NarcoNews
v Banamex: David v Goliath
CLICK
HERE FOR THE COPvCIA STORE:
Exciting Videos, Documents, Back Issues and Subscription to From
The Wilderness
COURAGE
David and Goliath in the
Age of Internet News Reporting
(Lead Essay in the February
28 issue of "From The Wilderness" - only one of five NarcoNews
stories in the issue.)
by Michael C. Ruppert
FTW -- A meritless New York libel suit, already thrown out of Mexican
courts, is more than a mega-Goliath vs. defiant-David epic. It is also
more than a case study of the brutality of unlimited criminal wealth
tyrannizing unyielding truth. It is a story that, while clearly demonstrating
the swelling power of Internet journalism, threatens to further erode
and intimidate a not-so-free press at a time when any kind of diversity
is instantly targeted for a "final solution." At the heart
of it all is a forty-something veteran journalist named Al Giordano,
an iconoclast, bi-lingual, former Bostonian political-beat reporter
who prefers a laptop, the Mexican heartland, tortillas and cerveza,
along with the company of the "real people" of Latin America
to the consumerized, pre-packaged, flavorless thought stream of gringos
in the north.
What did Al do to deserve the leading role in a Bogartesque tragedy?
Well, after cornering U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Jeffrey Davidow with
documentation of his role in aiding the brutal 1970s coup and subsequent
murderous regime of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, he left The Boston Phoenix
and headed south for a place he now describes only as, "somewhere
in a country called América." In April 2000, armed only with his
computer, some connections in Mexico, a few pesos and his deep scorn
for sacred cows, Giordano set up NarcoNews, an internet clearinghouse
for that rarest contraband of all - truth about the drug war. The NarcoNews
web site at www.NarcoNews.com
now averages 80,000 hits a month. But it will all end soon if the deep
pockets paying the seventh largest law firm in the US to kill Al's dream
have their way.
Like notches on a six-gun Al Giordano has an incredible record of journalistic
coups. These are just a few of NarcoNews' accomplishments in the ten
months of rapid fire journalism that have produced more than two hundred
stories:
? April, 2000 - NarcoNews exposes how the Mexican national paper Excelsior
has cut 29 paragraphs out of an L.A. Times story about a PRI Presidential
candidate in Mexico. Instead of telling the truth, which was that the
candidate was directly connected to drug traffickers, the edited story
makes him look like a hero. Giordano's report incites a scandal throughout
the Mexican press and this kind of deception has not happened since.
? May, 2000 - Mexico City's Police Commissioner Alejandro Gertz calls
for a Holland-style decriminalization of drugs. US controlled and censored
media ignores this. Giordano translates and publishes these remarks
which are circulated around the globe from his web site. Gertz is subsequently
appointed to the top public safety post by newly elected Mexican President
Vicente Fox.
? May, 2000 - NarcoNews exposes unethical conduct by New York Times
Mexico City Bureau Chief Sam Dillon in failing to disclose that President
Clinton, while having February 1999 meetings with Mexican President
Zedillo, is staying at the home of Roberto Hernandez Ramirez (No. 289
on the Forbes list of the world's richest men). Conveniently omitted
from New York Times coverage, or any coverage for that matter, is the
fact that Hernandez, who is hosting the meeting, aside from being President
of Mexico's largest bank, Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex), is widely
known as being one of if not the largest drug trafficker in the Mexico.
As noted in a February 15, 2001 story supporting Giordano from the
conservative Internet news giant World Net Daily, writer Tom Flocco
observes, "Reuters... reported on August 8, 1998, that the Mexican
newspaper Reforma said nearly a third of the illegal drugs that pass
through the Caribbean from South America to the United States enter
Mexico near the popular resort of Cancun." Hernandez's properties
run on the beach for 30 km south of Cancun.
Translating and following up on an original 1996 investigation by the
Mexican paper Por Esto, Giordano not only publishes dozens of incriminating
photographs about Hernandez's trafficking but he expands the story.
He also, forms a de facto partnership with Por Esto Publisher Mario
Menendez and makes the English speaking world aware of the connections
between Hernandez and both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He also
reports that Mexican courts have thrown out a Hernandez/Banamex suit
against Por Esto because the original stories were " based upon
solid fact." Shortly after Giordano confronts Dillon in print the
Times transfers both Dillon and his wife out of the Mexico City Bureau.
? May, 2000 - NarcoNews reprints FTW's lead story from our April issue
entitled The Democratic Party's Presidential Drug Money Pipeline. Giordano
translates the story into Spanish and from there he sees to it that
the Mexican national glossy news magazine La Crisis runs the story as
a two-part series. The story which describes how former DNC Chairman
Charles Manatt, (connected by FTW and author Dan Hopsicker to drug smuggler
Barry Seal), has formed a partnership under Gore Campaign Chair Tony
Coelho to funnel drug money via his post as U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican
Republic, into Gore campaign coffers. The FTW story is subsequently
also picked up by the British Magazine, Year Zero. Coelho, under pressure
from many fronts, quits suddenly in June and is replaced by William
Daley just months before the US presidential election.
? June, 2000 - NarcoNews begins publishing that GOP media consultant
Rob Allyn, a close insider of the Bush campaign is also assisting unnamed
Mexican politicians and is "meddling in Mexican politics. A week
after the July 2 election in which Vicente Fox topples the PRI to become
Mexico's new President, Allyn reveals that he has been an unpaid consultant
to Fox for more than three years. Allyn remains a close adviser to Bush
who is now advocating open borders for Mexican trucks and an end to
the annual certification process stating that Mexico is actually doing
something to combat illegal drugs.
? July, 2000 - NarcoNews reports that the first place Mexican President-elect
Fox goes after his election victory is to visit his friend Roberto Hernandez
in Yucatan. In fact, he goes the day after the election. Giordano is
the only English language publication to report this.
? October, 2000 - After NarcoNews uncovers damning evidence of his
lobbying of the Bolivian Senate on behalf of the owners of a $78 million
water project, Bolivian Associated Press correspondent Peter McFarren
resigns his post. In an October 24 Washington Post story reporter Howard
Kurtz writes, "McFarren's extracurricular efforts were disclosed
by journalist Al Giordano, a former Boston Phoenix writer who recently
launched NarcoNews.com."
A lot of people would like to see Al Giordano go under.
In August of last year Roberto Hernandez and Banamex hired the Washington
law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld to sue both Menendez's
Por Esto (the third largest daily in the Mexico) and NarcoNews for unspecified
damages in New York City charging libel, slander and damage to Banamex
business. Akin Gump is the seventh largest law firm in the US, and was
until recently headed by Clinton crony Vernon Jordan. Aikin Gump is
also one of the primary lobbying firms for Plan Colombia and represents,
according to The Washington Post, Caribbean interests allegedly connected
to big time money laundering.
This suit filed by Aikin Gump is the same one that has already been
rejected by three Mexican courts. Its intent is unmistakably clear:
Use truckloads of money in New York to compel Menendez and Giordano
to default when they can't meet expenses and thus win a "Summary
Judgement." As Giordano recently told FTW, "In a United States
civil lawsuit, transcripts of depositions cost $500 each. If they must
be translated officially from Spanish, the cost doubles. Court translators
cost $300 a day. Giordano is in a far less viable position than Por
Esto to bear these costs since he lives on rice and beans and his iconoclastic
journalist's budget.
NarcoNews is in grave danger.
Al Giordano could have beaten this. No one knows his physical address
to serve him with a subpoena. And Aikin Gump can't send certified mail
to an address listed only as "Somewhere in a country called América,"
which is how Al signs each one of his stories. And e-mail messages don't
constitute "proof of service" for Akin Gump.
True to form, like a Western hero, a man of honor, or a dagblasted
idiot, Giordano insists, however, on doing the right thing. He has decided
not to leave Menendez alone in the battle and he has just voluntarily
"waived service" in the lawsuit. Nobly, gallantly, perhaps
quixotically, he is deciding to force the issue and to put the War on
Drugs on trial. I have spoken to Al on the phone and I have corresponded
with him heavily over the last year. He has, as should any leader, a
sense of the dramatic to accompany his passion for justice. What is
less apparent though is his judgement regarding money. The suit is a
golden opportunity to haul the truth dragging and kicking into the public
arena where it cannot be ignored. But it is a huge risk .
A default in this case for lack of money would label Al Giordano technically
guilty of libel and no paper would hire him again. Cancel that, FTW
would take him in a heartbeat. A loss might also have a chilling effect
on Internet journalism. But a victory could produce a huge crack in
the oh-so-profitable edifice of prohibition and slow down the corruption
of organized criminal behavior which is fast becoming the universal
operating model of world government in the 21st century. It is a gamble
that I might take myself were I in Al's position.
Al Giordano needs a miracle. This should be a movie. Every now and
again a good guy has to win one so that the world and the spiritual
essence of the universe retains its balance between good and evil. This
should be the part where the Red Sea parts at C.B. DeMille's command
or where Steve Spielberg or Steve Soderbergh shows up with money for
screen rights to save truth, freedom and the deserving romantic hero.
But it may instead be the part where Bogart makes the ultimate sacrifice
and goes down in flames. It is not all that clear that the world wants
to be saved and it is not at all certain that Al Giordano will survive
this. If it does happen it will have to be up to us and I have already
sent off my $100 pittance to show support. Now we pray for miracles.
If you want to send money, or if you know of any miracle workers with
time on their hands, have them write to:
Drug War On Trial c/o Attorney Thomas Lesser Lesser, Newman, Souweine
& Nasser 39 Main Street Northampton, MA 01060
-- Oh yes, there's one other thing I need to thank Al for. He has published
two great independent stories by High Times senior Editor Peter Gorman.
One detailed, in-depth, the recent CIA sponsored overthrow of Peru's
Alberto Fujimori to guarantee Peruvian support for the coming war in
Colombia. The other, brand new and reprinted with permission in this
issue, is proof of the Vietnam paradigm in Colombia and confirms all
the indicators that we are rushing at breakneck speed to a bloody and
horrible conflagration in South America.
Mike Ruppert
CLICK
HERE FOR THE COPvCIA STORE:
Exciting Videos, Documents, Back Issues and Subscription to From
The Wilderness
Michael C. Ruppert
P.O. Box 6061-350, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413 * (818)788-8791 * fax(818)981-2847 *
mruppert@copvcia.com
© COPYRIGHT 1998 - 2001, MICHAEL C. RUPPERT. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
