The Narco News Bulletin
"The
Name of Our Country is América"
--
Simón Bolívar
Jim Williams
Out of Ecuador Prison: US Fight Ahead
Writes
to Narco News, Calls US Drug War "A Sham"
Sunday, September 24, 2000
Alberto,
My name is Jim Williams. I received the
Email that you sent my wife Robin
this morning. I have been back in the US for three weeks, after
finishing an
eight year sentence for money laundering in Ecuador. My case
was the first
case in Ecuadorian history that reach a condemnatory sentence
without there
being any trace of drugs in the process. The Ecuadorian law is
said by the
US Department of State to be weak concerning money laundering
because it
conditions money laundering convictions on a prior narcotics
conviction.
What the US DOS did not say was that with
sufficient pressure from the DEA
and the DOS, Ecuadorian laws make not one iota of difference.
I was
condemned and served an 8 year sentence simply because of pressure
from USA
agencies. Initially they thought they could pressure me to lie
to help them
convict a Colombian who I was doing business with. When this
failed then it
became a matter of not losing face and I was taken to trial in
Panama and
absolved, condemned in Ecuador and served an 8 year sentence
getting out in
4 for good behavior; and now await the third trial for the same
crime in the
US. I am financially ruined and the FBI well knows that if I
cannot raise
the money (250 thousand) for a good defense in the USA they will
condemn me
here. It would be hard to distinguish these techniques from those
of the
Gestapo 60 years ago.
Meanwhile I spent 4 years in a Ecuadorian
prison learning that the US
DOS/DOJ has no interest in resolving the drug problem, their
only interest
is painting a politically convenient façade. Since they
completely control
the judiciary in Ecuador this is not a difficult task. Furthermore
their
closest allies in the WOD in Ecuador are some of the most notably
corrupt
and drug related criminals/politicians. These politicians that
have the
inclusive assistance of the USG are the same ones that have turned
Ecuador
into the most corrupt Country in South America and in turn have
created the
most fertile milieu for drug production/trafficking. The WOD
in Ecuador and
perhaps other LA countries is nothing but a sham on the American
people.
The Free Jim Website has Background Info
on this Case:
¡Presos
Políticos, Libertad!