Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy:
Transcripts of the Hearings

Part Three: The Cartel, Haiti and Central America

Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Communications of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, Second Session, April 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1988

entire volume in one Acrobat file [22 meg]

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Part Two: Panama

Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Communications of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, Second Session, February 8, 9, 10, and 11, 1988

entire volume in one Acrobat file [27 meg]

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Part One

Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Communications and International Economic Policy, Trade, Oceans and Environment of the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundredth Congress, First Session, May 27, July 15, and October 30, 1987

cover and title page | committee members | table of contents

pages > 1-20 | 21-40 | 41-60 | 61-80 | 81-100 | 101-120 | 121-140 | 141-160 | 161-190

[final volume will be posted soon]

Background

>>> In 1987/8, two subcommittees of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held three 14 days of hearings on drug trafficking. Headed by Sen. John F. Kerry (D - Mass.), the panel heard evidence of official corruption in Central America, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. The next year, the government published the transcripts in a 4-volume set that has remained a touchstone for anyone interested in narco-corruption, particularly as it involves US intelligence agencies.

The trouble is, this 1,800-page goldmine of information has been incredibly hard to find. The Memory Hole's copy was given to me by a friend of the family—Lorenzo Hagerty—who told me an interesting story. As soon as the Kerry Report was published, Lorenzo ordered a set of the transcripts from the Government Printing Office. When it arrived, he began reading it and realized how important it was. He immediately called the GPO to order another set. He was told that the set was already out of print and would not be published again. It had been available to the public for one single week.

Small portions of the Kerry Report transcripts have been published online, but they are only a fraction of the entire four volumes. The Memory Hole is planning to scan and post the entire thing. The first volume has been posted as HTML, and the second two have gone up as Acrobat files. The front page and the email updates will contain notifications when the final volume is posted.

The one-volume final report based on these hearings—also very rare—has been scanned and posted by the National Security Archive. It's available here [PDF format]

More info about the hearings is here.

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