowy  figure and a documented cocaine and arms smuggler with SEVEN DEA FILES.  But when CASTILLO pressed his investigation he lost favor with his superiors. CASTILLO was suspended and later transferred back to the U.S.

Everything you'll hear in this BACKGROUND BRIEFING has been reported to  FBI agent MIKE FOSTER who was assigned to Special Prosecutor LAWRENCE WALSH's IRAN-CONTRA investigation.  When BACKGROUND BRIEFING approached FBI Agent FOSTER with CASTILLO'S allegations,  FOSTER told us he was aware of them but is prohibited from commenting. 

FOSTER says there are individuals that have loose relationships with the government and those people are not all choir boys and they may have been doing all kinds of weird things. But Foster told us we would be hard pressed to show concerted government backing or involvement in drug trafficking.

But critics say - despite Special Prosecutor WALSH's investigation, despite the congressional IRAN-CONTRA hearings and other congressional hearings specifically targeted at the contra, arms and drug connections, despite the books that document connections - - there is yet to be a serious and honest investigation into complicity and participation by high government officials in drug and arms trafficking that continues to cause thousands of deaths in this country and abroad - an investigation that could reveal the hidden faces.   

Listen to this BACKGROUND BRIEFING ...... make up your own mind. Here's Dennis Bernstein..."

August 18th, 1996

The San Jose Mercury News published a three-part series of articles written by Gary Webb. It presents a shocking theory for the origins of the "crack" cocaine epidemic that eventually spread among young, inner-city African-Americans across the United States.

According to the series, the drug epidemic was sparked in part by two Nicaraguan émigrés, Norwin Meneses and Danilo Blandon who were raising money for a Central Intelligence Agency controlled army of Nicaraguan rebels called the Contras.

According to the articles,  millions of dollars were raised to support the Contras, by selling large amounts of cocaine to a South-Central Los Angeles street hustler named Ricky Donnell Ross who converted cocaine into crack. The series offers evidence of Contra involvement in the early stages of this epidemic and raised the possibility that the CIA knew all about it.

In early October the Washington Post published a 5,000 word article attacking the series saying it was weak on evidence and that a Post investigation "found that the available information does not support the conclusion that the CIA-backed Contras - or Nicaraguans in general - played a role in the emergence of crack as a narcotic in widespread use in the United States."

The Boston Globe, however, reported that the series documented "in persuasive detail" that supporters of the Nicaraguan Contras sold drugs in inner-city Los Angeles and that "at least some of the proceeds went to the rebel's efforts to overthrow their country's Sandinista government."

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who headed a Senate inquiry into Contra drug connections in the 1980's said he has been "impressed by the reporting of the San Jose Mercury News.. According to John Kerry, "we never found specific evidence of a drug pipeline to targeted cities. We did, however determine that certain rogue agents may have looked the other way, and that people affiliated with the CIA and carrying its credentials were involved in drug trafficking in support of the Contras." 

 John Kerry, spent millions of taxpayer's money investigating alleged drug running activities of Oliver North with the Nicaraguan Contras and elements of America's shadow government. Senator Kerry reported that US covert agencies had essentially become channels for drugs.

Senator Kerry's commission amassed impressive amounts of evidence that Oliver North and others had violated US drug trafficking laws.  North wrote 543 page of personal notes relating to drugs.  Notations describe 14 million dollars worth of contra support from drug related activities; that assassinations were paid for with cocaine, that North kept a multi-million dollar Swiss bank account. 

The Kerry Report noted that U.S. officials who turned a blind eye to covert agencies trafficking in drugs, must bear the responsibility for what is happening in the streets of the U.S.

Reaction to this series has been major. Behind at least part of the swift reaction to it is the burgeoning Internet. As the series began running, Mercury Center, the paper's electronic publishing arm that carried the entire series, recorded a rough average of 100,000 more "hits" each day than the 700,000 to 750,000 it normally sees. The site has received more than 300 responses posted on the site's forum and hundreds of e-mail letters have also been received. Many respondents believe the CIA was covertly involved in sales of crack cocaine to young black Americans. And this is by no means a new discover. 

"There is a significant number of people...extremely receptive to the suggestion that the government is engaged in a well-organized effort to oppress certain constituent groups in American society," said Bob Ryan, director of Mercury Center.

The electronic version of the series represents an unprecedented use of the Internet to promote and circulate an investigative story by a major newspaper. The newspaper has produced a CD-ROM of the series. 

The fact that agents of government smuggle drugs is not news. Drug smuggling is a common way to move large amounts of cash surreptitiously. It is less and less hard to believe that "democracies" can tax constituents hundreds of billions of dollars for a war on drugs but at the same time support and protect international drug dealers. 

Celi Castillo is back on the front page.

Selections for performance from:

Analog Cassettes 

Celli Castillo  and Terry Read at The National Press Club, ALP 080294. Recorded by the author. 

 Celerino Castillo was the Drug Enforcement Administrations senior agent in El Salvador from 1985  to 1991. He reported to top federal officials in 1986 about cocaine flights used to supply the contras by the "North network." He told the U.S. ambassador to El Salvador, Edwin Corr, then retired and teaching at the University of Oklahoma, and then Vice-President George Bush about the drug smuggling operation but could get no federal official to act on his information. 

Celerino Castillo and Dave Harmon's, book Powder Burns: Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War  was released by Mosaic Press  800-387-8992.

Terry Reed,  was an eight year veteran in U.S. Air Force intelligence in Southeast Asia. He says he was recruited  by Colonel Oliver North to train Contra pilots at Mena, Arkansas in an operation named "Jade Bridge." In 1985, North chose Reed to set up a CIA proprietary, Maquinaria International, in Mexico to serve as an arms warehouse and trans-shipment point for weapons. When Reed learned he was also transmitting cocaine he tried to resign and return to the U.S. but his life was threatened and a warrant was issued for his arrest. An FBI/CIA manhunt ensued.   Employing skills learned as an intelligence officer, Reed and his family fled  over a six-month, 30,000 mile odyssey through 48 states. In November 1990 Reed was acquitted. He has gone to court to seek redress for violations of his civil rights.  

Terry Reed and John Cummings book Compromised published by S.P.I Books/Shapolsky Publishers Inc. 212-633-2022

Sandino's Children: Nicaragua a Country at War. ALP-29  & ALP-070485

In 1984 Yippie activist Abbie Hoffman organized a revolutionary field trip to tour Nicaragua's revolution. We join him  with 60 other fellow travelers. Australian filmmaker  David Bradbury takes us north to contra territory.  If you were one of thousands who visited Nicaragua in the 1980's - an aural interpretation of an incredible, inspiring, tragic revolution. A vivid description of life and death in Nicaragua.  Produced for Australian Broadcasting Corp.. In tonight's performance I will use the original air-check of the broadcast recorded off the radio in Australia as well as my original master. 

Peter Bochan's  Iran-Contra Shortcut

A voice/music montage documenting the drama and voice of the Iran-Contra Affair

El Patron, Chris Burke

Excerpts from War, Peace and Poetry trilogy of radio feature programs originally produced for Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Columbus-A Composition for Radio in Four Movements  - ALP 32

Produced by Andrew Leslie Phillips for Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

A two hour radio feature presenting Christopher Columbus' original letter to the Spanish court in which he describes "The New World," the observations of Dominican priest, Free de Las Casas from his "Devastation of the Indies." Eduardo Galiano's "Memories of Fire,"  Jonathon Evan Maslow's ornithological-political thriller "Bird of Life, Bird of Death," a metaphor for Mayan Indian life and death in the Americas, 500 years after the Spanish landed. Partly recorded on location in the Guatemalan cloud forest. Produced for Radio Helicon, ABC Drama and Features. (2 hours).  Special Commendation National association of Community broadcasters 1993.

Music

Unseen Worlds - computer generated music composed, coded and otherwise created by Laurie Spiegel. Her piece Interpretation of Kepler's Music of the Spheres   on the Voyager space craft.  Aesthetic Engineering 175 Duane Street, New York, NY 10013.

Winds of Warning - Adam Plack &Johnny (White Ant) Soames.

A collection of songs that gives thanks to Mother Nature, the wisdom of Aboriginal culture and the Australian landscape. Didgeridoo/World Music. Australian Music International. 25 Cornelia St, Suite 25, New York NY 10014. 212-229-6945

Whose Bones are Those You're Counting - words and music by Andrew Leslie Phillips. Sung by Biaja Soloman.

Dreamtime Return - Composed, performed and produced by Steve Roach. Fortuna Records P.O. Box 32016, Tucson Arizona 85751, USA.

In the beginning, before mysterious beings came from the sky seeking to populate the Earth, Australia native people believed the Earth was a barren and featureless globe. The extraterrestrials who came were the Aborigine's ancestral Beings. Before changing themselves into all species of plants and animals, these Beings created the geographical features of the land through movement and dance and adventure upon Earth.

This was the "dreamtime," an idyllic time when Australia was an Eden filled with gentle animals, plentiful food and sweet water. Here early humankind flourished and became the intellectual aristocrats of the prehistoric world. Governed by a logical foundation of laws laid down by supernatural ancestors, thousands of generations of Aborigines lived in perfect harmony with their surroundings and with each other.

NOTES FOLLOWING PERFORMANCE:

It was a wet and stormy evening and train services from Manhattan were disrupted. Nevertheless half a dozen NYU students and some task form members walked in out of the rain to hear the performance.

The response from the audience was good. It was a very powerful experience for them. Gary told me his entire body felt different and I asked him why. He said he thought it was because he'd heard so much truth. Elizabeth was shocked at the way of construction - the random quality to the performance. She listened with headphones for some of the time and found the transitions deeply moving and that images stayed layered over one another. 

The Monday following Citizen One and Dan both told me they had dreamt about ominous aircraft hangers and jungle paths.

I find  younger audiences,  able to relate to the work  best.  I believe it is because they don't know very much of the actual history depicted in the work. For them the details of the story are more in the sounds and the voices than in history though certainly some of this is imparted.  

But the layers of meaning and investigation revealed in this work - the elegance of the opening  - the sound of oars in water - poet Pablo Antonio Quadra's Song of Cifar and the Sweet Sea, Bach's Goldberg Variations played by Glen Gould; then Abbie Hoffman setting out for Nicaragua with a tour group and walking through a barrio street with a young American "internationalista" man whose brother was killed in the revolution and the street we walk on is named after him. The depth the piece went to was very satisfying to me . I continued to run Laurie Spiegal's Unseen Worlds through it at times, also Steve Roach's Dreamtime Return . 

Then the Celi Castillo press conference and the doco, Oliver North:  Drugs and the Senate  which included some excellent highly processed sound by Chris Burke (El Patron) and Peter Bochan's Shortcut piece on Iran Contra.

There is a comic strip character to these stories and characters and I believe the characters became more alive in this performance - or perhaps I perceived them better. There seems to be a fundamental truth revealed in the voices in these pieces and the images we can create for ourselves are very satisfying.

The open compositional style was easier this time probably because much of the material was produced and any one of the segments could stand alone. But also the physical structure of the space seemed to work better - people sitting in front but not directory focussing their attention on me. We do need a place to focus attention.

•

THE BIOLOGY OF INFORMATION -

A UNIQUE 13 PART RADIO PERFORMANCE SERIES

 AT MUSEUM OF SOUND RECORDING