Original subtitles

(indistinct chatter)

My name is Gene Hasenfus.

Where are you from?

Marinette, Wisconsin.

Can you tell us how you came to be here?

I was shot out of the sky.

REPORTER: A Wisconsin man has been the focus

of international news this week.

45-year-old Eugene Hasenfus of Marinette

was captured in Nicaragua after his cargo plane was shot down.

Hasenfus said his mission was directed by the CIA,

but US officials say the flights were privately directed.

There must be no Soviet beachhead in Central America.

There is no doubt that the President wanted the policy

of support for the Nicaraguan resistance pursued,

and I did so to the very best of my abilities.

Because there's kind of nagging away

that I knew something about an operation

with these Contras and all, which isn't true.

Now, do I support the Contras? You bet.

There are notations to

"conversations with VP," "met with VP."

MAN: "Calls from VP," "Felix talking about VP."

Things like that. There's lots of other references.

Good afternoon, Mr. Rodriguez.

Your true name is Felix Rodriguez, correct?

That is correct, sir.

And you have also been known

by the name of Max Gomez, correct?

Yes, sir.

BERRELLEZ: Felix Rodriguez was a CIA operative.

He interrogated Kiki Camarena

and was there at the scene where Kiki was killed.

♪♪

NARRATOR: While Kiki Camarena investigated

the Guadalajara Cartel in the early 1980s,

the CIA waged a secret war

that led to the scandal called Iran-Contra.

It was in Nicaragua,

where a Communist regime was under siege by the Contras.

A guerrilla army, funded, armed, and trained by the CIA.

REAGAN: Until these men are successful

in their freedom struggle,

there will be no peace in Central America.

NARRATOR: In 1984, one year before Camarena was murdered,

the US Congress cut off funding to the Contras,

and passed a law banning the CIA

from backing the anti-communist rebels.

In response, CIA and National Security Council officials

cooked up new, covert ways to get money and guns to the Contras.

Senate hearings and media investigations

later alleged that CIA operatives

smuggled tons of cocaine into the US

to fund the illegal war in Nicaragua.

But until now, it's remained a mystery

how the war on communism and the war on drugs

collided to make a martyr of Kiki Camarena.

BERRELLEZ: During the investigation,

the name of Max Gomez, a Cuban, kept coming up.

So, I do photo lineups,

10 pictures of Hispanic males,

and included Ismael Felix Rodriguez.

And I asked René, "Do you see anybody here

that interrogated Kiki Camarena?"

And he goes, "Yeah, this guy right here,

I told you about him, Max Gomez."

I go to Godoy with the same photo lineup.

I says, "Who do you see here

that was involved in pre-abduction meetings,

and might've been involved in picking up Kiki?"

"Max Gomez, this guy right here,

the guy that I've heard on the tapes

interrogating Kiki Camarena." Boom.

I go to Ramon Lira. "Who do you see

that you recognize here was at Lope de Vega?"

He says, "Ismael Felix Rodriguez right there,

I told you about him, that's him."

I identified him.

I go to my people and I says, "Run this guy all over!"

And he lit up like a Christmas tree.

I mean, this guy is all over the place.

HOLM: Felix Rodriguez worked for the CIA.

He was on the hunt for Che Guevara in Bolivia

when they tracked him down

and the Bolivian army killed him.

Then, he was assigned to Operation Phoenix in Vietnam

where they identified and assassinated Vietcong commanders.

The guy's a legend.

REPORTER: Felix Rodriguez was born in Cuba in 1941

into a life of comfort and privilege.

Early on he was fascinated by guns and the military.

But when Fidel Castro overthrew

the US-backed Bautista regime in 1959,

Rodriguez became obsessed with just one goal,

to liberate Cuba from communism.

How did the CIA get to you?

Well, I got to them.

BERRELLEZ: Felix Rodriguez participated in the Bay of Pigs.

And by the way, he's very close to old man Bush.

MIKE WALLACE: Rodriguez says he first went to Salvador in 1985

on his own initiative as a private citizen

to help the Salvadorians in their fight against the Communists.

Just months after arriving in Salvador,

Rodriguez says he received a letter from Oliver North,

whom he had met in Washington, a letter that began,

"Dear Felix, after reading this letter, please destroy it."

North went on to recruit Rodriguez

into managing the illegal Contra resupply operation

headquartered at the Ilopango Airbase outside San Salvador.

Felix Rodriguez was an experienced interrogator.

What business did he have

interrogating DEA Agent Enrique Camarena?

I have another question, sir.

You've been in that part of the world for a long time.

Were you aware of any drugs being transported

out of Central America into the United States?

No, sir.

Never heard of that?

Well, I have heard of that,

but direct knowledge of it, I haven't,

or participation or any type of that thing.

Did you hear of any activity by those contracted by Americans?

What I have seen in the papers, sir.

Other than that, you're not aware of it.

No, sir.

BERRELLEZ: I went to Godoy and said,

"Where have you seen this guy

Max Gomez/Felix Rodriguez?"

And he said, "Well, one time,

"we were sent by Fonseca to the airport,

"and we met with this guy Max Gomez/Felix Rodriguez.

And he delivered a whole bunch of weapons to us."

Not only did I see Max Gomez at the airport,

I also saw him in safe houses

taking money in bags,

narco-dollars,

blood money,

death money...

Blood money.

BERRELLEZ: He was delivering weapons to Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo?

"Definitely, yes he was."

And I went to Ramon Lira.

"Ramon, tell me about this guy Felix Rodriguez, who is he?"

"He's a CIA guy, I told you already.

He would bring weapons to Fonseca."

This was in mid-1984, when he delivered a shipment

of AK-47s and hand grenades

to a house owned by Ernesto Fonseca,

located down Mar Marmara Street.

At one point, Fonseca and Felix Rodriguez disappeared.

They went to talk inside a room.

After a while,

Felix Rodriguez came out of the room with a suitcase.

The suitcase wasn't full of clothes.

It was packed with money.

BERRELLEZ: Blew my mind.

I said, what am I dealing with here?

This is not the Camarena case

that I thought I was supposed to be investigating.

It seems like our own government's involved,

the CIA's involved, the DFS is involved.

Then, I'm really now getting like worried

about this investigation, where am I going with this stuff?

I kept focusing in on Max Gomez.

And I asked, "Rene, where did you see this guy?"

LOPEZ: I saw him on three occasions.

When the kidnapping of Kiki was planned.

He was at the Hotel Fiesta Americana

and at the Hyatt Hotel.

GODOY: At the Hyatt Hotel, in another meeting,

I also heard the plans being made.

They wanted to kidnap a DEA agent.

I saw Felix Rodriguez again on February 6th, 1985,

in a house owned by Rafael Caro Quintero,

located on Hidalgo Avenue.

Felix Rodriguez was there,

Felix Gallardo was there.

Caro Quintero was there.

Manuel Bartlett Diaz was there.

General Arevalo Gardoqui was there.

General Vinicio Santoyo Feria was there.

It was a meeting of the cartel leaders.

What a coincidence

this meeting happened the night before

the kidnapping, torture and murder of Camarena.

The top Narco leaders held a meeting,

along with politicians, CIA, Mexican Army.

Call it whatever you want.

What a coincidence this took place one day before

the capture, torture, and death of Camarena.

I then went back to Rene and I said,

"Where else did you see this guy, Rodriguez, the CIA guy?"

"I also saw him at Rancho Veracruz."

LOPEZ: We went to the ranch in Veracruz,

we flew with Ernesto Fonseca on his jet.

When we landed at the ranch,

I saw a lot of people there.

I was really impressed.

I'd never seen anything like it before.

So many weapons, so many drugs.

Especially cocaine.

Some 10, 15 tons.

They were in big packages.

I'd seen a lot of marijuana before.

But this was cocaine, weapons, money.

And a lot of important people,

a lot of the big shots.

It was a very big ranch.

And the air strip, well,

it was very professional.

Even with workers who directed planes

like at the airport.

INTERVIEWER: And what did they explain to you about the ranch?

No, no, they didn't give you any explanation.

You were never given an explanation.

I was just a bodyguard.

Of course, you could see everything there.

INTERVIEWER: And who owned the ranch?

That was Caro Quintero's ranch.

INTERVIEWER: And what were they

loading or unloading from the planes?

Well, when we arrived at the ranch,

the cocaine was already there.

They were unloading weapons from a plane.

They finished unloading the weapons

and started to load the drugs.

BERRELLEZ: "What else did you see there?"

"Well, we saw military operations, people training there,

"shooting fields and stuff like that.

"And there was a big airstrip

with American government planes."

LIRA: They would not stop asking him the same questions.

What had he found out about the CIA,

what investigations he had into the CIA,

the nexus of the CIA with drug trafficking,

and what he knew about the relationship

between the Mexican government, the CIA, and the Narcos.

MAN: I've been spending some time looking at the numbers here

of the amount of aid

that the Contras were getting at various times...

...and I come to the conclusion that we're missing something.

That there's got to be

another source of funding for the Contras...

Well, I don't think I can help you there.

I don't know of anything else.

I think there's gotta be some other source of funds

that we - we meaning this committee - has not yet uncovered.

BERRELLEZ: Guillermo González Calderoni, he worked well with DEA

even though he also received money from the cartels.

When the president of Mexico asked for his arrest,

he knew that he was going to be killed,

so he calls me and he says, "Hector,"

he says, "You gotta help me.

"They're gonna kill me in my own country here.

"The president Carlos Salinas

and his brother are out to get me."

Raul Salinas, the president's brother in Mexico

was a major drug dealer.

And I says, "Guillermo, run to the States,

I'll hide you over here."

And I hid him in Palm Springs.

He told me that in favor of me saving his life,

he was now gonna save my life.

And I said, "How are you gonna save my life?"

He says, "Take this advice," and first he told me in Spanish.

"Get out of this investigation,

"you're just going to make yourself stink, brother.

"They don't want you to solve the Camarena case.

"Your own government ordered him killed.

"Don't you know that all the cocaine coming in right now

"is being brought in by the CIA

"to support that dirty war in Nicaragua?

Aren't you aware what happened in Nicaragua?"

I said, "Well, yeah, the Sandonista government took over."

"Yeah, and who funded them? Who supported them?

"The Russians and the damn Cubans.

"And they overthrew the Anastasio Somoza government.

"The Contras are his old guard

"and Felix Rodriguez, and those guys

"are arming them with drug monies.

You getting the picture?"

He says Kiki Camarena was picked up

because they thought that he was about to uncover

the nexus of the CIA, DFS together with the drug lords

to fund a war

which has not been authorized in Nicaragua.

The drug traffickers were used.

INTERVIEWER: Mike Holm was there? Mike Holm can corroborate that?

BERRELLEZ: Yes, he was.

HOLM: Guillermo Calderoni defected from

the Mexican Federal Judicial Police,

and Hector linked up with him in Palm Springs.

He told us about corruption in Mexico,

and he also told Hector,

"Stop investigating the murder of Kiki Camarena,

your government killed him."

Hector Berrellez, he was uncovering stuff

that was unbelievable.

He was putting it on reports of investigation,

we call them DEA 6's.

BERRELLEZ: DEA 6's are numbered, catalogued,

they are investigative reports that you cannot get rid of.

Once you write it in a DEA 6, it's set in stone,

it cannot be destroyed.

JORDAN: Being in the senior executive level,

I know that he was told to stop putting

the involvement of CIA operations into DEA 6's.

Now, you put it in a memo,

you can do the Ollie North shuffle and shred.

INTERVIEWER: What was the reaction when he brought back

his findings with regards to

Felix Rodriguez' presence at Camarena's torture?

Classified, don't get involved.

"You don't have the jurisdiction to investigate him.

You know, he's with the CIA."

"So, what do I do about him?" "Write the memo,

"send him up to the Inspector General's office.

"They have jurisdiction to investigate that aspect of it.

You just stay with the drug lords."

I'm naive, I'm dumb. I figure "Okay, somebody's gonna go after him."

I have to tell you, Hector sent information

back to them in boxes.

He sent them back to DEA headquarters,

they disappeared.

BERRELLEZ: So I flew into Washington

and I met with the Administrator.

Jack Lawn, he asked me if I could conduct

an extraterritorial rendition.

I looked at him like I'm kinda dumb, and I said, "What's that?"

He kinda smiled and he laughed a little bit, and he goes "Kidnapping."

"Yeah, I can do that."

And he's kinda really taking his time,

just looking at me, not saying much.

I say, "Who do you want kidnapped?

Who do you want me to get?"

He says, "Can you get that doctor for me?"

I said, "Humberto Machain?"

MEDRANO: Humberto Alvarez Machain

was the physician to the drug cartel.

When the drug cartel leaders would party,

they'd party hard.

It's not just a three-hour party,

they would party every day for a week.

And it was not uncommon for someone

at one of these big parties to overdose.

So, they would have a physician present

to assist that person.

So, fast forward, Agent Camarena is kidnapped,

he's put in this small room

at the house at 881 Lope de Vega.

He is beaten, he is tortured.

And the body can only take so much,

so he would lapse into unconsciousness.

Humberto Alvarez Machain was brought in

and he would administer medication to Camarena

to revive him so the torture could continue.

BERRELLEZ: Jack Lawn asked me, "Can you get him?"

"Absolutely, I can get him. He's easy.

Why don't we go after some bigger fish?"

He said, "No, no, no, no, no," just like that.

"How would you do it?"

"How would I do it?

"I'd hire the Mexicans to do it,

"I'd hire Comandantes to do it.

"Pay them money the way the traffickers do.

"Pay them money, they'll-- they'll--

they'll kidnap the President for the right amount of money."

"How much would he cost?"

"Not much. I can probably do it

for about $250,000, a quarter of a million."

He said, "Okay, do it. I want it done."

So I started calling comandantes that I know.

And I know this comandante.

I set up a meeting with him in El Paso, Texas.

And I said "Can you kidnap this guy for me?"

He says, "Yeah, absolutely, I can do it."

"Will you do it for $250,000?" He said, "Yeah."

About two weeks later he calls me up and he says,

"Hey," he says, "You know how we're gonna get him?

He likes young beautiful girls."

And I said, "Yeah, let's do that.

Hire a couple of prostitutes."

They called me and they said, "Okay, it's all set up."

So, they cordoned off a whole block

around the clinic with police roadblock.

The girls went in there.

When the doctor shows up, signal goes off,

and they go in and take him

and they put him in a hotel room.

From the hotel room, they called me,

and they said, "We got him."

I says, "Get a pilot and get him to El Paso."

So, when I get there, I go to the tower

and I tell them, "DEA, Special Operations.

This plane is going to land, let him land."

And, of course FAA, "We can't do that,

and customs and anybody, we can't--"

I says, "You're gonna do it, I don't want to hear no shit.

"This is a very special operation being planned out of headquarters,

Please guys, don't give me any crap, let him land."

They said, "Okay, okay," and they finally backed off.

So, we're there at the airport and the plane lands.

And before it even stopped, the door opens,

and then I see this big fat guy being pushed out of the plane.

The plane doesn't even stop.

They close the gate up again and the plane takes off again.

Good, south to Mexico.

And this guy's laying there on the tarmac.

So I walk up, got my DEA badge.

"Dr. Machain, Hector Berrellez, pleased to meet you.

Get up!"

REPORTER #1: Ruben Zuno Arce, brother-in-law to former Mexican President Echeverria,

was arrested as a material witness in San Antonio last week.

DEA agents believe

that Zuno has information about the murder.

REPORTER #2: Ruben Zuno Arce has ties to the drug traffickers

who tortured and killed Camarena.

REPORTER #1: Attorneys for Zuno

deny any drug involvement by their client.

MEDRANO: Ruben Zuno Arce was the owner of 881 Lope de Vega.

We had numerous informants who described Ruben Zuno Arce

as a drug dealer himself and in bed with the drug cartel.

Ruben Zuno Arce was the brother-in-law

of one of the former presidents of Mexico.

That shows you how high the Zuno Arce tentacles

reached into the Mexican government.

Let there be no question about this.

The evidence against Ruben Zuno Arce was overwhelming.

JORDAN: You have a DEA agent,

who was the supervisor of Kiki Camarena,

testify in federal court that Zuno Arce

was really not in the dope business.

I cannot believe that right there and then--

That son of a bitch should've been out.

He should not have been a DEA agent.

This is Kiki Camarena's supervisor.

And he testifies to the fact

that Ruben Zuno is not a drug dealer.

We are shocked.

HOLM: He testified under oath in trial,

and the assistant US attorney was just apoplectic.

BERRELLEZ: After he testifies, we take a little break.

While we're in the elevator, Manny Medrano, the AUSA,

gets his briefcase and he slams it on the elevator floor

and he says, "Hector, take your gun out and shoot me right now.

"We're gonna lose this case!

"He's supposed to be on our side. He's Kiki's supervisor.

He's gonna taint the whole jury."

Then I've got the CIA receiving money from Fonseca,

and arming Fonseca and the drug lords,

and using Caro Quintero's ranch.

Then I've got my own government saying,

"Oh, don't report that.

Don't do DEA 6s on this, that and the other."

There's layers and layers of this case.

We told Hector,

"They are going to shut down your investigation..."

He says, "Why?"

"Because the CIA and the DEA are mixed up in this.

"They are allied with the Narcos, and with politicians,

and with the Mexican government."

But Hector didn't believe us then.

He told us, "No way."

And he got very pissed off.

"No fucking way bastards, this is not Mexico!

"Whoever deserves to fall will fall.

"If the President himself was involved in this,

I'm going to fuck him up myself."

I said, "Fine,

if you say so."

REPORTER: The drug war had Vice President Dan Quayle

in a tense meeting today with Mexico's President Salinas.

The issue, the abduction of a Mexican doctor

to stand trial in the United States

in connection with the torture and murder

of an American drug agent.

President Salinas expressed to me

his strong displeasure with the Dr. Alvarez incident.

There were no DEA agents in Mexico

who are involved in this particular situation.

REPORTER: The head of the DEA said hard feelings can be smoothed over.

There will be some report forthcoming in the next couple of days

that will totally resolve this matter.

BERRELLEZ: Next thing I know, I'm under investigation myself.

"DEA agent, Hector Berrellez, Kidnapper."

"Kidnapped a doctor without headquarters' knowledge

or authorization. Wanted man."

I was there, I was the lead prosecutor.

We did our job, we followed the rules, followed the law.

So, anything that happened in this case,

including kidnappings of bad guys from foreign jurisdictions,

was entirely authorized by the American government.

I want to be very clear about that,

because that's how it all came down.

REPORTER: Dr. Humberto Alvarez Machain

was released last week by a federal judge.

After the judge's ruling, Dr. Alvarez broke down and cried.

He hugged and thanked his lawyers.

HOLM: Then the plane that belonged to

the Mexican Attorney General flew to Los Angeles

and picked up Machain and flew him back to Mexico.

BERRELLEZ: He was treated like a hero.

Next day was a "David and Goliath" story in Mexico,

that he beat the case in the United States.

He beat Goliath.

BERRELLEZ: So, I was transferred back to Washington, DC,

and was given a desk and a phone.

Really no job, not a real serious job.

They just said, "This is where you're going to work in DC.

"We don't want you contacting any of your sources.

No more contact with your witnesses."

So here I am.

I don't know what's gonna happen to me, and I'm very fearful.

I'm not fearful that the traffickers are gonna kill me,

I'm fearful that my own government is gonna kill me.

INTERVIEWER: Did Hector know too much?

JORDAN: Yes. Hector, to this day...

knows too much.

BERRELLEZ: Before I left the agency, I was visited by

a supposedly very high-up CIA official.

And he told me, "Hector, you see,

"the CIA is not a law enforcement agency.

"We are not bound

"by Constitutional law.

"Our job is to protect the United States

from foreign enemies."

And he says, "So listen, you be a good soldier,

"you don't want to piss off your own government.

"Just keep all this stuff about the CIA bringing in drugs,

"the CIA, you know, being complicit in Kiki's murder that you allege.

"You can't prove it anyway, so you might as well just keep it all quiet.

"Have a nice life, enjoy your retirement.

"Because, remember, if you upset this government,

"you still have that warrant in Mexico.

"You might find yourself in a Mexican prison,

"and you know you won't last a week there.

"So if I was you, mum is the word.

That's all I have to say to you."

And I said, "Thank you, have a nice day."

I felt totally betrayed by the DEA.

Totally, totally betrayed.

There's never been a war on drugs.

It's all a fallacy. It's all a facade.

Our politicians get up, "Oh, we're gonna fight drugs,

we're gonna stop the drug flows from coming into the country."

That's not true.

They deal drugs themselves to support their black operations,

to support their wars that are not authorized.

There were many injustices done to him.

I could really feel Hector's sorrow.

BERRELLEZ: You miss your kids, you miss not being there

for football games, school events,

they sing at the-- with the choir on Christmas and you're not there.

Sometimes you'll be gone seven months out of a year,

and your family was by themselves in the States.

And, I suffered for it later,

I had one of my sons take his life.

He shot himself.

My son was destroyed, my poor Hector.

INTERVIEWER: Do you blame yourself for that?

-BERRELLEZ: I do. -INTERVIEWER: Why?

Because his last words were, "Nobody loves me."

And I felt I didn't show him enough love as a little boy.

I was absent in his life too much.

He was a hell of a baseball player,

and I was never there for his games.

INTERVIEWER: What were you saying about Camarena's ghost?

Give me some time...

It's just...

Enrique Camarena.

He represents all the spirits behind me.

They are with me every day.

And now I feel them, with all their energy.

Here, we have him on our side.

And behind him,

there are some souls,

grim souls...

asking the Lord for divine justice.

(indistinct chatter)

MIKA CAMARENA: I want to know why our government let Kiki down.

One of their best agents...

and they let him down.

JORDAN: He was a friend.

And he was a good friend, he was a working friend,

he was one of the guys that you would want on your team

if you were gonna hit a house.

Kiki was a Marine.

And they did him.

INTERVIEWER: What are you thinking?

(sighs)

Of the torture.

The guy didn't have a chance.

The betrayal,

which makes it even harder...

to comprehend.

I can't believe it.

I can't believe, uh,

that this really, really happened.

But it did.

It did, it did happen.

INTERVIEWER: Why are you talking now?

BERRELLEZ: Well, now I'm talking because the warrant in Mexico has expired.

They can't send me to Mexico any more.

I'm getting older,

and I've had this little thorn in my heart,

knowing the truth of what really happened to Kiki.

I want the world to know the truth.

It's time. I don't want to carry this to the grave with me.

And now, if they kill me, well, okay,

I've had a great life. And they might still kill me.

I am not gonna quit this, I'm gonna be on this crusade

of putting out the true story 'til I die.

And if I die doing it, well that's-- that's what God wanted.

(telephone rings)

(ringing continues)

GODOY: Camarena wasn't killed by a single person.

Camarena was killed by many people.

He was killed by politicians, police officers,

by the military, by Narcos,

by the CIA.

Enrique Camarena was just a fucking sacrificial goat.

Just a sacrificial goat.