At the termination of the meeting we were given a white cooler marked "vaccine" and instructed to deliver the cooler to a US Air Force C-130 at La Mesa Airport. Upon arrival at La Mesa Airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the cooler was dropped by two of our crew members. It weighed in excess of 200 pounds. The seal broke on the cooler. I picked up some aviation tape commonly called "hundred mile an hour" tape to reseal the vaccine cooler. I gave the crew leave to get lunch ordered. I stayed to refuel the helicopter and reseal the cooler. Messrs. Cooper and Sawyer went to eat and wait for their flight to El Salvador. When I removed the torn tape from the cooler, I saw that the contents consisted of a number of bags of a white powdery substance. There was over one hundred bags of what appeared to be cocaine. I resealed the cooler and continued refueling the aircraft. About two hours following our arrival, the U.S. Air Force C-130 bound for Panama finally arrived to pick up the vaccine.
We returned to Palmerola Air Base. Upon our return, I called Washington switch via land line (telephone) and advised Mr. North regarding my discovery of the cocaine. He told me that it was one of the trophies of war. "The Sandinistas are manufacturing cocaine and selling it to fund the military." He further stated that "the cocaine was bound for the world courts as evidence." I was reminded of the white coolers I had been asked to deliver to Arkansas on several occasions the year prior.
I was a Special Operations pilot at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. In 1983 and 1984 we would routinely receive requests from a medevac unit at Ft. Campbell to deliver white coolers marked medical supplies to Little Rock Air Force Base, and, on two occasions, to an airport west of Little Rock, in Mena, Arkansas. Further investigation on my part clarified some outstanding questions I had. The medevac unit at Ft. Campbell, the 324th Medical Battalion was a supporting unit for Task Force 160, a Special Operations Unit under the control of the CIA. Flight crews of the 324th Medical Battalion rotated in and out of Honduras on four month tours.
During my flights to Arkansas I was met by a man introducing himself as Dr. Dan Lasater. Dr. Lasater was never alone. He was usually accompanied by a plain-clothes policeman who produced a badge and ID. His name was Raymond Young. I was introduced to him and found that his nickname was 'Buddy'. Mr. Young would later show up in Honduras, posing as a member of the Arkansas National Guard (see flight plan dated 16 March, 1985).
On one occasion in the fall of 1983, I was tasked with delivering two such coolers to Little Rock Airport. The coolers, marked "medical supplies," were to be delivered to Dr. Dan Lasater only. My instructions were to wait for Dr. Lasater, if he was not at the airport when we arrived.
Prior to take off, I helped our crew chief secure the cargo in the rear of the aircraft. I noticed that, although both coolers were identical in size, one cooler was significantly heavier than the other. I shook the lighter cooler, trying to guess its contents. But it was so tightly packed that nothing rattled. I recall thinking that it must have been organs or something, packed tightly in dry ice. So I opened the cooler to check its contents. After thoroughly examining the contents, my curiosity was satisfied and I closed and re-sealed the cooler with military green hundred-mile-an-hour tape. (They had originally been sealed with gray air conditioning duct tape.) I re-secured the cargo and we departed for Little Rock.
We arrived late in the night, about 10:30 pm. Dr. Lasater was not waiting for us, so we began our post-flight of the aircraft and flight planning for our next leg to Houston's Hobby Airport. About 12:15am a limousine, followed by a van, and unmarked law enforcement vehicle, arrived at the FBO. Dr. Lasater was the first out of the limo. I recognized him from a previous flight. He was followed by two others. Dr. Lasater introduced himself to me, apparently not realizing we had met before, and asked if we were the aircraft with the donor organs. I told him that we had the coolers and pointed at them in the rear of the aircraft. Doug, our crew chief, helped Lasater's limo driver with the coolers. The heavy cooler went into the limo and the light cooler was loaded into the van. Dr. Lasater introduced me to the two gentlemen with him. First, we were introduced to the Governor of Arkansas, Governor William J. Clinton, and then his security chief, Raymond "Buddy" Young. At this point, Mr. Young recognized me and stated so. I was then introduced to a third man standing at the limo. We were invited to stay the night and accepted. (After all, I thought, they may want to talk to me when they find the note I left in the lighter cooler.)
After returning to Ft. Campbell on Friday, I called Director Colby and told him of the delivery and my discovery. I told him that when I opened the cooler, which was ultimately taken by Governor Clinton, it contained several kilos of an off-white powdery substance and lots of money.
The coolers which were delivered to Arkansas were identical to the one I just discovered at La Mesa Airport in Honduras containing cocaine. I decided that I had best begin documenting our cargo for the flight crew's safety. I went to operations and noted the cocaine on the back of the flight plan. --
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They both come from the same place. Religion is the opiate of the masses. You are addicted!
