Free Email List for Alerts of New Reports

September 10, 2002

Narco News '02

Authentic Journalism on the "War on Drugs" in Latin America

"The Name of Our Country is América" - Simón Bolívar

Beers "Corrects" Falsehood

Under Oath in Dyncorp Case

I made the following statement: "It is believed that FARC terrorists have received training at Al Qaida terrorist camps in Afghanistan." I wish to strike this sentence.

Narco News Commentary: Under oath and "the penalties and pains of perjury" last November, Assistant Secretary of State Rand Beers made a blatantly false statement, toying with the emotions of American citizens after the aerial attacks of September 11th to try to justify, of all things, aerial herbicide attacks on Ecuadoran peasant farmers near the Colombia border.

Now he swears under oath that his outrageous and shocking statement was false.

Thus, a high official of the U.S. government had to admit in court that he had committed perjury; lied under oath to the same court.

Narco News has obtained a copy of the State Department fixer's "correction" filed in the court case by Ecuadoran farmers against Dyncorp, the company contracted to attack them.

Here, we publish it, as we did Beers' deposition, in full.

 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

-----------------------------------

Case Number: 1:01CV01908 (RWR)

Judge: Richard W. Roberts

------------------------------------

VENACIO AGUASANTA ARIAS, et al., :

Plaintiffs,

vs.

DYNCORP, et al., :

Defendants.

-----------------------------------

SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF RAND BEERS,
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE
BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS
REGARDING POTENTIAL IMPACT OF ARIAS LITIGATION ON UNITED STATES
NATIONAL SECURITY AND FOREIGN POLICY INTERESTS

 

I, RAND BEERS, HEREBY DECLARE THE FOLLOWING TO BE TRUE AND CORRECT:

1. I wish to correct my declaration, filed with this Court on November 27, 2001.

2. In paragraph 10, I made the following statement: "The United States and Colombia have worked together in joint aerial eradication efforts since 1978." I wish to strike the date "1978" and replace it with the date "1982." The error was inadvertent. Based on information and belief, the paragraph as revised is correct.

3. In paragraph 20, I made the following statement: "In total, during 1999 and 2000, over 100 spray planes and/or escort helicopters were hit by hostile ground fire, resulting in three fatalities." I wish to strike the words "resulting in three fatalities." The error was inadvertent. Based on information and belief, the paragraph as revised is true and correct.

4. In paragraph 21, I made the following statement: "The United States has trained three counternarcotics brigades, has furnished the Colombian Army with UH-1Ns (Huey), and UH 60Ls (Blackhawks), and is providing on-the-ground support for the maintenance and upkeep of "battalions." In the Colombian Army, three battalions constitutes one brigade. The error was inadvertent. Based on information and belief, the paragraph as revised is true and correct.

5. In paragraph 38, I made the following statement: "On October 5, 2001, Secretary of State Powell designated twenty-eight organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Three of these Foreign Terrorist Organizations are based in Colombia: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN), and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC)." I wish to strike the sentence "On October 5, 2001, Secretary of State Powell designated twenty-eight organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations" and replace it with the sentence, "In 2001, Secretary of State Powell designated or re-designated twenty-eight Organizations as Foreign Terrorist Organizations." Each of the three organizations listed had been designated by the Secretary of State as Foreign Terrorist Organizations prior to October 5, 2001. On that date, Secretary Powell redesignated the FARC and the ELN as Foreign Terrorist Organizations because their designation was due to expire. The AUC had been designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization for the first time in September 2001. The error was inadvertent. Based on information and belief, the paragraph as revised is true and correct.

6. In paragraph 43, I made the following statement: "It is believed that FARC terrorists have received training at Al Qaida terrorist camps in Afghanistan." I wish to strike this sentence. At the time of my declaration, based on information available to me, I believed this statement to be true and correct. Based upon information made available to me subsequent to the filing of the declaration, I no longer believe this statement to be true and correct. Based on information and belief, the paragraph as revised is true and correct.

7. In paragraph 58, I made the following statement: "Panama, which has no army, has no defense against intrusion from these armed forces." I wish to strike the words "no defense" and replace them with the words "very limited defenses." The error was inadvertent. Based on information and belief, the paragraph as revised is true and correct.

Under penalty of perjury, and pursuant to Section 1746 of Title 28, United States Code, I certify and declare that the foregoing statements are true and correct.

Executed this 8th day of August 2002 at Washington, District of Columbia.

RAND BEERS
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE
FOR THE BUREAU OF INTERNATIONAL
NARCOTICS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AFFAIRS

Read the United Press International

Story about Beers' "Correction"

Narco News published the full text of the February 27, 2002 depostion by Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs Rand Beers in the federal lawsuit by Ecuador's Farmers vs. DynCorp

For background info see:

DynCorp Charged with Terrorism, by Al Giordano

Beers Fumigated in Deposition, by Al Giordano and S. González

Full Text of the Lawsuit, published by USFumigation.org

PDF document of this deposition transcript on USFumigation.org

Beers' Affidavit that got him subpoenaed on USFumigation.org

(Due to the length of the Beers deposition, the document it is broken into three parts: Pages 1-29, pages 30-59, pages 60-88)

For more Narco News, click here