Union Militants Organize Against FBI’s Terror-Tie Investigation | RedState

Last September, federal agents conducted a search of the homes of 23 left-wing, anti-war activists, several of whom are union activists from Illinois and Minnesota.  The searches were in execution of warrants “seeking evidence in support of an ongoing Joint Terrorism Task Force investigation,” stated Steve Warfield, a spokesman for the FBI in Minneapolis, at the time.

In Chicago, among those whose homes which were searched was Joe Isobaker and his wife Stephanie Weiner (a founder of AFSCME Local 3506). Isobaker was, at the time, a Chief Steward with the 24,000-member SEIU Local 73 and an activist, as well as a writer for Fight Back, a Marxist magazine.

According to the Star Tribune, the search was part of a “mysterious, ongoing nationwide terrorism investigation with an unusual target: prominent peace activists and politically active labor organizers, a number of them in Minnesota.”

The probe — involving subpoenas to 23 people and raids of seven homes last fall — has triggered a high-powered protest against the Justice Department and, in the process, could create some political discomfort for President Obama with his union supporters as he gears up for his re-election campaign. Investigators, according to search warrants, documents and interviews, are examining possible “material support” for Colombian and Palestinian groups designated by the U.S. government as terrorists.

All along, the activists have claimed they have no ties to terrorism, despite the appearance that the investigation is into possible ties to the communist Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), “a revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization in the United States” that is seeking to end America’s free-enterprise system.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization has links (literally) to both the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [background here] and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) [background here], two groups on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations.

Another of those being investigated is Hatem Abudayyeh who, according to his bio, is the Executive Director of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Coalition of African, Arab, Asian, European, and Latino Immigrants of Illinois (CAAAELII), is a founding Advisory Board member of the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), and sits on the National Coordinating Committee of the United States Palestine Community Network (USPCN).

Now, with possible indictments looming, some of the individuals being investigated are attempting to strike back.

Several activists and their lawyers said they believe indictments could come anytime, so they have turned their organizing skills toward a counteroffensive, decrying the inquiry as a threat to their First Amendment rights. All 23 of the activists invoked their right not to testify before a grand jury, defying U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office is spearheading the investigation. A spokesman for Fitzgerald declined to comment.

The activists have formed the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, organized phone banks to flood Attorney General Eric Holder’s office and the White House with protest calls, solicited letters from unions and faith-based groups and sent delegations to Capitol Hill.

“I am so disgusted when I see that so many union people have been targeted in this,” said Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, which represents clerical workers at the University of Minnesota, including four members who are possible targets.

On May 17th, according to the Committee to Stop FBI Repression’s website, another activist’s home was raided in Los Angeles and the activist, Carlos Montes, was detained and questioned about the Midwest activists, as well as the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

On June 16th, the Committee is planning a “Day of Action in Solidarity with Carlos Montes.”

On the actvists’ website, there is a timeline of events that includes actions the activists have taken to counter the investigation into their activities, as well as the list of Democrat politicians the group has enlisted to support them.

By the looks of it, with indictments possibly being issued soon, there will likely be much more coming out in the coming weeks and months ahead.

Union Militants Organize Against FBI’s Terror-Tie Investigation | RedState.

Jailed Drug Kingpin Ties Chávez Regime to Drug Trade | The Americano

In the interview aired in the television network's newsmagazine show "Aquí y Ahora," Makled said he had "conclusive evidence" that he would only disclose to U.S. prosecutors of the depth of the involvement of many high officials in the Venezuelan government in the drug trade.

To all those who doubted if Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez was involved in drug-trafficking activities, doubt no more; the evidence is in. It came in the form of an exclusive interview the reputed Venezuelan kingpin Walid Makled aired by Spanish language television network Univisión Sunday night.

In the interview aired in the television network’s newsmagazine show “Aquí y Ahora,” Makled said he had “conclusive evidence” that he would only disclose to U.S. prosecutors of the depth of the involvement of many high officials in the Venezuelan government in the drug trade.

Among the things Makled said was that he had evidence to prove that the Chávez government was “100 percent” involved in narcotrafficking activities. He added that:

· He has six videos and other documentary evidence implicating “40 generals” and “ministers, congressmen, governors” of the Chávez regime in Venezuela in drug trafficking.

· Chávez confidantes military Commander-in-Chief Henry Rangel Silva and Intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal were on Makled’s illicit “payroll”.

· The Venezuelan military protects Hezbollah operations in Venezuela.

· Venezuela’s state-run set Makled up in shipping, warehousing, and merchandising contracts that he used for drug trafficking activities.

· Four to five airplanes left daily from Venezuelan airports (including at least once from the presidential runway) bearing cocaine for the Colombian FARC rebel group and the Venezuelan military, bound for Central America, Mexico, and the United States.

The issues raised by Makled in the interview he granted investigative journalist Castro Ocando revealed for the first time how networks produce and distribute cocaine from southern Venezuela, allegedly in close cooperation with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Venezuelan armed forces.

The only question still unanswered is whether this information officially will be turned over to American prosecutors, or if Makled, currently jailed in Colombia will be extradited to Venezuela instead, where all the incriminating information that he says he has would be lost.

According to the Associated Press, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, seeking to improve what had been rocky relations with Chávez announced last November that he would extradite Makled to Venezuela. At the time, Santos explained that Chávez had been the first to ask for Makled’s extradition, and the alleged Venezuelan drug king-pin faces the most serious charges – including murder – in Venezuela.

Even before the Univision broadcast, several key U.S. lawmakers had voiced their concern that extraditing Makled to Venezuela would silence him and keep key evidence of the involvement of Chávez and many high officials in his administration from being made public by American prosecutors.

AP said that Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on Santos to reconsider his decision. If Makled is not extradited to the United States, American prosecutors “would be unable to use the information he had already provided to them to legally dismantle some of the most important drug networks in the world today.”

According to the AP, Santos had not spoken publically on the issue. However, U.S. Congressman Connie Mack (R-Fl.) told AP that he had spoken to the Colombian president Wednesday and Santos told him “he is legally and politically tied to send Makled to Venezuela.”

The AP said Makled was arrested in August 2010 in Colombia with the help of U.S. drug agents a little more than a year after the White House designated him an international drug kingpin.

In the interview conducted inside Bogota’s Picota prison, Makled made statements, that if proven in court he would reveal the depth of the involvement of Chávez and officials in his regime in the drug trade.

The Americano/Agencies

via Jailed Drug Kingpin Ties Chávez Regime to Drug Trade | The Americano.