Waters to Discuss CIA-Cocaine Issue

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) will discuss the CIA and its alleged connection to the sale of crack cocaine in Los Angeles at a special lecture Thursday at Cal State Northridge.

Sponsored by CSUN’s Pan-African studies department as part of its Black History Month celebration, the lecture, titled “Crack Cocaine: CIA and the Contras,” is free to the public.

Several federal investigations are underway into allegations that money from crack sales in Los Angeles helped finance the Contras’ war against Nicaragua’s Sandinista government in the 1980s.

The CIA has denied that it encouraged, condoned or ignored links between Contra leaders and drug traffickers.

Despite the CIA’s denial, however, the allegations have spurred a public outcry over accusations that the agency actively supported and protected drug traffickers who flooded Los Angeles and other cities with cheap cocaine in the 1980s.

“Crack has affected the African American community in a negative way and we’re concerned with how to stop its flow into our cities,” said Marcee McAfee-Clark, a CSUN graduate student.

“We invited Maxine Waters because she has a lot of information about this issue,” McAfee-Clark added. “If you know what the demon is, you can fight it better.”

Waters traveled to Nicaragua this month to meet with former Contra leaders and their associates as part of her own investigation into the matter.

Her talk will begin at 11 a.m. in the Performing Arts Center of the University Student Union, near the center of campus. It will be followed by a question-and-answer session.