After 20 years, U.S. government exacts revenge on Iran/Contra whistleblower Cele Castillo
Bill Conroy
2008-11-02
[Editor’s note: I consider Cele Castillo to be a friend, a great American, and a source of needed wisdom and truth-telling on our planet. Beyond his public work, testifying as an expert witness against corrupt cops, he came to my classes and told young people about the lies of the current Bush administrations and those previous administrations. Cele knows, first-hand, that the war on drugs is about helping a few politicians get rich and gain power while killing innocents and destroying lives through the prison-industrial complex. His prosecution exemplifies everything wrong with American criminal law which seeks to criminalize otherwise legal activity, construct crime, create and use snitches, and exact misery against those without political power.]
This article was first posted on Narconews.
According to one federal prosecutor, Celerino “Cele” Castillo III, Vietnam vet, anti-war activist, and former DEA agent, who played a key role in exposing the U.S. government’s role in narco-trafficking as part of the Iran/Contra scandal, is now “a discredited man.” So says U.S. Attorney Johnny “House of Death” Sutton. Notably, Sutton, calls himself a “dear friend” of unindicted murderer and admitted felon (for domestic spying and ordering torture among other things) President George W. Bush.
On 22 October 2008, Sutton’s office released a statement saying, “United States Attorney Johnny Sutton announced that … 58-year-old former Drug Enforcement Administration agent Celerino “Cele” Castillo, III, of McAllen, Texas, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison for his role in dealing firearms without a license.”
To add some perspective, Castillo, a Vietnam veteran (who was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery) will spend three years in prison, though he has no prior criminal record, for the act of selling some firearms at gun shows in South Texas, because Cele did not submit paperwork – which was probably not required!
At his sentencing, a federal judge in San Antonio ordered that Castillo be committed to a federal medical facility due to Castillo’s multiple medical problems, including diabetes and heart problems. However, that is no guarantee that such is significantly better. According to Castillo:
“I thought the judge was doing me a favor by sentencing me to a medical facility. But I recently talked to someone who just got out of one of these medical facilities and he said [that] there isn’t a day that goes by where someone inside doesn’t die because of a dose of the wrong medication or maybe...
