Nazi war criminal Barbie was key figure in cocaine trade, report says
He was extradited from Bolivia to France in 1983 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987 on charges of crimes against humanity. He died in prison in 1991.
According to Der Spiegel, Barbie -- living under the alias Klaus Altmann -- became a security adviser to drug baron Roberto Suarez after the two men met in the 1970s.
Suarez's son Gary told the magazine that Barbie was "an important person to my father".
"He knew something about security, military strategy and secret service work," he said.
Barbie was also active in advising the Bolivian security services, helping set up a death squad for dictator Luis Garcia Meza.
Gary Suarez told Der Spiegel that "Barbie had been deeply involved in the military regimes going back decades".
Barbie had helped "organise the militias that would overthrow the government" in the run-up to the violent 1980 coup that brought Garcia Meza to power.
Among them was a group of neo-Nazi mercenaries called the "Bridegrooms of Death" who had a swastika-clad headquarters called Club Bavaria in the city of Santa Cruz.
After the coup they were deployed to help both crush political opposition and Suarez's rivals in cocaine production.
A CIA despatch from May 1974 seen by Der Spiegel reveals that the agency's officers already suspected Barbie of involvement in the drug trade, the magazine said.
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Roberto Suarez's son-in-law Gerardo Caballero told Der Spiegel that "Barbie helped us a lot, including in working together with Pablo Escobar," the Colombian drug kingpin.
Barbie was recruited as an anti-communist agent by American secret services after the war, and the United States later apologised to France for helping Barbie evade justice.
Der Spiegel has previously reported that Barbie was also active as a secret agent for West German intelligence in Bolivia.
The magazine said he was recruited in late 1965 in the Bolivian capital La Paz and given the code name "Adler" ("Eagle").
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"The weaponization of food to exert pressure on a civilian population must not be normalized." The organization also lambasted the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) over the nearly daily deaths of Palestinians shot by Israeli authorities near its distribution centers. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "What we are seeing is unconscionable; an entire people being deliberately cut off from food and water, all while the Israeli forces commit daily massacres as people scramble for scraps of food at distribution sites," says Amande Bazerolle, MSF head of emergency response in Gaza. "Any shred of humanity in Gaza has been wiped out in the ongoing genocide." The report noted that the scarcity of food "is no longer about what people can afford. There is barely any food available in most of the strip." Meanwhile, Reuters interviewed United Nations and humanitarian agency representatives, who said the enclave was on the brink of running out of the specialized therapeutic food needed to save the lives of severely malnourished children. Salim Oweis, a spokesperson for UNICEF in Amman, Jordan told Reuters that supplies of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), a crucial treatment, would be depleted by mid-August if nothing changed. An analysis within the US government found no evidence supporting Israeli and US claims that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was systematically stealing US-funded humanitarian supplies. The US and Israel have backed a new armed private aid operation under the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The operation has seen around 1,000 Palestinians seeking food supplies shot and killed by Israeli forces near the GHF militarized distribution site. The analysis was conducted by a bureau within the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and made public via an exclusive report by the Reuters news agency. It was completed in late June, examining 156 incidents of theft or loss of US-funded supplies reported between October 2023 and May of this year. Reuters cited a US State Department spokesperson as disputing the findings, saying there is video evidence of Hamas looting aid but stopping short of providing such evidence. Israel insists it is committed to allowing in aid but that it must control it to prevent theft by Hamas. The UN World Food Program estimates that a quarter of Gaza's over 2 million Palestinians face famine-like conditions, while thousands suffer from acute malnutrition. World Health Organization officials and doctors in the enclave report that children and others are dying of starvation. Israel blames Hamas for the crisis, which has intensified since Israel intensified its blockade on Gaza in March, followed by making the GHF the sole distributor of aid in the enclave in May, replacing UN-led humanitarian aid distributors. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video France's plans to recognize Palestinian statehood were met with widespread approval in the Middle East. The Saudi Foreign Ministry called it a "historic decision," calling on other countries to follow in France's "positive" steps and "adopt serious positions that support peace and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people." France and Saudi Arabia cohost a ministerial United Nations meeting on Palestinian statehood next week. Jordan's Foreign Ministry also expressed appreciation for the decision, describing it as "a step in the right direction toward the realisation of the two-state solution and the end of the occupation." Palestinians also welcomed the move. Senior Palestinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh said it "reflects France's commitment to international law and its support for the Palestinian people's rights to self-determination and the establishment of our independent state." The militant group Hamas, which Israel, the United States, the European Union and others designated as a terrorist organization, said the move would do "justice to our oppressed Palestinian people and support their legitimate right to self-determination." Spain, an EU member which recognized Palestinian statehood last year, also welcomed the move. "Together, we must protect what Netanyahu is trying to destroy. The two-state solution is the only solution," said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, an outspoken critic of Israel's offensive in Gaza. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The US and Israel are so far the strongest opponents of France's decision to formally recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. French President Emmanuel Macron announced the plans on Thursday. According to a tally by the French AFP news agency, it would bring the number of countries that now recognize or plan to recognize Palestinian statehood to at least 142. France would be the first G7 power to do so. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a "reckless decision." "This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7," Rubio wrote on X. Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023, left 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians. Around 250 more were abducted and taken hostage in Gaza. Israel's subsequent war has so far killed over 59,000, according to the health authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. The UN considers the figures reliable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move "rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became." "A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel - not to live in peace beside it," he said.
