World Unemployment to Hit Record High in 2013

World unemployment could top record levels this year and continue rising until 2017, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Tuesday in its annual employment report. 2009 currently stands as the worst recorded year for world unemployment, with 198 million people across the globe without work.

In its 2013 Global Employment Trends report, the ILO forecasts unemployment numbers will rise by 5.1 million in 2013 to reach 202 million, topping 2009's record. The report also predicts unemployment will rise further in 2014 to reach 205 million.

"Unemployment remains as dire as it was during the crisis in 2009," Ekkehard Ernst, chief of the employment trends unit at the ILO, which wrote the report, told CNBC.

While the crisis may have originated in the developed world, the report noted that 75 percent of 2012's newly unemployed came from outside it, with East Asia, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa being the worst affected.

Ernst attributed this to the "spillover effect" of weak growth in advanced economies, and in particular, the recession in Europe.

"The main transmission mechanism of global spillovers has been through international trade, but regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean have also suffered from increased volatility of international capital flows," the report said. Read more >>

LatAm countries back Ecuador in Assange case

Latin American countries voiced support Thursday for Ecuador's latest decision to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a move that triggered a diplomatic row between Quito and London.

The members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) -- Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador and three Caribbean island nations -- said in a statement that they "strongly object" to the British threat of raiding Ecuador's embassy in London to seize Assange, who has taken refuge there since June 19.

The statement said Britain would violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and face "grave consequences if the threats are carried out." The ALBA also expressed its "steadfast solidarity" with Ecuador, which granted political asylum to Assange on Thursday.

Jorge Tarud, president of the Chamber of Deputies Foreign Relations Committee in the Chilean Congress, on Thursday asked the Chilean government to give full support to Ecuador on the issue. Uruguayan Foreign Minister Luis Almagro also urged Britain to "respect the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, and to guarantee the privileges, inviolability and immunity of Ecuador's embassy." Read more >>

World's rich hide at least $21T offshore

British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With about 55,000 inhabitants, the Cayman Islands should not be a well-known name in the rest of the world, but the tiny Caribbean territory has become famous as a tax haven for the world's super rich. According to a new report, the Caymans - along with the other dozen or so international havens for wealth like Switzerland and Bermuda - are the holders of so much of the world's capital, entire regional economies could be moved on it.

The Tax Justice Network has just released a report estimating that the world's tax havens house anywhere from $21 trillion to $32 trillion of money that governments cannot tax. "This offshore economy is large enough to have a major impact on estimates of inequality of wealth and income; on estimates of national income and debt ratios; and - most importantly - to have very significant negative impacts on the domestic tax bases of 'source' countries," James Henry, the report's author and a former chief economist at consultancy McKinsey told the Guardian.

The problem of money leaving countries to avoid the tax man is not just reserved for the world's economic powers. The amount that has left developing countries for tax havens could have been more than enough to pay off their debts to the rest of the world, The Guardian reports. About $800 billion has left Russia since the early 1990s. Read more >>

US monopolizing Haitian airfield to evacuate their own citizens

Deborah Pasmantier (AFP)
Anger at US builds at Port-au-Prince airport
PORT-AU-PRINCE — Anger built Saturday at Haiti's US-controlled main airport, where aid flights were still being turned away and poor coordination continued to hamper the relief effort four days on.

"Let's take over the runway," shouted one voice. "We need to send a message to (US President Barack) Obama," cried another.

Control remained in the hands of US forces, who face criticism for the continued disarray at the overwhelmed airfield.

Dozens of French citizens and dual Haitian-French nationals crowded the airport Saturday seeking to be evacuated after Tuesday's massive 7.0 earthquake, which leveled much of the capital Port-au-Prince.

But at the last minute, a plane due to take them to the French island of Guadeloupe was prevented from landing, leaving them to sleep on the tarmac, waiting for a way out.

"They're repatriating the Americans and not anyone else," said Charles Misteder, 50. "The American monopoly has to end. They are dominating us and not allowing us to return home."

The crowd accused American forces, who were handed control of the airport by Haitian authorities, of monopolizing the airfield's single runway to evacuate their own citizens.

The US embassy denied it was putting the evacuation of the approximately 40,000 to 45,000 American citizens in the country first.

Others waiting for a way out were taken aback by the chaotic scenes confronted them when they arrived at the Toussaint L'Ouverture airport.

"I haven't been able to tell my family that I'm alive. The coordination is a joke," said Wilfried Brevil, a 33-year-old housekeeper.

"I was at the Christopher Hotel," said Daniele Saada, referring to the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force in Haiti, MINUSTAH.

"I was extremely shaken up. I was pulled out, the others weren't," added Saada, 65, a MINUSTAH employee.

"I decided to return to France. I have nothing and now I am stuck," she said, caught between fury at the chaos and sheer exhaustion.

The disorder even appeared to cause diplomatic ripples, with French Secretary of State for Cooperation Alain Joyandet telling reporters he had lodged a complaint with the United States over its handling of the Port-au-Prince airport.

"I have made an official protest to the Americans through the US embassy," he said at the Haitian airport after a French plane carrying a field hospital was turned away.

A spokesman for the French foreign ministry later denied France had registered protest, saying "Franco-US coordination in emergency aid for Haiti is being handled in the best way possible given the serious difficulties."

The US ambassador to Haiti defended American efforts at the small airport, which was up-and-running 24 hours after the massive quake, even though the air traffic control tower was damaged.

"We're working in coordination with the United Nations and the Haitians," said Ambassador Kenneth Merten, though he acknowledged some difficulties.

"Clearly it's necessary to prioritize the planes. It's clear that there's a problem."

Despite the chaos, a group of French citizens was eventually able to take off on Saturday, and the French plane carrying a field hospital landed safely around noon.

Still, with aid continuing to flood into the quake-stricken country, concern remains about the lack of coordination at the airport, and across devastated Port-au-Prince.

"The Haitians haven't been notified about the arrival of planes. And when they do land, there's no one to take charge and a large amount of goods are arriving without coordination," said Haitian government official Michel Chancy.

On Port-au-Prince's streets, the consequences of the coordination breakdown are clear, as traumatized and starving quake survivors approached passing foreigner and begged them for food.

The history that “binds” the US and Haiti

Bill Van Auken
In his statement on the Haitian earthquake Wednesday, President Barack Obama referred to the “long history that binds us together.” Neither he nor the US media, however, have shown any inclination to probe the history of US-Haiti relations and its bearing on present catastrophe confronting the Haitian people.

Rather, the backwardness and poverty that have played a substantial role in driving the death toll into the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands are presented as a natural state of affairs, if not the fault of the Haitians themselves. The United States is portrayed as a selfless benefactor, ready to come to the aid of Haiti with donations, rescue teams, warships and Marines.

In a cynical and dishonest editorial, the New York Times Thursday began, “Once again the world weeps with Haiti,” a country which it goes on to describe as characterized by “poverty, despair and dysfunction that would be a disaster anywhere else but in Haiti are the norm.”

The editorial continues: “Look at Haiti and you will see what generations of misrule, poverty and political strife will do to a country.”

In a background article on the Haitian disaster, the Times adds that the country “is known for its many man-made woes—its dire poverty, political infighting and proclivity for insurrection.”

In a shorter and even more dismissive editorial, the Wall Street Journal celebrates the fact that the US military will play the leading role in Washington’s response to the earthquake as “a fresh reminder that the reach of America’s power coincides with the reach of its goodness.”

It goes on to draw an obscene comparison between the Haitian earthquake and the one that struck southern California in 1994, in which 72 people died. “The difference,” the Journal declares, “is a function of a wealth-generating and law-abiding society that can afford, among other things, the expense of proper building codes.”

The message is clear. The Haitians have only themselves to blame for the hundreds of thousands of dead and injured, because they failed to create sufficient wealth and lacked respect for law and order.

What is deliberately obscured by this comparison is the real relationship, which has evolved over more than a century, between “wealth generation” in the United States and poverty in Haiti. It is a relationship built on the use of force to pursue US imperialism’s predatory interests in a historically oppressed country.

If the Obama administration and the Pentagon carry through with reported plans to deploy a Marine expeditionary force in Haiti, it will mark the fourth time in the past 95 years that the US armed forces have occupied the impoverished Caribbean nation. This time, as in the past, rather than aiding the Haitian people, the essential purpose of such a military action will be to defend US interests and guard against what the Times refers to as the “proclivity for insurrection.”

The roots of this relationship go back to the birth of Haiti as the first independent black republic in 1804, the product of a successful slave revolution led by Toussaint Louverture, and the subsequent defeat of a French army sent by Napoleon.

The ruling classes of the world never forgave Haiti for its revolutionary victory. It was subjected to a worldwide embargo that was led by the United States, which feared the Haitian example could inspire a similar revolt in the southern slave states. It was only with southern secession and the outbreak of the Civil War that the North recognized Haiti—nearly 60 years after its independence.

From the dawn of the 20th century, Haiti fell under the domination of Washington and the US banks, whose interests were defended by sending Marines to carry out an occupation that continued for nearly 20 years, maintained through the bloody suppression of Haitian resistance.

The Marines left only after carrying out the “Haitianization”—as the New York Times referred to it at the time—of the war against the Haitian people by building an army dedicated to internal repression.

Subsequently, Washington backed the 30-year dictatorship of the Duvaliers, which began with the coming to power of Papa Doc in 1957. While tens of thousands of Haitians died at the hands of the military and the dreaded Tontons Macoute, US imperialism saw the murderous dictatorship as a bulwark against communism and revolution in the Caribbean.

Since the mass upheavals that brought down the Duvaliers in 1986, successive US governments, Democratic and Republican alike, have sought to reconstruct a reliable client state capable of defending the markets and investments of US firms attracted by starvation wages, as well as the property and wealth of the Haitian ruling elite. This entails preventing any challenge to a socio-economic order that keeps 80 percent of the population in dire poverty.

This effort continues today under the tutelage of Bill and Hillary Clinton—respectively the UN’s special representative to Haiti and the US Secretary of State—who together have Haitian blood on their hands.

Washington has backed two coups and sent US troops back into Haiti twice in the past 20 years. Both coups were organized to overthrow Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first Haitian president to be elected by popular vote and without Washington’s approval. Together, the coups of 1991 and 2004 claimed the lives of at least 13,000 more Haitians. In the 2004 overthrow, Aristide was forcibly transported out of the country by US operatives.

Needing them in Iraq, the US withdrew its troops in 2004, contracting the job of repression out to a United Nations peacekeeping force of 9,000 under the leadership of the Brazilian army.

Despite Aristide’s capitulation to the demands of the International Monetary Fund and his willingness to compromise with Washington, the mass support he attracted with his anti-imperialist rhetoric made him anathema to the ruling elites in both Washington and Port-au-Prince. On the orders of the Obama administration, he is barred from returning to Haiti and his political party, Fanmi Lavalas, remains effectively outlawed.

This is the real and continuing history that, as Obama put it, binds Haiti to US imperialism, which bears overwhelming responsibility for the desperate conditions that have compounded the carnage inflicted by the earthquake.

There are, however, other ties that bind and are deeply felt, as the immensity of the tragedy in Haiti unfolds. There are over half a million Haitian Americans officially counted in the US and undoubtedly hundreds of thousands more who are undocumented. Their presence concretizes the class interests and solidarity that unite Haitian and American workers. Together, it is their task to sweep away the conditions of poverty and devastation in both countries, along with the capitalist profit system that has created them.

Allen Stanford May Have Ties To Satanic Cult and Drug Money

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

R. Allen Stanford’s relationship with the chief regulator of his Antigua bank was closer than most, reports the NYTimes:

At a meeting in 2003, they became blood brothers, cutting their wrists and mixing their blood in a “brotherhood ceremony” that Mr. Stanford’s chief financial officer said promoted an elaborate scheme to hide a multibillion-dollar fraud from American and other regulators.

The assertion that the two took a “blood oath” was laid out in a plea agreement signed by the officer, James M. Davis, and filed Thursday. After the pact, Leroy King, Antigua’s chief banking supervisor, called Mr. Stanford “Big Brother.” He received Super Bowl tickets, valued at thousands of dollars, for himself and his girlfriend. And he accepted regular bribe payments from a secret Swiss bank account that Mr. Davis said he was told to handle by Mr. Stanford.

...the plea agreement offered an assortment of new details, particularly about the relationship between Mr. Stanford and Mr. King, who ran Antigua’s Financial Services Regulatory Commission for much of the last decade. He has been arrested in Antigua and is awaiting extradition to the United States. Shortly after their 2003 blood-brother ceremony, which also included a second, unnamed Antiguan regulator...

Mr. Justin Simon [Attorney General of Antigua and Barbuda] said in an interview that he had become aware of the blood-brotherhood ceremony from his own sources. “It is believable,” he said. “As far as how many people are involved, we are still investigating.”

The FBI and other agencies have been conducting an ongoing investigation of Stanford since 2008 for possible involvement in money laundering for Mexico's Gulf Cartel.

Background on Gulf Cartel:

The Gulf Cartel (Spanish: Cártel del Golfo) is a Mexican drug trafficking cartel based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The cartel is present in 13 states with important areas of operation in the cities of Nuevo Laredo, Miguel Alemán, Reynosa and Matamoros in the northern state of Tamaulipas; it also has important operations in the states of Nuevo León and in Michoacán.[1] The Gulf Cartel traffics cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin across the U.S.-Mexico border to major cities in the United States. The group is known for its violent methods and intimidation, and works closely with corrupt law officials and business people in Mexico as well as in the United States.

Aside from earning money from the sales of narcotics, the cartel also extorts "taxes" from local businesses in exchange of "protection". Anyone passing narcotics or aliens through Gulf Cartel territory is subject to payment of these "taxes" to the cartel. The Gulf cartel does not limit itself solely to narcotics trafficking, as they are known to kidnap people for ransom money."

Investigative sources told ABC...that mexican authorities had seized one of Sir Allen's private jets as part of an inquiry into the cartel's activities. Inside the cabin of the Gulfstream jet police found cheques connected to it.

In February 2009, the Guardian reported:

An FBI source close to the investigation would not give exact details but confirmed the agency was looking at links to international drug gangs as part of the huge investigation into Stanford's banking activities. Reports in the US have said Mexican authorities have detained one of Stanford's private planes as part of an investigation into possible links to the Gulf Cartel. It has been alleged cheques found inside the plane were linked to the cartel, which is one of the most violent criminal organisations in the world.

Sources in the US Drug Enforcement Administration also confirmed that while the investigations into Stanford's affairs were "with the FBI and Securities Exchange Commission, there may well have been a trail connecting his Mexican affairs to narco-trafficking interests. So far as we understand from information partially in the public domain, this has pertained to the Gulf Cartel, and items found aboard a private light aircraft. I think we'll find that any possible drug-related trail and SEC priorities are not all in the same frame."

Asked whether the aircraft seizures were an isolated incident in the overall investigation, the official said: "It's not going to be as if they would check every plane. Any connections to the narcos would have been followed for some time, and US law enforcement has been working with Mexico's banking regulators on a vast range of investigations, including Stanford's interests, for some time.

Also in February 2009, Barbados Money Laundering and Offshore Business Advisory reported:

Stanford May Have Laundered Drug Money for Mexican Cartel

I have been following the Sir Allen Stanford scandal for a while, and now the talk has turned to money laundering, which is the topic of this blog.

An ABC News article (see below) said:
“Authorities say Stanford could potentially face criminal charges of money laundering and bribery of foreign officials.“

The article continued:

“… checks found inside the [Stanford's] plane were believed to be connected to the Gulf cartel, reputed to be Mexico’s most violent gang.”

At least one high-level member of the previous Barbados Labour Party Government has had official business dealings with Sir Allen. I am not casting aspersions, I am just making the point that Sir Allen touched many lives. People from all over the Caribbean, including Barbados, are involved, legitimately or otherwise, with Sir Allen’s business. Probing questions are likely to be asked.

At this point in time, there are probably a few Barbadians who are sick with worry over this investigation. The problem is that even if a person acted in good faith in his/her dealings with Sir Allen, suspicions may arise. Will the FBI’s investigation reach the shores of Barbados? Does the US have an extradition treaty with Barbados?

ABC News: Accused Financier Under Federal Drug Investigation, by JUSTIN ROOD and BRIAN ROSS – February 18, 2009

Authorities tell ABC News that as part of the investigation, which has been ongoing since last year, Mexican authorities detained one of Stanford’s private planes. According to officials, checks found inside the plane were believed to be connected to the Gulf cartel, reputed to be Mexico’s most violent gang. Authorities say Stanford could potentially face criminal charges of money laundering and bribery of foreign officials.

Authorities say the SEC action against Stanford Tuesday may have complicated the federal drug investigation.

The ABC article continues:

A video posted on the firm’s web-site shows Stanford, now sought by U.S. Marshals, being hugged by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and praised by former President Bill Clinton for helping to finance a convention-related forum and party put on by the National Democratic Institute.

Sir Allen’s generosity was not confined to Democrats. He is reported to have helped the disgraced Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas).

Are Barbadian politicians required to report political donations? Barbados Free Press irreverently asks the question: “How Many “Political Donations” Did Sir R. Allen Stanford Give To Barbados Politicians?”

Sir Allen lived in the Caribbean, and demonstrated an interest in local affairs. He had close ties with P.M. Bird of Antigua [NY Times]:

Around that time, Mr. Stanford had also become an adviser to Lester Bird, then Antigua’s prime minister, who formed a banking advisory board to clean up the country’s image. Mr. Stanford’s bank was the largest bank regulated by the board. The project was paid for by the Antiguan government from money lent or granted by Mr. Stanford.

This man has gone from being a hero to a villain in a very short space of time. This reminds me of the “Lord Conrad Black” story. Here are the similarities:

• both men were fabulously rich and from rich countries
  
• both settled in a poor Caribbean countries, where they were involved with politics
• both are reported to have made political contributions to multiple political candidates in different countries
  
• both received titles
• both were charged with fraud

In March 2009, "Illuminati Under the Microscope" writes:

The following article provides linkage between a ruthless drug gang in Mexico, known as the Gulf Cartel and its close association with the suspected satanic cult known as "Saint Death" or in Spanish "La Santa Muerte" and the Bush and Biden clans.

BACKGROUND ON GULF CARTEL:

This Mexican organized crime syndicate has its roots in bootlegging booze / alcohol into the USA through smuggling routes in northern Mexico. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Cartel .

See also:

www.janes.com/news/lawenforcement/jir/jir071205_1_n.shtml

BACKGROUND ON LA SANTA MUERTE CULT:

The image is that of a skeleton dressed in clothing similar to that worn by the Virgin of Guadalupe, the Catholic patroness of Mexico for the past 500 years. www.witchesbrew.builderspot.com/page/page/2215114.htm / http://www.santamuerte.galeon.com/ /

www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1671984,00.html / www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Muerte .

GULF CARTEL EXTENSIVE LINKS TO LA SANTA MUERTE HUMAN SACRIFICE:

"...they were taken there by members of the Gulf Cartel and they were executed at the Santa
Muerte shrine. ... I believe it was an offering to Santa Muerte at the same time." www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2177281/posts .

ELEVEN DECAPITATED BODIES - "Police say they acknowledged belonging to the Zetas, a
group of hit men tied to the Gulf Cartel. The suspects have not yet been charged." www.azstarnet.com/sn/byauthor/255507 .

STANFORD FINANCIAL alleged links to GULF CARTEL:

www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/02/19/stanford-financial-as-drug-money-launderer/ and www.newsbizarre.com/2009/02/allen-stanford-gulf-cartel-drug-lord.html also www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6907429&page=1 .

BIDEN FAMILY employment with a subsidiary of STANFORD:

This particular link shows that Biden's son runs AMTRAK. www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,1881353 / Multiple stories on the Biden Crime.

BUSH FAMILY LINKS TO MEXICO GULF CARTEL:

www.elandar.com/bush/amigos.html /

JEB BUSH links to STANFORD:

www.larouchepac.com/news/2009/02/19/bush-pioneer-goes-down-drug-money-laundering-scandal.html .

BUSH FAMILY ties to suspected SATANIC CULT - Yale SKULL AND BONES SOCIETY:

www.hereinreality.com/familyvalues.html

Wall Street has been laundering drug money for years as this 1994 Seattle Times News article suggests. Feds Probe Wall Street Firms For Laundered Drug Money 1994 - Seattle Times Staff: Seattle Times News Services

NEW YORK - Federal investigators are probing several brokerage firms on suspicion of laundering illegal drug profits, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

People close to the investigation told the paper and court documents show that $10 million has been seized from accounts at Merrill Lynch, Dean Witter, Prudential Securities and PaineWebber for alleged violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Law.

Federal agents from the Treasury Department's U.S. Customs Service and the Internal Revenue service are also investigating transactions at Bear Stearns, the paper said.

Federal agents told the paper that brokerage firms are becoming the choice for drug dealers to make their profits look like they were made legally, because of the globalization of the securities business and a loophole in how cash is defined in the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act.

Banks have fallen out of favor for drug profits because all transactions that exceed $10,000 have to be reported to the IRS under the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act, the paper said.

The Banking Industry´s Dirty Little Secret: Money Laundering For The Drug Cartels

February 2009 - Dave Gibson

The United Nation´s Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa recently told the Austrian magazine Profil that drug money has been the only thing that has kept many major banks in business.

Costa said: "In many instances, drug money is currently the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system´s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor."

Costa went on to say that UNODC has discovered that "interbank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade and other illegal activities." Incredibly, he said there were "signs that some banks were rescued in that way."

In the last few years, large banks have been getting into the remittance industry, which sends over $50 billion annually from the U.S. to Latin America. While much of the money is sent from laborers in this country back home to their families, drug traffickers heavily use remittances as a way to send their profits south of the border.

The banks charge very high fees for the service.

In 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Justice Department has opened an investigation into money transfers conducted by Wachovia bank. It is alleged that Wachovia transferred funds from drug deals in the United States to Mexican and Columbian money-exchange houses, or casas de cambio.

There are countless casas de cambio just inside the Mexican border.

The following is a portion of the report which appeared in the Wall Street Journal on April 26, 2008:

"Wachovia built up its ties to casas de cambio as a way to tap the Hispanic market, which doesn´t always bank through traditional Main Street outlets. Wachovia served as a larger partner, holding the foreign-exchange houses´ deposits and providing back-office services. In 2005, it introduced the Dinero Directo card to facilitate cross-border remittances."

"The bank pushed into the business despite concerns from U.S. law enforcement that such firms were sometimes used to launder drug money. Wachovia declined to discuss why it pursued this business despite the warnings."

"Internal emails and documents filed in federal courts in Miami, Chicago and New York describe former ties between Wachovia and money-changing firms. In a case in U.S. court in Miami, federal agents seized more than $11 million in 23 Wachovia accounts belonging to Casa de Cambio Puebla…Mexican police raided Puebla offices last fall, alleging relationships with a major drug cartel."

However, Wachovia is only one of many U.S. banks to come under investigation for laundering drug cartel profits.

The following is a short list of banks which have resolved cases of money laundering, to avoid federal prosecution (Source: U.S. Justice Dept.):

2008, Sigue Corp. was alleged to be part of $24.7 million in suspicious funds in processed remittances. They forfeited $15 million and avoided prosecution.

2007, Union Bank of California was discovered to be laundering drug cartel profits through casas de cambio. The bank forfeited $21.6 million and avoided prosecution.

2007, American Express International Bank failed to report $55 million passing through the accounts of known drug traffickers. They paid $65 million in fines and avoided prosecution.

2006, Bank Atlantic paid a $10 million fine to avoid prosecution, when an undercover investigation discovered that drug profits were being laundered through one of their branch locations.

As part of their deferred prosecution, the banks agreed to reform their practices as well as submit to federal oversight.

Of course, this practice involves very large banks and very large amounts of money.

After an investigation of Union Bank of California, the Justice Department claimed that the bank failed "to maintain an effective anti-money-laundering program."

One case involved two drug traffickers using accounts from Ribadeo Casa de Cambio in order to transfer millions of dollars in drug proceeds. Federal prosecutors discovered $295 million in transfers from several Union Bank accounts back to their account, with only $29 million ever being repaid.

Prosecutors faulted Union Bank not only for failing to corroborate the legitimacy of the transfers, but prosecutors allege, the bank ignored the large volumes of traveler's checks with sequential numbers, large cash deposits and wire transfers strategically structured below federal reporting limits.

While ignorance may be bliss, it would be difficult for the banks to declare it as a defense. Since the mid-1990s, U.S. bank regulators and drug enforcement investigators have been warning U.S. banks that Mexican casas de cambio pose a great money-laundering risk.

Recently, both U.S. and Mexican authorities have taken a much tougher approach in policing the operations of the foreign-exchange firms. The Mexican Attorney General's office says some of the casas de cambio are part of an elaborate system which funnels drug money through U.S. banks, on to European banks and then back to the U.S. and Latin America.

This new and vigorous effort is undoubtedly in response to not only the extreme violence taking place in Mexico, as that nation´s powerful drug cartels threaten to topple the government, but to the growing presence the cartels now have in the U.S. as well.

Of course, it is not only the drug traffickers and low-level operatives who transfer drug profits through U.S. banks.

In 1998, the brother of former Mexican President Carlos Salinas, Raul Salinas was caught transferring hundreds of millions of dollars out of Mexico to Citibank in New York. Citibank was then sending the money to banks in Switzerland.

The Salinas family is believed by both U.S. and Mexican law enforcement to have received nearly a billion dollars from Mexican and Columbian drug cartels. Raul Salinas was released from prison in 2005, after serving ten years for the murder of his brother-in-law.

Upon consideration of the fact that many U.S. banks have engaged in laundering drug profits for the powerful and violent cartels, the $700 billion bank bailout engineered by Bush administration Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson seems even more questionable.

The fact that none of that bailout money went to help homeowners facing foreclosure, combined with the Treasury´s refusal to specifically tell Congress where $200 billion of it went makes you wonder if the relationship between the banks and the drug cartels goes far beyond what we are being told by the Justice Department.